surgeonstone

Consistency is the key. Too often one will push too hard and then not ride for a week. Better to do some every day than 1 long ride. Just add a little each time.

big john

Spin to win! If you train to spin higher cadences, you can mash when you need to. Spinning when you can will help your developement.

dalava

First off, OP, congrats on getting a new bike and start riding. You are already ahead of 90% of the population.

Second, given your weight and general fitness, I am not sure why you would find 12 miles to be hard work even if you are mashing a big gear in rolling hills. If you are having issues with muscle and joint issues, that would indicate to me to be one, or both, of these two things: a) poor fit, b) you are using muscles you have not been using for a while.

Another thing probably worth checking out is your cardiovascular condition. Not saying you have issues, but it never hurts to be safe.

BTW, are/were you a smoker?

superslomo

You can do a little every day, or you can push harder and recover fully, there are two ways of approaching this, I think.

Give it time, find a comfortable pace that you can actually sustain, and also make sure that you're comfortable. Just because a shop fitted you to the bike doesn't mean that they handled everything you needed, just that they generically fitted the bike to their sense of you as a human being.

stonecrd

Some of it is mental and some of it is physical. I'm 56 and at 52 I was riding 120-200 miles a week. Starting at 10mi is pretty normal but you will need to gradually up that. Additionally doing at least one long ride a week also helps performance. Having a riding partner or riding with a group will help on the mental part as this will give you motivation to push and get out there more often. Now my riding has dropped mainly becuase I do not want to dedicate the time and I am down to 80-100mi per week. Physically I could not ride 200mi in a week at this point just because I have lost endurance and stamina. It all works together but unless you have other health issues being in your 50s is not limiting other than probably speed.

Juan Foote

For my own experience, I have found that I prefer not to do rides over 60 miles or so, and really don't even go that far unless at an event any more. It starts being less and less fun for my on a diamond frame one I have done around 40 miles. On the other hand, I can ride my recumbent all day long but it's weight and average speed keep me from going very far.

wphamilton

That's not really unusual or something to cause concern. It's just a matter of conditioning yourself to longer periods of time by riding more, longer. Resting and stretching your legs is OK. You're still conditioning yourself and you'll naturally be able to go longer in the saddle without the discomfort. Up to close to three hours worth, then you'll want to zone in on some specific things but before that, just ride more.

Also, we don't have to be able to go three hours without any problem, or any specific time. Last year it was a 3-4 hour ride, every weekend. This year I go 40-50 miles on my "long" rides (55 on my birthday ride-my-years ride), and I don't think I've been over 3 hours moving time this year. I don't feel like I'm missing anything at all.

nuke_diver

In spite of what you say it does seem to be a matter of fitness or something else physical that we don't know about. 12-20 miles on a modern bike at 15mph is really that difficult unless you are doing a lot of hills and maintaining that pace. There are a lot of folks who ride that just in a commute ride one way. I also wouldn't worry too much about drinking too much...drink what you need. If you are working hard you might sweat it all out and not drinking enough is certainly going to be a problem. I could ride 20-30 miles without drinking but it was a lot easier for the same distance if I had some water. I now carry 2 bottles because on a warm day for a 40 mile ride one wasn't really enough. I've actually never had to stop to pee over the course of any ride which are usually 2-3 hrs long but have been longer.

Adonis72

Hi guys, thought I'd chime in here as well. I started road biking 3 weeks ago I'm 41 years old and I have a Trek 1.2. I used to mountain bike but the trails I ride are a bit too far to do regularly so I thought why not road? I like that I can leave right from my house and theres some fairly long roads with bike lanes I can utilize. My first ride was 11 miles and I have been since doing about 16 miles each ride 3 times a week. I don't wanna push it too fast but wanna be at about 20 miles in the next week or two. I'm averaging about 15.2 mph with a few small hills. I wanna get my fitness level up a bit before I move on to more mileage.

skycyclepilot

Thanks! A twelve mile ride isn't that hard for me. I don't even get winded. I'm just sore all over afterwards. I think you're right - I'm using muscles I haven't used in a while. I've never been one to exercise. Frankly, riding is the only exercise I will do - that and a little disc golf once in a while.

I wish I could afford a cardiovascular checkup, but I'm sure I'm OK since my issues are with muscle soreness and not my respiratory system.

dalava

Like others have said, get another fitting after you put a few hundred more miles on the bike. That way you would know what works and what doesn't. At our age (I am a bit older than you), the key points to dial in are the saddle height, saddle fore-aft position (relative to bottom bracket), and reach to hoods. You want to be in a relaxed yet powerful position that will use your big muscles, e.g. glute.

on the path

To answer the question, a typical ride for me is 30 to 50 miles or more. I don't even want to put on the kit and strap on the shoes unless I'm doing at least 30 miles.

It takes a while, just keep at it. Enjoy..

Smokehouse

I guess I love a long story...so buckle up.

-I started road cycling in June 2011, I had zero background in road riding at that time. My "long" for that summer was 42 miles and I managed that by August.

-2013 season I began stretching the miles and attempted to start out at 40 miles in early April...bad idea (at least for me). My 30 min trainer sessions all winter long didn't do me a ton of good so I obviously not ready for 40 at that point. By July 4, I rode my first 100K. I did 30-50mi sessions before topping out at 76 miles late Aug.

-I spent more time on the trainer winter 2013/14 but still not to the level that I actually rode outside. I began the season with 30'ish, worked my way up to 50'ish...

...and hit a wall. Mentally...not so much physically.

