pepperbelly

I have been getting back in shape and losing weight. I go to the gym most days and ride a stationary bike for 30 minutes. Today I rode for 45 minutes. I pedal constantly on the stationary bike.
Do riders never stop pedaling when riding on the street for 15-20 or more miles?
I just turned 65 and really need to get fit. I wasn’t wasted after 45 minutes but that was only the equivalent of 10 miles.

MikeWMass

I, and the people I ride with, will stop pedaling when riding for over 20 minute, except when chasing to avoid being dropped or climbing, but we are not terribly hard-core..
The distance on the trainer does not translate well into distance ridden on the road or trail; depends on how much resistance you are using.

Keep it up!
You may want to try one of the training apps to change things up a bit.

_ForceD_

I can’t answer for others, but I certainly stop peddling (coasting) occasionally. Turns frequently call for a slight deceleration, so I’ll coast into/through it. If I’m coming to a stop, I’ll coast up to it. I mean you can’t be pedaling along at 15-20 mph and then stop on a dime. Going downhill you’ll frequently get going to a speed that is faster than you can keep pressure on the cranks…so you have to coast. It’s rare, for me, to have a route that doesn’t require coasting for one reason or another.

Dan

big john

Riding in traffic or with traffic lights I can't pedal constantly. Out of town there are longer stretches where one can pedal without stopping but the most constant pedaling I do is on a bike path. Actually, a network of bike paths with no road crossings or other reasons to stop spinning.

pepperbelly

I am not expecting a direct comparison between the stationary bike and riding on the road. On the stationary I usually start on about 60 rpm and about 60 watts on level/ gear 4 which shows about 13 mph. About halfway when my legs are warned up i am doing about 70rpm and 14mph.
The main point is I am pedaling without stopping ir slowing down for 45 minutes.
Should I start going for an hour?
I want my legs in decent shape by the tome I drop enough weight to start putting miles on my bike. I read something about the weight limit on ny Roubaix and the big concern being the CF seat post. I’m not far away from a safe weight.

Russ Roth

Change the post and enjoy the bike?

Any coasting depends on the ride and its goals. I've done plenty of rides where the only time I stopped pedaling was once the speed was high enough on the downhill that I couldn't pedal fast enough to bother. Riding with a pack there can be enough of a draft to coast at times and still maintain speed. Yesterday I took my daughter out for a 20mi ride, only coasted when I came to the stop signs, otherwise I spent the rest of the time pedaling, and when on the longer paths, a fitness/training ride like that might involve no coasting.

pdlamb

Riding across the country, I was surprised when we hit Kansas and I had to pedal all the time. I'd gotten used to working hard to climb the Appalachians, and then the Ozarks, but at least I could coast down the other side. It's a different kind of fitness you have to develop to pedal all the time, and like so many other difficult things, it pays off later.

OldTryGuy

r.e. bold It's almost pancake flat here in SW FL so no down hill coasting and that can mean almost continual pedaling. Even pedaling thru turns.

pepperbelly

No need to change the seat post. I am close to the recommended max weight. In fact since there has to be a safety factor I am provably good to go now. I am just trying to be conservative ever since I broke some spokes and had to get a wheel built to carry the weight.

Iride01 

It'd be interesting to know. AFAIK, nothing really tracks that at the moment. Maybe Garmin or other sport device makers should track both time and number of strokes for any given ride and ride segment. Garmin does give the number of pedal strokes, but only as a total for the ride. And not how much actual time was spent pedaling or coasting.

I'd think those in the flat lands will probably come out on the end of pedaling more time wise. But possibly those in more mountainous areas might pedal more strokes since they use a lower gear ratio to get up those long climbs. Or maybe everything just averages out on the descent.

Typically I never care to coast for anything much longer than 30 seconds or thereabouts, my leg muscles start to rebel when ask to work again. Though it's only a brief rebellion. If I need to rest from a climb I wore myself out on I might coast down, but normally I prefer to just pedal softly as I go downhill.

Then again, if I'm following another, there are plenty of times when I have to coast to keep from overtaking them since their draft gives me benefit that they don't have when they are on the front.

pepperbelly

I’m in Fort Worth so no mountains. There are a few small hills but mostly just gradual changes in elevation.
I was mainly curious so in case I join a ride I won’t embarrass myself and fall way back.

