Training & Nutrition - Any health benefits to long rides?

My rides are usually 70 minutes at 15.5mph 4-5 times a week. I'm not too concerned about becoming faster. Are there any health benefits that I'm not getting by not doing long rides?

I think you need to think out why you're not concerned about "becoming faster". Some think faster means getting out of a comfort zone rather than settling in a routine that works...nice and easy 70 minutes.

Health benefits is one very big aspect in riding. But its just one.

I prefer a 2 hour ride to a 1 hour ride. Twice the exercise, but I only have to do the prep stuff
once (getting dressed, airing tires, etc)

It completely depends on what you want out of riding.

There can be diminishing returns if you never push farther or harder. Your body gets used to going 70 minutes @ 15.5 and after a while it stops getting any stronger because it is never pushed. You could either start working in longer rides or keep your 70 minutes but ride it faster. Optimally, you'd want to do both.

When you started going 70 minutes, it was probably more difficult for you than it is today. Back then, your body responded to the effort by getting stronger (heart, lungs, muscles, calories burned). But today since you are used to this ride, your heart may be beating less than it was when you started. It's good that you've gotten that little valved muscle into better shape but if you don't push it harder once in a while it will get lazy (complete layman's terms here). Put together rides that make you feel today like your 70 minute rides made you feel when you first started going that distance/time.

Let me re-phrase the question. If I usually ride 1hour at 16 mph 6 days a week, would I gain any benefit health wise, If I rode 2hours at 16mph 3 days a week.

Let me re-phrase the question. If I usually ride 1hour at 16 mph 6 days a week, would I gain any benefit health wise, If I rode 2hours at 16mph 3 days a week instead.

You'll improve your endurance. I used to think of 40 miles as a long ride, 20-30 as medium and <20 as short. After a year of doing almost-weekly 80-mile rides with a couple of centuries thrown in, 40 miles seems short. I'm amazed at how much energy/strength/enthusiasm I now have after the first ~60 miles.

Then there's the important fun factor. If you love being on your bike, twice as long is twice as much fun! If that's not a health benefit, I don't know what is. ;)

Let me re-phrase the question. If I usually ride 1hour at 16 mph 6 days a week, would I gain any benefit health wise, If I rode 2hours at 16mph 3 days a week instead.

There's a lot of unknowns still out there in training science, but one really big clear "known" is the concept of specificity. So, yeah, if you do 2 hour 3x weekly, you'll get better at doing... 2 hours 3 x weekly.

So, as another poster said - it's all about what you want.

What do you want to be? If you can define that, we'll help you figure out how to get there.

Let me re-phrase the question. If I usually ride 1hour at 16 mph 6 days a week, would I gain any benefit health wise, If I rode 2hours at 16mph 3 days a week instead.

Why don't you give it a try?

One way of measuring health benefits is yr resting pulse rate. Ever since i started going for longer rides (60km in slightly less than 3 hrs as opposed to 30km in the past), my resting pulse rate has dropped by more than 10 bpm. My resting pulse rate is now approx 61 bpm when it used to b abt 75-78bpm.

i'd perfer a 2hour ride over a 1 hour ride. on 2 hours your going out farther, seeing more sites, more road, more of the outdoors, it feels like an adventure, a discovery.

if your cycling to maintian your health stats then 1 hour say 3-5 times a week is fine in addition to some other form of exerise, no one type of exercise worksout every muscle group, so swim or have lots of sex inaddition. if you want to improve your health then you gotta ride more and harder, learn to intervals, ride with one leg, learn what base miles are.

One hour is ok if that is all you have, but 2 hours + would be preferred imho. You get in a zone after warming up and imho, one hour at 15 mph is a warm up. I rarely attempt a mountain climb (which I still suck at) unless I have a warm up with a minimum of 10 miles. when I hit a mountain in the first 10 miles, it is brutal.

I still find it amazing at what I can do after 2 hours. Then 3 hours, etc...

Well, look at it this way...

If when you're 80 years old, you can look back on having ridden an hour a day at a reasonable effort 4-5 times per week, you will have done more exercise than almost 100% of your peers.

There's a lot of contradicting information in the medical world about the benefits/safety of long vs shorter but more intense exercise. If you are talking about the same number of hours as you are, then it probably doesn't make any difference between spreading it out from 3 to 5 rides. I'm not really sure that I would consider 2 hours a long ride compared to 1 hour. Longer rides, are longer than that. But you will still be way ahead of those who spent those same hours watching TV.

