distance advice?

[Dave 123]

Could have fooled me!

That's your fault for living in Warrington. I've gone all Southern and soft now, and I sit under a palm tree all day!

 

[contadino]

I find the optimum distance is about 3km beyond the point where you start thinking you've bitten off more than you can chew.

The reason being that you get home, realise that you can actually go further than you think, and then plan your next route.

 

[jayscooby]

Thanks for all the great info. Bikes just arrived so ill go out for a test run and see how it goes

 

[arallsopp]

I find a little company helps. Ride to a friends place, head out with them. If you're pootling and talking for a couple of hours, you'll pretty much have to cover 15 or more miles, and if that friend lives 5 miles from you, you get home with 25 miles on the clock.

It works just as well if the friend lives 160 miles away, but you do have to plan your time of arrival a bit more carefully

 

[iamRayRay]

^ agreed with above

I do up to 20 miles on my own a few times a week after work.

But enjoy it most when 1 of my mates are with me. Or as I learned last night, when a cyclist follows me and I get lost, making her get lost in the process hahaha!

 

[KneesUp]

Hi all

I'm coming back to road cycling after a ten year break.

I'm just wondering what sort of distance I should be aiming for on the weekends? Are there any fitness / training websites people have used?

Thanks james

I've struggled with an answer to this - it's hilly where I live so to get anywhere of any meaningful distance involves a fair bit of uphill work, which isn't easy when you're older and less fit that ever before (as I was when I started - now I'm just older and a bit fitter than I was a year ago, but still a long way short of what I didn't realise was the almost superhuman ability of the young to - for example - get on a bike having not done much exercise other than lifting pint glasses for a year - and cycle 50 hilly miles 'home' on stupid 80s high gearing without too much bother)

Anyway, to answer your question - I've stopped thinking of distance, and instead have put aside an amount of time. What really used to work for me when I didn't cycle was 5 a-side - it was always the same time every week and so not only did I never miss it, it also added a bit of structure to the week: it was Thursday night, which was great because it was almost the weekend, but not Friday night so it didn't interfere with anyone's weekend plans (although it was noted that one year when Valentine's Day was on a Thursday, only the married players turned up ...)

So, yeah, I went off at a tangent a bit again - I've now set aside two hours on a Thursday, which I am going to use to cycle. It's not long out of a week, but I am busy most nights and it's too easy to miss if it isn't scheduled - and at two hours it doesn't stop me doing other things on Thursday, The idea is that I'll literally set off in one direction and ride for an hour, then turn around and come back. The plan is that the point at which I turn around will become further from home, with the aim of being able to average 15mph over lumpy terrain at some (possibly long distant) point.

I start tomorrow.

 

[iamRayRay]

I start tomorrow.

All the best buddy!

You're not randomly in Hertfordshire area you? (Probably not as it's fairly flat here) But if you are, let me know, very happy to join in!

 

[Gravity Aided]

I started at about 4 miles, as I live in a downs area near a stream. I thought that was a huge distance at the time, but worked up the distance rather quickly after getting used to cycling again (also after a ten year hiatus) and found it easy to add a bit of mileage each ride.

 

[dee.jay]

My first ride was 2 miles and I had to bed when I got back. I was dead.

Just yesterday (and only 6/7 months ish after my first ride) I did 31... doesn't take long to build up - I'd done a 29 miler only 2 miles after I started

 

[raleighnut]

My advice for riding any sort of distance is to start off steadily for the first few miles so it acts as a warm-up and gets the legs working, then try and keep relaxed on the bike. You'll be surprised at how the miles start to rack up.

 

[busman]

I agree with a few of the above posts. Set a target and work up to it. 10 miles then 15, 20 etc. My first goal was to complete 20 miles. By the time I had completed that I was totally hooked on cycling. My first 100 wasn't even planned. Went out for a ride with a mate and we just rode. Let's go here, let's go there and before we knew it we had done over 50 miles so we planned our route back to complete the 100.7 mole trip. Next target for me is 150

 

[Teddsie]

I either do the loop near home, at most I'm 7 miles away, or if I have more time I will cycle until I've had enough or it's dark, and get the train back. As it's only £3.75 flat rate after 6pm in my neck of the woods

After starting out doing 10/15 miles I'm now up to 70 miles on a good day, and done 90 as a one off about a month ago.

Hi wxbull,
I'm new to cycling not been regular rider since early teens 45 now. When you said started at 10/15 miles upto 70+ now what sort of time span did it take you to get there. I know everyone's fitness different but always good to get some idea on other peoples experiences. I've done 4 rides from 7.5 to 14.5 miles in the last few weeks on my own and been on my first group ride with work mates 15.5 miles. They've got 6 to 8 months on me with varying fitness levels, felt abit guilty as they had to wait for me on several occasions but got loads of encouragement which was greatly appreciated up some hills. That leads me onto next question is it better short hilly rides or longer flatter rides?
Cheers

 

[Sim2003]

I try and go by time not the distance , If I have time for a 2 hour ride I will head out for 1 hour then head back. The distance is just a bonus and does improve. At the moment I have been doing a 23mile loop that was taking me 2hr05min now it takes 1hr 46min. Will extend that loop out a bit to get it to 2 hours again.