I can compare mile-to-mile and hour-to-hour to running and biking.
My comparison is based on distance or commuting riding. I don't do
trials or muni or anything like that. In those cases, I don't think
mile per mile is the appropriate measure.
Mile per mile, running burns more than unicycling burns more than
bicycling.
Somebody above said that biking is better exercise mile per mile but
that's demonstrably false. Mile per mile you are working harder on a
unicycle. No coasting means that you are working as hard or harder to
move forward on a unicycle, and then you sink a positive amount of
energy into balance that you do not on a bicycle.
On the road, I typically burn about 130 calories per mile running,
75-100 calories per mile unicycling, and 50-70 calories per mile
bicycling.
Hour per hour, bicycling and running can be equal and unicycling cannot
keep up at the high end. Whatever your physical capacity is for running
or bicycling, you can sink that energy into either and be limited by
your V02 max or other physical factors rather than your choice of
exercise. Unicycling's upper limit, in distance or commuting, is not
physical but one of mental energy and balance.
For example, I can go out and run a marathon averaging a heart rate
around 170 beats per minute. I should be able to maintain something
similar on a bicycle, but I just can't get up to that high a heart rate
on a unicycle except when I'm climbing a big hill. Even if I had a big
hill that I could theoretically climb for three hours, it takes an
amount of mental energy, balance, and fast-twitch as opposed to
slow-twitch muscle action to climb hills on a unicycle that I just
couldn't do it. Hour for hour I can get a better workout on a bike or a
unicycle.
For cross training, the unicycle's unique qualities and limitations
make it a better way to train for running than does a bicycle. It keeps
me at my long-run heart rate and emphasizes balance and core.
Hope that helps.
Z
--
boisei
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