eric von zipper

do you burn more calories carrying extra weight such as a backpack? without pack i'm 173, with pack i'm 188 that's a 15lb difference so would i burn more calories if i ride a hour with the pack?

Wulfheir

yes

eric von zipper

sweet. extra pie for me.

Enthalpic

Well on flat ground it won't have much effect. You needs hills.

Wulfheir

pie = good

i should say the number of additional calories you'll burn will be very small. like, less than the calories in a piece of pie.

eric von zipper

dang. nutin' but flat around here. no extra pie then...rats!

SSP

According to my calculations, a 173 lb rider, riding mostly on the hoods, over "rolling" terrain, at 17 mph, on a standard road bike would burn about 36.9 calories per mile (627 calories per hour). Adding 15 lbs of weight to the equation raises this to 37.7 calories per mile (641 calories per hour).

Bottom line...no pie

srrs

well, no pie unless it's an 8-hour ride..

in which case, i suppose, as much pie as you want!

Katrogen

Pie = quick carbs

spunky

I wonder if the rate of calorie expenditure would actually be a bit higher than this though. You took the weight into consideration, but what kind of effect would it have on aerodynamics? It seems that wind resistance would be increased as well. The other evening I was riding home from work with my backpack on and passed a buddy of mine. We went for a 30 mile night ride together and he said that he got a much bigger draft behind me than normal. I like to practice my sprints with the backpack on around the neighborhood as well.

DannoXYZ 

Open up a parachute behind you...

CdCf

Or wear a poncho while riding. The bigger the... "better"...

MikeR

or you could put a little more weight in the pack - about 400 lbs should do it!

tippy

d.tipton

TomM

Just don't let that thing deploy on a 40MPH descent.

fuzzthebee

No.

You'll just be slower.

recursive

Just hold your brakes down.