Cycling and rowing equivalent distances

[Geber]

I'm beginning to train for a 64 km cycling event. My goal is to complete the distance; I don't care about the time. On rainy days I will train on my indoor rower instead of the bike. Can anyone estimate how many kilometers of cycling over rolling hills is equivalent to a kilometer of indoor rowing?

[Citroen]

I've done 50miles (80.4Km) in 2hrs 17mins (rolling course H50/1).
I've rowed 42,195 in 2hrs 54mins.

Those two are roughly equivalent, the marathon row is probably harder.

[Nosmo]

Can anyone estimate how many kilometers of cycling over rolling hills is equivalent to a kilometer of indoor rowing?

There are three ways I can think of answering this question:
1) roughly 4.
2) No, There is no reasonable way to make a one-to-one comparison.
3) Yes but there are many ways to make this comparison that would give wildly different answers but it mainly depends on how hard you push it on each.

A comment on Citroen's answer. You don't care about the time. Doing 50 miles at a moderate pace is not very stressful for someone who is used to the bicycle. Many people do it every day. Almost no one does a marathon on the erg every day. A marathon on the erg is almost always very stressful. 50 miles on the bike is not necessarily.

In terms of stress to the body and training I would say that doing a daily 65K (40mile) ride is roughly equivalent to doing a 15K erg daily. But again it really depends on how hard you are going.

If you just want to complete the distance, you should get to the point where you are comfortable doing 35km on the bike with out stopping. If you can do that you will be fine doing 64km at a relaxed pace with a couple of stops.

If you are only rowing on rainy days, you should figure out how you want to use the erg. You can use it just to maintain fitness for the bike, in which case just getting on it for a half an hour will be plenty. You could also use it to do intense efforts. So doing something like three or four 6 to 12 minute intervals would make sense. Or you can do it build endurance, in which case you should worry about total distance. Which of these you choose depends on how used to the erg you are and what your temperament is.

Years ago, I used the erg very effectively for cycling training. I would do mostly hard efforts on the erg during the week, and 70 to 100m miles on the bike on Saturday and Sunday. I switched to this from cycling all the time just to save time, and it worked very well.

[tdekoekkoek]

Riding a bike is much less stressful than rowing for the equivalent time. On the bike you are able to rest during downhills and you are able to stand and switch positions to adjust muscle usage.

Now of course you can ride extremely stressfully on a bike, but as has been pointed out, completing 40 or 50 miles on a bike is a fairly common experience, whereas doing a marathon on the erg is not. So on your off days, I would not try to match the time on the bike with time on the erg.

Cheers,

Trevor

[Citroen]

Doing 50 miles at a moderate pace is not very stressful for someone who is used to the bicycle.

Nothing moderate about that time for my 50mile TT.

[Nosmo]

Doing 50 miles at a moderate pace is not very stressful for someone who is used to the bicycle.

Nothing moderate about that time for my 50mile TT.

No that is a damn good pace especially for a rolling course.

Just pointing out that since he doesn't care about time, the erg marathon is not really a relevant comparison.

[Redman1982]

Now of course you can ride extremely stressfully on a bike, but as has been pointed out, completing 40 or 50 miles on a bike is a fairly common experience, whereas doing a marathon on the erg is not. So on your off days, I would not try to match the time on the bike with time on the erg.

Not to take anything away from someone who completes a marathon erg, the numbers of people who were capable of rowing a marathon would increase dramatically if the same percentage of the population that had bicycles had access to ergometers.

On the other hand their are probably thousands of people who belong to my gym and the ergs are mostly empty. If someone does row, it is usually for less than 5 minutes.

Redman

[kayakr]

Google "time crunched cyclist". There are summary articles on the web. I'll frequently substitute 8x500m rest 2 or 4x2000m rest 4 intervals for "power intervals" and "steady state" as described in TCC to support my weekend riding.

[Pararowing]

close to double is the answer

if you were going to do 60min of Steady state on the rowing machine you would most often be told that the equivalent cycling session to get the same physiological adaptions would be to do 100-120mins at a heart rate 10-20bpm below what you would do for the ergo

i.e

for me my Steady sate on the ergo is presently 1.53 hr 145 - 155 for a lactic acid level of 1.7-2mm

on the bike (did it today) i did 120mins at hr 120-130 and my lactic level was 1.6

so this at least for me confirms the old rule of thumb..however there is evidence that suggests you can actually have a slightly higher lactic acid level for biking as the muscle groups you are using are less then those in rowing..but by how much i do not know

but to summarize

do almost double at 10-20bpm lower then you would do the steady state on the ergo and you will be there a bouts

[Emm]

And how do gym cycle ergometers compare to the Concept2? This is for when I travel and there is no rowing machine in the gym - usually, there are cycle ergometers (no need to point me to the erg finder - I know that page very well, as well as quite a lot erg resources - but fact is that there is not a rowing machine in every hotel).

Any idea on how the rower and the cycle ergometer compare?

Thanks

[Citroen]

And how do gym cycle ergometers compare to the Concept2? This is for when I travel and there is no rowing machine in the gym - usually, there are cycle ergometers (no need to point me to the erg finder - I know that page very well, as well as quite a lot erg resources - but fact is that there is not a rowing machine in every hotel).

Any idea on how the rower and the cycle ergometer compare?

Thanks

If you mean a Wattbike then they are very comparable since the Wattbike is built by a well known rowing machine maker from Vermont. Other gym bikes will be different.

[PDYFlyfish]

I am relatively new to rowing but I think it is a difficult comparing the cycling that I do with the rowing. I ride my bike over mixed terrain that requires increased effort when ascending hills with rest periods when descending. My effort when rowing is constant with no peaks and valleys. I don't have weather to contend with while rowing inside.

[shallow pockets]

This sort of comparison is sometimes discussed on cycling forums, but usually cycling vs. running. Most agree equivalent distances are about a 5 to 1 ratio depending on who is commenting, a runner or cyclist.
My strong suit is cycling, so I'd say the ratio may be a bit higher.
I bought a new Model D after a short guest visit at the YMCA. I did two 2k's while I was there and decided to order one a few days later.
That said, I would consider rowing to be even more intense than running. Rowing is the real deal, looking forward to getting better.