Yen

.... and I ride 20 miles in 2 hours (newbie on a heavy hybrid), can't I just multiply my mileage X 2 and say I rode 40 miles? I mean, isn't it time in the saddle that counts?

By that calculation today I rode my age.

stapfam

Might aswell do it all downhill as that is easier aswell.

No

Yen

Uh, no..... I actually pedaled almost the entire 25+ miles, up and down. We can't ride far without encountering some sort of incline or hill, and I prefer to pedal downhill when I can.

Tom Bombadil

If I ride 20 miles in an hour, then I must have found a 20 mile stretch that was all down hill.

We've had threads here in the past where we've reported on how many hours we ride, instead of miles. And I've written in threads on saddles and handlebars that I need more comfort on a 40 mile ride than many others, since I'm in the saddle for so much longer on a 40 mile ride.

Yen

I've been thinking about this a lot, and it seems to me that hours ridden is more important than miles, since we are at different fitness levels and ride different types/weight of bikes. For an elite roadie, 20 miles may be like a walk around the neighborhood. To me, it takes twice as long and at least twice as much effort. So, in terms of time, effort, and perseverence, I win.

stapfam

Ah- But the thing to do if you want to ride your age-Is to convert to Kilometres and not tell us about it. Now if you are doing 10mph on a 20 mile ride on a heavy hybrid. then you have to train a bit more. And find that downhill course. Best by far is to find a road that follows a river and start upstream on the river.

And as to that hours in the saddle- Longest I have done was 100 miles in 13 hours- Less than 8 MPH but I did have an excuse. First time we did the Offroad South Downs Way on the Tandem

tsl

Fine. Then ride your age in hours.

FWIW, you'll get no sympathy from me for riding a Giant Cypress. I've done rides of 55, 69 and 74 miles on my Cypress DX--twice in cargo shorts, once in jeans.

Pics here and here.

Oh yeah, in one of them I was wearing a knee brace too.

Yen

Sympathy? I was trying to make my point by comparing bikes. We hope to double this by the end of this year, getting there one ride at a time. Yesterday was almost 22 miles, today was almost 26, tomorrow ???, and this is after my recent layoff to give my hips a rest (to no avail) and, for me, that's just sayin' a lot.

head_wind

To mangle a cliché, whatever floats your bike. I happen to prefer
calories/hour and hours.

Big Paulie

Average heart rate over the number of hours would be the most meaningful way of quantifying a recreational ride, I think. Noting the number of miles you cover is largely cosmetic...your cardiovascular system doesn't respond to that number.

maddmaxx 

Now..............I spend a great deal of time building the bike that I will ride my age with..............I could probably "build" my age in hours...




Then.........Tom spends a great many hours sampling bikes.......................................

cruzMOKS

There are other factors in miles gone in a day. Such as:
How hard have you ridden in the past?
How strong a wind are you riding in?
How much air pressure are in your tires?
What kind of tires do you have?
How much does your bike + extras weigh?
How much do you weigh?
Temperature
What kind of shape you are in?
What kind of elevation are you climbing?
What is the condition of the road surface?
Traffic, stoplights & stop signs

It is hard enough to compare how I did on the same route 2 different days. Let alone compare 2 different people. But miles is our unit of expression.

Some day there will be a fancy power meter where all this will be taken into account. Hopefully for less than a days pay.

luv2cruz

If someone, say, rides a century in 5 hours, and someone else rides a century in 6.5 hours, did the fast rider do less work 'cause he was on the bike less time? Hmmm.....LOL

DnvrFox

Smiles per ride. 67 smiles per ride = ride my age!

Or, if you like, smiles per hour. 67 smiles per hour, and you get a speeding ticket.

tpelle

I can ride my age in minutes........seems to get harder every year, though.

Tom Bombadil

In the 2006 Tour de France they ran a 181km time trial and the top riders averaged about 31 mph.

It would take about 3 hr 13 min to ride a century at 31 mph.

So if you ride for 3 hr 13 min, then you've been spinning your cranks just as long as a pro rider would to ride a century.

Another option is to use Venus years. They are extremely close to using the metric system. A Venus year is 0.615 Earth years. Or 1 Earth year = 1.625 (1 5/8ths) Venus years.

So if you ride 32 miles, that matches an age of 52 Venus years. And we all know that women are from Venus.

Sandwarrior

Hey now...If you're only 20...what are you doing posting in here with us geezers?

roccobike

I think you are absolutely correct. Aerobic exercise is based more on time and heart rate than on miles.

pdq 5oh

So, by all this cadence would be a factor. You'd get more aerobic workout spinning at 90 rpm, going say 12 mph, than you would spinning 60 rpm going 17 mph over the same distance.

billew

All right, then I want extra credit for using the '54 raleigh sports to ride my age. If I keep going I'll own my age in bicycles.

tsl

No, you were requesting forbearance due to your perception of owning an inadequate bike--something along the lines of my bike makes it too hard . By offering this excuse, you're asking us to say, Oh, poor thing, suffering with an inadequate bike, and to act upon our sympathy and grant your excuse, Oh sure. Ride around the block once or twice and we'll pretend you did it four times. Or seven. Whatever..

Sorry. That defeats the purpose of the measuring in miles. It's a measurement that exists outside of equipment purchases. It therefore provides equal measurement for all. (Please remember that for some of us, a bicycle is a device used for transportation. The definitive measurement between two places is distance. No matter which of my bikes I ride, it's still the same distance to work and back.)

I don't buy your "bike comparison excuse" because I've exceeded by fully 50% the challenge of riding my age in miles on the same bike as yours.

You can too.

It takes perseverance and hard work, just like any other goal you may aspire to.

Shortcuts, or moving the goalposts will not provide you with the same personal satisfaction and sense of achievement as doing it for real.

Now if you want to use a completely different measurement system, riding 10,000 heartbeats or something, that's fine. Just don't come around saying your bike makes it worth 20,000.

As someone famous once said, "It's not about the bike."

Tom Bombadil

I'm cutting back on that now. Have only test-ridden two bikes in the past two months. No present plans to ride anything. I've satisfied my curiosity and now have pretty much all of the information I need. If something interesting presents itself, like the chance to ride a Gunnar a few weeks ago, then I'll take it.

I did put 200+ miles in on test rides over the past year. Had a lot of fun.

cyclinfool

If it's all about distance - you are correct.

We have picked miles it seems (although our EU bretheran would suggest Km is acceptable).
If the OP chooses - for example - chinese miles they may be on target (2.88 chinese miles to the us survey mile). I actually think our UK friends should choose the Irish or Scottish mile (Irish - 0.78Irish miles/Survey Mile, 0.887 Scottish miles/Survey Mile)

What really boggles my mind is why this group has not standardized on the Texas Pie as the unit of measure - there are 5703 Texas Pies/Survey mile.

BTW yesterday I rode my age in Kilo Bamboo
And that was according to my GPS - although it does not take advatage of the GPS correctional signal so I might be off a bamboo or two.

2manybikes

Bailey's trike with him in it weighs just over 100 lbs and has the resistance of another wheel. Can I ride 25 miles and say it was 100?

pdq 5oh

tsl, I know this. I rode the same, exact ride on my Pilot after doing it on my 7500. Av speed was way up, time way down and I felt much less fatigued. Something was different.