How many calories does cycling burn?
How Many Calories Does Cycling Burn
It may surprise you that the question "how many calories does cycling burn" gets asked of us many, many times during our cycling tours. It does seem to be something our tour guests care about.
We aren't dieticians nor are we scientists, but we know cycling burns calories, but just how many?
The Method for Calculating How Many Calories Cycling Burns
According the Calories Burned HQ, the exact number of calories burned cycling depends on a couple of factors:
- Your weight: The heavier you are the more energy is required to move
- Your speed: In very simple terms, the faster you ride the more calories you burn (heart rate is the key here, the higher obviously the more intense and the more energy is needed)
- Your time cycling: Again in simple terms, the longer you ride the more petrol you need.
Example
So how does those variables work on a typical day on a cycling tour? Our tours do vary but here are some average numbers:
Let's take a typical/average weight of 80kgs (we like our cheese and the odd vino!)
- Assume we cycle on our tours at an average speed of 18 kms/hr
- And we spend a total of 3 hours cycling (lot's of stops in between).
- Total distance is therefore 48 kms.
How many calories would that burn?
In this example, the calories burned cycling would be just over 1,700.
Of course the other side of the equation is how many calories are we taking in? Perhaps that's for another blog post, but tasting cheese, beautiful local produce and a glass of Pinot Grigio is probably balancing the calorie count a bit! We do enjoy our gourmet treats whilst on our bike tours.
The Actual Formula to Calculate Calories Burned Cycling
Men: [(Age x 0.2017) — (Weight x 0.09036) + (Heart Rate x 0.6309) — 55.0969] x Time / 4.184.
Women: [(Age x 0.074) — (Weight x 0.05741) + (Heart Rate x 0.4472) — 20.4022] x Time / 4.184.
So you have the formula for burning calories, now we just need to control the consuming part!!
Do you count calorie burn when cycling, or not? Comment below.
Bike Ride Suggestions
Want to burn some calories yourself?
Why not jump on a fun cycling tour with us and combine some calorie burning with a great travel getaway. Your endorphins will be buzzing and it is an environmentally friendly way to travel, so you're doing the planet good as well as yourself!
See our list of cycling trips.