I took a long, hard look at my #'s. I was so focused on miles that I never tried to evolve as a rider. Same rides, same speed, same HR, same CAD...same, same, same. MPH much slower than I should be getting...16 mph ave on rides 30mi or lower...and abysmal 15mph on rides 40-50. Now...I am a solo only rider but going over my rides...I was never improving. Same recorded hill times on Strava climbs...same mph on Strava straight, long runs...never evolving despite the tons of hrs I was riding.

So...mid June I dialed things WAY back. I have a local community college with a 2.25mi loop around the campus. This loop is fairly safe and not really hilly. There is two spots to grind an elevation change, one of the a short burst out of saddle and you're looking at a 900' elevation change over 20 miles. I've taken this track for months now...pushing harder and harder. My slow rides are mid 17's, average 18-19mph and hard is 20mph. The closest I've hit to 20 miles @ 20mph is when I did 20 miles in 1:01:00...and I was humping.

Either way...because this is a shorter session, I ride more, I can squeeze time in for a ride easier than a 40-50 miles grinder. I've also started seeing better results on PR's as well. I just went and topped out on a local hill that is 1.1mi @ 3% grade. My 2012 record was 3:41 @ 17.9mph...yesterday I set 3:31 @ 18.8mph...so nearly 1mph faster. I'm happy with these results and feel I'm actually seeing gains now.

Long story short...I will continue to stretch my length until I can do 50mi @ 18-19mph average. Until then, I'm going to keep training shorter and harder.

Up North

I think your missing my point, spin and spin more. Hills or not spin, spin up the hills don't push/mash. If your cadence is only 70, I'm not suggesting you push harder to get it up, I'm suggesting you drop to lower gear and spin at 85 or so. This will allow your to build up your aerobic capacity and higher rpms will prevent muscle fatigue. Same effort - lower gear = higher cadence. Give it a try.

goenrdoug

Totally wild/unqualified guess here -- seat too high.

Also, drink more water. It's a bigger deal than it seems. I've learned it the hard way many times. I trick myself into drinking more water by drinking pretty much any time I see another rider drink - and still I rarely have to pee during a ride. Obviously still not drinking enough.

alexaschwanden

Where I am at I ride 5-10 miles on the weekdays, and 30-75 miles on the weekends.

RR3

Today I only rode 30 miles to go pick something up from the store. 2400 feet of climbing. 14.2 mph. 93F outside.

I rarely ride for less 90 minutes and try to ride 5 days per week with one really long ride (100-200+ miles) per week.

A nice easy 20 mile ride after work is a very pleasant way to end the day.

Campag4life

Different people have different aerobic capacity and honestly to develop stamina can take seasons and not weeks or months.
I have been riding forever, older than you and routinely rode 50-60 mile days and the last 5 miles of each ride, I would make a point to ride fast. In fact, I was over training I believe. Just starting, don't try to go too hard. I strongly suggest you get a HR monitor and start riding to targeted zones...some days with intensity and other days very easy. Its a good way to ride and you don't have to be that serious about it...I'm not..but a guideline to know where your HR is when you ride. You will improve with miles on the bike.

skycyclepilot

Thanks to everyone for the advice. With plenty of breaks, a couple of granola bars, and a lot more water, I made 25 miles tonight, and I don't feel beat up! I paced my cadence at 20 or 21 rotations every 15 seconds, which is 80+ per minute. I don't have cadence on my computer, but I checked it regularly, and once I got into the rhythm, I was dead on 80 every time I checked it - must be the musician in me. And it did make a difference! I made the first 15 miles in 59 minutes flat, and completed the ride with an average - a moving average - of 14.95 MPH over 25 miles. That may not be a big deal to some, but I'm proud of it. I kept the average at over 15 MPH until the last couple of miles, when I let up due to traffic, and less than ideal side roads on the way home. Thanks so much for the advice!

skycyclepilot

Well, with plenty of breaks, a couple of granola bars, and a lot more water, I made 25 miles tonight, and I don't feel beat up! I paced my cadence at 20 or 21 rotations every 15 seconds, which is 80+ per minute. I don't have cadence on my computer, but I checked it regularly, and once I got into the rhythm, I was dead on 80 every time I checked it - must be the musician in me. And it did make a difference! I made the first 15 miles in 59 minutes flat, and completed the ride with an average - a moving average - of 14.95 MPH over 25 miles. That may not be a big deal to some, but I'm proud of it. I kept the average at over 15 MPH until the last couple of miles, when I let up due to traffic, and less than ideal side roads on the way home. Thanks so much for the advice!

skycyclepilot

As I posted below, I made 25 miles tonight at an average speed of 14.95 MPH, and I don't feel beat up. I think my setup is OK. I used lower gears in order to keep my cadence up, I stopped more often for longer rests, and I drank a lot more water.

Thanks for the advice. I don't feel quite so old, and quite so inferior to everyone else on here who seems to ride further and faster...

Johnny Mullet

Ijust started cycling in May of this year and started out slow. I am now doing 6-10 miles almost daily after work and on one of my days off I go on a 20+ mile ride. I want to do more, but you can't always get what you want.

goenrdoug

My thinking behind the seat-too-high comment was: maybe you're rocking side-to-side on the saddle a bit with every stroke -- which might explain the soreness of your inner thighs and hip flexors. Since you're in decent shape, it only manifests itself enough to be a bother on longer rides.

GlennR

This year i'm doing mostly 30-40 mile rides with a average speed of 15mph and 1600' of climbing.

BoSoxYacht

13,000-14,000 miles a year is normal for me, but this year I'll be lucky to get 10,000(due to injury).