Avg. Distance

[jusdooit]

I'm still fairly new as a rider (well, return rider), only been riding since June '06. I am curious to know what the average distance of ride most folks go for. I made it through 26 miles yesterday and would like to get to 30 miles, and do it at least 3x a week. Just made me curious about what most of you ladies ride, how often, etc.

[Cassandra_Cain]

I'm still fairly new as a rider (well, return rider), only been riding since June '06. I am curious to know what the average distance of ride most folks go for. I made it through 26 miles yesterday and would like to get to 30 miles, and do it at least 3x a week. Just made me curious about what most of you ladies ride, how often, etc.

Hi Cindy - welcome back to riding

Not sure how useful my reply will be since I don't really train by miles or aim to reach a certain amount.

Looking at my journals though I usually end up with about 100-110 miles/week. I do a lot of high intensity work during the week, then much longer rides on weekends.

With the dreaded time change rapidly approaching I'll be switching my weekday rides indoors on the trainer....

Best wishes in reaching your goals, sounds like you are well on your way

[midgetcycler]

During the week I have to limit my rides to 1 hour at a time. I usually get in 15 or so miles on a weekday. On the weekends, I try to get in one longer ride -- 2 to 3 hours. the longest I have done on a weekend ride is 47 miles.

Coming up on 1000 miles on my bike since the beginning of July!! Yea me!

[Veronica]

This has been discussed in a couple of different threads recently. But since distance is common word it makes it hard to search for.

You're going to get lots of different answers. I'm training to do Paris-Brest-Brest next August, a 1200 K ride, completed over 4 consective days. My rides range in length from my 4.1 miles commute (that's round trip!) to 200 miles. I usually ride 6 days a week, sometimes 7, because I commute.

People who mainly mountain bike will have lower mileage. Folks who are "normal", not mental, won't have rides longer than a metric or imperial century, maybe they will do a double metric.

Some people are weekend warriors, some commute 20 or 30 miles to work everyday.

We are all different.

V.

[Grog]

For what it's worth (i.e. very little) my rides averaged 47,9 km (just under 30 miles) this year (Jan 1st to today).

[Mimosa]

My current weekplanning is:
2x 2hrs (about 35 miles) (on tuesday and thursday)
2x 3.5hrs (about 56 miles) (on saturday and sunday)

[SouthernBelle]

I think lots of us have to reserve longer rides for weekends, esp. since the days are shortening. With the light available at the end of the day last week, I was lucky to get in an hour.

Do what you can and what you enjoy.

[quint41]

I've been doing 20-25 miles per ride 2-3 times a week. But, then, I was riding hybrid until I got my road bike about 3 weeks ago. Season's almost over here. I'm going to work on increasing that next season.

[Bikingmomof3]

Right now I canot ride, but FWIW, when I could ride I averaged a little over 100 miles a month. Not a lot compared to many on here, but my first time a bike ever was in July, so I was spending more time on technique so I would be safe on the roads and not a danger to other riders.

[ptenoid]

My distances vary, but I average 8 - 14 miles, 5 days a week. I occasionally go farther, but I tend to get bored after about an hour.

[Aggie_Ama]

Again it varies. During the months when it is light longer, I was riding 15-20 miles 3 times during the week. On the weekends we usually do a couple longer rides. We usually do 30 miles on Saturday and 40-60 miles on Sunday. Everyone once in a while we do an organized event, usually 60-70 miles.

[BeeLady]

I'm sitting at home now basking in cycling nirvana after having just completed a 15-mile ride in the country will hills and headwind, wonderful temperature and beautiful scenery . And wondering why I didn't ride another 10 or 15 miles, which surely I had the time and energy to do.

One reason I didn't is that I don't want to do too much too fast. I'm 51 and do not have a very good bicycle (12-year-old cheap steel bike - heavy and not very road worthy) so I don't want to set myself up for bad cycling experiences when I'm just getting started. I also didn't have usable bike pump and although I'm out in the country this weekend where everyone has a compressor, I didn't want to have to walk my bike 2 or 3 miles in case of a flat. (It gets hot out here fast!)

Last weekend I rode 36 miles in an event and will ride either 30 or 50 miles in an event next weekend (on a new bike!!). The event will have SAG (which I don't intend to use or think I'll need) and rest stops.

During the week I use my bike for errands so ride 5 to 10 miles 3 or 4 days a weeks and do a 14-mile group ride once a week. I want to work my way up to a consistent 100-mile week and then add 10% or so a month until I am a well-conditioned cyclest with proper (or at least improved) technique.

Ultimate goals: 1) many years of healthy cycling at 300+ miles ea month; 2) at least one or two multi-day tours a year; and 3) able to do one or two centuries or MS 150 rides each year.

If I was 25 these goals would be different and I could just ride til I dropped, knowing I could and would fully recover and be ready to go again in a day or so. At my age, recovery and gradual increases are the plan as well as a necessity in achieving my cycling goals.

[Bad JuJu]

I think our average distances depend on our goals, and even for any individual, goals may change over the season or year. I like to average about 50 miles a week, but I'm doing longer weekend rides now in preparation for an upcoming metric century (2 weeks from now ). But generally, I try to do one or two 20-mile rides during the week, then a longish ride on Saturday and maybe a short, easy recovery ride on Sunday.

But again, it depends on your goals.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Between all the members here, some of whom ride 150 miles a week or more, others who ride 5 miles two or three times a week...figuring an "average" is kind of meaningless.
But individual averages are more practical to look at I think, so here's mine at this point in time:
Been riding about 4 months now. From Monday-Friday I usually do 2 rides of 11 miles each, plus one +/- 20 mile ride with DH. Then on Saturday and Sunday we average maybe one 35 mile ride somewhere in there, because sometimes it's raining and sometimes we are out of town or busy with non-bike obligations. So I guess that adds up to about 75 miles a week for me right now, counting rain and cancelled rides. (gee, it's more than I thought!)

[eclectic]

As it was mentioned before it depends on your lifestyle and goals. My rides started out 10 - 15 miles then I got a new bike and decided to go on a tour

Now my closest average per ride would be about 19 miles, but upped it to about 30 when I was getting ready for the tour I was going on, then we threw in some 40-60 mile rides on a regular basis.

I'll plan on just going for an hour but usually end up going further once I am out
For some reason I can ride by myself for hours , the same old routes and not get bored. I am usually working on technique such as shifting/ spinning, standing to climb part of the hill, sprinting etc or just daydreaming and dawdling. I even notice the scenery once in awhile