stapfam

Ought to be done as a poll but there are too many choices that are for style and type of riding to make it a pointless way of getting answers.

So What type of riding do you do?
Road- Mountain biking- Street cruising- Gentle trail type stuff- etc.

How fit do you class yourself?
Fit- Ultra fit- getting fit- or just getting on top of the downward spiral to couchdom.

How often do you ride?

Do you get any achievement rides in?
Maybe you regularly do Century rides- perhaps you do a few mountain climbs a year or perhaps you are in training for your first 25 mile organised ride

Any other points to note in that you ride for a reason?
To lose weight- To get over an illness- You have ro ride as a commuter-


For me- I ride a mountain bike Offroad over some pretty rough terrain. The fact that I do it on a Tandem makes it a bit more stupid, but it is the type of riding I like. I don't class myself as Very fit but I am more of an Enduro type rider. If there is a choice between a quick blast round the trails or a 30 miler- it will always be a longer ride. Ride mainly at weekends- Sunday morning for about 4 or 5 hours and in the week it is either a couple of 2 hour road rides or gym sessions. Although Night riding offroad on the Tandem is the highlight of the week if it can be arranged. I am normally in continual training for a 100 mile offroad ride that I do each year, but due to holiday and the event clashing this year- I am taking the road bike to France this year and will take in a mountain or two. My goal this year is to Ride Mt. Ventoux in a morning and get some other decents rides in aswell. I have no special reason for riding except 16 years ago I realised I was losing my fitness and used Biking as way of retaining what fitness I still had left.

p8rider

Your right stapfam, despite the simple topic it can be a difficult thing to quantify exactly.
1. I am a road rider, love the feel of cruising along on a nice piece of paved country highway or backroad.
2. Mon thru Fri I ride for exercise (15 mile course) usually 3, 4 mornings a week. The exception is during the winter if the temp is below 30.
3. I consider myself to be fit, but nothing more. Exercise was initially my motivation for riding. I hate running and had always owned a bike. My doc had put me on Lipitor as my Chol ratings had finally climbed into the danger zone. By riding and steady exercise I was able to drop the meds and maintain a chol rating in the normal range. That alone is almost worth the whole effort to me. Also I wanted to avoid slowly sinking into couchdom.
4. Since beginning to ride for exercise I have found that I enjoy going for nice solitary weekend rides, somewhere between 20-40 miles depending upon the demands of the day
5. Since getting into better shape I had a desire to try some distance riding and have participated in a couple of organized rides culminating last summer in 2 century rides, one of which was an organized ride. With the support that offered, having multiple rest stops, food, drink, etc. I was able to do the century with an average of 17.3 mph. I thought this was pretty good.

East Hill

I am mostly a road rider, but at least once a week I get out on the doubletrack near to the house.

I've got lots of hills, so I am reasonably fit, although I could always improve.

I usually do at least 12 miles daily. More on the weekends when I can fit it in, and if there's not ice on the road (no longer an excuse here). I've just always done somethingfor exercise. Walk, ride, aerobics--all my life. My father was a strong influence in that. He would make us hike all around Santa Clara County/Santa Cruz County when I was younger.

I've done a couple of personal centuries, not organised ones.

I'm working on being a commuter when our facility finally gets shut down. It will be located closer to home, and should not be quite as hard to commute, even at night.

East Hill

freeranger

I just bought a road bike at the beginning of winter. Haven't ridden it much yet, or for any distance over 20 miles so far (only out 3 times now!). Hope to build up to more distance, and increase my endurance. Most of my riding is done offroad-mtn.bike riding. I'm not very good at going over logs-I've gone over logs before the bike and had it follow and land on top of me! But I go over small logs and I'm OK with most rock gardens. Not as many trails and they are farther away than when I lived east, and used to ride around York, Pa. Lots of great trails there and my fitness and skill level were much higher then. Guess I'm average to a little above avg. fitness level. I had thought about giving up riding after the move, but haven't done it, at least not yet.

Jet Travis

I'm mostly a road rider, but I like MTB too--except serious knock-your-teeth-out single track. I've always been sort of a plough horse. I can ride for hours. Just don't ask me to go particularly fast. Maybe that comes from my years as a self-contained bicycle tourist. A metric century isn't too big a deal for me. I might do 10-15 or so a year, but a full 100 miles is. The last one I rode was two years ago. Mostly, I'm very happy to ride 20 to 35 miles, which gives me energy and time to take care of the honeydew list and keep the divorce lawyers away.

