Flip Flop Rider

Just curious how most of you decide how much you will ride. What your internal motivation is

Also, are there any commuters that ride solely for their commute?

personally I go by distance, daily, monthly, yearly. I know these numbers. Sometimes I'll feel like stopping but continue on to hit the number in my head

what's your story? Look forward to your responses

52telecaster

Mostly just a commuter but i do tours as well.

Mark Manner

I mostly ride for distance, secondarily for TSS if I am training for something in particular.

alcjphil

I ride for the sheer pleasure of it. The problem living in a city with cold icy winters is that there are times when it isn't safe to ride, so every spring presents a challenge getting back into riding shape. Early spring rides are on winter ravaged, pothole filled streets covered with remnants of winter abrasives and road salt. It can take awhile before you regain enough fitness to undertake longer rides and it is really hard work to get there. Early season is just about getting out, and riding as far and as for long as you feel comfortable doing. Instead of worrying about distance and time, I just ride for as long as I am still enjoying myself with the understanding that I need to go a bit farther and spend more time on my bike each time I go out until I attain "summer fitness" which means that I can enjoy a 100+ km ride without feeling that I would rather die than do that ride again

rollagain

Neither. I just like to be in motion in the outdoors. I do try to challenge myself, mildly, sometimes.

alcjphil

Me too

wolfchild

I just ride for commuting, for recreation and for fun...I don't keep track of distance, speed, cadence. I don't race against time and I don't race against other cyclists.

Flip Flop Rider

also, whether you track, measure, or time has this always been the case or did you evolve into this style of riding?

eja_ bottecchia

martianone

BobbyG

I mostly commute during the week for fitness with weekend rides for fun. On the weekend rides I like to pick a destination based on scenery, or possibly an errand (and in Colorado Springs we have plenty of scenery). I'm not so worried about mileage, but I like to ride at least and hour, and maybe up to three. Speed was a concern when I was younger, but not so much now. Now I try for consistency in daily rides.

As far as distance goes, since I commute, I like to ride far enough to get to the office in the morning and then back home in the evening (Nine miles each way). Sometimes I will add a mile or two to the commute. However, the one time distance does matter is on my annual birthday ride. This month I will ride 57 miles (weather permitting). My other big goal this year is to ride to Denver. From the north border of Colorado Springs to the south border of Denver is 54 miles. So technically I've already ridden this distance. From my home to my daughter's apartment in Denver is 73 miles, and that seems like a logical ride.

TLDR: Neither.

JohnDThompson 

I ride for fun. If it's not going to be fun, I don't bother. But I think riding to the grocery store or library is fun, so there's that.

wolfchild

I used to keep track of speed, distance and time for the first few years and then I stopped doing it and got rid of my bike computer. The longer I ride the less I care about this type of stuff.

winston63 

Agreed. I'm mostly a commuter/utility cyclist but that's because I love running errands, shopping, getting around by bike.

I do also participate in recreational group and solo rides, but I can't say that I've ever considered distance or time to be a prime consideration for my rides.

daoswald

On my nightly rides I have two common routes. One is out-and-back for 22 miles. The other is a five mile loop with a good hill for 1.5 miles of it. When I don't feel like the 22 mile route, I'll do loops to challenge myself on the hill, and will repeat until I've gotten to 15 or 20 miles. Sometimes at the end of my out-and-back or my loop route I'll feel like I need a little more, so I'll take a turn up the canyon and do some climbing. Mostly I'm looking at the miles. The time takes care of itself. But even more than the miles, I'm going for how I feel -- did I get a good workout? Did I satisfy my craving for riding? Then that's good enough.

On my weekend rides I target destinations but plan on destinations that give me 40-60 mile round trips. Sometimes I go just a little farther to see what's just beyond my destination. So in these cases I'm thinking how many hours I have available, how far I can get in that time, and what interesting destination I can get to in that time.

In the winter I'm gym-bound. Too much ice outside. The roads are just a mess for most of December and January, and often not great in November, February, and part of March either. So I go do 30 minutes to an hour on the bike in the gym, 30 minutes on the stairs, and an hour of weight training (some combination of those adding up to 2 hours) four nights a week.

woodcraft

I track mileage, elevation, ave speed, stoppage time, and what Strava calls weighted average power.

Deciding on an individual ride involves available time, weather/wind conditions, training/fitness goals, recovery status,

available group rides/riders, desire for speed or climbing punishment, desire for road/dirt, standard vs new routes, and even interesting or novel route patterns on the map.

Annual & weekly mileage are general targets but never ride just to reach a mileage goal. I have extended a ride by a mile or so to hit a century or such, & almost always complete the route that I set out.

Kedosto

I ride for destination. I have somewhere I need to be, so I ride there. Maybe an errand to run, an appointment, meeting, or whatever. My joyriding is to experience the outdoors, or a particular vista or tour. In those cases there is a time element but only to the extent that I have to be finished by a particular time or date.

I am not concerned with stats just for the sake of recording stats. It is my firm belief that we (people in general) would be far better served if we simply engaged in cycling as an activity without the constant measuring and record keeping. Social media really only serves to add unnecessary expectations which, in the end, only detract from the pleasurable experience. In other words, just enjoy the ride. The record keeping I do, and mileages I track are only used for maintenance purposes.

The only unit of measure I'm concerned with is enjoyment.


-Kedosto

Sy Reene

You are clear on the fact though, that record keeping and measuring are not at all necessarily related to social media, right?

bogydave

GuessWhoCycling

Distance most times but at times I also measure my rides by elevation gain. I may do longer rides aiming for a distance goal on weekends. Midweek rides I ride with elevation in mind pressed for time. I start riding up the local hills then when I hit 1,000 ft, I turn around, Usually giving me a quick 11 miler on weekdays.

At times depending on my goals, I may aim for 5,000 to 7,000 ft of climbing preparing for an organized event. If I get it in 40 to 60 miles I'm happy not being so concerned with distance at the time.

NoWhammies

Distance.

Flip Flop Rider

wow, some really good responses, very interesting (doubt anyone remembers Laugh In)

BikingTech

Currently mainly commuting with some easy distance riding on my days off if the weather is nice. Back in the day when my commutes were 24 mi one way, I'd do a few fast rides on days off to balance things out.

Reynolds 

Distance.

rumrunn6