Running versus biking

[Riprorin]

I run 4 miles everyday in about 35 minutes. What's an equivlent work out on a bike in terms of distance and speed?

I just finished a 50 minute bike ride and I don't feel that I got as good a workout as from my runs.

 

[mugs]

How hard were you riding? Ride harder.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

i don't know an equivilant rule, but I do know that 80-90% of the effort expended in Bicycling is due to wind resistance. Therefore, if you don't ride very fast then you won't get a good work out.



You should try to maintain these average speeds, depending on the bike you have:

mountain bike w/knobby tires: 14-15+ mph
road bike with 1 inch tires: 18+ mph

Furthermore, you can alternate sprinting and slower riding for a good work out. Sprint for 1/2 - 1 mile (thats 2-4 minutes), ride easy for 1 mile (thats 4-5 minutes).

find some hills...

Pedalling slower(50-90 rpms), but in higher gear will build muscle mass, give you a fatigued feeling in your legs.
Pedalling faster (90+ rpm), will work your cardiovascular more than your muscle mass.

Cycling is a great sport and excellent exercise. A lot easier on your body (my body anyways) than running.

 

[Riprorin]

Yes, it's definitely easier on the body. The reason I'm biking is that my achilles tendon is sore.

I need to strengthen my legs so I can get a better workout. My legs get sore well before I get winded.

 

[Triumph]

Problem is finding a route to ride, when you have to deal with traffic.

That's the main reason I run, because you need a lot more space for a bike route.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: Riprorin
Yes, it's definitely easier on the body. The reason I'm biking is that my achilles tendon is sore.

I need to strengthen my legs so I can get a better workout. My legs get sore well before I get winded.

Sounds like you using a gear that is too high. ideally you want to spin your feet at about 90-120 rpms, regardless of the speed you are traveling at.

 

[BG4533]

Originally posted by: yamahaXS

Originally posted by: Riprorin
Yes, it's definitely easier on the body. The reason I'm biking is that my achilles tendon is sore.

I need to strengthen my legs so I can get a better workout. My legs get sore well before I get winded.

Sounds like you using a gear that is too high. ideally you want to spin your feet at about 90-120 rpms, regardless of the speed you are traveling at.

I think that might be a bit high for beginner cyclers.

Running has always tended to tire me out more than cycling, but I dont know why. Right now I am riding about 30 miles on my mountain bike in a bit under 1:45. After the ride I am really not that tired, more like out of unused trail. After running for 30 minutes ata good pace I am usually pretty tired.

 

[Riprorin]

Originally posted by: Triumph
Problem is finding a route to ride, when you have to deal with traffic.

That's the main reason I run, because you need a lot more space for a bike route.

I'm lucky that I have a good bike path about 3/4 miles from my house that goes through some nice wooded areas.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: Riprorin

Originally posted by: Triumph
Problem is finding a route to ride, when you have to deal with traffic.

That's the main reason I run, because you need a lot more space for a bike route.

I'm lucky that I have a good bike path about 3/4 miles from my house that goes through some nice wooded areas.

Yeah lucky guy... the only thing made of wood in my area are the benches at the bus stops... other than that its concrete all around and idiot drivers.

 

[Sluggo]

There was a link awhile back where you could punch in your weight and it would give you a calories expended for lots of exercises, I wonder if anyone has that bookmarked.

Regardless, while cycling may not burn quite as many calories as running, there are great advantages to cross-training as opposed to just doing one exercise constantly.

My bike riding route is a 14 mile loop from my house around a local lake and back. Mostly flat but some minor hills, and usually windy here. I can almost always make the loop in 1 hour, unless it is a really windy day, then I can really feel it and it takes about 10-15 minutes longer.

 

[ElFenix]

they're building a bike trial (clearing?) right over next to the house here... flat as a mirror tho

 

[PCboy]

Originally posted by: Riprorin

Originally posted by: Triumph
Problem is finding a route to ride, when you have to deal with traffic.

That's the main reason I run, because you need a lot more space for a bike route.

I'm lucky that I have a good bike path about 3/4 miles from my house that goes through some nice wooded areas.

perfect for mountain biking.. i only bike toward the plazas, the nice residential side of my neighborhood.. other than that, there are no good places to bike... especially at night.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: PCboy

Originally posted by: Riprorin

Originally posted by: Triumph
Problem is finding a route to ride, when you have to deal with traffic.

That's the main reason I run, because you need a lot more space for a bike route.

I'm lucky that I have a good bike path about 3/4 miles from my house that goes through some nice wooded areas.

perfect for mountain biking.. i only bike toward the plazas, the nice residential side of my neighborhood.. other than that, there are no good places to bike... especially at night.

Get a gun rack for your bike.

 

[PCboy]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis

Originally posted by: PCboy

Originally posted by: Riprorin

Originally posted by: Triumph
Problem is finding a route to ride, when you have to deal with traffic.

That's the main reason I run, because you need a lot more space for a bike route.

I'm lucky that I have a good bike path about 3/4 miles from my house that goes through some nice wooded areas.

perfect for mountain biking.. i only bike toward the plazas, the nice residential side of my neighborhood.. other than that, there are no good places to bike... especially at night.

Get a gun rack for your bike.

yeah.. an m60 gun emplacement would be perfect...

 

[vegetation]

Try getting a heart rate monitor, then you can see the results for yourself. It's real easy to get your heart rate up by running, but on a bike it's harder unless you really push yourself hard.

 

[GiLtY]

I have some very nice hilly areas around here, and in order to get to some nice biking paths I need to climb hills also, so it gives me an incredible work out.

If you are doing flats you are not getting much workout unless you sprint a lot, but even that wouldn't give you as much workout as climbing IMO.

--GiLtY

 

[oboeguy]

It is definitely possible to get as tired in 35 minutes riding a bike as running. All you have to do is ride hard enough! Now I'm not saying push a huge gear at low RPM. Like a poster mentioned before, 90-120 RPM (of your pedals, not wheels, of course) is ideal, for flats or very gentle hills. Expect to slow that down a bit on real hills. Pusing huge gears at lower RPM stresses your joints a lot more and is only to be recommended if you like injuries (look at Jan Ullrich, a notorious "power" guy -- bum knees made him miss the 2002 Tour de France). As someone else mentioned, though, a beginner will have a lot of trouble "spinning" at such a high rate, so don't feel bad if you can't do it right away. Great, known spinners? Lance Armstrong and Miguel Indurain (10 Tour de France overall victories between them!).

How do you compute RPM? It's tricky without looking stupid or risking a crash unless you have a little "cyclocomputer" (a.k.a. speedometer) which measures the so-called "cadence". As a rider with some experience, I generally know when I'm in my sweet spot of 105-110RPM, but I still have a cyclocomputer which measures cadence to keep me honest.