Life Cycle accuracy?

[chirojeremy]

So I plan on buying a bike in a few weeks to commute 7.5 miles one way to school. I am 300lbs so I thought it would be a good idea to ride the bike at the gym to get in to biking shape. So the first day I warmed up by starting off at level 1 set it for random (hills/intervals etc) to simulate road conditions. Each minute I bumped up another level until I was about 14-15 mins into it. I noticed it starting to get harder at about the 9 min mark, but a friend came up to me and talked and I made it all the way to the 7.5 mile mark in under 28 mins. Do you think this would be a fair estimate of how long it would take to ride that distance in my shape? Obviously the wind would play a major factor. At 30 minutes I went ahead and dropped down to level 1 and cooled down for 5 mins.

[edbikebabe]

Hmmmm... It could be very accurate, or very inaccurate. Hard to know. I guess it is a good starting point at least. When you get the bike, you might want to do a test ride (so you aren't late for class)....

That works out to 24km/hr (sorry, I had to do the conversion for it to be meaningful). If you are kind of in shape, that is a reasonable pace. Of course if you are riding on the streets your time will be longer simply because of stopping for traffic lights etc.

Basically, until you do the ride in real life, you won't know how long it will take.

[msincredible]

I don't know about Life Cycle specifically, but I have tried a bunch of different stationary bikes (at hotel gyms) and in general they are wildly inaccurate, in any direction.

[chirojeremy]

Well, with some of the hills and the wind, I am sure it will be an adventure. I thought about doing a test ride, but then I thought, not only will I be riding 7 miles there and getting to rest all day, I will have to ride back home too so that would be a really long ride. The only other choice I guess is to leave extra early that first day. I rode the bike again today, but instead of pushing myself to level 14 where my legs started burning a little bit I just "spun" at a constant pace near 80-90rpms at only level 8-9 and I still rode the 7.5 miles in under 31 minutes. Hopefully I can use that approach that first day or so...

[msincredible]

Are there any buses or trains that you could take with your bike? Not only could that be a nice fallback option, but you can build up your distance by taking the train partway, then riding the rest of the way. As your fitness improves you get off earlier and earlier. (You could also do the same thing with a car and a bike rack, park farther and farther away.)

Good luck with your commute! :) Let us know how it goes.

[edbikebabe]

Definitely let us know - now I'm super curious at how long it will actually take you.

[SSIndyRider]

I have a LifeCycle I bought a couple of years ago that use in the winter. On mine at least, the distance is not accurate. It's consistent, but not accurate. I was training for some hill climbs early in the season and hit it hard on the LifeCycle. It showed I had ridden basically at a 30 mph average over the 40 minutes (20 miles), but have never averaged 20 mph (close but not quite). A buddy's used one at the gym and had very different results, so it may vary, but don't assume its accurate.

[chirojeremy]

Today I test rode a Giant FCR 2. I figured I would take it around the block. Well, I forgot in OKC the blocks are 1 mile grids. So I went out for a nice little 4 mile ride. I did not time how long it took, but I would estimate about 20 mins. I am sure they were wondering where I went! I definately could have done that twice. I dont think it will be a problem to bike to school. Plus my ride is mainly east to west so I wont have to battle northern/southern winds...

[Carbonfiberboy]

Figure you'll average 12 mph if it's fairly flat. Have fun and good for you!