I try to ride three or four times a week in good weather. Once a week or so in winter with some indoor spinning mixed in. I do try to take a one or two week-long bike vacations every year. (Where most of those metric centuries come in).

When I ride with a group, I'm usually spit out the back like a watermelon seed. Fortunately, there's usually a few bad seeds off the back to hang with. If not, I'm content to ride alone.

DnvrFox

So What type of riding do you do?
Road- Mountain biking- Street cruising- Gentle trail type stuff- etc.

I do a lot of "MUP" riding. We are fortunate in having excellent, little used MUPS that go for miles with no street crossings. We have some half-decent hills nearby, and I purposely ride those hills, generally on the roads (not much used and pretty wide.) I decided sometime back that, due to my personal situation, I needed to figure out the very safest type of riding for myself, and after examining statistics and the situation around here, I chose the MUPS. My wife (69 yo) and I frequently ride together, and we also have an excellent MUP trail system in the mountains of Colorado, where we also ride.

How fit do you class yourself?
Fit- Ultra fit- getting fit- or just getting on top of the downward spiral to couchdom.

I classify myself as always fighting the battle of fitness. I think in general, I am pretty fit for my age of 67, but I know of many who are more fit, including on this group. When I have my singing group over (they are about the same age as I am), they all talk about their diabetes and other troubles, none of which I currently have. However, sadly, one's body DOES wear out, and I am feeling that to some degree. I consider fitness to be 1) the proper body weight/composition (I always fight that); 2) Strength (am probably stronger than most 25 yo's); 3) aerobic capacity (about typical 35 yo, I would guess) and 4) Flexibility (I fail this one!).

How often do you ride?

During "riding season" almost daily.

Do you get any achievement rides in?
Maybe you regularly do Century rides- perhaps you do a few mountain climbs a year or perhaps you are in training for your first 25 mile organised ride

Not any more. I just ride for fitness and pleasure. My "typical" ride would be 20-30 miles.

Any other points to note in that you ride for a reason?
To lose weight- To get over an illness- You have ro ride as a commuter-

I like to ride to stores and such instead of taking the car. I also walk an awful lot. I also like leading rides for other seniors, which I do from April - October.

My wife and I take "road trips" in our Caravan bringing our mtn bikes along. We love exploring a new town by bike, or stopping in some country location and riding for a bit.

stonecrd

I ride on the road Tues-Fri 21 miles a day. On Sunday I do a long ride of 60+ miles. I would class myself as fit but would need to loose about 30lbs to be ultra fit which is beyond my willpower.

jppe

1. 95% road riding-other riding is some Time Trials and cruising easy trails on a mountain bikes
2. Fit-I can chart my HR, BP, cholestrol and other medical stuff for the last 6-7 years and it clearly shows some of the physical rewards from getting regular exercise
3. I like to ride at least 3-4 days a week but difficult to do in the winter months. That would include 30-40 miles rides on Tuesday & Thursday and 60-100 mile rides on Saturday and/or Sunday.
4. I do lots of timed and untimed metrics, centuries and Time Trials. I use the timed events as personal motivation to gauge my level of fitness and also to gauge where I am in learning "how to ride" smarter. I'm able to look at my past times for the various events over the same routes so it is a pretty good gauge overall. I've improved my performance every year for the past 6 years.........Gotta wonder where the curve starts going the other way!!
5. Like others, I just love getting out of doors and seeing the countryside. I especially enjoy traveling to new areas to ride in various events. I'm going to try and do more of that this year-travel to other states within driving distance to ride in organized rides. I've met tons of truly great people out on the road. My new office is about 10 miles away so hopefully I can begin commuting for a few days a week soon.

I never started riding for any reason other than I really enjoy riding. Over 6-7 years it has helped me develop much healthier habits that I can commit to but it has also put a big dent in my savings......A much bigger dent than my other hobbies ever did!!! I wouldn't have it any other way.

NotAsFat

Road, road and road.

