What's your average distance, pace, etc?

[shootingstar]

I was a bike computer junkie for first 5-6 years after returning to cycling. Kept a cycling journal plus mileage.

Let's see at that time average speed was 19-22 kms./hr. And I was cycling annually 4,000-6,000 kms. annually.

Now it's probably slower and each ride during the week, is half the distance I used to do due to impossibly convoluted and lengthy work commute that doesn't allow me to cycle the entire trip.. while weekends each ride is approx. 42-55 kms. each day. On self-loaded touring trips it increases to 45 - 80 kms. each day.

Stuation as somewhat temporary due to awkward location of my job and commuting distance. I won't be at this job forever...it ends soon.

I know the distance I ride nowadays by asking my partner who tracks his mileage religiously on Excel..with graphs. If he wasn't around, I might seriously consider using the bike computer more often. But I haven't used a bike computer for many years now. I gauge my level of bike fitness by how I climb certain hills each season, amount of weight I can cycle up and down on various routes and distances.

It isn't my cycling fitness that interests me so much these days compared to why am I munching so much more food throughout the day nowadays.. : Latter I consider something I must be more vigilant.

I care less about my fitness but feeling strong / enthusiastic enough to go out when the weather becomes lousier, colder and wetter. I seem to be losing my cold acclimatization this year which bothers me...since it affects how far I'm motivated to cycle.

[Mr. Bloom]

Stop thinking in terms of training.

Hmmm...you're making it sound bad

For the Silvers, a big part of the enjoyment comes from pushing ourselves to new limits...if it's not fun, we slow down.

On a more positive note, my year to date miles = >210,000 calories burned which equals > 70 pounds consumed. So, since I haven't lost 70 pounds, I guess it would be said that I ride so I can eat

[7rider]

Hmmm...you're making it sound bad

For the Silvers, a big part of the enjoyment comes from pushing ourselves to new limits...if it's not fun, we slow down.

On a more positive note, my year to date miles = >210,000 calories burned which equals > 70 pounds consumed. So, since I haven't lost 70 pounds, I guess it would be said that I ride so I can eat

That's pretty much how DH and I view it, too. Challenges. Goals. Oh..and ride to eat!

[SouthernBelle]

Unless you ride cyclocross, I can't imagine what you are training for this time of year!

[crazycanuck]

Hey, don't forget that us folks down here in the Southern Hemisphere are in training mode!

[Crankin]

I often say I ride to eat, also...
But the deal about challenges is that while everyone is challenging themselves I seem to get to a certain point and then I get sick. But, like I said earlier, I'm done thinking about it. When I started riding, about 8 years ago, I had let myself get out of shape a bit after many years of intense exercise at the gym. I started slowly, but it didn't take long for me to see improvement. The thing is, is that I never consciously set out to improve my speed. It just happened. Some of it was endurance and some was the fact that i kept getting a lighter bike. So, I never "trained," like some of you do. I just rode, increasing my distance as I went. The fact that I live in an area that is not flat probably helped me a lot. I don't climb mountains, but I do climb short, steep hills on a regular basis. I didn't realize this until I started going on group rides with people who live closer to Boston; as soon as we'd get to a climb, I'd be up front! In fact, this is what got me through the only century I've done. It was flat, but with a vicious headwind by the coast; I hadn't done any rides longer than 65 miles that year, but I was able to do the century in 6.5 hours. So, while inside, I'd like to be competitive with myself, I know if I go overboard, I'll end up doing nothing.

[kfergos]

Hmmm...you're making it sound bad

I think it can be bad or good depending on your mindset. If getting faster, stronger, etc. becomes an obsession, training is no longer a positive thing. If you can keep it as an enjoyable activity, a way to challenge yourself without it becoming a compulsion, that's wonderful. But I know personally that if I start trying to push myself, I will inevitably push too hard, become totally focused on the numbers, and ultimately stop enjoying the activity. So I try not to worry too much about my speed, but instead focus on enjoying myself. I have had a very hard time letting go of the expectation to go a certain speed, and now that I have let go (mostly), it's a matter of constantly remembering what the goal is: To have fun. We all are here to have a good time on two (or three) wheels, and whatever that means for each of us -- no matter how different -- is great.

[Veronica]

Unless you ride cyclocross, I can't imagine what you are training for this time of year!

In California we ride all year long. I have a duathlon Nov. 1 and I need to do 4 more 200Ks to get my R-12. So, yeah, I'm still training.

Veronica

[Mr. Bloom]

Unless you ride cyclocross, I can't imagine what you are training for this time of year!

Ahem, the HILLY HUNDRED is next weekend...and why aren't you coming up to join us???

