日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 6

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Japanese - Ask questions thread
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1174719097/1-40

日語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread2 質問
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1206158123/1-40

日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 3
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1267485093/1-40

日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 4
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1302350850/1-40

日本語 Japanese Ask Questions Thread 5
http://dis.4chan.org/read/lang/1330050873/1-40

Reading Kino's Journey right now, and I'm confused on a sentence.

何度も言うけれどモトラドの運転はスポーツなんだ。自転車ほどではないにしろ、ただ走っているだけでかなりのエネルギーを消耗する。
(NOTE: Motorads are basically talking motorcycles. Said talking motorcycle is the speaker here.)

Specifically, the second clause of the second sentence. From what I understand, the text goes something like "I've told you plenty of times! Operating a motorad is a sport. Not as much as bicycling is," and from there it seems like he's saying "although just running wastes a lot of energy", which I don't feel fits the rest of the sentence. Any thoughts?