Just curious...miles per year?

[tjodit]

This will be my second year cycling on the road. I started in April or May of 2005. I'm just curious as to how many miles the newbies put on their bikes in one year? I'd be interested in knowing how many miles the experienced roadies put in too. I didn't even get 300 miles on my bike. My first love is racquetball though so I'm in the gym doing that a lot instead of riding. Also, I just couldn't bring myself to ride in the cold this winter. Is this typical or am I a poor excuse for a cyclist??

[Nanci]

I got my bike the last week of August, last year. So far she has about 3800 miles on her. I have been a slug for weeknight riding for the last four months!!! But I get in some long weekend rides. My typical week of riding, in good weather, is 20-30 miles after work 2-4 nights per week. Long ride Saturday of 60-80 miles, now sometimes 100-120 if I'm doing a Century or scouting something out, then a Sunday ride of 30-50 miles. I love riding. Plus I want to lose weight, so I pretty much have to go five days a week, at least.

Nanci

[caligurl]

last year was my first complete year of riding... my grand total for the year was 8,187.27 miles

[tjodit]

Ok, let me pick my jaw up off the floor!!! OK, so I'm a slug....a poor excuse for a human being, a wannabe cyclist!!! I'll NEVER be able to do those kind of miles! Are you people or machines??? Color me TOTALLY IMPRESSED!! I was hoping to make myself not feel so bad for not getting in very many miles. Oops! It backfired...I feel even worse. sob, sob

[madisongrrl]

I try to hit 1500-3000 miles per year. It varies depending on the type of events I'm training for.

In 2004 I was primarily training for a 56 mile half ironman relay event. So I easily put 100+ miles on my Cervelo Soloist Team each week.

2005 I focused on shorter XC mountain bike races. And since I was also doing the swim portion for a half ironman relay, I was in the pool and not on my bike as much. I probably averaged 50 miles per week on my Rockhopper hardtail (plus racing miles.)

I just bought a Trek EX 9 full suspension yesterday, so I probably won't be going for those killer 60 mile road rides that I used to do on my Cervelo. But I also got into the Chequamagon 40 this year, I'm racing a Norba National event, I'll be racing the complete WORS XC mountain bike circuit and I hope to compete in Cyclocross circuit this fall. So I will most likely put 2500+ miles on my various bikes.

What some people like to do is try to put as many miles on the bike as dollars they paid for it. So if you bought your bike for $800 dollars, then you could try to do 800 miles on it...or at least work towards it. It is a fun little goal to chase.

Have fun,

[CorsairMac]

Ok, let me pick my jaw up off the floor!!! OK, so I'm a slug....a poor excuse for a human being, a wannabe cyclist!!! I'll NEVER be able to do those kind of miles! Are you people or machines??? Color me TOTALLY IMPRESSED!! I was hoping to make myself not feel so bad for not getting in very many miles. Oops! It backfired...I feel even worse. sob, sob

don't you dare feel bad my friend! you ride whatever you feel like riding and be proud of every mile you log! do you belong to BikeJournal? We've got a Team Estrogen over there and you can see the miles most of us are logging plus it's a great tool to use for logging miles. It's also a great motivator. and I think you'll be surprised, the more you ride, the more you'll Want to ride and the miles just kinda start adding up!

As for how many miles I rode in 2005? I'll tell you only because I was shocked when I saw it - I wrote an entry to Everybody I knew coz I was so blown away but what I had done! I Still tell people how far I rode my bike and I set that mileage as my goal for this year - whether I make it or not is to be seen!

2005 = 5026 miles

[Nanci]

It's easy for me because I don't have kids at home any more. Plus I can go right from my house. Plus I like to do one long special Saturday ride, and have made that the priority for the day- so I'm not cutting my ride short trying to get home to do something else. I didn't set out to ride that much- it just happened. I couldn't stay off my bike because it was so relaxing/fun.

Nanci

[annie]

I no longer keep track of my miles. I found, when I did so, that I obsessed on mileage, past the point of enjoying the rides. So now I just ride. I DO have computers on my bikes. I know how fast, far, etc. I go each ride. But I do not keep a journal anymore. I ride for the sake of riding and don't need the added impetus of mileage to keep myself out there. I enjoy it more this way. Works for me....... I know most people prefer to keep track of their miles. That's great, whatever makes it better for each of us. But I don't and just wanted to get another viewpoint out.

annie

[Veronica]

Don't compare yourself to others. We've all got different responsibilities, priorities, goals. The terrain we all ride on is vastly different.

