what burns more calories? mtn. or road riding?

SkaredShtles · Jun 11, 2004

pnj said:
<snip>

what are your thoughts on this?

Generally speaking, at least around here, I would say that:

1hr mt biking burns more calories than 1hr road biking.

But that statement is so fraught with assumptions that it is basically useless.

-S.S.-

Roasted · Jun 11, 2004

On a really technical mountain I know 1 hr of mountain biking is supposed to burn like 750calories per hour. But like Skared said there are too many variables.

All I know is I am gaining weight. Eating better, drinking a lot less and riding a lot more on a much heavier bike and I gain 8 pounds...arg... I am gonna give up soon ..

Slugman · Jun 11, 2004

Roasted said:
On a really technical mountain I know 1 hr of mountain biking is supposed to burn like 750calories per hour. But like Skared said there are too many variables.
QUOTE]

What about when I take my fixed gear bike out... can't stop pedaling and I use my legs to slow the bike down too (no brake). I know that it heps me get in shape better than regular riding OR mtn biking.

Just don't lean into those turns!!!

reflux · Jun 11, 2004

Road biking.

In terms of losing weight, the goal isn't so much to burn calories, but to increase your metabolism. From what I know about the body, you do so not by short, hard efforts, but by longer and more sustained efforts.

Jozz · Jun 11, 2004

reflux said:
Road biking.

In terms of losing weight, the goal isn't so much to burn calories, but to increase your metabolism. From what I know about the body, you do so not by short, hard efforts, but by longer and more sustained efforts.

Exact!

I don't know the specific of it, but to loose weight your heart rate should remain lets say at 75% capacity (just a number not accurate) while in MtBiking you would have sharp peek at 90% and then down at 60% (again just speculating on numbers) So in theory road riding would be better, but why you see a lot of bellyed road biker might be due to the fact that they do not reach that 75% threshold for burning fat...

bikebabe · Jun 11, 2004

Road riders with bellies? Hmmm, guess that just shot my husband's reason for not riding his road bike into dust. He claims his belly gets in the way when riding on his road bike. :eek:

But, back to the question which IS loaded. For the same distance, I think mountain biking burns more calories. A 20 mile mountain bike ride is going to burn more calories around here than a comparable 20 mile road ride. However, when I compare my average road ride to average mountain bike ride, I probably burn more on the road because it's a sustained effort over longer distance with less chatting/breaks. As for overall workout, I think you get a better workout on a mountain bike because you also use your upper body...which you don't use on a road bike nearly as much unless you are going through fields Lance Armstrong style.

syadasti · Jun 11, 2004

From the sports literature I've seen, Mountain bike is the second most calorie burning sport you can do. Number one is XC skiing.

I think it really depends though on your skill level, terrain, how many lazy/slow people you have to wait for every few minutes, etc...

Skookum · Jun 11, 2004

This question is stupid, everyone knows that when the apocolypse comes, all the roads will be fraught with terror. Maintenance on roads will be nil, roadies who have no technical skill, will be forced to dismount every time there's a decent sized crack in the road. Not to mention they're all skinny and frail, they'll be no match for the radioactive zombie mutants from hell.
Nope much better to be a strong prepared technically sound mt. biker, it never hurts to be ready for such occasions.... :monkey:

Acadian · Jun 11, 2004

syadasti said:
From the sports literature I've seen, Mountain bike is the second most calorie burning sport you can do. Number one is XC skiing.

heard/read the same...

but I still think SEX is #1!!

Jozz · Jun 11, 2004

syadasti said:
From the sports literature I've seen, Mountain bike is the second most calorie burning sport you can do. Number one is XC skiing.

I think it really depends though on your skill level, terrain, how many lazy/slow people you have to wait for every few minutes, etc...

I though that it was F1 racing #1 and professional soccer players #2...

F1 racers heatbeat during a 2-3 hour races rarely go below 200bpm... ouch!

Clark Kent · Jun 11, 2004

A mile of dirt is equel to 3 miles of asphalt...or so I've read... :help:

syadasti · Jun 11, 2004

Clark Kent said:
A mile of dirt is equel to 3 miles of asphalt...or so I've reade...

Thats a sweeping generalization if I ever heard one. What kind of road vs. what sort of mtb trail?

