Distance or Speed

I suggest you get a book on excercise physiology to help you understand better. For weight loss, for example, on a bike, you burn calories and fat only if you keep your heart rate below around 65% of max if I recall correctly. From what I recall, too, is that time on the bike relates more to health than how fast you go or what distance you travel. Basically, those who spend more time on their bike, whether by doing intervals or just cruising, the more the better.

It depends on the reasons for why you are cyciling... I ride to and from work every day so my distance is set (15.23Km each way), so I measure my level of improvement buy trying to get to work/home faster each time. What started out as 45mins two and a half years ago, now only takes me 20mins. The improvement was done by me trying to increase my average speed...What use to be approx. 17Km/h is now 45Km/h...

On the odd occasion that I go for a long distance ride, I'll set my pace to the fastest comforble speed (i.e. it's fast enough to work a sweat but, not so that I'll be huffing and puffing...you have to know your own body limits for this. For me it's around the 30-32km/h mark ). I've been told that this is the ideal pace where fat/calorie burning will be at an optimum (about 130bpm heart rate). At this rate you can go for miles and miles and not realise that you're getting an excellent workout, so enjoy the ride.[img]cycling.net.aucool.gifOpen ↗[/img]

I am limited by my time, so I tend to try to set a fairly quick pace.

119 views and only 26 votes? Do people not like polls in this forum? 🙄

I'm a relative beginner. As such i'm always going to focus on distance and endurance, before I start worrying about my speed.

cycling_jedi said:

119 views and only 26 votes? Do people not like polls in this forum? 🙄

Yea i know whats the deal? hah.. i started a poll not too long ago.. and it died.

willocrew said:

Yea i know whats the deal? hah.. i started a poll not too long ago.. and it died.

I think your poll is flawed (for my opinion to be exact anyway.

I ride for the hell of it, but when I set a goal, it is distance related.

Also as related to weight loss, I know I heard once that the calories burned per mile walking is virtually idential to the number of calories burned running the same distance (some difference, but not enough to target caloric intahe as the difference)

I assume the difference is similar in cycling. If two similar riders each ride 10 miles, the difference is negligible between someone riding at 10 mph and someone riding at 15 mph. Logically there will be more difference in cycling because the speeds are high enough that wind resistance increases at higher speeds...

If you are looking to burn calories, I think mileage is the closest measure, but to get the mileage in, you could do better riding faster if you have time constraints.

The bottom line is to find what keeps you on the bike. 🙂

while my ultimate goal is to ride for my health, i just enjoy a good workout with "cool" sights. i rarely know where or how far i'm going to ride. i just start pedaling.

generally speaking, my [censored] can't handle rides longer than 30 miles so i tend to focus on keeping a pretty swift cadence.

I go for a fixed time. One hour on the trainer or two hours on the road. How far or fast I go on the road depends on the terrain and who I am riding with, but I really do not care, as long as I spend two hours riding.

RickF said:

I go for a fixed time.

yup same here, not 'for the hell of it', not 'for distance' or 'for speed' hence I could not vote 🙂 but rather I ride for Time In Heartrate Zone.

It's hard to cast a vote. I ride because I enjoy it. Though I strive for speed, I focus on distance. Thus, I feel that speed and distance are intertwined.

All the best!

Angelo

Distance, like I've said many times I'm a runner by heart and I think the ultimate test of how good you are in shape is a marathon or longer 😄 none of this 100m [censored].

I ride to get safely from A to B. If I get there 5 minutes earlier one day, great, but it's not a priority. Distance is also not a priority. I go where I need to go. I'm also not just riding for the hell of it. I have a destination in mind.

With all this background, I didn't vote in this poll.

Reins said:

Distance, like I've said many times I'm a runner by heart and I think the ultimate test of how good you are in shape is a marathon or longer 😄 none of this 100m [censored].

Yes...but I'm sure you'd want to do it in the best possible time/speed. Why else would they hold marathon "races"...everyone will finish the distance eventually, but it's the speed that seperates winners from losers.

Cycling is the same; everyone will eventually finish a 150km ride (5 hours, 5 days or 5 weeks), but I think everyone will try to finish as fast as they can.

....and that's my 2 cents worth😎

Distance is more important to me,but I always try to maintain the highest speed I can manage.The area I live in is hilly,so my speed averages are quite low,about 12-13mph on my mtb and 11-12mph on my old 3 speed Hercules,which is tougher going up hill,but quicker downhill and on the flat.
I cycle up to 160 miles a week,with an average of about 120 miles,but my mileage recently is declining with the worsening weather conditions,I'm definitely considering getting an excercise bike.

atomship47 said:

while my ultimate goal is to ride for my health, i just enjoy a good workout with "cool" sights. i rarely know where or how far i'm going to ride. i just start pedaling.

generally speaking, my [censored] can't handle rides longer than 30 miles so i tend to focus on keeping a pretty swift cadence.

That's the main problem,the old [censored] can't take the distance even if the legs and lungs can,I once had a lot of prostate probs,almost certainly attributable to cycling long distances,I was back and fore to the bog all night,just too many hours in the saddle🙁

Mr888 said:

Yes...but I'm sure you'd want to do it in the best possible time/speed. Why else would they hold marathon "races"...everyone will finish the distance eventually, but it's the speed that seperates winners from losers.

Cycling is the same; everyone will eventually finish a 150km ride (5 hours, 5 days or 5 weeks), but I think everyone will try to finish as fast as they can.

....and that's my 2 cents worth😎

But not every ride is a race. In fact, not many rides are races. Most training rides are long steady distance. Only a few of the rides are for speed.