Getting fit. As my ID and title suggest, I started riding again to lose weight and have done well, losing better than 50 lbs. I'd like to lose another 50, but until the weather warms up enough to start spending real quality time on the bike, I'm doing well to hold the line.

Whenever time, weather, and energy level permit. 100 mi. weeks are common for me, and I get in the occasional 200 mi. week.

Have done several metric centuries. Plan on my first imperial centuries this year. Hope to get under 5.5 hrs by season's end.

As stated above, I started to lose weight, but this year, I plan to add a good bit of commuting/utility cycling to the mix. So far, I have more miles on the old beater than the road bike.

Jet Travis

That's crazy fast.

oilman_15106

You need another fittness catagory: maintain fittness & weight

Other than the enjoyment of riding and my entire obsession with cycling and all things associated, that is the only reason I ride.

PaulH

So What type of riding do you do?
Road- Mountain biking- Street cruising- Gentle trail type stuff- etc.
Commuting and other utility riding.

How fit do you class yourself? Fit- Ultra fit- getting fit- or just getting on top of the downward spiral to couchdom.
Able to pass my FAA flight physical

How often do you ride?
Twice every workday, year round. I spend many summer weekends on an island where there are no car rentals -- when I'm there, I ride on weekends as well, going to the beach and restaurants.

Do you get any achievement rides in?
Maybe you regularly do Century rides- perhaps you do a few mountain climbs a year or perhaps you are in training for your first 25 mile organised ride

No. It's hard for me to think of bikes except as transportation. Maybe that's because, when I was growing up in the 1950s, cycling was simply not a sport, although I sometimes saw grainy magazine pictures of hunchbacked foreign people with upside-down handlebars.

On the other hand, I do derive pleasure from completing a trip in deep snow or tricky rough ice, or carrying a lot of groceries or my daughter somewhere. This week, I was the only person in my company to make it to work each day. I could not have done that by car.

Any other points to note in that you ride for a reason?
To lose weight- To get over an illness- You have ro ride as a commuter-

DC is a beastly place to drive -- parking is hard to find and there is severe congestion during rush hour. If there is snow or ice, the result is total gridlock. I'm too lazy to drive my cars except on weekends.

Cycling is also the only way I can imagine getting any exercise. I'll jump on my bike and ride off, perfectly happy, into an ice storm to get to work, but I could never regularly ride just for exercise, let alone hamster away on a trainer. If I didn't commute to work, my blood pressure would doubtless be totally out of control, and I might even have had a bunch of heart attacks.

You see things on a bike that you would never see in a car, like a moonrise reflecting off snowfields at night. You notice how the sky is starting to get a bit lighter or darker on the trip home, and feel the march of the seasons. You stop for a few minutes to watch a huge Red Tailed Hawk perched in a tree just a few steps from you.

There are some real money savings as well -- about $20,000 net (mostly in parking costs) over eight years. It also keeps my car from being driven in corrosive salt or on short trips that promote engine wear-- that's worth thousands right there. Possibly as a result, I've been driving the same car for over 20 years.


Paul

BluesDawg

So What type of riding do you do?
Road- Mountain biking- Street cruising- Gentle trail type stuff- etc.
Yes, all of the above. Mostly road, but lately MTB riding is getting close to equal time. I live in a rural area and I have many options of rides from my driveway on low traffic, scenic roads from gently rolling to fairly challenging hills. I like to ride 30 to 50 miles when I can. Not especially fast, not especially slow. I also enjoy cruising around town with a small group of riders from my bike club. MUPs are nice, but I think I would find them boring if I rode them often.
On the MTB I like twisty, hilly singletrack more than mild trails. Not into jumps or crazy downhills

How fit do you class yourself?
Fit- Ultra fit- getting fit- or just getting on top of the downward spiral to couchdom.
Fit, but always fighting off the slide to couchdom.

How often do you ride? Four or five days a week in season. One or two days when weather and short days take over. Trainer maybe once oor twice a week when I absolutely can't get in a real ride.

Do you get any achievement rides in?
Maybe you regularly do Century rides- perhaps you do a few mountain climbs a year or perhaps you are in training for your first 25 mile organised ride
I do several metrics and a couple of centuries every year. I challenge myself more with distance and hills than with time or speed measurements. Seven hour centuries are about my norm.
I do a week long organised ride with about 2000 people every summer. About 60 miles a day for 7 days.
I will be entering six XC MTB races this year. I've never done this before.