Zark · Jun 11, 2004

Skookum said:
This question is stupid, everyone knows that when the apocolypse comes, all the roads will be fraught with terror. Maintenance on roads will be nil, roadies who have no technical skill, will be forced to dismount every time there's a decent sized crack in the road. Not to mention they're all skinny and frail, they'll be no match for the radioactive zombie mutants from hell.
Nope much better to be a strong prepared technically sound mt. biker, it never hurts to be ready for such occasions....

This confirms my suspicions, thanks for clearing that up Skooks. I gotta go, my cubicle mate seems to have a touch of that pink eye thats been going around.

The Toninator · Jun 11, 2004

Intensity is the factor in how many k/cals you burn.

other than that your personal observations seems a bit biased.

The Toninator · Jun 11, 2004

pnj said:
:evil:

I was just kinda going off the fact that you usually use the whole body, or more of it, when riding off road then on smooth roads.

Personally I KNOW I work more of my upper body mtb'ing then when roadieing. Now unfortunately I dont seem to work my midriff (belly) much doing either.

syadasti · Jun 11, 2004

The Toninator said:
Intensity is the factor in how many k/cals you burn.

other than that your personal observations seems a bit biased.

Sports studies say he right though...

From a physics standpoint, you can also think about the extra rolling resistance (of both tires and terrain/obstacles), less efficient body position (particularly for more technical riding where you can't run your seatpost in the sky, have long stems, or larger frame sizes) and suspension that absorbs more of the rider's energy

Serial Midget · Jun 11, 2004

As someone who does a lot of road and XC riding I can give you my experience...

1) I see plenty of fat mountain bikers.

2) I see plenty of fat road bikers.

3) They all need to to work harder.

:evil: :evil: :evil:

My other observation is to never assume a road bikers coast down hills - unless the grade is very steep I maintain my effort fairly consistantly up or down.

If you were going strictly for weight loss I would pick the road bike - your effort is sustained and that is good for weight loss.

The Toninator · Jun 11, 2004

syadasti said:
Sports studies say he right though...

I'M CALLING BULL****!!! :devil:

Show me just one "Sports study" that says Mtbikers bellys are smaller than road bikers bellys.

syadasti · Jun 11, 2004

Never seen a bellys or bellies study yet. Maybe you should start your own

reflux · Jun 11, 2004

Let's make a broad generalization shall we. Can we assume that the better shape you are in, the less you will weigh and the better chance you will have to lose excess weight? Now, why is it that a lot professional mountain bikers train a lot on the road? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Brian Lopes were a roadie judging by how fast he is on the mountain.

Regarding effort, a lot of the effort on a mountain bike is anarobic, the muscles are burning available sugar(?) for the energy source. In order to lose weight, your body needs to be using energy aerobically(sp?). I know that didn't come out right, but bear with me. Aerobic means that your body is breaking down energy storages (fat) in order to sustain activity levels. You train your body to break down fat by expending energy over a constant sustained activity level--road biking. The goal is to train in this manner so that after time, your body will start breaking down fat whenever you start exercising. I know I've skipped some stuff and haven't quite made sense, but it's been a few years since my nutrition class, so please add on.

The Toninator · Jun 11, 2004

reflux said:
Let's make a broad generalization shall we. Can we assume that the better shape you are in, the less you will weigh and the better chance you will have to lose excess weight? Now, why is it that a lot professional mountain bikers train a lot on the road? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if Brian Lopes were a roadie judging by how fast he is on the mountain.

Regarding effort, a lot of the effort on a mountain bike is anarobic, the muscles are burning available sugar(?) for the energy source. In order to lose weight, your body needs to be using energy aerobically(sp?). I know that didn't come out right, but bear with me. Aerobic means that your body is breaking down energy storages (fat) in order to sustain activity levels. You train your body to break down fat by expending energy over a constant sustained activity level--road biking. The goal is to train in this manner so that after time, your body will start breaking down fat whenever you start exercising. I know I've skipped some stuff and haven't quite made sense, but it's been a few years since my nutrition class, so please add on.

Aerobic respiration is the release of energy from glucose or another organic substrate in the presence of Oxygen. Strictly speaking aerobic means in air, but it is the Oxygen in the air which is necessary for aerobic respiration. Anaerobic respiration is in the absence of air.

