Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It really depends.

I ride between 100-200mi/week, competitively on the weekends. I've lost 20lbs+ since December when I started for the season, and I eat 3000cal+ per day.

10miles here and there; however, diet is going to be a MUCH bigger factor.

Wow, I bet your job and your spouse love you for this. Do you have young kids?

Different PP. but my job loves that I am healthier, my commute takes about the same time as it did by transit. My spouse is happy that I am getting healthy and fit, and has a life of her own.

My kids are grown, so that is not an issue - some people ride with their kids, some use their commute to get in their exercise, so its not a big net loss of family time.

Anonymous wrote:It really depends.

I ride between 100-200mi/week, competitively on the weekends. I've lost 20lbs+ since December when I started for the season, and I eat 3000cal+ per day.

10miles here and there; however, diet is going to be a MUCH bigger factor.

Wow, I bet your job and your spouse love you for this. Do you have young kids?

OP, first of all, congrats on getting on a bike! Riding bikes is fun. Remember that. If it's fun, you will keep doing it.

Even a pokey recreational ride is better for you than sitting on the couch, and over time your stamina will increase and your heart and lungs will thank you.

The various trail systems in the area can be great for uninterrupted stretches where you can pick up your pace a bit, but they are popular will all kinds of folks, so Lance Armstronging it on a trail can be a little challenging.

One way to get more fitness bang for your buck out of a ride when you can't really get a bunch of consistent speed is to do the hilly bits. Pick a route that rolls a little, and don't avoid the hills. However, my 25 years of experience on a bike has taught me that keeping it fun is more important for consistency that keeping it challenging.

It really depends.

I ride between 100-200mi/week, competitively on the weekends. I've lost 20lbs+ since December when I started for the season, and I eat 3000cal+ per day.

10miles here and there; however, diet is going to be a MUCH bigger factor.

I'm cycling almost exclusively while I rehab a running injury. I wear a heart rate monitor to keep myself honest on the effort I'm putting into it. That's been more helpful than watching the speed I'm going. Cycling outside on trails is good, but I also put my bike on a "trainer" when I need to stay indoors. You can get a cheap trainer for around $100, and a really nice fluid one for around $300. I have the CycleOps fluid-based trainer and it's awesome.

It's harder to burn calories on a bike than it is on foot, but I have mostly maintained my fitness and avoided weight gain.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're just starting out so give yourself some slack. Cycling is a great aerobic exercise, but you have to work it. You can't expect it to do much good if you're cruising at 10 miles an hour.

I ride on average 10-12 miles an hour, and it appears to have helped with my weight, my LDL cholesterol, and my blood sugar. Of course that is commuting, which involves a variety of terrain, including uphills.

I am on strava and follow several friends, and almost NOBODY does 20MPH on their entire commutes. A few athletes manage 16-18 MPH on 90 minute commutes, most folks it is 12 to 15MPH for no more than an hour each way.

Note, how many calories you burn will depend not only speed and terrain, but on the weight you are carry (most commuters are bringing stuff with them) on headwinds, etc, If you are used to do an indoor bike, carrying nothing, no winds, none of the issues of the roads and trails you may have different notions.

I love Strava--I'm on there too. Can you recommend any DC area Strava cycling groups?

Anonymous wrote:You're just starting out so give yourself some slack. Cycling is a great aerobic exercise, but you have to work it. You can't expect it to do much good if you're cruising at 10 miles an hour.

I ride on average 10-12 miles an hour, and it appears to have helped with my weight, my LDL cholesterol, and my blood sugar. Of course that is commuting, which involves a variety of terrain, including uphills.

I am on strava and follow several friends, and almost NOBODY does 20MPH on their entire commutes. A few athletes manage 16-18 MPH on 90 minute commutes, most folks it is 12 to 15MPH for no more than an hour each way.

Note, how many calories you burn will depend not only speed and terrain, but on the weight you are carry (most commuters are bringing stuff with them) on headwinds, etc, If you are used to do an indoor bike, carrying nothing, no winds, none of the issues of the roads and trails you may have different notions.