Any other points to note in that you ride for a reason?
To lose weight- To get over an illness- You have to ride as a commuter-
I ride because I enjoy it. It helps me keep the weight off. It keeps me off cholesterol medication. It keeps me feeling healthy. The more strenuous riding is an escape for me. Helps clear my mind of all the nonsense of work and daily life. I think it fills the role that might have been filled by partying and chemical aids in another life.

jcm

Paved surface rider. My sig says it pretty much. I ride btween 80 and 150 miles/week, conditions and schedule permitting. Occasional centuries, although I'm failing with the Century-a-month-Challenge. Metrics? No sweat. Heavy, probably 20lbs over, but fit. Perfect Clydesdale description: Lots of muscle, pretty much tireless, can plow all day at a moderate pace without discomfort or fatigue provided there's lots of high-octane feed.

roccobike

So what type of riding do you do?
I'm a mountain biker who also rides road and MUPS. My favorite is technical, single track.
How do you classify yourself, fit, ultra-fit, getting fit.....
How about "was fit". At the end of last season I was in the best shape of my limited cycling career. My road times were up to 18mph average. My individual MTB times were the best I've ever posted and, best of all, I could feel the difference as I began to drop other MTBers.
Then came winter combined with loss of daylight.
How often do you ride?
Now, only once or twice a week, usually on weekends. But that will change on March 11 when I can get back to three to five times a week.
Do you get in any achievement rides?
I have to be honest with myself, I'm not a fast mountain biker, accurate on technical trails, yes, but not fast. In fact I'm quite slow so competition on the MTB is out. I'm a much better road rider than I am MTBer. Right now I'm planning to enter my first "comptetive" road ride this July. We'll see how I do.
Any other points to note? Do you ride to lose weight, etc.?
I ride for fun and to take my mind of off the problems at work. But the side benefits of losing 15lbs and lowering my cholesteral over 30 points are welcome. I'm sure I'm getting a good cardio work out each time I ride and that can't hurt. Before I returned to cycling about 2 or 3 years ago, I was a certified Couch Potato who thought the greatest invention was the remote control.
As an aside, I found I greatly enjoy buying old bikes and repairing them. This interest continues to fuel the desire to cycle, which in turn, keeps me interested in repairing bikes and so on.
BTW, great thread Stapfam.

badger1

So What type of riding do you do?
Road- Mountain biking- Street cruising- Gentle trail type stuff- etc.
A mix of on/off road and MUP - commuting + riverside trails + occasional fitness (extended) rides

How fit do you class yourself?
Fit- Ultra fit- getting fit- or just getting on top of the downward spiral to couchdom.
Now, pretty fit (certainly not 'ultra,' but according to my quack my 55 yr. old self is at a level [body mass, weight, resting/max h.r. etc. more typical of a North American 30-something; my arthritic joints don't believe him but he swears it's true!) -- annual accumulated distance at a goodish pace + watching the diet has had its results

How often do you ride?
During the season, March through December up here, every weekday min. 20 kms + longer rides on weekends (would like to do more of these/longer rides)

Do you get any achievement rides in?
Not yet; been at this since summer 2002 after not riding for about 25 years. Beginning to think about buying a road bike to start upping the kms./ride with a view to doing some kind of multi-day supported tour (poss. the Quebec Route Verde [Montreal up through the St Lawrence/into the Gaspe]) in a year or two

Any other points to note in that you ride for a reason?
Began again as direct result of stern lecture from quack (Spring 02) >> chol. and b.p. beginning to signal future problems; got an mtb, roadified it, and started riding to/from work; v. quickly became (re)addicted to cycling/progressed from there. Simply put, I love it and can't conceive of stopping for any reason other than physical incapacity: going to the shops, dicing in traffic, riding along the river banks, stopping to watch a family of geese for a few minutes -- it's all good. Like some others here, I'm one of those who simply cannot 'exercise' unless there's a 'fun/sport/"going somewhere/doing something"' element involved; put another way, I have to be able to pretend/think that I'm NOT doing this for my health!

