do you ride by time or miles?

[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.

[makbike]

So, how do you decide your daily ride -- time or miles? For you high mileage women, how do you get the miles in ... is there some "scheduling trick" to increase miles?

It all depends on what my schedule is for any given day. When the weather is nice I commute to work. If I have no place to be after school (work) I can knock out 25+ miles given we are free to leave at 3:30 p.m.. If I have to be someplace at a given time I have shorter routes I use. I simply adjust my milage/time on my bike according to my other responsibilities. I also try to ride with the club a couple of times each week. However, with soaring gas prices the 2-3 trips into Louisville each week may have to be cut back to weekend rides only.

Once summer starts (only 17 more school days ) I'll have even more time to explore new routes/roads and ride some of my favorite routes in this area. Last summer I typically rode 6 days a week with rides being 25+ miles each day.

In the winter months I do not ride outside. I put my bike on my trainer and leave it set up in my living room. I ride it 6 nights/days a week as well. The milage is typically 15 miles per ride but over time those 15 mile trainer rides add up not to mention adding strength to my legs/heart/lungs.

Good luck and remember it is all about having fun!

[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.