I'm going back to SC for Christmas break and plan on riding regularly. From my house to the next town on back roads is roughly 13 mi. I can run 3mi easy w/o any training. I guess my question is less how fast can I do a 26 mi ride but more how long did it take some of you guys to move up the mileage on your rides. What advice do you have for starting training.

It depends upon your level of health and fitness, but if you can run three miles easily, riding 26 ought to be doable. I could ride 26 when I was "untrained," I just couldn't do it very fast. My advice would be to get on the bike and ride a lot. Obviously, you want to be riding harder than you would if you were just touring around and admiring the scenery, but you don't want to work very hard right now. Moderate intensity - think about an easy jogging pace. If you're literally just starting out, you'll hear a lot about intervals and specific, structured training that just doesn't make much sense for a beginner. It's time on the bike that you need. I've been there myself, and you'd be amazed at what your fitness can become in six months compared to when you start.

Conventional wisdom is to increase 10% per week, but 13 miles isn't very far on a bike. I would suggest to start with riding for an hour at a moderate pace and see how you feel. If that feels easy, increase a little bit and try again.

One thing that I've run into is the bike I came w/ has aero wheels. I know those aren't best for training but if I don't have money are they going to be ok for regular basis riding?

yeah man, unless they're going out of true once a week or more, they should be fine

when a wheel is "true" it means it doesn't deform to one side or the other. when it's out of true, it's usually rubbing on the brake pads on one side or another each time the wheel revolves.

The 10% number comes from running though. With cycling you can dial it up a lot faster. My coach said up to 50% would be fine for cycling when starting out. Then again, I'm having hamstring trouble right now, so who knows.

I'd say 30% per week would be safe.

I think its true that distance runners have an edge when they start riding. If you can run 3 miles easily, then it means you already have some conditioning. Ride some and see how it goes.

When I got my first real road bike at age 26 I was a reasonably serious runner. 10 miles at 6:30 pace was easy.

My first ride was 6 miles and it kicked my behind.

Running muscles aren't cycling muscles. But in about three months I was doing 50 mile rides without much of a problem (other than not understanding that I needed to eat that is).


Aero wheels are great for training. They are usually stronger than non aero wheels.

Expect a sore butt for a week or so as you get accustom to the saddle. That's normal, and you don't need a new seat. Your 26 mile trip should be done in a couple hours at first, but you should be able to get it down to under an hour and a half once conditioned, and if you train you can get it down to an hour as an athelete.