Originally Posted by
Riveting
When you put it that way, you're right. For a given course and length, and a given power output, the heavier bike will make the ride a longer period, meaning more calories will be burned for the same ride.
Sooo...a devil's advocate might say that people riding light bikes aren't interested in fitness as much as they could be, and they may not really enjoy riding, since they really just want to be fast as possible so the ride will be over with as soon as possible?
I'm not claiming the latter, just that aside from racing or following specific training regimens.. iow, just grabbing a bike and going out on a course, dragging the heavier bike thru that course is likely more effort. Take your example of that solo ride you chose to do.. comfort aside, if instead you had grabbed your lighter bike, and (if you're familiar with Strava?), would you expect to have seen a lower, same, or higher resulting "Relative Effort" score versus having chosen your heavier bike?