Iride01 

If you ride in a group, you definitely will be coasting, soft pedaling and using your brakes when behind others. It'll take a while to get used to the speed variations. Just be aware that every time you slow down, the people behind you will have to slow down more and that makes a big ripple effect that can have some towards the rear working too hard to catch up.

rumrunn6

I generally don't stop pedaling, but of course there are times when I do. the most obvious would be coasting down hills. but in general I try to keep my gearing & cadence such that my legs are always moving

Wifey, on the other hand, pedals only when absolutely necessary. I love spending time with her, but when cycling, it's more about time with her, than "cycling"

pepperbelly

I wouldn’t have so many dumb questions if I didn’t ride alone. I don’t have anyone to gauge these things with. I need to find a club near me with riders my age. I have no interest in trying to keep up with someone much younger.

rumrunn6

when I got into cycling as an adult, I walked into my boss' office with a question, because he was a cyclist, my question was your exact same question

Iride01 

I see your join date is 2009. That's about when I started riding regularly for anything other than around the neighborhood or just easy rides. And I began to ride a pretty good effort to increase my performance and distance.

If you've been riding similarly since then, you'll be surprised at how well you compare to the average much younger cyclist. Especially the ones that haven't really gotten serious about their cycling yet.

If you haven't been riding in a serious fitness manner, then a year or two of serious effort and you'll be good enough.

Eric F 

For your work on the stationary bike, more time equals more calories burned equals more weight loss. More resistance equals more calories burned equals more weight loss. Work to increase your duration AND resistance as your body adapts to the new work load. Also, you don't have to ride the stationary bike at one effort level for the whole time. Warm up, go harder than usual for a short while, and then back off your effort to a level where you can recover from the interval. When recovered, repeat. This kind of work is useful for improving your steady-effort power.

Artmo 

When riding in a paceline there's nothing more annoying than the person in front of you doing pedal-coast-pedal-coast, etc. This can cause contertinaing(?) of the line and is possibly dangerous.

Bald Paul

Fixed for you.

Jughed

I usually only stop pedaling when required. Stop lights, sharp turns...

The key is knowing how to meter your effort/power and finding a cadence that isn't forcing you to either crank hard or too fast for your cardio system. And this can vary with the length of the ride - longer efforts require less power output.

In the beginning it will be hard to judge as you are just building up endurance. But if what you are doing is too hard for 20 min, don't push as hard and possibly up your cadence.

pepperbelly

I joined long ago but haven’t been really active other than asking a lit of questions.
I have ridden off and on but only around the small town I live in. I have a circuit where 3 loops through town is 5 miles then a loop around a neighboring area gives me another 4 miles-with a long soul killing incline.
I am going to go to a nearby trail around a small lake soon. That trail is about 7 miles. I want to work up to at least 3 trips around it. I am hoping having better scenery going by will help.
The gym does have one advantage. I can watch ESPN and Chive TV for miles.

Mtracer

I never stop pedaling (coast) unless there is a reason I need to slow down for a curve or to stop. If a hill is steep enough I may coast going downhill simply because I can't pedal fast enough.

Likely there are many extremely short periods of coasting that will have more to do with repositioning my feet to go out of the saddle momentarily for a bump in the road, that type thing.

I won't claim to absolutely never stop pedaling for miles at a time. But I have data that shows non-stop pedaling for blocks of 30 minutes. And again, only stopping becasue I have to.

I honestly hate coasting and would much prefer a climb than a descent that I can't pedal down.

But I agree with the OP pointing out that on a stationary bike, you can literally never have a need to stop pedaling. And to some degree this is unrealistic for most outdoor rides.

Viich

pepperbelly - just go ride your bike. It'll be fun. You don't need to make it complicated.

Carbonfiberboy 

Because of the necessity of pedaling constantly, I figure that 45' on an indoor bike is worth 1 hour on the road. But that's around where I live, where there are essentially no flats longer than maybe 20'. That said, I don't always coast the descents, but the change in effort and cadence gives some relief to the heart and legs. Holding a steady pace for a long period is a great way to build endurance. I've done quite a bit of work indoors, at least 1000 miles/year.

It's a good idea to stand and pedal for a minute or so maybe every 15' or so on an indoor bike, same on the road, in order to reduce the likelihood of getting a saddle sore. That's also a good reason to coast the descents outdoors.

Indoors and outdoors, my experience is that fitness starts to happen at about the 45' mark. IOW, less than 45' is not particularly useful. A good way to build up fitness indoors is to ride at a pace which has you breathing deeply but not rapidly for long periods. One might increase one's time on the bike in one session by 15'/week, so starting at one hour, one would be at 2 hours in a month. That makes an amazing difference. In general while doing that, I quit when my legs get painful and that 15'/week increase seems to match my personal ability to increase fitness if I ride 5 days/week. YMMV.

OldTryGuy

My LOOPING ride today that I began less than 1 hour from my reply last night. Distance of 33.33 miles and only needed to stop pedaling 3 times each for a few seconds. Once for a Racoon that cut in front of me, another for an Opossum that also cut in front of me and then a car.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9262506253