robnol

I have been riding less and running a lot more lately....winter blahs I guess,and I wondered how far would I have to run to get the same workout that I get riding my usual 25 miles on the bike...for me its 9 miles of running equals 25 miles of bike riding...at the same effort level and calories burned.....what other athletic thing do you do and whats its riding equivalent time and distance

bpcyclist

I used to run 70 miles a week. Now, I bet I could barely run a mile. Running just wasn't fun anymore. Burnout or something. All I do these days is walk a fair bit, maybe an hour or so, about three times a week and the bike, which is 90 minutes a day, every day, rain or shine. Guess which one I enjoy more?

robnol

running is not as fun as riding ...but its a heck of a great cardio workout...

canklecat

I hate running. I'd rather ride a full century on a summer day than run a mile. And have done. Old neck injury with permanent C1-C2 damage makes running painful. Ditto mountain biking and serious gravel so I mostly ride roads, although I've had to use larger tires at lower pressure to cope with chipseal.

billyymc

I like to ask my running friends why they never learned to ride a bike. Some of them get very defensive of running. It's amazing how serious runners can be. I run a little in the "off" season but still have yet to find something enjoyable about it except stopping.

OldTryGuy

NEVER ran due to knee issues but got into marathon walking at age 60 using Chi Walking method with best time of 4:56:28 following a 5K on Friday, 1/2 marathon on Saturday and marathon on Sunday at Disney World's 2011 Marathon Weekend. Now bone on bone knees limit walking so 100+ miles biking on 2 or 3 days a week makes up for marathon timing since may latest Disney Marathon this past January took me 6.5 hours.

April of 2011 I bike crashed resulting in a small broken neck issue and my neurosurgeon would only allow me to walk as exercise while in my 24 hour a day neck brace. Couldn't even ride a stationary bike for 16 weeks.

FlMTNdude

I would rather run up the side of a mountain than bike a moderate hill any day. Needless to say I love to run. I do enjoy the bike a lot, more so as I am getting older and find I don’t hurt after a ride.

livedarklions

Foot and ankle problems make running for anything but a short distance a really bad idea for me, so it's absolutely no substitute for the distance biking I do for three seasons of the year. I do the elliptical machine extensively, which burns calories far more efficiently than cycling, but I can't tolerate anywhere near as much time on the elliptical as I can cycling. The gym is just so much more boring than actually riding somewhere.


I have absolutely no interest in riding snowy centuries every week, and I'm not a huge fan of being out in the cold, so it's gotta be indoors for me in the late fall and winter.

Flip Flop Rider

running meh

serious question, are there message boards for running enthusiasts? walking enthusiasts? if no, there might be a reason

Flip Flop Rider

Wow, you responded pretty quick!

no offense man, if you want to run, have at it. I ran for many years and am fairly sure that at some point in your life, you will stop too

as far as same workout compared to biking, I would say 5 miles running equals 25 miles biking just based on doing both for a while

to me biking is almost no effort (ducks) compared to running. I get enjoyment from riding and don't really look at it as a workout (even though it might be)

Flip Flop Rider

also, save your knees and just walk, running is not that much better

Lemond1985

10 miles on the ebike gives me the same workout as 20 miles on the old-fashioned "analog" bike. /s/

burnthesheep

Perhaps whatever the ratio that triathlons utilize on the three sports.

jpescatore

Rough estimate for calories burned is 40 per mile biking and 100 per mile running a mile, with no elevation gain. That says about 2.5 to one ratio. Triathlons are more like a 4 to 1 ratio.

I used to run some and bike a lot more, a 6 mile run for me was a lot harder for me than a 25 mile bike ride when I first started running. My wife has run a half marathon and felt it was much harder than a metric century (about a 5:1 ratio), but she is more of a runner than a cyclist.

But for me, it is more about time than calories - hours of elevated heart rate. A 2 hour+ bike ride is where the magic starts to happen for me, at least fitness-wise. That is about a 30 mile ride. At my 9-10 minute per mile "running" pace, 2 hours would be 10 - 13 miles but I've never run that far! So, I'd say a 6 mile run in 1 hour is about equivalent for me to a 30 mile bike ride in 2 hours - closer to my wife's 5:1 ratio.

She finishes faster and gets to drink wine while I'm still on the bike drinking warm water from a dusty water bottle...

robnol

I push myself to go farther faster on my bike .if I don’t I might as well be riding the 7 miles with my son to the store to get some icream

robnol

You tell me...

Moishe

I (68) ran regularly for 40 years and stopped completely a few years ago. I now bike about 4,500 miles a year. The difference between the two activities is this: I really enjoy cycling while I'm doing it, for hours on end. I explain why I've run for so many years with the classic joke about the guy who goes to the doctor and complains that he keeps banging his head against the wall; when asked why he keeps banging his head against the wall, the man says "Because it feels so good when I stop." Credit to Billymc above for telling this joke with extreme efficiency. I ran for 40 years because it always felt good to have finished a good cardio workout even though it sucked while I was running.

robnol

Nice someone with some insight and experience..... thankyou

robnol

I agree running is not much fun .... but the cardio workout is second to none....keeping ur heart rate at 140-150 for extended periods of time will leave u with the runners high

billyymc

On a bike ride, you can stop and have a beer in the middle of the ride!

billyymc

No disagreement that running is a good workout. I wish I could run better / longer. I can't, or I don't want to.

Let's face it, even a good runner never gets the thrill of descending at 40+ mph after a long climb. And the same time spent riding takes me to a lot more places than running would.

I-Like-To-Bike

Translation:
Thanks for having the "insight" to agree with the poster's opinion; as opposed to being someone/anyone who posts a different opinion, i.e. a "Troll!"

I-Like-To-Bike

Yeah! What kind of dummkopf would want to do that kind of waste of time slow joyriding, eh?

Jno

If I understand you, you’re asking the alternate means by which people achieve the fitness benefit of cycling, rather than asking how people feel about alternatives. When I am riding (my preferred exercise) I tend to burn 10-13 cals per minute and stay in zone 3 for most of it, depending on the length of the ride. I do not like circuit training but since I know I can push myself to those zones and with that range of heart rate and calorie burn per minute, that’s how hard I work. And since I don’t like it, I only fo it for one hr at a session, I never push harder and I achieve very little progress - it just lets me eat desserts.

burnthesheep

Oh, to add to the mix.........don't forget good old "running economy" as you improve.