do you ride by time or miles?

[Starfish]

These days I'm tracking (and shooting for) a certain number of minutes/week for aerobic exercise...be it on the bike or on a machine in the gym. I loosely keep track of aerobic vs. higher HR time. I find cross training helps keep my joints more comfortable, so it makes sense for me to track total exercise time and HR intensity.

But, I also have an increasing target schedule for both mileage and climbing on the bike for weekend rides, to keep me on track for a biking goal.

[velogirl]

I schedule my clients in time. There are no miles indicated in their training programs at all. It's up to them to choose the appropriate route for the type of workout I've prescribed for a given day. The only other metrics I use is watts (for my power-based clients) and elevation gain (for my clients focusing on events like the death ride).

Miles are not a true indicator or your effort. Your total miles will vary by terrain (ie hilly or flat), wind, traffic, road ride vs mtn bike ride, etc.

[Eden]

I have a coach and all my workouts are by time not mileage. I even swapped my computer onto my race bike for the summer, so now if I take the rain bike out I only have the hr monitor on so I don't even know what my mileage is....

[DarcyInOregon]

I focus on my heart rate and time and I know it's embarassing but I average about 17 miles for every hour I ride, (without WIND).

Seriously, can someone explain to me what is embarrassing about 17 mph?

Sure, if you are a Category A rider who races in the circuits or triathlons, or you are a gifted cyclist who has been training for years, you will have speeds over 20 mph. But are fitness/fun cyclists supposed to ride that fast too? I don't think so. Suzie, Ellen and myself, when we ride together, our speeds fall between 14 and 19, depending upon the wind and such. We are proud of our speeds, not embarrassed. I don't even know if I will ever achieve a consistent speed over 18 because I have a lame left foot, two ruptured disks and arthritis in my spine, and given my physical limitations, the speed I pedal now is rather remarkable. Therefore, I am proud of my speed, and never embarrassed by it.

To answer the question asked, I ride by miles, and I increase my miles gradually so as to train to ride longer distances. My goal is to be like some other wonderful TE members who can ride double centuries, and I hope to reach that goal within a few years by staying on my bike, increasing the miles, and continuing to ride during the winter weather as much as possible.

I don't even look at the time until my ride is over.

Darcy

[SouthernBelle]

Ditto what Darcy said about speed.

On weekdays I ride by time, cause I have to. Some days I get out of the office too late to ride at all. Saturdays, I am more likely to plan a route with specific mileage in mind.

However, I think you have to keep in mind what your goal is. Mine is to be able to ride where ever I want for what distance I want in a reasonable amount of time.

[F8th637]

I do it by both depending on how much time I have. If I'm cycling after work then I only have a couple of hours of daylight left. I go for what I know I can handle in an hour and get back home and there still be daylight. Since I'm still working on upping my endurance, a lot of my distance is gaged on how far I think I can take myself and get back ok especially knowing that my home is at the top of a series of hills. I don't want to ride out so far that I can't get back and have to call someone to come get me.

[DrBee]

I'm usually limited by time and try to squeeze in as many miles as I can in the time I have. And I, too, will add a few extra minutes to round off the miles.

[li10up]

I just pick a route I want to ride - not really focusing on miles or time (although I am trying to increase the avg speed of my rides)...but the ones I do are at least 20 miles long....so I guess it would be miles...but just more of a ballpark figure not specific mileage.

[GLC1968]

I do both.

During the week, I go by time. When I can ride at lunch, I go as far as I can in the time I have. These miles increase as the season goes on (the routes are pretty much the same).

After work, I go as far as I can in the time I have. Sometimes I'm limited by daylight, sometimes by other commitments.

On the weekends, I go by milage taking into consideration conditions, terrain and my body. Training for mountain centuries, I basically alternate weekends of long (65 - 85 miles) moderately hilly mile routes with shorter (40 - 60 miles), mountainous routes.

I also commute a couple of days a week and I'm trying to adjust my work schedule to allow me to do more.

[SadieKate]

Miles are not a true indicator or your effort. Your total miles will vary by terrain (ie hilly or flat), wind, traffic, road ride vs mtn bike ride, etc.

Well said.

The 87 mile survival ride of the SLO Wildflower was far beyond the effort of the Santa Rosa 200k. I've been on 50 mile mtn bike rides that were harder than road centuries.

