How Much More Efficient is Cycling than Walking?

Calories burned in 10 minutes of activity

Cycling, 9.5mph

123-lb. Woman 56 calories
170-lb. Man 74 calories

Walking, 3.5mph

123-lb. Woman 45 calories
170-lb. Man 59 calories

(1) Cyclists cover 2.7 times as much distance in the same period of time as walkers. (9.5 mph / 3.5 mph)6

(2) 45 walking calories x 2.7 = 121.5 walking calories to cover same distance.6

(3) 121.5 calories vs. 56 calories: (121.5-56)/56 = 117%

So cycling is 117% more efficient than walking. That’s because cyclists travel nearly three times faster than walkers, but use only about 25% more calories to do so.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 30th, 2007 at 5:00 am and is filed under Cycling Reserach, Cycling and Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.