It also depends on the effort you make. Remember the point of a bike is that it is easier than walking / running somewhere. If you want to start working on effort get a simple heart rate monitor. Don't focus on average speed because there are too many variables there.

I am obese and cycle 20 miles a day. I have lost no weight since i started. Losing weight is 90 percent diet,10 percent excercise.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You're just starting out so give yourself some slack. Cycling is a great aerobic exercise, but you have to work it. You can't expect it to do much good if you're cruising at 10 miles an hour. You don't want the outdoor equivalent of the guy in the gym on the recumbent bike reading the newspaper. A reasonably strenuous pace is closer to 20 mph and a good workout is 90 minutes+. Remember the cycling equivalent of a marathon is a century (100 miles).

I'm not OP but also very new to cycling. I am having problems getting to that 20mph pace--partially because I am having a hard time finding a long enough stretch where I don't have to stop for stop signs, major road intersections, etc. Last weekend I went for a ride in my neighborhood that ended up averaging about 10mph because I was literally stopping every couple minutes.
Any tips?

NP here. Personally I never got up to 20mph, though admittedly have a cyclocross bike. But for a while I commuted ~10miles each way 2-3x/week for work and trained for a century ride. Think my pace was generally around 15mph. And I thought that got me into pretty decent shape - certainly I was the thinnest I've been in recent years, and the biking was my primary training before a hike out west where I was able to easily handle 20+ miles and lots of elevation in a day. So I wouldn't worry about it too much.

That said for longer rides without interruptions I'd look at the bike trails / some of the roads outside the city where you've got longer stretches without interruption. Rock Creek park on the weekends is great for that, and I did a long training loop one time out River Rd to White's Ferry and back along the W&O that had lots of nice long open stretches.

Rock creek park closes beech drive in large sections in the weekend. Great place to ride for long stretches. You won't lose weight if you just cycle and not change your diet. Weight loss is about 80% diet and 20% excersise. That said, cycling is good and fun and will get you fresh air! Make sure you don't over eat now that you're expending more energy it may seem that you need to eat a lot more but most likely you don't. Good luck OP!

Anonymous wrote:You're just starting out so give yourself some slack. Cycling is a great aerobic exercise, but you have to work it. You can't expect it to do much good if you're cruising at 10 miles an hour. You don't want the outdoor equivalent of the guy in the gym on the recumbent bike reading the newspaper. A reasonably strenuous pace is closer to 20 mph and a good workout is 90 minutes+. Remember the cycling equivalent of a marathon is a century (100 miles).

I'm not OP but also very new to cycling. I am having problems getting to that 20mph pace--partially because I am having a hard time finding a long enough stretch where I don't have to stop for stop signs, major road intersections, etc. Last weekend I went for a ride in my neighborhood that ended up averaging about 10mph because I was literally stopping every couple minutes.
Any tips?

You're just starting out so give yourself some slack. Cycling is a great aerobic exercise, but you have to work it. You can't expect it to do much good if you're cruising at 10 miles an hour. You don't want the outdoor equivalent of the guy in the gym on the recumbent bike reading the newspaper. A reasonably strenuous pace is closer to 20 mph and a good workout is 90 minutes+. Remember the cycling equivalent of a marathon is a century (100 miles).

Depends. Calories in vs. Calories out. Work on getting time and effort on the bike up (it will come). Stay away from doing things like high intensity intervals, which don't burn many calories but leave you hungry.

My wife and I recently purchased bikes to help us get some movement in on days we don't go to a gym and to increase the amount of 'cardio' we do. We are both trying to lose about 20 lbs and although we know getting diet in check is important (and we are making significant strides there), we are both wondering how biking will help?

Right now we bike for fitness/enjoyment. Mostly we do small rides during the week - a few miles here and there and then a long ride on the weekend, 10 miles or so (remember we're new to biking).

Thoughts?!