Originally Posted by BikeWNC
<snip> Perhaps a larger rider has a greater base metabolic Calorie need (depending on muscle mass) <snip>.
That's what we've been trying to get through.... As I have stated, and now BikeWMC has stated...if you used your same logic to think about cars then there would be
no appreciable fuel consumption difference between a small car and a truck (something that is not true). The only difference would be that the small car would just be able to "pull away" from the truck on hills
....
You guys are really stuck on looking at the problem through mechanical work balancing and conservation of energy. As a mechanical engineer I do appreciate the support, but you're not dealing with one system...but rather 2 systems, 2 machines...big guy has to keep a bigger machine running ...biologically....consuming more energy.