biking vs. unicycling

[Unitik908]

if someone has already said tis my bad.. but if you use tiny cranks.. its a killer on your legs, a simple mile long ride and im pooped out cuase its so hard to stop with the little cranks, and i rode a bike for the first time in a really long time yesturday for like 6 miles.. and about half way through i relized i could coast... and my legs were fine and i had it on the lowest possible gear..

Chase

foo@foo.ru writes:

> The final analysis comes down to oxygen use: i think one would have to
> be a very good -- of the class of some of the luminiferous posters here
> -- to work uni hard enough to achieve a VO2 comparable to what a random
> bicyclist could achieve.

It depends what your are doing. I can quickly and reliably hit my VO2
maximum by riding the bumps at the local BMX track. The first time I
attempted the 900 (now expanded to 1200) foot long torture test, I was
so deep into anaerobic debt at the end I was reduced to lying down in
the dirt and panting for what seemed like minutes before I could
consider standing up again.

I'm a back-of-the-pack MUni rider, so don't assume this level of abuse
is limited the elite riders.

> In fact, thinking about it, i'm not entirely
> sure a unicyclist could actually stay upright under the kind of O2
> demand a bike can generate -- it might get a bit difficult to balance
> with all that heavy breathing.

Did anyone say unicycling would be easy!

-----------------

Back to the original question...

According to caloriesperhour.com, unicycling uses the same about of
enerby as walking quicklty (4mph), far less than even moderate
bicycling. Judging by my heart rate monitor, I'd say that just
puttering along on a smooth flat path uses even less energy than that.

On the other hand, try riding seat out in a crouched position and see
if that doesn't get your legs burning and heart pumping.

The same is true on a bicycle. The effort required depends on how you
ride and what terrain you are riding.

Ken