raybo

I am currently in Luxembourg and I met a gaggle of riders doing some fully supported riding in the Ardennes. The guy I was talking to said they did 120K the previous day in the mountains. I did about the same on a moderately loaded bike on a bike path (Vennbahn) with a mild upgrade.

I got to wonder how to compare the effort our rides. How does riding with, say, 25 pounds of gear on a relatively flat path compare to a lightweight bike ridden in the mountains the same distance?

mev

Musing a few thoughts:

It wouldn't surprise me if it is cyclist dependant. For me, a heavier rider, 25 pounds isn't as big a percentage of body weight as a lighter rider.
At the same time climbing, seems to slow me more than other riders, loaded or unloaded.

Grade also matters. A 4% grade is more than twice as hard as a 2% grade and a 8% grade more than twice as much as that. As a result, 1/2 day of flat plus 1/2 day of 4% seems harder than all day at 2%.

Perhaps one way to compare would be to convert into equivalent units for same rider, e.g. time spent or calories burned. Doing a Google search of "calories burned cycling uphill" gives some suggestions.

Overall, for me, for each hour cycling, I would guess it would be easier to add 25 pounds of gear and ride very gentle grades, than to lose the gear and climb over a lot of short steep hills.

gregf83 

Effort in the mountains will be more variable with high output while climbing and nothing while descending. 120km with 2000-4000 can be a very hard day for competitive riders or a relatively easy day if they're just on a mellow chatty ride. Invariably some riders in a group like that will be competitive and push themselves to the limit on the hills. Others will take it easy and enjoy the scenery.

andrewclaus

You have to know the elevation gain to figure that out. Someone with the physics equations and some assumptions about rolling resistance could do some back-of-the-envelope calculations, but you'd need to know how many meters climbed.

bikemig 

Too many variables to do a comparison in general is my guess but not using the example the OP gives.

25 pounds of extra weight on a relatively flat course is very little extra work; riding in mountains is extra work.

reppans

Here's a good article:

How Much Does Bike and Gear Weight Actually Slow You Down? Part Two (Results) - CyclingAbout

Also check out the links in that article - ie, the author found bike calculator pretty accurate, and on flatish ground, and the aerodynamics of your touring panniers will have a greater speed/efficiency impact than the weight itself.

fietsbob

I am unhurried on my solo tours because I have my camping kit with me..

In the Ardennes in Belgium I found myself cycling down the Start-Finish of the Francorchamps race course.

I should have followed it around the 4 mile loop, since its just public road most of the year.




...

Happy Feet

I think a lot depends on the bike too.
A light road bike is going to ride faster with less effort than a more touring designed model.
I'm on the road right now and have been passed by a whole lot of roadies along the way and I'm not doddling either.

Cyclist0094

Lightly loaded bike I ride 80 miles in about 5 hours. Heavy loaded bike I ride 80 miles in 6 hours. It is still the same mileage on the same day so it matters little to me.

gauvins

A 100km ride where half is a +3% and half is -2% will take about 5h45 mins at 100 Watts.

100 kms at 1% would take 5h15. If you add a 10kg penalty on the 1% incline, you are still a bit faster, with an expected time of 5h30.

Based on the estimates provided by https://bikecalculator.com/veloMetric.html

jefnvk

From my limited experience, weight on flat ground slows me down, but not as much as you'd expect. Weight in hills slows me down more (albeit, from a dreadful pace to begin with). Navigating unfamiliar terrain and sightseeing slowed me down FAR more than weight.

I've got a couple relatively flat (rail trail, <2% grade) tracks I ride regularly. I can toss some bags on for shakedown, and not significantly change the time it takes me to complete them. In fact, last weekend I even set some 3rd place PRs on two Strava segments doing just that.

hueyhoolihan

everything goes downhill quickly when going uphill.