Haven’t ridden a bike in 40 years. I was probably 15 when I last rode. Bought a new bike and could hardly get down the driveway and back.
I have slowly increased my miles per ride to 12 and get it done in about an hour. My speed has also increased to 11.5 mph average. I have been riding for about 2 months and try to ride 3 days per week.
Would I be breaking the 10 percent per week rule if I add an extra day now and again? For example I was able to ride this morning. Will it be okay to ride again this afternoon? I usually ride on M, W and F after work for a total of 36 miles. If I add an extra ride on one of these days it will bump me to 48 miles this week. Will it be pushing it a little too much? What say you?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

I don't think adding an extra day now and then will hurt. The 10% rule is a guideline, not set in stone. Your body will tell you if you're overdoing it.

If you are staying within a comfortable zone you should ride as much as you find comfortable. Your body will tell you when it's too depleted to ride. Just my experience but the rule I use is the more time on the bike the better.

I see no problem with it. The 10% rule isn't a rule, it's more a caution against suddenly increasing your training load by a big margin. No reason you shouldn't be able to ride 48 miles a week after a couple of months, and no reason in my opinion why you shouldn't ride four, five or even six days per week if you feel OK doing it. So you're wise to be careful, but that doesn't mean you can't experiment, or challenge yourself a little.

I did a ride on Sunday with someone who has only ridden 6 miles as his longest ride. Sunday he did 49.

Difference is that the 6 miles is a one way commute- done twice a day 5 days a week. Seems that little and often will work for some. Mind you- at twenty miles he was dead---but had to do the rest of the ride to get home. Not the ideal way to up the milage but try a morning and afternoon ride for a week. Keep milage within your capabilities and you should be able to do it. But if you have to buy new trousers to accomodate the increased thigh size- Don't blame me.

Where is the 10% rule described?

Thanks for the quick replys. It seems that after about an hour I'm pretty tired. How would it be if I rode for the hour then rested for only about five minutes and then tried to ride another hour. Would that be something to try out or would it be better to just try an add additional rides each week? Hope this isn't a silly question, I was just thinking that this might be a good way to increase the amount of time per ride. Thanks again!

I've seen it on the training forum buches of times about increasing miles per week to build up your mileage. HTH Just realized that you are in Raleigh. I'm in Fayetteville.

Rules like that are a crock. I'd definitely add days (try every other day?) and make each ride long enough to tire you out.

It's difficult to say without knowing what "pretty tired" means. If it's a question of catching your breath, fine. Bt if after an hour you are pretty much done, then another hour after five minutes is going to be too much. Why not try 45 minutes, rest a while (maybe ride somewhere 45 minutes away for lunch?) then ride 45 minutes back. That shouldn't overtax you and it will give you a basis to experiment further.

The 10% is more about upping individual ride miles. If you start at 10 miles per ride and add 10% every week for 6 months, you will be up to almost 120 miles per ride! Upping frequency is a different thing entirely. I'd definately work toward ridng 5 - 6 days a week (7 days a week ins't necessarily a bad thing) but mix up the rides. Do a few days of longer distance, a few days of more intense riding but shorter distance and a day or two of recovery riding when you just need to work out the kinks.

I started with a 5 mile plan. Ride 5 rest, ride 5 rest, did fifty miles one day.

Ride as much as you are able. Rest take days off when you need them.

My First Month:

The 10% rule was developed for runners due to the high impact nature of the activity. I've never seen a similar rule for cycling.

Rules, schmules. 10% is a suggestion, a guideline. The idea is to not add too much, too quickly. I've know people for whom 10% increase in miles per week would be too much. I've been riding with a friend who two months ago had never ridden further than 25 miles at a time. Within a couple of weeks she was riding 50, then 65, then 80. Last weekend she rode a 109 mile ride with me and was fine.

Remember this saying;
If it feels good, DO IT!

I go with cbad... your body will tell you. Having said that, attempting a metric or full century would not be a good idea for you at this point.

Schmules? WTF?

Good idea, I think I'll give that a try!

CACycling, thanks for the ideas.

Eight bikes? Man you got it baaaaad. Where do ya keep em all?

Man with a plan, I like it, I like it. Thanks for the idea.

Do whatever the heck you want.

Seriously.

Hi right back at you - there seem to be a lot of people from NC on these forums.

I may consider the 10% rule. I ramped up pretty fast, and riding got less fun.

Eddy Merckx says "Ride Lots".

I think the best advice that I've heard so far is "Don't ride to get fit but ride to have fun and you will get fit in so doing" So I try to keep this in mind, I'm riding for the fun of it, not like I have to do so many miles today or whatever, just ride to have fun. Helps the kid in me if nothing else.

I usually do! Just looking for opinions of those who have been around a little longer.... Oh this is the 50+ forum (hehe)