Originally Posted by
irish pat
One thing that I have not seen taken into account on this topic is efficiency. I can take two months off the bike and burn a lot less calories riding 40 miles at 20 mph than I could have two years ago, the reason being my riding is more efficient. I pedal full circles, I know when to push myself and I know when to take it easy to bring in a good average speed a whole lot better than I did when I was a beginner-I can get into a more aero position saving even more energy.
The bottom line, I believe, is watts out = energy burned. If it takes you 300watts to ride 20mph, you will burn more energy than if someone is only producing 200 (wind, drafting, weight, etc).
I definitely have a ramped up appetite after a long ride. It actually takes a few hours for it to kick in, then pretty much anything is fair game - especially junk food. It's take a fair amount of restraint not to eat a whole bad of oreos.
