Originally Posted by pacemaker
Steve, Correct, work would be more for the faster rider when calculated in terms of kcals/min. But time is only an issue if your discussing Power, this concerns Work, and Force and Distance are the only variables in the equation. In the end two riderss of the same wt travelling 30 miles will use the same energy to do so regardless of time.
PS: sorry for the Kreuzotter comment. I was out of line.
Steve,Terry and CdCf are right on. What you're not doing is working out the actual power required. Let's compare the 15mph vs. 30mph rider over the same distance. Force is teh instantaneous force required to overcome air-resistance. Integrate with respect to time and you get power. To go twice as fast, you require 4x as much force and 8x as much power. So even though you spend 1/2 the time going twice as fast, the power required and total energy expended is more than twice as much.