Here is a molecular model of a glucose molecule. You do not need to memorise the diagram for you GCSE exam, but it should help you to understand that a molecule of glucose contains six atoms of Carbon (shown in blue), twelve atoms of Hydrogen (shown in green), and six atoms of Oxygen (shown in red).

http://www.purchon.com/biology/aerobic.htm

When you run very quickly, the oxygen in your muscle cells gets used up very quickly. This means that if you do not get any more oxygen you cannot respire using aerobic respiration. This can happen when the amount of oxygen being supplied in the blood does not meet the demand for oxygen the muscles need. If there was no other way of respiring without oxygen, then all activity would come to a sudden stop. Luckily we can respire for a short time without oxygen. This is called anaerobic respiration. Oxygen is needed to full break down the glucose and release all the energy stored in it. In anaerobic respiration glucose cannot be fully broken down and only a small amount of energy is released
http://www.longleypublications.co.uk/biology/KS3Biology/anaerobic.htm

Serial Midget · Jun 11, 2004

OK - here is a site that gives a rough breakdown.

Last Wednesday I went on a 36 mile bike ride and finished in 1:53:00 for a sustained average speed of 18.9 MPH. Accoring to this I burned 1790 calories.

Had I been mountian biking for the same TIME 1268...

Check Your Own Workout

reflux · Jun 11, 2004

Ton, where the hell did you learn all of this crap and how the hell do you remember it???

Would you agree that the main benefit from exercising is not the burning of actual calories, but increased metabolism?

Roasted · Jun 11, 2004

pnj said:
yea, it is kind of a loaded question or whatever. that is why I put it in this area not the healthy one.

roasted, is the weight you gained from fat or muscle?

I am hoping muscle. I do know my legs have grown as has my upperbody. But it is still frustrating none the less.

I do need to come up with a better way to check bf% again.

Serial Midget · Jun 11, 2004

pnj said:
how accurate is that thing?

I don't know. My own experience says that two hours on a mountian bike is not as hard as two hours on a road bike - I don't avoid the climbs on either.

Clark Kent · Jun 11, 2004

syadasti said:
Thats a sweeping generalization if I ever heard one. What kind of road vs. what sort of mtb trail?

Oh god, relax. Of course its a generalization, nice and simple. You ride a mile on dirt and the resistance caused by the surface and the larger tyre and KNOB creates a workout that GENERALY can be related to 3 miles of tar. Nothing to do with specifics. Argue the point with the 3 or 4 writers that have no idea about what they are talking about. :rolleyes:

Skookum · Jun 11, 2004

Serial Midget said:
Check Your Own Workout

cool ok here's a typical mt. trail ride (mt. bike 5 hrs.) 4896
here's a day at work (general construction 7 hrs.) 4435

Here's a road ride i do before i get too bored....
(bicycling 15 to 20 4 hrs) 5530

i call b.s., i know my body pretty damn good, i take my road bike for a spin for i dunno 60+/- miles with hills and i feel pretty tired, but mostly it's just lungs, i come home from work and cummutivally i feel pretty fatigued as well, but i get home from a mt. epic, climbing forest roads then bombing down technical singletrack, i'm beat dead, my body is begging for energy and rest.

syadasti · Jun 11, 2004

SM - I guess you take it easy

When I use to have one of those silly Polar things when I was younger, I always got higher rates while mountain biking. The highest I ever averaged on a mtb ride was 1200 calories/hr. The highest I ever averaged on a road ride was under 1000 calories/hr. This is measured and estimated using my actual measured heartrate, age, and weight on the polar device in Ithaca, NY (which is hilly on both the trails and road).

reflux · Jun 11, 2004

Clark Kent said:
You ride a mile on dirt and the resistance caused by the surface and the larger tyre and KNOB creates a workout that GENERALY can be related to 3 miles of tar.

You're forgetting one thing, wind resistance. The wind resistance encountered mountain biking is in no way comparable to what you'll ride through on a road ride. Sure, the dirt causes a lot, but we're also riding at much, much slower speeds than we would be on a road bike. Not counting race situations, your heart rate will likely be higher during a road ride than a typical mountain ride, as has already been stated a bunch a times. After all, why is there so much emphasis on your HR when training?

The Toninator · Jun 11, 2004

reflux said:
Ton, where the hell did you learn all of this crap and how the hell do you remember it???

Would you agree that the main benefit from exercising is not the burning of actual calories, but increased metabolism?

That was a cut and paste from the links provided but i've been trying to learn more about my body and how it works and this is one of those topics.

I guess i would agree with your statement in a general manor.

i would also like to add that i sometimes do my normal weekly road workout on my mtb at the same pace as when on the road bike and my avg heart rate is higher.

what burns more calories? mtn. or road riding?

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