Thanks for everyone's input. I've only been roadbiking regularly for 2years, mainly to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. I've seen my average speed increased a little, yesterday I averaged 17mph. I know this is low compared to everyone else but I'm just glad to have found a cardio workout that I enjoy. An hour and a half is usually all I have, but I'll try longer rides in the weekends.

There can be diminishing returns if you never push farther or harder. Your body gets used to going 70 minutes @ 15.5 and after a while it stops getting any stronger because it is never pushed. You could either start working in longer rides or ride it faster. Optimally, you'd want to do both.

What he said

Don't get me wrong, although I'm not overly concerned about riding faster, my speed has been going up gradually.

Let me re-phrase the question. If I usually ride 1hour at 16 mph 6 days a week, would I gain any benefit health wise, If I rode 2hours at 16mph 3 days a week instead.Not much.

Your question invites confusion. You use the phrase "benefit health-wise" without defining what particular metrics or statistics are to be applied to it's meaning. Certainly, differing types of exercise sessions, practiced for different periods of time with differing frequency will produce different physiological results. (benefits health-wise)

For instance, going for a walk every single day - is most likely more beneficial for controlling blood pressure than going for very long walks three days per week.

On the other hand, very long walks may stress leg and core muscles to the extent that you increase your ability to resist back injury and perform other activities requiring endurance.

What's important about understanding exercise is that both short-term but high-intensity, and long- term but low-intensity workouts are important in developing overall health and fitness.

In other words sometimes, you go fast, and sometimes you go long.

[QUOTE=Richard Cranium;7711714]For instance, going for a walk every single day - is most likely more beneficial for controlling blood pressure than going for very long walks three days per week.

On the other hand, very long walks may stress leg and core muscles to the extent that you increase your ability to resist back injury and perform other activities requiring endurance.QUOTE]

This is exactly what I was looking for... Your 1st point is what I thought to be true. Your 2nd is what I had not considered. I plan on doing the 1hr ride often and throw in a longer ride when time allows.

Today was foggy and I don't like to take chances at 6 am when its still dark. So I walk a half mile followed by a 2 mile jog. Not particularly strenuous. But enough to get the blood vessels dilated.

Yeah, I'm thinking about doing the same, once it starts to get dark early here, then just ride during the day in the weekends. It's just that I hate running/jogging, I seem to always get shin-splints or something. Some say I just need to get some good running shoes, that's on my list to do soon.

Thanks for everyone's input. I've only been roadbiking regularly for 2years, mainly to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. I've seen my average speed increased a little, yesterday I averaged 17mph. I know this is low compared to everyone else but I'm just glad to have found a cardio workout that I enjoy. An hour and a half is usually all I have, but I'll try longer rides in the weekends.

17mph is not slow compared to everyone else. Compared to serious cyclists going hard or racers on a group ride, maybe, but not your typical weekender. Most no-drop rides I've been on average closer to 15mph.

Glad to hear that, never been in a group ride. Bought new running shoes today, I'll start mixing in running with cycling.

Let me re-phrase the question. If I usually ride 1hour at 16 mph 6 days a week, would I gain any benefit health wise, If I rode 2hours at 16mph 3 days a week instead.

From my experience, you will become stronger (whether you care to or not) and have greater endurance with the longer rides. I did 1 hour rides initially but then shifted to longer rides and found that just the added length really improved my riding.

I would recommend mixing though to get the most benefit. Maybe one 3-4 hour ride per week to force the endurance adaptation and a few 1 hour rides. I bet you'll find yourself flying on the 1 hour rides without really thinking about it.

On the health side, I can say that riding something like the above has decreased my resting HR from about 70 to the mid 50s, dropped by blood pressure into a very normal zone and dropped my cholesterol level back into the normal zone (dropped about 30 pts). Also, the long ride forces your body to move into fat burning mode for much longer than a 1 hour ride - you can do most of a 1 hr ride of glucose and glycogen without really pushing into your fat stores. So if weight is an issue, a few longer rides is a good idea.

I started running on the treadmill, that sure is a lot different than biking. I can only run continuosly for 2 miles. I'm pretty much limited to biking in the weekends now.

I'm now concentrating on running faster and longer distance. I doubt if I'll see any improvement biking wise, since I've limited myself on weekend only biking.