Gasoline is Cheaper than Energy Gel, Part Two

Last week I wrote about how it was cheaper to fuel my car with gas than it was to fuel my body with food to ride my bike.  In short, it cost 59 cents in gas to drive my Prius 10 miles, but 93 cents in food to pedal that same route at an easy pace. 

Another way of making the comparison is by calories per mile.  Pedaling those 10 miles burns 320 calories.   My Prius burns 0.20 gallons of gas (50 mpg) over that route, using 6200 calories (gasoline contains 31,000 calories per gallon).  

At first glance, the bicycle seems much more efficient.  But, let's consider weight.  I, my bike, and my clothes probably total out to about 175 pounds--meaning it costs me about 1.8 calories per pound to pedal 10 miles.  

My Prius and I total about 3200 pounds--meaning it costs me about 1.9 calories (of gasoline) per pound to drive 10 miles.  

	Weight	Caloric Cost to Go 10 Flat Miles	Caloires Burned Per Transported Pound (for 10 miles)
Me and My Road Bike	175 lbs	320	1.8
Me and My Toyota Prius	3200 lbs	6200	1.9

Again, Please Don't Shoot the Messenger

Really, my only point here is that similar calories per pound are used to move both a cyclist and a Toyota Prius.  I'm not claiming that one is more environmentally friendly than the other, and I'm not trying to make a socio-political statement.  And, truly, I'm not interested in knowing the size of anyone's carbon footprint.  

And, yes, I know there are some caveats to the above comparison.  The biggest is that I haven't figured in the energy costs of making and transporting the food and the gasoline.  But I do know that, given the amount of petroleum that goes into producing food (transport is the least of it--think fertilizers and farm equipment), it's possible the calorie/pound equation could swing wildly in favour of the Prius.

Anyway, I simply find the comparison fascinating.  If you're not similarly fascinated, don't worry; next week I'll resume writing about equally esoteric topics, but ones that are at least of some relevance to triathletes.

Parting Bit of Caloric Trivia

The standard energy gel packet is one ounce, contains 100 calories, and costs about a dollar.  In other words...

	Cost	Calories	Miles it Will Propel a Prius or Cyclist (as the case may be)
Gallon of Gasoline	$2.95	31,000	50
Gallon of Gu Energy Gel	$128.00	12,800	400