Calories Burned Biking: How Many Calories Does Cycling Burn

Posted on 02 November, 2023 by Nicholas Rizzo

Calories-burned-cycling-calculated

Riding a bike at home or outdoors is on the rise, with our fitness trends report showing outdoor exercise and home fitness as the most popular trends of 2021. We know exercise benefits you in losing weight by burning calories. But we wanted to learn how biking benefits you and just how many calories you burn cycling or riding a stationary bike. 

Specifically, this study investigates how many:

Note: A person’s weight, speed and intensity of biking, time, and distance affect how many calories are burnt. For this study, all data is based on an average weight of 180 lbs and moderate speeds of (12 - 13.9 mph), unless noted otherwise. For comparison, see our detailed analysis of calories burned running and calories burned walking.

Calories burned cycling per mile 

A 180-lb adult burns 50.31 calories an hour cycling at a moderate speed (12-13.9mph). 

This same person can burn between 32.70 (less than 10 mph) to 65.40 (> 20 mph) calories per mile. 

calories-burned-cycling-one-mile

Riding a bike at a moderate intensity, a 180-lb person will burn around 250 calories every 5 miles, which means you would have to ride approximately 40 miles overall to burn 2,000 calories.

Calories burned cycling / biking 1 hour 

An hour of cycling at a moderate intensity (12-13.9 mph) will burn 654 calories for someone weighing 180 lbs. That same hour riding on a stationary bike will only burn 572 calories.

Based on the speed and intensity of your ride, you can burn as little as 245 calories on a leisurely ride ( < 10 MPH) and as much as 1022 calories on a very vigorous ride (16-19 MPH). 

calories-burned-biking-one-hour

You burn 3x as many calories cycling at a very vigorous pace as you do at a leisurely one. 

Meanwhile, on a stationary bike, a very vigorous pace burns 4.17x more calories than a leisurely one.

Calories burned biking per minute 

Cycling at moderate speeds of about 12 - 13.9 mph for 20 minutes can burn 218 calories for a person weighing 180 lbs. However, if you use a stationary bike, you burn 12.5% fewer calories or only 190.7. 

calories-burned-cycling-per-minute

Cycling for 120 minutes or 2 hours can burn between 1,140 to 1,300 calories, depending on if you use a stationary bike or a road bike, respectively. 

How much cycling to burn 2,000 calories 

To burn 2,000 calories, a person weighing 180 lbs needs to spend 8.16 hours on a stationary bike, going at a speed of less than 10mph. Meanwhile, if you bike intensely, going at 16-19mph, you only need 1.96 hours on a stationary bike.

how-many-hours-to-burn-2000-calories-biking

When riding a stationary bike at a leisurely pace, it will take you 33% longer to burn 2,000 calories in comparison to cycling on the road. This is likely due to the other factors involved in cycling, such as balance, turning, wind, and the elements. 

However, if you increase the intensity, there’s only a 4.1% difference in the calories burned when riding vigorously on a road bike and a stationary bike.

Calories burned by various types of cycling

Riding a mountain bike or BMX burns 123 more calories compared to those using a stationary bike. Meanwhile, though unicycles seem the hardest to operate, you burn 163 calories more riding a stationary bike.

calories-burned-riding-a-bike

Calories burned biking by weight

A person weighing 205 lbs will burn 425 more calories than a 130-lb person, going at a very vigorous speed biking for an hour. In doing the same task for the same amount of time, more energy is exerted by people who are heavier.

calories-burned-biking-by-weight

On a stationary bike, the difference between calories burned by a 130-lb and 205-lb person going at a very light pace is 102 calories burnt per hour. Meanwhile, when a vigorous pace is considered, the difference more than doubles, jumping to 284 calories burned per hour.

For a 130-lb person to burn as many calories as a 205-lb person, they must bike at least 1.5 hours more, regardless of the pace.

About RunRepeat

Here at RunRepeat, we buy all the shoes with our own money, we test the shoes by hiking/running/training in them, and we do numerous tests in our in-house lab. There, we cut shoes in half and use instruments like durometers, callipers, microscopes, smoke machine, and Dremmel, to examine the shoes inside out. On our methodology page you can learn everything about our lab tests, instruments and processes.

Use of content

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Author
Nicholas Rizzo
Nicholas Rizzo
Nick combines 10+ years of experience in the health and fitness industry and a background in the sciences in his role as the Fitness Research Director. During his competitive powerlifting years his PRs have him sitting in the top 2% of bench presses (395 lbs), top 3% of squats (485 lbs) and top 6% of deadlifts (515 lbs) for his weight and age. His work has been featured on Bodybuilding.com, LiveStrong, Healthline, WebMD, WashingtonPost, and many more. Along the way, collaborating with industry leaders like Michael Yessis, Mark Rippetoe, Carlo Buzzichelli, Dave Tate, Ray Williams, and Joel Seedman.