Then, it appears that we're going to do another ride across Indiana AND BACK in November. New Harmony to New Albany...want to come join us SB?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hey Mr. Silver, I like your new avatar.

[Fredwina]

one of the thing I think we forget is that we have different aims for getting on the bike.
An example: RUSA or my local rando club had a discussion on the e-mail list about posting elapsed time for brevet. The faster folks wanted to (i did 200k in under 5 hours! am I a He-man or what?") and the slower folk had more of the traditional "it's not a race, and the last person to finish in the allotted get as much credit as the first". in the end - the website shows finishing times.
another time I showed up at the woman's ride after I gone by the library and checked out some books. judging from the reaction, you would have thought a homeless bum was trying to join the peloton on a huffy! "OMG, those heavy books! (i Think had two James Thom paperbacks) and I've similar reaction with showing up on Saturday with the bike rigged for errands (" you ride for fun and do errands? that's unpossible!")
I would say more, but I may have start a flame war (Been meaning to comment some threads here, but I've been holding back lesy my good intentions be mistaken)

[Jiffer]

I don't think there's a right or wrong when it comes to keeping track of computer stats. It's different for everyone. If you are competitively training to race, you certainly need to keep track more than the average cyclist. If you don't race, then it's more of a fun tool to use to see how you're improving, For me, getting faster and seeing the numbers on the computer is what MAKES it fun. When I go faster, I can keep up with certain people and do certain rides that I couldn't do in the past. When I see that I'm at a 16.4 average near the end of a ride, like last week, and it encourages me to push as hard as I can to the end to try to get to 17, this is a GOOD thing for me. I need any motivation I can get to make myself work harder, because I can be a wimp sometimes! (By the way, I got to 16.9 that day ... my fastest non-group ride ever.)

If keeping track of stats becomes an obsession and your only means of feeling good about your rides is based on what the computer says, then it makes total sense to leave the computer at home and go out and simply enjoy yourself. Right now I'm sort of in the honeymoon phase, where I'm new enough at this, that I am improving faster than someone who has been riding a long time and has maybe plateaued at a certain level, or over trained or gotten sick and weakened their fitness level. For me, the average pace number on my computer is consistently getting higher and this is hugely motivating for me to keep getting on the bike.

[SouthernBelle]

Ahem, the HILLY HUNDRED is next weekend...and why aren't you coming up to join us???

Then, it appears that we're going to do another ride across Indiana AND BACK in November. New Harmony to New Albany...want to come join us SB?

I haven't trained for distance at all this year. Can I take a rain check for next? You are hereby appointed to scout out a place for me to park my little travel trailer. All I need is an electric outlet.

[Aggie_Ama]

For me, getting faster and seeing the numbers on the computer is what MAKES it fun. When I go faster, I can keep up with certain people and do certain rides that I couldn't do in the past. When I see that I'm at a 16.4 average near the end of a ride, like last week, and it encourages me to push as hard as I can to the end to try to get to 17, this is a GOOD thing for me.

Right now I'm sort of in the honeymoon phase, where I'm new enough at this, that I am improving faster than someone who has been riding a long time and has maybe plateaued at a certain level, or over trained or gotten sick and weakened their fitness level. For me, the average pace number on my computer is consistently getting higher and this is hugely motivating for me to keep getting on the bike.

Hit the nail on the head. Everyone has their goals and achievements. Some of us (ME) have been riding 4 years and this year felt the tracking miles/pace/distance got oppressive. I still put them in but it is more for maintenance tracking not to see if I can put up a 200 mile week or notch yet another century like this time last year. I don't care that it has been over a week since I rode (I have been running, landscaping, cheerleading my racer husband).

There have been past threads where the daydreamers, photographers and sight seeing riders (my current place) have been completely flamed for being slow. Right now when I do ride it is slow for where I was last year, if I were actually concerned I would be depressed but I know I am mentally in a different place. I am in better shape than last year overall just not on the bike. And you know what? I don't give a darn. I am happy, slow, playing in the dirt and puttering along taking photos Happy.

I still like hearing someone is overjoyed to make a hill, do a century, have a large mileage month but this year I am not that person in 2008. Oh but the photos I have taken this year, the sites I have pedaled by, the critters and the discovery of mountain biking have made this a totally successful year. Some years our success cannot be quantified in number of miles or average speed. And if yours can that is good, you are happy and that is how everyone should feel when they hope on the bike.

[Mr. Bloom]

I haven't trained for distance at all this year. Can I take a rain check for next? You are hereby appointed to scout out a place for me to park my little travel trailer. All I need is an electric outlet.

Done! No excuses

Here you go - about 5 miles from the start
http://www.mccormickscreekstatepark.com/