My first 20 mile consecutive ride. I know to some of you this is no big achievement but for me it's huge. I started riding about a month ago and struggled to go 10 miles. I have been riding at least 10 miles 3 days a week sense then. I could have gone further but was limited on time. 1 1/2 hrs 20.3 miles. It's a good day.

A good day, indeed. Congrats!

Kudos, just add a little each time and before you know it you'll be doing centuries

Nice work - keep it up!

Bravo.

Great job! Keep it up. It's a great feeling to push yourself further and further than you could ever imagine.

Keep it up and in a year you'll be like, "Pfft, 20 miles? Maybe a warm up".

I am close enough to when I restarted my life in cycling that I can clearly remember that feeling of hitting a really big milestone. Congratulations.

15 mph is a good pace too. Double congrats. What kind of bike do you ride? Post pics.

Keep it up. Nothing better than feeling like you're on top of the World. The nice thing about it, is every time you set a new record you get that feeling all over again!

trek 1.1.
Will post pics later

Congrats. Keep riding!

20 miles is a nice round number, and certainly far anough to get a decent workout in at the pace you were doing. As others said, keep it up and before you know it you'll be doing 30-40-50 miles at a time.

nice job, and good pace.

Take all of us as an example, hitting goals never gets old. And if it does, riding itself doesn't.

Congrats. You will be going further in no time.

This, and it is important. The more you ride, the less milestones will mean. Hitting 20 miles? Yeah! Averaging 15 mph for two hours? Yeah.

Averaging 16 mph for two hours ... ummm ... yeah, okay. Riding 31 miles (half a metric century)---meh. Already did 30 in under two hours. Riding 33 miles in two hours ... well, it's something. Goals need to get bigger (as big as 20 was from zero) or they lose meaning. You will still hit milestones, but they will be smaller, and the big ones will be rarer.

But the simple joy of riding a bicycle---having the capacity to go riding and not be exhausted after a short while, having the ability to ride until you feel like heading home? Priceless.

I was working on increasing range when I broke my shoulder. Then I had to work on riding at all. Now I am supposed to be increasing fitness ... but the past few days I have just headed out on my normal short loop, and on my touring bike, which is a tank. My average speed is low, my mileage is low ... and I still love it. Just cruising down the road with the full moon shining ... I don't care how fast I go or how far ... I don't even want to know the numbers until I get home. I am out Riding a Bike, and it is its own reward.

Congratulations OP, great milestone and achievement!


I think your math is a little off. 20.3 miles in 1.5 hours is 13.53mph.

Richard,

What holds you back from going further? Is it physical or mental. Often if its the later, it has to do with nutrition, so do some research on how to best feed your body whilst riding.

Congratulations!

Nice work! Once you get "over the hump" mentally and physically with riding nonstop for an hour or so, it starts to get easier and easier to continue to add mileage. In no time you'll be comfortable riding 40-50 miles assuming you've fueled properly and listen to your body during the ride.

mental and fueling more than anything. I was pressed for time yesterday but most of the time after I seek to run out of steam after 15 miles. I could have done a little more but don't feel another 10 miles could have been achieved regardless of how much time I had.

My bike computer had it a 13.4 so you're accurate. Still a good pace for me after only a month.

Amen to that! I remember being overjoyed to get a 14 mph average on a flat straight road.

What do you mean by "run out of steam"? Are your legs cramping up, or do you just feel like you're out of energy and can't sustain a high heart rate any more?

If you are pushing a very high heart rate the entire ride, you can go for longer if you take it a bit easier and lower your perceived effort level. If you're cramping, you can look at your hydration and nutrition.

Legs cramping for sure. I try to push myself as hard as I can for as long as I can. Hydration could be the problem but on my ride I drank 1 full water bottle. Still being out of shape, keeping a high HR isn't a huge issue for me currently. Being new to riding, this is still a learning process for me so any advice is greatly appreciated.

Great job! Keep it up and you won't bother swinging your leg over the top tube for anything less than 25 miles.