Energy to ride a bike
Work is force times distance. When pedaling a bike, if you pedal too fast, you use too much energy moving your legs. If you pedal too slowly, in the limit, you can have all the force in the world, but if you don’t move the pedal, you get no work, which means no energy is expended bicycling. Studies show that pedaling at about 80 rpm is about optimum.
Interestingly, the distance from the bicycle pedal to the hub axle is seven inches, which is the same as the standard rise on stairs. I have an oval front gear on the awesome mountain bike my family gave me for my 81st birthday. It gives me about 20% more torque where I need it when climbing steep hills. It is an amazing climbing machine.
I had a great ride
Today, 27 April 2019, was a beautiful spring day, and I did a 725 feet vertical climb with my weight and the bikes at about 200 lb. that is 145,000 ft.lb. of work, which is equivalent to 47 food Calories of energy. Wind resistance and rolling friction will add a few percentage points to that.
Calories used in riding
About 20% of metabolism is used to run your brain and another about 20% gets turned into mechanical energy to pump your bicycle. The rest of the energy is used for evaporative cooling of your body and to run the rest of the body functions.
So I needed nearly 250 food Calories of energy to climb that hill. If it took me an hour to climb it then I would be dissipating about 55 watts of power. No wonder I got up a sweat.
Riding a road bike on the level at a good speed causes you to mainly work against air resistance, so the work done is about the same. One needs to consume about 250 to 500 Calories per hour to fuel your ride. A food Calorie is 1000 times a thermetric calorie. Fat is the best source of energy; one pound fat is about 4,000 Calories. One of these small calories can heat one gram of water one degree Centigrade. A gram is one cubic centimeter of water. Amazingly, one pound of fat will take about ten pounds of water to boiling! A lot of stored energy there.
May is National Bicyclist Month
According to the League of American Bicyclists , “May is National Bike Month, sponsored by the League of American Bicyclists and celebrated in communities from coast to coast. Established in 1956, National Bike Month is a chance to showcase the many benefits of bicycling — and encourage more folks to giving biking a try.”
I have written a blog article showing the efficiency and great benefits of bicycling. No pollution J, great benefits. Thank you family for buying me an awesome bike to enjoy nature, commune with the Lord, and make my body younger.