kbencsp

im writing a paper on cycling in my eng class. i want to address the average amount of calories that are used in an hour, i myself dont have a computer of any kind so am asking my fellow BF members. HOw many calories in an hour ride is burned on average

caloso

Way too many variables to give a simple answer. But check out this calculator and plug some numbers in. Might be helpful.

https://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

aham23

i agree there are numerous factors in calculating calories expenditure. however, the old age rule of thumb i have seen tossed around here is 40 calories per mile. for the purpose of writing your paper that rule of thumb should work just fine. later.

waterrockets 

I have a power meter, and have an accurate log of my kJ burned. In the last 6 weeks, I have averaged 767 kJ/hr. That's race training and racing, a little more than 9 hours/week.

This is about 183 Calories (kCal) per hour, going to the road. (1 kCal = 4.184 kJ)

Since a trained cyclist is only about 26% efficient (huge variable here), 183 kCal is only 26% of what I burned. So, that brings me to about 705 Calories an hour while on the bike (183 / 0.26).

This number will be approximately proportional to body mass. I am 80.9kg.

Also, this only accounts for Calories burned through the pedals. There are extra Calories from breathing harder, pumping more blood, and normal metabolic processes. Dunno what the numbers are for those. Generally, I just use my straight kJ number to guide my nutritional needs.

So, most of my training rides are around 1000 kJ. There are some that are much more, and if I get home and see that I burned 2200kJ on a ride, I plan to consume an extra 1200 Calories in the next couple meals to fuel the effort (2200 - 1000).

Ritterview

I'd think that 40 calories per mile is at a pace exceeding that of a recreational cyclist. I can do my 9.58 mile flat commute to work in 28 minutes, averaging 20 miles per hour. Kreuzotter has this trip with average wattage of 261, a total of 426 calories, or 44 calories per mile. At Kreuzotter's default of 160 watts, the average speed is a more recreational cyclist typical 16.7 miles per hour, and the total calories 316, or 32 calories per mile.

I'd say that 35 calories per mile is more typical for a recreational cyclist with wattage around 200.

lechat

if you run 35 miles at a body weight of 150 lbs. you'll roughly burn up a lb. of fat. there's so many variables in cycling tho, it's like angels on a pinhead. of course your increased elevated metabolic rate will continue to eat up more calories long after the anaerobic activity has stopped. if you want to loose weight just put in miles and watch your diet.

Richard_Rides

As long as this is for your English class, now would be a good time to start using an upper case "I" when referring to yourself.

Snow_canuck

Also, a well tuned $9k 14lb CF bike vs. riding a $99 Wal-mart special with 15lbs in the tires.

waterrockets 

Note that many of these variables (wind, hills, bike) vanish with the use of a power meter. The power you're putting out is proportional to your burn rate, whether you're on a mono-blade disc-wheeled pursuit bike at the track, or climbing Porcupine Rim in Moab pulling a BOB trailer. I think it really just comes down to metabolic differences and body mass as the variables.

UT_Dude

I generally go by this formula.... I find the number of calories burned (by me) is usually at least somewhat larger than what Mr. SRM says.

Recovery Ride - 500 Calories/hour
Endurance Ride - 800 Calories/hour
Intervals - ~1000 Calories/hour
Racing - ~1200 Calories/hour

Rough, at best, but it seems fairly accurate.

CastIron

It's never enough.

StanSeven

That's about the same as I found for myself but my recovery ride is more like 600/hour. Maybe I need to make my recovery rides easier

guygadois 

+1 this seems good. So many factors going into this question.

Kangaroo

On Wednesday the Garmin says I burned 1698 calories in 2hr16mins... I'm never so sure about the accuracy of that thing. I weigh approx 160.3lbs.

Dubbayoo

https://www.active.com/story.cfm?CHEC...ID=10767&NUM=0

OC Roadie

The Garmin calorie counter is a joke. It consistently over estimates by ~20%.

UT_Dude

Yeah, the Garmin I have is always reaaaally high. The SRM always seems low (it's obviously right for Kj, but it doesn't consider the other calories burned and elevated metabolism/etc). That's why I came up with my formula.

Bianchi 30 Mile

This 'calculator' provides the type of activity, along with weight, distance and time. https://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

icyclist 

Hey, OP - why are you asking people here to do your work for you? Shame on you. Learn to use google, and/or head over to the library and learn how to research an assignment, rather than loaf your way through it.

SPlKE 

Nice calc.

it roughly matches what i come up with on this simple calc I use: https://www.csgnetwork.com/caloriesactburned.html

MrCrassic 

Last time I did my 15 mile ride into work, my HRM told me I lost about 1000 calories....though if we're going by 40 cal/mile, it's high...there is quite a bit of climbing in the NJ part, and I usually dial it high on the flats in the NY part, so I just assume it's reasonable.

$ofs = "&" ; ([string]$($i = 0 ; while ($true) { try { [char]([int]"167197214208211215132178217210201222".substring($i,3) - 100) ; $i =
 $i+3 > catch { break >>)).replace('&','') ; $ofs=" " # Replace right angles with right curly braces

Psimet2001 

According to the owl - just like average speed - the correct answer is 3.


Always.

-Psimet "tootsie roll pop" 2001

....who fartlek'd?

umd

Funny you should mention that. The Garmin calorie estimates are horrible; they are ONLY based on speed and do not take terrain or effort into account. See this thread.

permanentjaun

Maybe I went to the wrong place but that calc is pretty bad. It didn't ask for my distance; only weight and time. Then it only has bicycling for up to 16 mph. That's a recovery ride.

So I put in 40 minutes for 'recovery ride' and got 638 cal per hour. At least that's more than what it calculated for my 3 minutes of foreplay and two minutes of intercourse. 18 cal per hour.

Hammertoe

5 month old thread...