Trsnrtr

I'm a confirmed road rider and have accumulated 142,000 miles since '82. I rode the pavement 8,350 miles last year, 7,300 solo and the remainder on a tandem.

I've never owned a mountain bike though I did race cyclocross a few years in the '80s.

I ride almost daily if weather and roads permit, but it's been tough this month. I try to never go more than two days without exercise. If I can't ride the road, I hit the trainer or rollers with rollers being my preferred method of indoor drudgery.

I am 50# overweight. My body fat is around 19%. However, I don't remember the last time I was dropped, and I can still ride a 5.1 hour century solo (total time with stops) so it doesn't concern me that much.

Lastly, I ride because I love it; no other reason. I don't ride to stay fit or be healthy or because it's good for the planet or because of my politics. I ride because I enjoy the feeling and I feel lucky that I've found a lifelong pursuit that gives me so much pleasure.

Dennis

Red Rider

[QUOTE=stapfam]
So What type of riding do you do?
Road, both solo and tandem.

How fit do you class yourself?
Fitter than "fit" but not quite "ultra fit." I have an extra 5 lbs. that found me over the Christmas holidays that I'm trying to lose.

How often do you ride?
Right now, 3-4 days a week, weather & work permitting. In summer, 5-6 days a week. The shortest ride I do is 30 miles -- it takes me that long to warm up.

Do you get any achievement rides in?
Last year was my first full year of serious cycling. I finished 5 imperial centuries and 1 metric century. My goal this year is one a month between last week & October. There's something about riding long, long rides where I find a zen that is irresistible to me. The more I do it, the more I want to do it.


Any other points to note in that you ride for a reason?
Three and a half years ago I retired from teaching fitness classes & personal training, and lost my zeal for pursuing the adrenaline & endorphins. The pounds crept up, I settled deeper into my couch, until just after my 50th birthday I decided I was too young to feel so crappy. That very day I went back to the gym.

Fast-forward to summer '05; a girlfriend asked if I could help her train for a 1/2 century. I agreed & seven months later we completed our first century. I thrive on challenges, so I want to get faster on the centuries, as well as do more tandem centuries. As most of the others have waxed poetic on being outdoors, enjoying the scenery, I'll just say "ditto," and add that every ride I take keeps my stress level well below tolerable. I can't imagine life without a bike, a road, and a sense of adventure.

NotAsFat

I know. That's why I said I hoped to make it.

bcoppola

Upright. Mostly, anyways.

Oh, you want a serious answer?

Road. Mostly club rides of 20-30 miles @ 14 - 20 mph, 1-3 times a week.
Solo rides on local roads or MUPs on either my roadie or fixed gear.
Not interested in mountain biking.
Going to try my first century this coming season; probably the Hancock (Ohio) "Horizontal Hundred".

robtown

I am a road bike rider but own a MTB. I commute in order to get time to ride - it adds up beween 25 and 75 miles a week. I like to train for one or two century rides a year.
I did the C&O canal in 2 days as a fund raiser on the MTB and would like to get much more MTB time in. Perhaps one of the ski resorts during spring/summer. A friend also offered to take me on difficult run nearby.
I'm getting fit (last 5 years) and need to drop between 25 - 30 pounds.

Floyd

Most of my riding is to get the exercize thing going..so I ride around town on the not so traveled streets. Since I live in small town america traffic is never too bad, but that does not mean I don't have to be carefull. I go out for a 10-15 mile ride 4-6 times a week if I can, and a longer one too when I can. Most of my work is on Sunday morning so I can go out when everyone else is working, when I can work it into the schedule. Thanks for a nice topic thread

NotAsFat

Tom Bombadil

I am unfit. Unfit to even be on this forum!

I have lost 10 pounds since September, with my renewed interesting in cycling being a key factor. I hope to lose at least another 10 pounds this year.

Most of my riding is on rural rail trails (and mostly limestoned/graveled trails), as one passes very close to my house. I also do some riding over lunch hour on city bike paths. I do a little bit of riding on roads, mostly within my subdivision. Haven't riden off-road in over 30 years.

As for achievement ride goals, I hope to do at least a 25 miler this year, and would love to do 30 and a 35. We'll see how it goes from there.

Jet Travis

That, thank God, is why you have the big blue star.