Bike Trainer Calorie Consumption
Oct. 10th, 2015 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogMore bike stuff warning!
I just did some more school reading, and am taking a break and looking for more information about calculating calorie use on a trainer. I've found a couple of useful resources that should let me do that.
First is this set of speed-to-power (in watts) curves for a large set of bike trainers. The one I'm looking at buying is first on the list! These curves are intended for use with a hardware sensor that attaches to the bike, but I don't need that to use their calibrated power curve for my trainer with this set of equations that will convert power expenditure in watts into calories burned.
It looks like if I pedal around 20 mph (100 watts) on the Ascent trainer for an hour, that equals about 360 calories. That seems pretty reasonable in comparison with Fitbit's estimation of my calorie use on my commutes in Wisconsin (which was validated in practice over a long period via Fitbit calorie tracking and modulating my caloric intake).
I don't have the fancy sensor that first site sells that connects via USB, but I do have a bike computer that will give me my average speed on a ride. Unfortunately, its sensor is on my front wheel, and the back wheel goes in the trainer so I may end up moving the sensor. If I do that, I can look at my computer to see my average speed over a given session, then compare that to the trainer's power curve and calculate calorie usage.
I like that.
I just did some more school reading, and am taking a break and looking for more information about calculating calorie use on a trainer. I've found a couple of useful resources that should let me do that.
First is this set of speed-to-power (in watts) curves for a large set of bike trainers. The one I'm looking at buying is first on the list! These curves are intended for use with a hardware sensor that attaches to the bike, but I don't need that to use their calibrated power curve for my trainer with this set of equations that will convert power expenditure in watts into calories burned.
It looks like if I pedal around 20 mph (100 watts) on the Ascent trainer for an hour, that equals about 360 calories. That seems pretty reasonable in comparison with Fitbit's estimation of my calorie use on my commutes in Wisconsin (which was validated in practice over a long period via Fitbit calorie tracking and modulating my caloric intake).
I don't have the fancy sensor that first site sells that connects via USB, but I do have a bike computer that will give me my average speed on a ride. Unfortunately, its sensor is on my front wheel, and the back wheel goes in the trainer so I may end up moving the sensor. If I do that, I can look at my computer to see my average speed over a given session, then compare that to the trainer's power curve and calculate calorie usage.
I like that.
