Mileage theory

[DarcyInOregon]

Pooks, you will make the right decision for yourself. The question you asked about calories burned versus the weight of the bike really isn't that important, but it is a question that everyone who is going through your decision-making process asks. If it was an important criteria in the type of bike being ridden, you would see the majority of cyclists on heavy comfort bikes. You don't. Cyclists on the road are on road bikes, not comfort bikes, and they are all fit and healthy. Just look outside to see what is the norm and you will have your answer.

Darcy

[pooks]

Aha. While reading for other info in Bicycling Magazine's NEW CYCLIST HANDBOOK I stumbled across this interesting tidbit:

"But it is known that the energy used in cycling varies dramatically as speed changes, thanks to wind resistance."

How about that?

I keep thinking about the speed/distance thing, and how there aren't any really good places to ride near me that I could really ride 20 or 30 miles or more without simply staying on busy streets.

However, it finally hit me that (duh) the faster I can ride those miles, the more likely I am to drive somewhere else to ride. Total time consumed by riding would have to include travel time, after all. And of course there's the fact that easier riding would mean more fun riding.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Too many variables!!! BRAIN HURTING!

I find I bike faster when I wear my plain chapstick as opposed to my peach flavored chapstick. I figured it out: With my peach chapstick, it's so yummy that I occasionally lick my lips while riding. At 20mph, wet lips quickly become cold, and the resulting body heat loss slows me down by at least .000000000000072 mph.
From now on it's PLAIN chapstick for me on the road!

[pooks]

Lisa?

Go to your room.

[Geonz]

Pooks, you will make the right decision for yourself. The question you asked about calories burned versus the weight of the bike really isn't that important, but it is a question that everyone who is going through your decision-making process asks. If it was an important criteria in the type of bike being ridden, you would see the majority of cyclists on heavy comfort bikes. You don't. Cyclists on the road are on road bikes, not comfort bikes, and they are all fit and healthy. Just look outside to see what is the norm and you will have your answer.

Darcy

To base a decision on what the majority does assumes that what matters to them matters to me. It's worth looking at more closely than that. (In other words: why be normal )

'Round here, on any given bike rack, you'll see mostly clunkers. Of course, the bikes going by are not quite as clunker-dominated... there's a connection there, too.

[indysteel]

"Or that I'd end up working just as hard, but it wouldn't feel as hard?"

It seems like there's no easy answer to your original question Pooks, in part because there are so many variables beyond the weight of your bike. A heavier bike does takes more energy to move than a lighter bike all other things being equal. But your questions seem to imply that the weight of the bike is the only thing that affects how hard your workout is, and it's not. On any given bike, including a road bike, you can make your workout hard if you want to make it hard by riding it in a bigger gear, into the wind, up hills, at a faster speed, faster cadence, etc. Having worn my HRM on my road bike, I know I get a good workout regardless of how "smooth as silk" it may be.

The lighter weight of a road bike and, more importantly IMO, the position it puts you in, makes a road bike more efficient than your cruiser, which is one of the reasons it might inspire/allow you to do longer and faster rides and, ultimately, burn more calories, build more muscle, etc. I know you said your goal was to get a lighter bike that fits, but beyond that, what are your cycling/fitness goals? A lighter, better fitting bike might inspire you to ride more often and for longer stretches, but at the end of the day, you have to be motivated to ride and to work hard at it when you do.

But here's my experience for what it's worth. My first bike was a hybrid, and I road it about 300 miles before getting my road bike. Less than a year later, the road bike has about 3,000 miles on her. And the hybrid? Still about 300.

[mimitabby]

here's a generality for you:
take a look at who is riding the heavy bikes: are they the people that cruise down to the minimart to buy the newspapers or are they the ones doing 25-50 mile rides with the wind in their hair? (under the helmet i mean )
Sign up for a distance ride and see how many cruiser riders are on it.

There must be something to this light bike stuff or so many avid cyclists wouldn't be riding them.

[pooks]

I just realized the one bit of info I left out when I posed my question --

It's my husband who asked it. Or rather, has asked me, "Why would you get a lighter bike? If you're wanting a workout, you need to work harder, not easier."

I want a lighter bike because it will be more fun to ride. And I'm sure I'll ride more when I have a lighter one. As to my goals -- I think I want to be a bit of a jock for the first time in my life. I'm not sure what that means. I don't have a specific weight or size I aspire to. I just want to be able to ride distances and be physically fit. I said when I got my bike last June that in a year, I planned to be in better shape than I was ten years ago. Well, that's hardly likely, ahem, but I've finally accepted that a lot of that is because of how hard it can be to ride my bike, which makes me less likely to take it out when conditions will make it harder.

[Kano]

I just realized the one bit of info I left out when I posed my question --

It's my husband who asked it. Or rather, has asked me, "Why would you get a lighter bike? If you're wanting a workout, you need to work harder, not easier."

.

Pooks, that was MY husband's exact question!

My answer sounds kinda goofy when I say it out loud. I think he understood it.

And it wasn't so much a lighter bike for me, it was the ride style that I wanted to change. Lighter is mostly a really cool side effect.

I told him that I felt like if I could just get my butt up and back a bit, I'd have more power. The upright ride wasn't letting me get all I could out of my body.

Yup, I experimented with it on my first bike -- lean forward more, and push my butt back, sorta stand cuz the seat can't be any higher, and it was indeed a stronger ride, but the bike isn't designed to let me do that for very long!

Karen in Boise