Cycling the right way for normies

This may seem like a silly point to make but for a normie like me, there is no "right" way to cycle. I'll leave that to the biking enthusiasts to worry about. I find that for many of my friends that want to lose some weight or get into shape, for some reason running, jogging, or even walking somewhere seems like too much of a chore for them to get motivated to do. This of course has lead the to be overweight in the first place but I have discovered that most of these people, if given the chance, are more than happy to do some cycling and I think that it is a great way to burn some calories although it is going to be significantly less than if you are running or jogging.

I think that far too many people focus on getting something super high quality when they buy a bike after years of inactivity and to me this is a huge mistake. For most people these super expensive machines are for those who are going to use it a lot more vigorously than someone who is just starting out so the idea that people spend $1000 on a bike in order to "get in shape" is just crazy to me. For starters, the more expensive the bike is the more work the bike is going to do for you and this is the reason why cycling generally burns a lot less calories than running or jogging.

When you have 21 or 28 gears to choose from, all terrain can be nearly effortless unless we are talking about some majestic hill climb that people who are just starting out shouldn't really attempt anyway. You have to really be trying to ride HARD if you are going to get your heart rate up to super elevated levels when you are cycling.

But as i have said many times before, even if it is just a little bit of effort, it is a lot more effort than it takes to sit on the sofa.

I have a bike that I paid around $300 for and while I can definitely feel the deficiencies in it, I am not riding this thing competitively so it doesn't really matter. There are friends of mine that have bikes that cost nearly $10,000 and they weigh something ridiculous like 11 lbs or something like that. Mine weighs as much as you would expect a $300 bike would weigh, A LOT.

This I think is a lot better option for beginners especially if they are trying to lose weight because it would probably do you some good to have a heavier bike so that you have to work a bit harder in order to move the damn thing.

Charts like these try to factor in as many variables as possible but at the end of the day what does "moderate" actually mean? What is moderate to you might be easy to me and vice versa. Because bicycles have technological advances that you can't possibly consider a factor in running / jogging, the burn amounts on the above chart and all the other ones like it are probably on the high end as far as caloric burn is concerned.

At the end of the day I think that cycling is a better sport for someone who is just starting out on their journey towards physical fitness because it is easier. If you want to push yourself you can, but you don't necessarily have to. Also, cycling makes the scenery move by faster and at least in my mind is considerably less boring than running. If you have access to mountain bike paths then you are even more fortunate. My area does not have this.

So the title was kind of click-baity but basically what I am trying to say from a normie perspective is that there is no right or wrong way to cycle, just get out there and do something.