Why does pedaling up hill feels harder than walking up the same hill?
In: Physics
There are more steps to cycling a bike than walking. Your feet press against pedals which convert this force through chains and gears to movement in the wheel, which inherently pushes you forward. If you change the configuration of the useable gears on the bike, you can make the uphill movement much easier at the expense of more effort (more revolutions of the pedals), you also have an element of balancing not inherited in your predecessors evolution – not like the automatic balancing you’ll find when standing up straight. In comparison, you walking a hill is placing one foot in front of the other and pushing yourself forward – less steps to produce the same gain forward / uphill. Lastly, you may be prejudices against cycling that cloud your ability to realise the true exerted effort between motions, perhaps a hatred of bike rides from younger years…
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