Originally Posted by
ericm979
If you ride the same 16 miles in the "fat burning zone" you will lose less weight than if you went faster, because you burn fewer calories.
Yours was the first time I saw the argument presented in terms of miles instead of time. To be quite honest, I thought it was probably wrong. I figured that if I rode 60 miles I was going to burn roughly the same number of calories per mile.
But I found this that supports your statement:
Calories Burned Cycling
Granted, I'm not going to be able to get my speed up from the 13-14 MPH I'm comfortable with over distances to something in the 18-20 range and be able to maintain it. So for maximum calorie burn, I'm slow by most standards.