Mountain Biking - 30 miles on a flat dirt/gravel trail, every other day, enough to shape up?

Im just looking to shed a few pounds. There is a great RailTrail that I have been riding and its 30 miles round trip. Took me about 2 1/2 hours last time I did it and Ive done it about 5 times. So far Ive lost ~5 lbs. :)

Do you think this is enough of a ride to continue to lose weight?

How many more calories might I be burning becuase of all the bumping around the rocks on the trail, than a road biker putting in those same 30 miles?

Thanks

Keep at it. You're losing weight and that's what matters. This week marks 1 year since I lost 50 pounds so it can be done. I think you are about to hit the hard part - you're going to start to get tired or bored with it. You'll not to do it one day. Then you'll miss a second day and then you'll find it's been a week since you did it ...DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!

When you miss that first day - make sure you don't miss the second day. Life happens so you will miss some time just remember to throw that leg back over the bike and keep going no matter how long you missed. As far as boredom. Try a new trail. Run some errands on your bike. Maybe commute to work. try to set time goals - not always faster but say I'm going to get to the next rest area in exactly 20 minutes without stopping or turning around. That's harder than you think... Mix it up. ... End of pep talk. Sorry if I digressed too much.

As far as the exercise goes, 30 miles is a good ride on road or gravel. With dirt and gravel on my mountian bike, I use my upper body much more than I do on asphault. Not sure what that translates to in calories though.

Keep at it. You're losing weight and that's what matters. This week marks 1 year since I lost 50 pounds so it can be done. I think you are about to hit the hard part - you're going to start to get tired or bored with it. You'll not to do it one day. Then you'll miss a second day and then you'll find it's been a week since you did it ...DON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!

When you miss that first day - make sure you don't miss the second day. Life happens so you will miss some time just remember to throw that leg back over the bike and keep going no matter how long you missed. As far as boredom. Try a new trail. Run some errands on your bike. Maybe commute to work. try to set time goals - not always faster but say I'm going to get to the next rest area in exactly 20 minutes without stopping or turning around. That's harder than you think... Mix it up. ... End of pep talk. Sorry if I digressed too much.

As far as the exercise goes, 30 miles is a good ride on road or gravel. With dirt and gravel on my mountian bike, I use my upper body much more than I do on asphault. Not sure what that translates to in calories though.


No actually I think you told me exactly what I wanted to hear. I can't believe you lost 50 lbs in one year. So I get the impression you think 30 miles may be enough?

30 miles is a good ride - I didn't loose my weight so much through exercise as I did through diet. I took up biking as a way to increase my exercise and keep the weight off. I had no idea how much I would enjoy it.

There are many qualified and helpful people on this board who know tons more about the best way to exercise than I do. If you don't get a response here that helps you - try the training and nutrion area lots of knowledge there.

I lost 20 pounds in the first 4 months of a commute the distance of your ride and I was only doing it 3 times a week. Then the loss stopped but I have not gained the weight back. 30 miles is a great ride. Now consider friendly group rides.

As long as you are losing weight and that is your goal it's just fine. If you stop loosing weight some day, you can always just ride more, harder, etc.
What happens depends on you, how much you weigh, and what you want to lose, etc. If you lost 5 lbs already I say keep doing it ! It sounds perfect, enjoy it. Be in tune to the things you like about riding and let that keep you motivated. It's highly addictive.

Dalmore suggested mixing it up, and I totally agree. Find a moderately easy off road course and tackle that, or take a different route and see where it takes you. Or you could do what started doing, rather than always biking, run or jog a mile or two. I just ran in a 5k road race the other day. I didn't place, but I finished it in 30 minutes which is good for me. I set out with the intention to get back into shape. I was a smoker for 15 years, and as of march 2006, I'm now an ex-smoker. In 4 months I went from being about 30lbs overweight, to being only 10lbs overweight. I used to get winded just walking up a flight of stairs, now I can run 3 miles. It's not pretty but I can do it :) I basically started with one or two weight room workouts per week, then I mixed in some light running on alternate days, now I run twice a week, bike twice a week and work out with weights twice a week. Just keep finding ways to make it interesting and you'll do just fine.

Its not as much the distance as much as your heart rate while riding that distance.

220-age *.70 = your max rate at 70%(best performance for burning fat)

Ex

220-20 = 200
200 x .7 = 140

So my max heart rate should be around 140 when I exercise.

The tricky part is that at this rate you should only be doing 15 minutes a day or a little more.

I am not a 100% sure, but I imagine that you should have a lower heart rate if you are riding a much longer time.

My point I am trying to make is that you will continue to loose weight as long as you keep up the pace, riding 30 miles won't do you any good if you don't feel like it wore you out at all.

So my max heart rate should be around 140 when I exercise.

The tricky part is that at this rate you should only be doing 15 minutes a day or a little more.

I am not a 100% sure, but I imagine that you should have a lower heart rate if you are riding a much longer time.

My point I am trying to make is that you will continue to loose weight as long as you keep up the pace, riding 30 miles won't do you any good if you don't feel like it wore you out at all.

Simply awesome!

It's that kind of inanity that makes this forum such a great read!