Tour De France Blog

Archive for the ‘bike riding’ Category

Specifically Jersey city.

Hi guys, I’m a new member to this site, and it looks pretty promising. I have a predicament which entails me having a healthier lifestyle. At 17 years old, 225 pounds (mostly muscle) I live in Jersey City, New Jersey, and I’m planning on bike riding 3-7 days a week, partially for fun, but mostly exorcise-oriented.

I added those details because I want to make it easier to answer my question, which is:

Is it a good idea to bike ride in the city to loose weight?
Even though its mostly muscle, there’s still an unacceptable percentage of fat on my body that I would like to loose. Hey there’s nothing wrong with a healthier body right?

Yeah, works great. Just be careful of the bad drivers! I live in Denver and bikers get wiped out all the time here.

I want to focus more on stomach fat. Would months of bike riding take care of this? How long would I have to ride.

Cycling is a great way to lose weight. You can’t spot reduce, the fat comes off every where at the same rate. Start out with short rides until your butt gets use to the saddle. You want to do a very easy 10 min warm up ride and then start pedaling at 70-90 rpm’s in a gear that is easy to spin. You want to ride for time and not speed. Work your way up to an hour a day and you will see results. Cycling will help to reduce your appetite so ride before you eat. A proper diet will help you to lose more weight. Give yourself a few weeks to get your metabolism up and running. You want to avoid that I can eat more because I am exercising trap. It is too easy to out eat any calories you burn on the bike.

I ride my bike 45 min. everyday and am riding up and down hills. I have to work my legs pretty hard to get up the hills. I would think that this is moderate but am I right?

A heart rate monitor will tell you. A moderate pace is 70-80% of you max heart rate. You should be able to talk but not sing at a moderate pace. I like to climb hills so I can get stronger so I am way over my max heart rate and gasping for air by the time i reach the top. Pedaling at a high cadence 70-90 rpm’s in a gear that is easy to spin will help keep your legs from getting tired.

I have been considering getting a bike to start riding. I have about 75 lbs to loose and I would like to loose it by bike riding. Has anyone lost a bunch of weight just from starting to ride a bike regularly? How many miles/week would you recommend to start out?

I have lost 25 lbs. But there is nothing magical about biking or any other exercise. You need something you like (biking for me) so you will stay with it. An important thing to realize is exercise alone will not do it. YOU MUST DIET! What exercise does is keep your metabolism up while you diet. Dieting causes your body to slow your metabolism down to save energy because you are not getting as much. Exercise keeps your metalbolism up. I can’t tell you how many miles a week you can do. Start out every other day with what is comfortable and build up. 15 to 20 minutes is absolute minimum for an aerobic workout. I generally do 60 to 90 minutes depending of how much time I have

For instance, how many miles do you have to ride to burn as many calories as you’d burn by walking a mile? And how many flights of stairs would you have to climb to get the same result? I ask because I wish to maintain my current level of fitness, but want to increase the flexibility of my program. Over the past year I’ve averaged 16 miles a day on my bike and walked for at least half an hour. I’d like to substitute some stair climbing for some of the bike riding and walking on the days I work.

mmh! I run for an hour every day (it’s the best all around work out IMO. Some say swimming, but swimming is easier to be lazy with and not put your all in to). Running for 30mins a day burns something like 750calories out of your diet. Jogging comes in second at something like 400. Then walking comes in third at 100 or 150. Running is the best and easiest. I wouldn’t know about cycling. I tried cycling for awhile but it just wasn’t as consistent as running.

If you’re trying to save time but maintain the level of exertion, just run.

I feel comfortable running a 5k…I am curious about the miles I should ride the bike. I would do this 5 days a week.

The answer is wholly dependent on what you want to accomplish. Also, I’m not sure if you want to run and ride 5 days a week. Most people wouldn’t run and ride the same day but you certainly can if you want to.

For basic fitness a 45 minute ride at a resonably hard pace would be very good. If you run the same day it would tack on about 20 minutes for a little over 1 hour of exercise that would be great.

Probably a better solution would be to ride 3 days a week for about an hour and run 2x a week.

If you want more fitness or are training to some end you would adjust accordingly.

I’ve been trying to ride my bike more often lately to lose weight, but it seems like I run out of energy really quickly. It’s usually around 100 degrees outside when I ride, and it’s in a park with a bunch of bumps and rough terrain. Usually I’m only able to bike for about half an hour before I start to feel tired.

Any suggestions on what I can do to build up stamina?

I had the same exact experience just yesterday. I think you simply build stamina by working a little more each time- going a little further each time. I, too, was out in extremely hot weather, and that definitely has something to do with it. I won’t be going out on extremely hot days anymore. It can make you sick.

My neighbor is 11 going on 12. He loves running and bike riding, and I’ve heard hes going to run a mile a day, bike riding and wight lifting. Just wondering if this is healthy for his age. Thanks.
Thanks, and remember guys. Hes 11. I dont think it would be good to be eating Acai berrys at his age.
Sorry if I asked wrong, I meant is that healthy enough per day?

The running and biking are fine… any cardio is good for a kid, the more the better. The weight lifting, however, will stunt his growth.. you shouldn’t weight lift until your done growing.

I’m a big time biker. In the summer I was biking about 20 miles a day, and when it started getting cold I stopped. I’m getting bored staying indoors all the time and I want to pick up biking again (even though there’s snow on the ground/sidewalks).

Are there any safety precautions, besides dressing warm, that I should take prior to riding in the snow?

Snow isn’t as big of a concern as ice is, particularly packed ice underneath a layer of snow you can’t see. The only way to get traction on ice is a set of studded tires. If you think you want to become a year round cyclist, a set of studded tires might be a good investment if you live in an area that gets a good bit of snow every winter. If snow and ice in your area is a sporadic thing, just stay off the bike when it is icy. Another consideration to keep in mind is that you need to make sure you keep your bike very clean when you ride it in the winter, as road salt will eat your components, which could cause accidents on down the road.

Also, don’t forget to drink plenty of fluids while riding in the winter. Even though you aren’t sweating as much as in the middle of the summer, you can still dehydrate. Some claim that the electrolytes in sports drinks keep them from freezing as quickly as water, but I haven’t tested that myself. If that is the case, you might want to fill your bottles with sports drinks instead of plain water.

Also be sure to dress in layers, so if you get too hot, you can take something off. This will probably necessitate some sort of bag or basket on your bike. Fenders are also incredibly useful, both to keep salt and nastiness off of your bike, and to keep you cleaner and drier.

Be sure to always ride with your lights on in the winter, even in the daytime, as motorists certainly don’t expect there to be cyclists about. Don’t be afraid to get off and walk the bike if you are in a heavily trafficked area with a lot of snow and ice on the road. If you lose traction and fall in front of a car, it may not be able to stop, and if it loses traction, it may not be able to avoid you. Alertness is key.

Good luck!

i rode my bike about 23miles and im wondering how many calories i burn in all and how many calories you burn every mile while biking?..what burns more fat biking or running?

it depends how fast you were going