Top 9 Cycling Metrics
Monitoring your cycling performance and how to interpret these stats can assist you in formulating achievable cycling ambitions and more effectively monitoring your progression as you strive to fulfil them.
You can rely on your measures to inform your exercise and create a successful exercise regimen that gives you the outcomes you want without exhausting your body and leading to fatigue.
No matter which standards you decide to monitor, it is essential to keep in mind that your data will sometimes be swayed by external factors, such as how nourished your body was before exercise or how much sleep you had the night preceding. Keep the following considerations in mind when evaluating your cycling power measurements.
Top cycling metrics to track
1. Speed
Checking your average speed in mph is an effective way to find out if you are becoming fitter and faster when biking.
The best thing about monitoring this measurement when indoor biking is that the rate isn’t influenced by elements such as wind, rain, or other unfavourable climate conditions that could reduce your speed if you were biking outside. Think about these things when evaluating your final rate of speed if you are biking outside.
Improving your speed is a great goal. Aim to observe gradual progress towards speed increases over an extended period.
If you usually cycle a certain route at a speed of 13 mph but recently have been going 15 mph, consider that an accomplishment. You’re getting faster!
Any kind of basic fitness watch, a speed detector, or the Vingo app are all viable options for monitoring your rate. If your stationary bike has a built-in sensor, you don’t need to do anything else!
What is a safe speed for a beginner cyclist?
Beginner bicyclists typically have an average rate of 10-14 mph. Remember that if you had already been an endurance athlete before beginning cycling, it is perfectly realistic to maintain a faster pace. This could mean you end up cycling at speeds between 15 and 18 miles per hour.
2. Time
It is advantageous to measure your cycling duration if you are attempting to improve your speed control. It is valuable to keep track of the amount of time it takes to finish each cycle, whether you favour short and difficult interval courses or longer ones. Tracking the amount of time you spend exercising can be done with either a basic fitness watch or your phone.
You can also employ Vingo to check out amusing and atypical bike paths in virtual reality while the application keeps a record of your duration for you. A clock that is visible on your monitor will be keeping track of your cycling session, and after completing the course, your ride duration and other statistics will be printed on your display.
How long should a beginner cyclist ride?
For a person just starting out with cycling, it is recommended that they spend 20-30 minutes each day riding a bike during their first week.
Raise the amount of time you cycle each week by 5–10 minutes until it is effortless to ride for 45–60 minutes. If you’re looking for a way to push yourself even more, think about adding some hill climbs or interspersed sprints to your regular workouts.
3. Distance
If you want to get better at riding your bicycle over long distances, it can be helpful to keep track of how far you have gone. It is very inspiring to look at the length of your progress, and it is also an excellent way to practice for a long-distance race or just accomplish any ambitions you have for amusement!
A fitness watch or cadence sensor can be utilized to monitor your cycling journey. Instead, if you are intending to finish your cycling trip indoors, you can employ the Vingo program to view the amount of distance you have gone on the virtual reality tracks that you have selected.
How many miles can a beginner bike in a day?
Based on the person, some people might be able to travel 10-15 miles on a bike, while others might only make it 5-7 miles. Take into account your level of fitness and how at ease you feel cycling for long periods.
When you are tracking your biking mileage data, it’s a good idea to start slow and set achievable objectives, especially if you are just beginning with cycling.
If you’re aiming to ride your bike for 10 miles, start with a smaller distance like 3 or 4 and steadily increase it over several weeks until you reach 10. Going at a pace that’s comfortable to you will help prevent injury, and it’ll make sure that you actually enjoy the process instead of becoming bored or exhausted!
4. Heart rate
Keeping track of your heart rate (or how frequently it beats per minute) is a good way to measure the level of effort you’re putting in. You can employ your maximum heart rate to create an exercise program that is tailored to your designated objectives.
A fitness watch or smartwatch can be used to keep tabs on your heart rate while you are cycling. Certain applications designed for cycling can also monitor your heart rate during your ride. As you become more physically fit, you will be capable of going faster on your bike with a lower pulse.
Monitoring your heart rate is a useful tool for evaluating your fitness and performance, however, other elements such as the amount of caffeine consumed that day, the number of hours of rest, and how warm you are while cycling can affect your beats per minute as well.
Going for a bike ride on a sweltering summer day will unquestionably raise your beats per minute.
5. Calories
If you are cycling, your main objective would be to shed pounds. In that event, monitoring the number of calories you burn during every bike ride can aid you in attaining your weight reduction objectives.
Calories expended is an easy power measurement to monitor when cycling, but it does not guarantee accurate results. No matter which tool you use to monitor your calorie-burning activities, it won’t be 100% accurate and there will always be a slight amount of imprecision in your findings.
Tools like a smartwatch or a cycling app can estimate the number of calories you use up with the help of algorithmic calculations, while other devices calculate based on your heart rate and physical activity.
As you persist in biking, you will become increasingly healthier, which will lead to your body becoming more proficient at utilizing energy and oxygen, meaning you will use fewer calories.
