Originally posted by caligurl

so can i assume (yes i know! ) that if i concentrate on distance.. that speed will come along eventually?
Sorta.

Before you start working on speed, you want to have a good "base". I've heard figures of anywhere from 300-700 miles in your legs before you add intensity. As with everything, there is lots of wiggle room there for personal interpretation.

Basically you want to be able to ride for at least 2-3 hours at a comfortable, steady pace before you add interval, sprint and hill repeat workouts to your routine. The base miles help reduce your chance of injury once you add those hard efforts.