Starting to Ride
 

Hi!

I just started riding a few weeks ago, and I am slightly confused as to how far I should be riding each day.
I'm 6' 2", 235 pounds. I'm not in great shape, but I play squash regularly (so I consider myself pretty agile)
So, my question:
How far should I be riding each day?
What should my goal be once I decide to increase my rides?

I do a 15 mile loop everyday, and it's not too challenging but I'm worried about pushing myself too quickly.
Any thoughts?

Thanks,
-Nick

you ever ride much before recently? and what are you riding?

edit: first pooost

I've ridden a little before, but never anything more than 10 miles up until a couple weeks ago.
I used to mountain bike a little but gave that up.
I'm riding an old Takara 10 speed right now; it's pretty heavy but really stable.
-Nick

k, so first off make sure the bike is dialed in for your size, no matter how long youve been cycling you need to make sure its set up so that you arent in pain or strain.

no matter what anyone tells you theres no real rule to how much to ride a day or week. if you are doing the 15 mile without beating yourself up, youre golden. when it gets really comfortable then push it to 17, then twenty.

youre the only person who can really tell what distance is good for you, all i can say is sizing adjustment is absolutely crucial for a safe and healthy ride. the distance is up to how much you can comfortably manage..

edit: an afterthought to that stream, goals if you are training for something like a big ride or cyclocross or etc. otherwise youre goal should be enjoying yourself :D

If you've been riding the same fifteen miles every day, you can vary your routine by riding faster, or riding further. Try finding a few hills to go up as well. Don't think you can't do it on the Takara--all my bikes but one are either 12 speed or 10 speed, and I have hills :) .

East Hill

i second that motion! different routes all over the place are the best part of riding, and ive only gots one gear to me name ;)

If you're in decent shape already, vary your workout, doing intervals, sprints, hill climbs and long (40 mi. or more) rides. Doing the same loop over and over can get stale and boring. Mix in a couple rest days or days where you do something different (like play squash) or do both (ride to the court and play squash).

Got a helmet? You need one. Got a patch kit and a pump? Once you start doing longer rides and get out into the country, you need it.

Add roughly 10% a week.. But don't just add 1.5 miles on each 15 mile ride.
Do longer rides, and take an occasional day off. Since you seem to be in fairly good shape, you may well find the distance you can go increases quickly for a while.

As it gets longer, you will want to bring water and a snack or a sports drink.

One way to structure your week is...
a long ride
a short easy ride
a really fast ride
a day off
a medium length ride
a hilly ride (or intervals)
an easy ride

+1 Good advice.

It all comes down to: what's your goal? What's your purpose in riding? Is there a long event you'd like to do? A century in a day? Double century? Multi-day tour? Hilly route? Epic ride?

Or do you just like going out and gabbing with friends, stopping at a local muffin shop or Starbucks? Are you just trying to lose weight? Are you trying to get cardiovascularly fit?

Each of these goals is different and therefore has a different approach in reaching them.

My brother still rides his 72? Takara a few times per month. It's the only new bike he ever bought!
It still has the original Free Wheel & cranks, although it's former red paint is now more of a brown.

I think you underestimate yourself greatly. Squash is one of the most demanding sports in terms of cardio fitness. Actually I started gaining weight when my doctor ordered me never to play squash ever again after an injury and until then squash had got me fitter than at any time in my adult life.

I bet you will surprise yourself if you see how far you can go. Chances are your stamina is pretty damn good.

1. Increase speed (pace).

2. Add miles and more (or steeper) hills.

This is the strategy I have been using since I started riding in February. My first ride was 3.9 miles (after a 30 year hiatus). I now am doing 35 to 40 miles. At this point, I am capping the miles, and working on more hills and speed (I am pretty slow). I can pretty easily add hills by varying my route. Lots of hills around here.

I certainly could benefit from training strategy input as well.

"How far should I be riding each day?" However far you want to, there's no set amount.
"What should my goal be once I decide to increase my rides?"- There's no rule that says you have to increase your rides. If you're riding 15 miles a day, that's some good exercise, and if that's all you ever do, that's great. If you're looking at doing Long Distance Riding or Racing or something like that, check in those forums (and at your local bookstore) and you can pick up a lot on how you should be riding to accomplish that. But just getting out and getting an hour of exercise a day and never going beyond that is okay, too.

Check if you have any charity rides going on in your areaa- they're fun and something to do on a bike- you should be good for quite a bit more than 15 miles when you need to.

Just curious East Hill, you ever ride up the hills like James or 212th? I know you're closer to that side of town, so was just wondering because those 2 seem just brutal. I myself ride Smith up to Kent-Kangley for my commute home.

Thanks for all the advice!
I think I need to raise my seat a couple inches for the bike to fit me better, but other than that I really like the bike.
I think that the best thing for me to do right now is to get a cycling computer so I can keep better track of how far I'm actually cycling. That would let me bike really varied routes while making sure that I was keeping up the distance I wanted. Past that, I think I'm ready to add some hills.
Thanks again.
-Nick