When this happens, don’t get discouraged. Keep pushing yourself to experience more difficult rides and trails, to avoid becoming too comfortable.
Refrain from becoming too fixated on the figures as you gauge your progress, and do not let it impede the fun of your journeys. Recall that you are achieving wonderful success with each path you finish!
6. FTP
Functional Threshold Power (FTP) is the peak power one can keep up for a certain period, though the exact length of time is slightly unclear.
The creator of the term, Dr Andrew Coggan, avoids explaining how long it has to be, thus sparking a lot of discussion on cycling and triathlon online platforms for an indefinite amount of time. You can hear the man himself talk about it here.
A majority of people prefer to have a period that lasts between 45 and 70 minutes. Also, it is a simple-to-track number that illustrates your top (reasonably) continual power, mainly with the help of aerobic energy.
This metric is popular among people and it is used frequently for various reasons. First off, it is a great indication of biking prowess for timeframes that range from four to five minutes to two hours or even more.
Second, relative to other techniques such as Lactate Threshold (also recognized as Anaerobic Threshold, which is essentially another approach to determining the same item as FTP depicts), analyzing FTP is very straightforward.
If you have access to a turbo trainer or a power meter that can measure power, you will only need approximately 40 minutes to conduct a Functional Threshold Power test.
Why would it be necessary to use something other than FTP if it is so useful? If you’re taking part in quick events like criteriums, road races, or sprint triathlons, and you like to keep it straightforward, you probably don’t need to do anything extra.
However, some of us engage in extended competitions, where factors other than the maximum sustainable power for around 45 – 70 minutes may affect the final result.
7. Aerobic Threshold
The start of this occurs at a relatively low level of intensity and indicates your maximal capacity to maintain power, with no rise in the level of lactic acid from standard. Why is this important?
This demonstrates the speed at which you are burning the most volume of fat as fuel, which may include a small amount of carbohydrates. This is of great significance since it indicates your maximal power over an extended period, instead of your maximum power during a 45 to 60-minute span.
If you are sufficiently trained, maintaining this capability could be possible for a lengthy period, due to the large proportion of fat we carry in comparison to carbohydrates and the fact that at this low usage level, the level of carbohydrates should always be adequate. The fundamental aspect of basic fitness training and improving one’s cardiovascular system is the intensity of the workouts.
The aerobic threshold can be moved farther along toward your FTP with practice, letting you stay at a higher level of intensity for an elongated time.
8. Aerobic Decoupling
Aerobic decoupling can be a beneficial measure for athletes involved in long-distance or long-duration activities. This expression refers to the occurrence when your speed or strength diverges from your pulse rate.
The speed or intensity of the exercise shows the amount of challenge set on the body, and the heart rate illustrates the body’s response to that challenge.
Imagine that you have been out for a prolonged but steady ride that was maybe more than you should have accepted, and the final hour feels very exhausting despite not going any quicker.
In that situation, it is not always predictable what effect a specific requirement might have on your body.
If you sustain a certain power or speed for an amount of time that leads to a particular heart rate, but then afterwards the heart rate begins to increase, the difference between these two values is referred to as decoupling.
This number is expressed as a percentage, and it’s assumed that you are content with the activity (force or speed) for the length of time if it’s 5% or lower.
This can be of great advantage not only to people who want to analyze if they can get through a certain run or race without too much distress but also as a quick determination of their aerobic capacity.
If you can exercise for a minimum of one to two hours while performing at a pace that is supposed to correspond to your aerobic threshold, and you attain an aerobic decoupling result of between 3-5%, then it is most likely the correct threshold for you.
If your score exceeds this, try slowing down the speed; if the score is below this, attempt to move ahead faster in the future.
If you don’t know what speed to begin with, try keeping your heart rate 30 beats below your maximum capacity (or 20 beats below if you are already an aerobically fit individual). You can also try a pace that you can comfortably maintain while breathing only through your nostrils.
9. Normalized Power & VI
NP is a calculation that reflects the average amount of effort you put out during a bike ride.
It is not how much energy we expend on average – more strenuous attempts demand more from us, and a ride with numerous surges and dips in intensity will feel more difficult than a consistent ride over the same amount of time that results in the same average level of effort. NP intends to incorporate these attempts in a manner that the body can sense them.
It is ineffective to expend your energy in various attempts to reach your destination in the shortest amount of time.
Except for times when you need to exert more effort on hills or against a headwind, the closely your normalised power is to your average power, the more effectively you have managed your efforts.
The Variability Index (VI) is the distinction between the two numbers.
The way you move in a race or a time trial can have a huge influence on your final time, especially for long distances. These metrics should be taken into account when preparing for these events. If you want to know more about a specific race track, Best Bike Split is a magnificent source.
It is hoped that you will be able to locate a measure that suits you, as tracking progress is a major factor in maintaining enthusiasm among many of us to progress further.
Once you have identified a reliable metric for your event, continuously monitor it while maintaining the same measuring standards. Once you are at the race, evaluate how accurately the metric predicts your outcome.
