Road Cycling

[Martynt74]

Whilst I'm definitely one of those people saying it's not good for a lot of people, I wouldn't say everyone should ignore it. It's like saying everyone should ignore their weight. That's all it is really, isn't it? Weight with some context of your height. You of course need more context and as I said above, for us in this thread, I think it is pretty useless, but I would imagine for a lot of people that don't exercise and generally live fairly sedentary lifestyles, if they're marked as obese they probably do need to do something about it.

I agree, as @fez says, for most people it's a pretty decent metric, and there generally are only 2 people who argue against it. Those who exercise and therefore have a greater than average muscle mass (average being compared to most people sat on the sofa for example) who get told they're overweight, and those who it tells are overweight and don't want to hear it so blame BMI as useless.

My reading puts me at 26.7 which is slightly overweight and the calculator suggests losing ~5kg to drop down to around 90kg to be at the upper end of the healthy range. I would say thats perfectly good advice and is where i'm aiming to be anyway. To say it's useless is a bit foolish.

I would agree with the range being pretty bizarre though. A healthy range for me is 67kg to 90kg. I guess at 70kg i'd be very thin and look a bit daft by modern standards but probably not unhealthy low which is what it's getting at.

 

[SoliD]

Just seen that CRC now offering hermes drop off for free again!

 

[fez]

Just went on my first ride with the new Garmin 830 I recently bought and a 2hr ride of 34 km and 470m of ascending apparently burned 1390 calories. That seems very high. I'm 82kg so perhaps thats part of the reason but still...

 

[Junglist]

Since using my Wahoo Tickr my calories burned have sky rocketed since just tracking with an Apple Watch. Like a significant jump

 

[Martynt74]

Just went on my first ride with the new Garmin 830 I recently bought and a 2hr ride of 34 km and 470m of ascending apparently burned 1390 calories. That seems very high. I'm 82kg so perhaps thats part of the reason but still...

I agree, it does seem quite high, but i guess it depends on your fitness level and HR more than anything.

Are your settings correct in Garmin for age/height etc?

 

[fez]

I agree, it does seem quite high, but i guess it depends on your fitness level and HR more than anything.

Are your settings correct in Garmin for age/height etc?

Fitness levels are poor but my base fitness is reasonably high compared to the average human as I have played sport at quite a high level for most of my life. Hard to say really. HR I have no idea.

Height and weight are accurate.

 

[AndyCr15]

HR is a pretty key factor in calculating calories I think. If you don't have one, it's worth getting a chest strap for about £35. Calories sound about right to me though. What were you expecting?

A quick google for calories burned in an hour cycling says -

Based on the speed and intensity of your ride, you can burn as little as 245 calories on a leisurely ride ( < 10 MPH) and as much as 1022 calories on a very vigorous ride (16-19 MPH)

So anywhere from 500 to 2,000. 1,400 sounds perfectly plausible...

 

[fez]

What were you expecting?

I'm not sure really. Less than that

I think that I am used to the idea that most exercise doesn't actually burn that many calories during the activity itself so I was just surprised how high it was. Will have a look at getting a cheap heart rate monitor.

 

[SoliD]

HR is a pretty key factor in calculating calories I think. If you don't have one, it's worth getting a chest strap for about £35. Calories sound about right to me though. What were you expecting?

A quick google for calories burned in an hour cycling says -



So anywhere from 500 to 2,000. 1,400 sounds perfectly plausible...

1000 calories in an hour is about 280W I think.

 

[Lethal`]

1000 calories in an hour is about 280W I think.

Pretty much bang on. I rode 1h1m at 283w the day - 1030w.

1390 doesn't strike me as insane for 2 hours. It's possible but if you don't even have HR it's pretty much a guess.

 

[Jonny ///M]

1hr at 247w was 895 calories for me today.

45 mins at 314w was 843 calories.

2h 45 mins at 230w was 2,233 calories.

 

[SoliD]

Pretty much bang on. I rode 1h1m at 283w the day - 1030w.

1390 doesn't strike me as insane for 2 hours. It's possible but if you don't even have HR it's pretty much a guess.

167W = 10 calories a minute in pure energy terms.

 

[Lethal`]

Before I had a PM the numbers Strava reported were definitely less than actually burnt. Was kinda eye opening.

 

[Vandle]

I get three calorie readings from a ride. I presume my whoop is correct. The Garmin Edge is always massively high, out by as much as 50%. Strava estimate is a bit closer and within 10 to 20% but usually lower.
I think the more metrics it can measure the closer you'll get it. Edge knows nothing and is basically guessing, strava my height and weight. Whoop my height, weight and heart rate.

I think your 830 is definitely reading high @fez . My last ride, albeit indoors, was 1,650 cals. 55km in 1hr50. 940m up at 93kgs.

 

[AndyCr15]

I think your 830 is definitely reading high @fez . My last ride, albeit indoors, was 1,650 cals. 55km in 1hr50. 940m up at 93kgs.

As said, above by a few of us, I don't think so. 700 cals an hour is probably within 100 cals or so of accurate and actually sounds about right. Also as said, Watts is the important thing and Strava is quite good as it will try and estimate the watts given you size and the speed you covered the distance you did...

 

[Trifid]

Unless you are monitoring power you are not going to get a accurate calorie count. For me with a low weight I get a much lower value.

 

[fez]

Went out on a short little 16 mile ride this morning to take advantage of the weather. Aren't too many things better than getting out in the sunshine on a nice ride on beautiful country roads at this time of year. Has given me lots of ideas for where we can move to when we buy our next house as well. There are so many beautiful houses around Tunbridge Wells as soon as you go off the main roads.

 

[kidloco]

Managed to bag some goodies off the bay today.

Shimano ULTEGRA R8000 2x11 Speed Shifters
Rear derailleur R8000 gs
Front derailleur R8000

All brand new, for £270. Seemed a bargain.

My Cannondale Synapse carbon is running Tiagra 10 speed at the moment, although I already upgraded the crankset to a SRAM Force22 as got that at pretty much half price.

So just need to pick up a 11-speed cassette then I have a little upgrade project on my hands. I upgraded the tecktro rim brakes that the bike came with to 105 recently, I know upgrading to Ultegra would give any performance gains but.................

Oh, in other news, the change of tyres from 25mm Continental GrandPrix 4 Season to 30mm Continental GRAND PRIX 5000 has been a game changer. So much more comfort and grip, and the pinch flats have gone completely.

 

[Junglist]

Going to try my first serious climb tomorrow. It's not huge in the grand scheme of things and is only one hill but it would be the biggest thing I've tackled to date.

I'm not 100% sure which one we'll do yet as we'll decide in the morning on the route but the two contenders are... Maiden Head which goes out towards Dundry and the Cotswolds. If we had more time we'd go this route and on towards Cheddar Gorge. It's always a fun descent but we only have 2.5 hours spare. Or the second option is out towards Bath and try Bannerdown Road which you may or may not have seen on GCN videos. Cycled down it a few weeks ago and while it seems like it will be tough, it doesn't look like something I wouldn't be able to get up.

Probably minor bumps in the road to some of you but I'll feel a nice sense of achievement if I get up either in one piece

 

[AndyCr15]

Interesting question on GCN Tech this week...