![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigEo8i2NQswsyGxLyhzx3nFuEJSVAJ9WnkQwgKCmsO5rwI21ucKsUAUBfS_6LoEVg7Jg4HkKH-m8KSKOjHTkDJyHRuKMkHjoOZWulOWYmvXphW7P07LJtlaIdlNrQZsgWSwBevzzybIed2/s400/09_03_14_eeRock.jpg)
Fearing the wrath of my housemate if I ate all the food in the house and didn't replace it, I went to the grocery store and did some stocking up on the way home:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFKbwzTPC1DMTIm-3_Kqs9bI8EoEm09Tz80oILCj9heCOVzvhpM_yQtUJf_REYBzW7dKda-xhzQvCOvN7U2Lfl4VWpBUqmSjV8QYf78wEn6LBJfVQX3XzTPYP1S7RorUX0C4rd6N4LzhyphenhyphenE/s400/09_03_14_lunch.jpg)
As I carded the $266 bill, I got to wondering "how much does this little sport of ours really cost us [in food]?"
Let's assume my base metabolism is about 2400 Cal/day. This is probably a little low but it makes for round numbers. Now let's assume I average about 800 Cal/hr while training (for me, this corresponds to a heart rate in the 130s while riding). By these numbers, I burn 700 Cal extra for every hour I'm training. If I'm training in one form or another about 10 hr/wk on average throughout the year, that's 700 x 10 x 52 = 364,000 Calories.
I did a little internet hunting to figure out what 1000 calories might cost in terms of different things. In power bars, it's about $4.17, in rice it's about $0.25 and in a mix of green vegetables it's about $36. For the sake of argument, I'm going to take the lowball number of $2/1000 Cal (this is roughly what low income Americans spend). By that math, my cycling habit costs $728/year simply in extra calories I burn during training, not including an increased base metabolism, race fees, and parts I break (which, including today's chain, is already over $200 this season).
Anyone want to take up couch surfing?
1 comment:
Does this include Anna's burritos, Red Bones bbq, or whatever other compulsive mealing you do after riding? ;-)
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