How many days a week do you ride your bicycle?

[la bicicleta]

Do you take off 1 or 2 days off a week? I'm referring to just riding for fun, fitness & exercise to lose weight - maybe 2 - 10 miles. Not competitively. Do you feel that your body needs to recover? What about those that commute daily? Do you take a rest day from your bike? I'm just wondering how important it is for the body.

I've also added walking with light bouts of jogging. A few minutes of dumb bells at home - 8lbs.

[Veronica]

Most weeks I ride 6 days, sometimes 7. But some days that's just my commute of 4 miles round trip.

V.

[wannaduacentury]

Do you take off 1 or 2 days off a week? I'm referring to just riding for fun, fitness & exercise to lose weight - maybe 2 - 10 miles. Not competitively. Do you feel that your body needs to recover? What about those that commute daily? Do you take a rest day from your bike? I'm just wondering how important it is for the body.

I've also added walking with light bouts of jogging. A few minutes of dumb bells at home - 8lbs.

I try to get a few short rides in during the week. When I'm busy doing other important things, I consider those my rest days off the bike. Jenn

[redrhodie]

I never ride 7 days per week because I do need at least one rest day. I try to ride whenever the weather permits, and since I'm a little whimpy, it usually adds up to about 4-5 rides per week. My short rides are about 13 miles, but at this point in the year, most rides are at least 20 miles long.

When I started riding a few years ago, 8 miles was far. As I got stronger, I added miles. It's been a very gradual progression for me.

[CCinSC]

NOT ENOUGH!! Now, only once or twice and its only about 4 or 5 miles! I'm aiming for every other day and at least 10 miles. My goal is to be able to ride in a Century race next year. That is, um , after I learn and ride a lot more.

[Torrilin]

I mostly shoot for getting my 30-40 miles in every week. I'm not trying to push mileage past that right now, because I need to get better about doing my weight work and core work. If I put too many "shoulds" on myself, I collapse into a heap and don't do what I need to do to feel good. This is a Bad Plan when the only way to get groceries is by bike

Also, I'm shopping for a bike that will handle my normal utility riding a bit better, and has "room to grow" into longer distances. I'm not particularly counting test rides as exercise.

[mimitabby]

It depends. up to 5x a week, sometimes only once or twice.

[lph]

I commute, and I try to patch in one rest day a week, thinking it'll keep me happier in the long run In other words, if I'm really raring to ride a lot more than my commute, I try to do it on my way home or immediately after getting home.

[light_sabe_r]

6 usually. I commute to work 5 days a week and occassionally I'll ride on a Sunday depending on my mood.

Saturday I'm generally doing housework or chores so no ride that day!

[DebW]

I usually commute 2-3 times per week, 26 miles round trip. I'll do one or two weekend rides of 15-30 miles if I'm home on the weekend with no other commitments.

[amy]

I'm actually trying to build miles toward a century in February. But right now I do a longer ride (only about 20 miles right now) on Wednesday and Sunday. Those are my days off from work. I usually get up at 5 am at least three other days to do 8-10 miles before work. I really am not a morning person, so this is huge for me. I'm working towards commuting in the next couple weeks. It is 32 miles round trip. I also do a lot of yoga. I try to do a little bit every day on my own, and I do a 2 hour private session on Wednesdays. And I usually do at least a little arm strengthening at work with my patients. Wow! I'm actually lying in bed sick right now, and I've been feeling sorry for myself and feeling very lazy. Typing my routine makes me quite proud of my current activity level (sick days excluded). I used to rock climb every Sunday, but cycling seems to have won out.

I would also like to say this was a long time coming. Four years ago, I weighed about 70 pounds more and didn't exercise at all. I think people need to be gentle with their bodies and find their own unique way to fitness. If that is 1 mile on a bike or 30, it is your path... be proud!

[Tuckervill]

Amy, talk more about your transformation, please?

Over the last 3-4 years I have been making numerous little changes to my way of eating, my attitude, my life. Over the last year or so I have begun to reap the rewards and am discarding the weight I've carried (although I've been on a plateau for long time at this weight even though I have upped my mileage since July).

I'm always looking for role models. Do you have a blog?

Karen

[sandra]

OH! you mean y'all actually RIDE your bicycles? I thought you just collected them, talked about them, fixed them up and drooled over them.

Just kidding.

I don't ride mine nearly as much as I'd like to lately with the days getting shorter. That's why I'm planning to fix up the mixte to hop on really fast and ride around the neighborhood.

My road bike I usually take over to the rails to trails and that takes more time.

[GLC1968]

For me, it really varies. I fit riding in when I can, so there are weeks where I'm riding 6 days (rare) and weeks were I'm lucky to get in one ride. Typically, I ride 3-4 times and usually total about 100 to 150 miles.

On a good week, I also weight train twice a week and try at get in at least one session of some other type of cardio (running, step, kickboxing, etc).

I end up resting when life gets in the way of my workouts, so I rarely ever actually plan rest days. I do try to vary my workouts to avoid over-stressing my body (ie. alternate upper body weight training with cycling to rest the legs).

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Anywhere between 4 and 6 days a week I ride.