How to Convert Your Bike Miles into STEPS

Since the Idaho STEP Challenge launched on June 1, 2016, more than 400 people have signed up to walk, run, or hike alongside Congressman Mike Simpson during his journey across the United States. Based on enthusiastic feedback from several challenge participants, the STEP Challenge has added bike mileage to the list of acceptable exercise formats. As of today, you can convert the miles ridden on a bike into STEPS, and log them into the Mile Tracker Board. 

There are several websites and health blogs that provide clear steps for converting bike miles into steps. To keep the process consistent, we’ve selected a conversion format found on the LIVESTRONG website. The basic conversion process is below, but full details are available at http://www.livestrong.com/article/187672-how-to-convert-exercise-bike-miles-to-steps/

Bike Mileage Conversion

1. Write down the number of miles ridden on your bike.

2. Multiple your number of miles ridden by 5,280 to convert the distance into feet.

3. Divide the number of feet cycled by your average stride length, or feet per step.

4. In general, the average stride length for a male is 2.5 feet, while the average stride length for a female is 2.2 feet.

5. After completing the calculation, the solution will equate to the number of steps you can enter into the Mile Tracker Board.

6. Here is a conversion example:

a. 5 miles cycled

b. 5 multiplied by 5,280 = 26,400 feet

c. 26,400 divided by 2.5 (average male stride) or 2.2 (average female stride)

d. Total STEPS = 10,560 (male) or 12,000 (female) 

e.Divide total steps by 2,000 to get your miles