100km - a Marathon?

[Before40]

Is it possible to compare riding 100km to that of running a marathon?
I've only ever done one of them (100km), and remember how totally shattered I was. Could it be described as "A marathon for cyclists"??

 

[RedBike]

I would find 100km on a bike (road) a lot easier than a marathon.
100 miles for a cyclist is probably equivalent to a marathon.

 

[Dayvo]

It's difficult to gauge.

Cycling for 100 miles involves a lot of downhill/free-wheeling.

You can't do that on a run.

 

[RedBike]

It's not uncommon for regular cycling club ride to be in the region of 100km.
I can't imagine a running club doing a marathon on a weekly basis.

 

[amaferanga]

I'd say 100km is equivalent to perhaps a half marathon. But the fact that running is high impact makes it very different anyway....

 

[cheadle hulme]

I worked out that my normal pace for long runs (16mph) uses half as many calories as my half marathon pace (7mph).

On that basis, I reckon you need to go four times longer on the bike to be equivalent, so a 100 miler would be similar to a marathon.

Both put different strains on the body though.

 

[xpc316e]

I have never ridden 100 miles in a day, but I have done 70+. There's no way that I could have ever run anything like a marathon (and I admire all who can).

 

[Noodley]

I'd say a 400km ride is the cycling equivalent of a marathon.

 

[marinyork]

No way. I used to do running (it doesn't transfer at all). In my opinion a marathon distance would be more like 200km in the cycling world or Noodley might be right (I haven't done anything like 400km and probably never will). There are two reasons for this, firstly total newbies come on here all the time and do the sort of 100km from scratch in a few months and secondly, I a very mediocre and slow cyclist have been doing about 2x100km rides a month. If you were better than I am and have the time you could conceivably do them every weekend no problems. Marathons aren't the same.

 

[4F]

Cycling for 100 miles involves a lot of free-wheeling.

Not on a fixed it doesn't !!

 

[palinurus]

Plenty of people do London to Brighton with practically no preparation at all and it's not that far off 100km. 300km or more might be more like it.

 

[Alun]

100km is a lot easier than a marathon, definately ! 100 miles would seem more like it, but I'll reserve judgement until I ride 100 miles.

 

[Rhythm Thief]

200km or so is easy on a bike. I haven't done much cycling recently, but I'd have a go at 200km without too much training. I wouldn't consider doing a marathon, ever. Even the half marathons I did when I was younger were harder than anything else I've ever done. You just can't compare cycling and running.

 

[ColinJ]

I'd say a 400km ride is the cycling equivalent of a marathon.

That sounds about right to me. I did a very hilly 230 km ride in 2007 and didn't felt too bad at the end. I'm damn sure that I'd have found a marathon a lot harder than that in the days when I was running. (Admittedly, I never ran as much as I now cycle.)

 

[discplayer]

I've done both and would agree that it would probably be further than 100miles to equal running a marathon.

When I cycled 100 miles I had almost certainly trained more than when I ran a marathon but I was a fair bit older.

I do agree that they are very different. With the marathon it was my joints that got me in the hours (and day or two) after, which is generally not something you get cycling.