I factor miles, terrain, bike type, effort for that ride, etc. when planning each ride. I have specific set loops that I use for road training during the week only because I know that they work for the time alloted so I don't go for a pure time-based workout like Eden. But depending on that week's plan, I may cruise an easy recovery pace or do intervals. A mtb ride is generally based on the miles only because of the practicality of trail layouts, but if I'm on a multi-day trip I'll vary the routes based on effort level (time, distance and trail difficulty).

So one of my little pet peeves: the perceived mileage competition over on bikejournal. It ain't a competition unless both riders know it. I'm for quality miles not junk miles. The members with specific goals such as races or particular events (like DMD or brevets) never get their chamois in a bundle over their rank. Matter of fact, an extremely strong rider I know states that due to knee trouble, he can only tolerate X hours of riding per year. He obviously makes the most of those hours and I wish I could ride like he does. Ok, have to step down off my little soap box now.

[Batbike]

So one of my little pet peeves: the perceived mileage competition over on bikejournal. It ain't a competition unless both riders know it. I'm for quality miles not junk miles. The members with specific goals such as races or particular events (like DMD or brevets) never get their chamois in a bundle over their rank. Matter of fact, an extremely strong rider I know states that due to knee trouble, he can only tolerate X hours of riding per year. He obviously makes the most of those hours and I wish I could ride like he does. Ok, have to step down off my little soap box now.

Thank you for saying that! I discovered, inadvertantly, that 2 members of my local bike club were "discussing my miles" and that one thought the amount of miles I rode was "low" while the other wanted to "beat me". After hearing this, I noticed the one who wanted to "beat me" started riding more and more and has surpassed me in miles ... goody for him! As for the one who thinks I don't ride enough, well what can I say to that ... everyone has their opinion! Yes, I do want to ride more, but on my schedule -- thus, the question that started this thread. Yet, must agree, miles for sake of miles can't be any good -- quality vs. junk miles sounds good!! Anyway, as for bikejournal, I ended-up going into PRIVATE mode so that my miles are my miles and not a benchmark for someone's competition (that I am not aware of and involved in).

[Fredwina]

A couple of more thoughts.
The preident of my local club is capapable of dropping pro roadies, but lil' miss pokey has more miles than he does on bike journal.
So yeah, miles without any underlying critera is just... junk. I remeber talking with the Guys that I rode into Flagstaff with on the Arizona 300K i did last weekend about how that was tough than most centuries we had done. Ironically, the last Time i was in AZ was for the Tour De Tuscon, where i did about twice the miles (109 vs 65) in less time (7 vs 8).

[smilingcat]

On my trainer, strictly time :P total miles is nada zippo. I do play a game on my trainer to keep me entertained. I want to see how hot I can get my mags by the end of the workout. I keep track of the time in different "zone".

Out on the road, typical distance is anywhere from 25-45 miles. Don't keep a log of time nor miles. I usually go out with idea of how many intervals I want to do or how many hill climb sets I want to do... So not paying much attention to miles nor time.

What I used to do after HRM became available was to watch my HR and keeping it in the "zone" during the alloted time.

Rest day is bit different I try to log in about 10 easy flat miles. No exertion really.

I just don't like to be a slave to my cycling computer anymore. But just too curious so I'm still look at my HR and compare to what I'm feeling.

But if you are just starting, keep track of miles and times.

[DarcyInOregon]

I don’t think one can call another cyclist’s miles “junk” miles. There are too many variables with respect to weather conditions, physical condition of the cyclist, physical disabilities the cyclist might have that are not apparent to others, the condition of the cyclist’s bicycle and other factors. A person can judge their own miles, but not the miles of others.

For example, on Sunday I cycled a metric century. Maybe another cyclist cycled 120 miles up a mountain chain. A friend of mine cycled 3 miles. I know my miles were not “junk” miles. Pedaling 120 miles up a mountain chain can’t be junk miles. And as for my friend, she is only a few months out of chemotherapy for breast cancer, and her 3 miles is an incredible achievement and are most certainly not junk miles for her.

Darcy

[SadieKate]

There are many who focus on miles without thought to what the miles accomplish other than a total aggregate to be able to say "I rode more miles than you did." I know people who go out of their way to figure out the easiest way to ride more miles and then boast to the world how many miles they rode. Feel free to call those whatever you want. My term is junk miles.

Did you accomplish a century? Achieve a better TT time? Podium or win a race? Climb a hill for the first time without stopping? Ride farther than you have before? Commute to work as planned?

That is what is important to me. Not that I rode X miles for the year and definitely not more miles than someone else.