I have a question on base phase training. I am new, and just completed my third week of riding. I started with short 15 mile rides, increased it to 20-25 miles, then 30 miles. Today I will be doing 35-40 miles. For daily rides (5-6 days / week), how much should I keep increasing my ride length to? Would 50 miles, 5 or 6 days per week be too much? Is 40-45 enough for the daily rides? I usually keep an average HR of 150 bpm.

Thanks.

EDIT: Oh, and when I feel like I am tired or need a break, I either take the day off or go easy 15-20 miles.

Your long day should extend by about 10% max per week. If I were you I'd buy a book, specifically Joe Friel's "The Cyclist's Training Bible" or something like that. Very, very, useful, will answer all your questions.

After you get a base of 1000 miles or so start increasing your weekly totals by 10% to the middle of the racing season then roll back over the following weeks to the end of the season. And yes listen to your body if you are tired take it easy or stay home.

Yeah, 1000 base miles is the guideline. JF is right.

At the rate you're going your daily ride is gonna be 200+ by the end of the year :p

generally you want to increase mileage slowly (like 5-10% a week). it might be better to think in terms of time. as in, don't increase riding time by more than an hour or two per week. the intensity doesn't need to be too high at this point.

after a few weeks, don't add anymore. let your body catch up to what you've worked up to. stay at that level for a while, then start to add more.