Drafting vs. Not Drafting Calories Burnt?

Drafting reduces the workload by 30%, on average. I'd say that roughly
means 30% less calories. Lots of variables and it depends on speed and
grade but that seems reasonable.

Musashi

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:33:37 GMT, "Monty" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

A coworker was asking how much energy is saved by drafting. All I could say
was A LOT. Do you guys know of a web page that would have information on
calories used when doing " a pull" vs. drafing?

I know, there are lots of variables, but any documentation would help.

Thanks

Monty

<Musashi> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Drafting reduces the workload by 30%, on average. I'd say that roughly
means 30% less calories. Lots of variables and it depends on speed and
grade but that seems reasonable.

Musashi

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:33:37 GMT, "Monty" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

A coworker was asking how much energy is saved by drafting. All I could
say
was A LOT. Do you guys know of a web page that would have information on
calories used when doing " a pull" vs. drafing?

I thought is was about 15% if you're second in line, 30% if you're fourth in
line, and 45% if you're in the middle of the peleton. Does anyone know if
this is in the neighborhood?

Bestest Handsander said:

I thought is was about 15% if you're second in line, 30% if you're fourth in
line, and 45% if you're in the middle of the peleton. Does anyone know if
this is in the neighborhood?

Here's the abstract for an article entitled "Energy expenditure
during bicycling":

http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/abstract/68/2/748

In _Serious Cycling_, 2nd ed., on pp 248-50, Burke cites a similar
study by two of the same authors. According to that study, drafting
at 20mph (32km/h) reduced oxygen consumption by 18% versus riding
alone; drafting at 25mph (40km/h) saved 26%. Riders from second
to fifth in line all realized about the same savings. Drafting in
the middle of a group, however, resulted in a savings of 39%, and
drafting a truck saved 62%. Margins of error were 6-8%.

--
Michael Fuhr
http://www.fuhr.org/~mfuhr/