Kojack021

I did my longest ride to date. Saturday I did 13.5 miles and today, Sunday I did 15.5 miles over the Rickebacker Causeway in Key Biscayne, Fl. My legs hurt today.

generalkdi

Nice work, take a day off, and get back the other day for 20!

jamesdak 

Just keep at it. When I started in the spring of 2010 a 4 mile ride on my MB wore me out. Fast forward to this morning and I did a tad over 70 miles with no problems at all. It will get easier...

RJM

Good job getting those miles in, I agree that it gets a lot easier to go farther. When I got back on the bike I think I road a rails-to-trails path probably 8 miles total and I was wiped. I don't even consider 8 miles a ride anymore. If it aint over 30 miles, I feel like I am a lazy sack.

Just wait until you have the distance down but want to do it faster and faster, this stuff kind of becomes and addiction.

Kojack021

I can see how addicting this can be. I just started riding about 2 weeks ago.

Kind of Blued

Indeed. You're in the most fun stage of cycling, where substantial gains are impossible to avoid so long as you ride around a bit, but it won't last long. About 18 months ago I borrowed a bike, rode 5 miles, and my legs were screaming. A few months after that I did a solo century and they were fine. I think that's generally how narcotics work as well, but this is much better for you.

Velo Vol 

Uh oh.

fishymamba

Great job! I started riding last year, and 20 mile rides were pretty tough for me, now I can do 100 miles pretty easily(depending on the climbing of course )

c_bake

Right on, brotha

sqharaway

Keep it up!

Juan Foote

It's awesome, isn't it?

Enjoy yourself and be careful out there.

znomit

I was 14. We rode to mini golf then back to her place. Maybe 10km.
She had a lot of trouble riding in that mini skirt.

fishymamba

and you probably had a lot of trouble concentrating on riding straight.

blcknspo0ln

Are we still talking about the bike?

fishymamba

SDRider

100 miles

alexaschwanden

80 miles no lunch break.

Bomccorkle

about 15 miles, pulling my kiddos in the trailer behind me, and i was beat....

caloso

Keep going. It gets even better.

travelerman

Geezer chiming in here... I was off the bike for about 20 years - the first go-around, I was up to around 40 miles at a time when over-training messed up my knee. I got back into it last year and it took about two months to get back up to 20 (this was 4-5 outings per week). I finally passed 30 miles after 10 weeks, and by the time the weather turned in November, I was at 43 miles for the longest rides.

But remember - for the average person, riding past 30 or 40 miles at a time requires eating something high in carbs while you're riding to replace the energy you've consumed. Energy bars or gels, with assistance from a sports drink if you can stomach those.

If you get that far, you will be in a whole other world of carefully planning when and where you ride, what you take along for consumables and what you wear (short-sleeve jersey or long-sleeve, jacket, shorts or tights with leggings, etc.), and being sure you are eating enough and properly while you are not riding.

Welcome!

SDRider

I couldn't agree more. The first time I rode a century I trained for it, tapered off the week prior, didn't touch alcohol and ate properly and I completed it, averaged 15.5 over about 5.5 hours of ride time. Next century I rode, I didn't bother much with the diet and since I had been commuting 2-3 days a week I didn't really get in enough long training rides and it kicked my arse. I finished it but it was grueling.

JohnDThompson 

So far, I've ridden more this January than any other I can remember, starting with ~15mi on 1/2 when the high temperature was 18F and a 20mph wind. It warmed up unseasonably shortly after that and I was able to get multiple rides in, culminating with ~40mi last Wednesday when the temperature reached almost 50F. Since then it has snowed several times and there's still enough snow and ice on the roads to make riding unpleasant.

Ultraslide

Awesome. I remember my first spin around a 13 mile loop. It felt so exhilerating! 3 years later, it's a good warm up :-D
My longest one day ride to date is 162 miles.

Keep spinning!

alexaschwanden

I beat my old record and 84 miles today!!.

a1penguin

After 3-4 months of building up fitness levels, I've been on a 54 mile ride, not much elevation gain. I've purchased a hybrid (waiting for flames) with disc brakes so that I bike during the winter. I can't stand the gym and if I can continue biking via commuting at least semi-regularly throughout the winter I won't lose a lot of fitness and will hopefully be able to improve come spring. So far, it's been dry and pretty warm and I've managed to get some decent longer rides in the mix. Cold and rain are on their way and I'll be installing full fenders.

My old knees are holding up well even though they make rice krispies in milk noise when I go up/down stairs.