I do keep a spreadsheet to track my monthly mileage. I try to ride more each month than I did for the same month last year. This is the second year that I've set that as my goal. My intent is to ride more each year and keeping a monthly focus made that more managable for me. I try really hard to only compare myself to me. It's hard though. I look at other people's average speeds and think How do people have an an average speed of 18 - 20 mph on long ride?

V.

[maillotpois]

Don't compare yourself to others. We've all got different responsibilities, priorities, goals. The terrain we all ride on is vastly different.

I do keep a spreadsheet to track my monthly mileage. I try to ride more each month than I did for the same month last year. This is the second year that I've set that as my goal. My intent is to ride more each year and keeping a monthly focus made that more managable for me. I try really hard to only compare myself to me. It's hard though. I look at other people's average speeds and think How do people have an an average speed of 18 - 20 mph on long ride?

V.

That is SO true about the priorities, goals, etc.!!

tjodit - Compete with yourself, if at all! (Okay, I admit, I compete a little with my husband - but in a good way!) Set a manageable goal for yourself and maybe you'll surprise yourself. I had to up my mileage goal 3 times last year when I decided to start doing some doubles and the training that went with them.

And as for the terrain - you answered your own question, Veronica - about how people can average 18 - 20 mph: It's terrain (i.e., flat and rollers) and working in groups. I like to look back and see how terrain and who I was riding with affected my mph for a ride. For Death Ride last year (130 miles practially all climbing), my mph was 11.22. For the Davis Double (200 flat/rollery and a couple climbs) it was over 17. For the race I do in Tucson (the years I didn't crash!) it's over 20 mph for 111 miles (flat/rollery and aggressive group riding).

Terrain! (Location, location, location!)

[caligurl]

i totally agree about location and speed! there is nothing flat around where i live (where i do the majority of my riding).... i'm NOT a fast rider! but i have endurance/stamina!

the ride i did saturday (called savage hill climb) i did at 11.9 average over the total ride.. the only reason it came up to that was cuz of the flats and a nice extended slight down hill near the end.. otherwise my average for the majority of that day was sitting right around 10 mph!)

i could only hope to get up to 18-20 overall average! but not where i live! lol!

as for my mileage... i don't have kids and hubby rides too.... so we have an understanding about ride time.... plus i neglect other things that i don't want to be doing so that i can ride! this year my goal for the year is 5000.. that's quite a bit short of what i did last year.. but i was new and it was fun (it's still fun)... but i realized i have other things i have to do once in a while too!

[SadieKate]

tjodit, have you joined over at www.bikejournal.com? You can see the mileage for the members and the organized rides they are planning on riding. This may give you a way to understand why some people are riding suge huge miles. I love to mtbike also, so my miles are never going to be huge like someone riding double centuries. My hours on the bike might be sizeable, but not the miles. You have to set your own goals and work to achieve those. Total mileage is secondary to that.

Basic membership at www.bikejournal.com is free but there are great advantages to premiuer membership. You can join the Team Estrogen team and contribute to its miles.

Most of all, have fun.

[Tater]

I don't get overly worried about my mileage or average pace. But I do like to see the numbers pile up. I have also found that I like seeing my average pace go up each month. Seems it goes hand in hand with the temperature! But if I have a day like today where I the wind was so bad I had to pedal downhill just to stay upright and it shot my average pace down the tubes, oh well. There is always another day to get out and put the rubber on the road! I only put about five hundred miles on my road bike last year because I commuted by mtn bike. But, I have already eclipsed that number this year.

[Dianyla]

I didn't track mileage totals last year but I'd estimate that I did somewhere around 1200 miles - 200 of which was the Seattle to Portland ride. I really should have trained more for that!

So far this year is off to a slow start, but Spring is here and that will change.

[MomOnBike]

My goal this year is a little over 3000 miles, or a trip across the US. I'm not going to kill myself to get it done, though. My other responsibilities will probably kill me first.

Seriously, I'll probably make the mileage - I have a couple of tours planned, and they add mileage in a hurry.

As for speed, I'm not particularly fast and I ride a lot in town, so my average speed is pretty pitiful - and I slow down and LOOK at things a lot.

While I'm in awe of the fast riders with big mileage, I don't let them worry me much. I'll just applaud them from somewhere in the back of the pack.