What do your rides look like?

[momof4greatkids]

It sounds like you are doing great especially for your first itme back on the bike in seven years.

Not that I'm any great shakes or anything when it comes to riding, but what helped me when I just started was riding w/a club who regularly got me "out of my comfort zone" and helped me work harder than I normally would just tooling around by myself.

Colleen

[Jiffer]

It depends on your definition of "where you need to be" is. Where do you WANT to be?

Do you have a goal of doing a century? Then you need to work on distance. If you've never done a century, you should probably not worry about how fast you do it, as long as you do it. Give yourself time to build up miles each week, doing one "long" ride per week until you get to around 75 miles a week or two before the century. On other days, work on hills, or speed or simply getting more riding time in, but your long ride should be your hardest ride.

The more you ride, the stronger you should get, but if you feel like your rides are too easy, then push yourself more or you won't get stronger. But you have to recover after a really hard ride by either taking the next day off or doing a short light ride. If your muscles ache in the morning when you go up or down stairs, for instance, you probably need more recovery, which is more important than the ride itself.

You should do some research on the internet and/or buy a book or two on cycling.

[redrhodie]

I do a mostly 1.5-2 hr long rides, about 5 times a week. I almost always ride solo. I don't ride super distances. I don't do anything that doesn't feel good to me. Consistency is my mantra. I've gotten to be really fit this way. I also take a Pilates class every week, and that's been key to staying centered on the bike, and injury free.

It sounds like you want to do more group rides or competitive riding, but know that you can just ride. It doesn't matter how fast you go. Just have fun with it.

[Zen]

........
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My rides look like this

[OakLeaf]

Mine look like this:

Seriously, what Jiffer said.

[mamaof5]

Thanks everyone! I guess what I want to be is just fast and able to stomp up hills. I'll work on distance as I go along- just wondering the quickest way to get fast. The road I live on is about 2 miles long with no stops and virtually no traffic. I figure I'll start timing myself on that every couple of weeks to see my progress. As I get stronger I'll find a longer stretch for a time trial... I'll definately go get some books; I never thought of that. My goal for now is to be able to "hang" on 30-40 mile moderate/fast group rides. I guess it will just take time.

[Geonz]

I would worry less about getting there ever so quickly because pushing the wrong way and getting injured would rather slow things down

There are lots of threads about getting faster quickly - what worked for me (tho' hills are nonexistent here) were INTERVALS.