I could have put this in General Questions, but I don’t know if there is a solid “factual” answer, and I wanted to open it more to opinions.
Roughly how many Bicycle Miles is equivalent to walking a mile? Three to one? Five to one? More? Less? Say, for the moment, a fairly level paved route, like a typical suburban street. Not too much up and down. If I can walk, say, six miles in two to three hours, how far would I be able to bicycle in the same time, and at about the same overall level of exertion?
Measuring with a heart rate monitor I burn similar calories in 60 minutes of brisk walking (6km/h) as I do in about 40 minutes of cycling at 20km/h on my comfort hybrid bike.
Walking an hour I cover 6km, riding for the same hour I cover 20km but am using 33.3% more energy to do so, if we take that off I guess in my case 6 walking km = 13.333 km or 1km walk = 2.2 km ride
However, I walk fast and ride slow, your mileage may vary (pun intended)
The generally accepted rule is that you burn 40-60 calories per mile travelled no matter how you travel: bike, walking, jogging, etc. (some method may be more strenuous such as in a wheelchair, etc.). The only real difference is how fast you cover that mile.
I don’t think I buy that with regards to biking. Walking and running are similar but even they differ a bit.
Biking is a whole other story. I have biked 80 miles in a day and was exhausted the next day but it was nothing compared to running/walking 50 miles in a day. I’ve biked 50 miles in a day and was only around as tired the next day as I’d be from dong 20 miles on foot (rough estimate)
Especially the downhill parts. And nearly any route will have some uphill and downhill stretches. A bicycle makes the latter pure joy…and takes much of the groan out of the former, too. I can’t quite figure that a mile takes the same energy via walking and biking. Like you say, it doesn’t feel that way!
I have only heard it as a rough guide for walking/running and it certainly doesn’t match my personal experience as someone who has measured both functions in my own body over the same terrain pretty regularly.
I’ve only been riding a bike for a few months but have been a hiker/walker for many years. My regular walk (not a long hiking trip, just a daily walk) is three miles and takes about 45 minutes. My most frequent bike ride is nine miles and takes about 45 minutes. I’d say the exertion is about the same.
That doesn’t sound right at all to me. There’s a bit of a myth that walking and jogging burn the same amount of calories, but I’ve never heard that also applied to biking, so if it’s a generally accepted rule, I have never heard of it.
Here’s a discussion of running vs walking. Running burns about 50% more net calories than jogging–124 net calories running vs 88 net calories for men (and 105 vs 74 for women, but this is weight dependent, not sex dependent.) Typically, these numbers are reported gross calorie loss (in other words, they don’t take into account the calories you would have burnt doing nothing), so the normal reported numbers would be even higher.
So I don’t know where that 40-60 calories per mile is coming from. On the cycling forums I checked out, the number seems to be 25-40 calories per mile depending on effort. That sounds more correct to me based on exertion levels and my own heart rate. The “rule of thumb” I found on those forums state 40 cal/mile cycling and 160/mile running, which may be a little optimistic on the running side, but, remember, people usually report gross calorie burn for exercise (which would roughly be about 15-20 calories for running, and about 3-7 for cycling).
Here’s a couple of recent articles about cycling and running by Dr. Gabe Mirkin. While running and walking are somewhat different, you still can get an idea.
So…three to one? I can much more easily believe that the exertion per minute is the same; I can’t really see how the exertion per mile could possibly be.
Can I come away from this thread with a “three to one” approximation?
(I walk a few miles most days…and haven’t biked for more than thirty years…)
Look at JerrySTL’s second link. At a leisurely pace, it looks like it’s about 3.5-4x. The rule of thumb I’ve heard is mentioned in that link, roughly, that it’s 4:1, but the link says that’s not true, as it depends on speed because of wind resistance. Typically, the effort for a marathon (26.2 miles) gets compared to the effort for a century ride (100 miles) in bicycling (which roughly fits the 4:1 ratio), but that article suggests that a century is significantly more strenuous once you get to at 15+ mph pace.
This is my first bike in well over 30 years. I didn’t start off with 9 mile rides; I’ve gradually built up to it … not with any sort of training program, just by riding a little farther each time. Since my bike related muscles are still building, I think the 3.5 to 4 times number sounds very reasonable.
Turble: When you first started (I mean recently, as you said, after 30 years) what kinds of distances were you beginning with? If I go and rent a bike for a day, would nine miles likely be a bit too much? I’m thinking of a nice six mile ride, mostly level, paved roadway, which I can generally walk in three hours.
(Heh! The same place also rents kayaks! I mean to do that, too!)
I didn’t know about the local trails when I bought the bike. I live on a slight hill and started out going (wobbling) about a mile up hill, pretty much coasting back, rest a while, and go again. I did that three times a day for the first few days – and the muscles on the tops of my thighs were worn out – totally different muscles than walking.
Once I found out about the local fairly flat Rails to Trails bike paths, I bought a rack for the car and hit the trail. I started riding a seven mile segment of the nine mile trail, and at first I stopped to rest once in a while. After a month or so I was doing nine miles nonstop on the trail and getting faster, and pedaling up the hill from home and around my little mountain town with no problem.
So yeah, mostly level and paved is fine for six miles. I’ve read somewhere that anybody in reasonable condition can ride a bike ten miles on level road. Just stop and rest if you feel like it. Take some water and a candy bar – you might decide to go twice.
I’m not a fanatic about it. I don’t dress like Darth Vader and I don’t consider myself “in training” or anything. I ride three to five times a week just for the fun … the exercise is a side benefit.
