Some of us here are quite new to Biking and you must listen to some of us talking and the speed we can get, or the distance we go on our normal rides or the cost of our bikes and get a bit disheartened. The warning I want to give is that these phenominal figures take some working up to.

Going onto that distance thing- We have several members that have worked their way up to a 25 mile ride. That did not happen to them overnight and has taken a bit of training- a bit of weight loss for some and a lot of preparation. I suppose the aim is to get up to a 100 km ride- or a metric century--- Or a ride your age ride. Just the thought of a metric is going to ruin the year for some of you. YOU do not have to do it. It is not obligatory and is just a target for some to aim for. But if you want to do a ride like this- then build up to it.

First distance to get to is that 25 miler. That is an achievement . Then just gradually build up to around 40 miles and when you can do that comfortably- aim for the 50. In other words- go up gradually. Do not do a 25 one day then a 30 and then a 40 then a 50 etc. When you have built up to say 40 and are comfortable doing it- Then go for the 50. If the 40 hurts- then take arest for a couple of weeks and then try it again.

Once you have done the 50 though-and are comfortable with that- Set a aday- get a friend to act as back up in the car to carry water- food- clothing etc. and go and do it. Providing you have trained right- It will be a easy. Well not easy but you know what I mean.

Then I suppose the next is 100miles and then a couple of hilly rides and then ---You name it and you will be able to do it.

Now as to the speed you do it at-1st time out just doing it is enough. And as to bike-I did my first 100miler on a mountain bike. Admittedly a good mountain bike- but now for the silly bit- It was an offroad 100 miler and I slept for 24 hours afterwards and could not walk properly for about a week. Only thing was that I did train for it though.-About 3 years worth.

Good advice. The only thing I would add would be to check out sponsored rides in your area for supported rides. It's nice knowing there are food stops and SAG support if needed.

Don't listen to him. When I got back into biking I did 100 miles!



(OK, so it took a few weeks...I didn't say 100 miles in one ride.)

Thank you StapFam. It needed to be said.

I joke about being a slow learner, etc., but it really did take me two years to get comfortable riding a bike and to develop some semblance of "long distance" ability. My personal longest has been 32 miles, and I've taken my time about attempting a 35 miler. I think I'm going to go for it this weekend.

So take it easy out there.

I try it when I feel it.
I figured if I could do 20 miles on a Kaitai, then 25 on the Reno was a no-brainer.
Now, I've done that 3 times, finishing with varying degrees of "freshness"... sure, I'll try 30 sometime soon. I might even go for 50 by year's end but, no, this is only a competition with myself. I'm in no hurry. But I *will* continue to push myself.

Stepfam might be the smartest person posting here, he sure gives good advice over and over again. I was able to work my way up to riding my age in just under a year, but I admit to being a hardhead about meeting personal goals. The rewarding part about all of this is that what used to be a big deal is now routine. 25 or 30 miles after work a couple of nights a week mixed in with shorter ones of 12 or 15 has become a pattern. Weekends for us are very full, and I'm lucky if I get time to take a big ride on either Saturday or Sunday, maybe when things slow down a little later in the summer I'll be able to take more longer rides. Some bright shining day I'm going to do the 100 mile thing. Hopefully sooner rather than later. It'll be a lot easier now that I have a decent bike.

10% a week. If you get one or two really good rides during the week, you can use your Saturday long ride as your measuring stick, and increase the distance each week by about 10%. You'll be knocking out metric and imperial centuries before you know it

SKT,
You will definately do 50 by years end. I took my first ride last March (2006). Did my first 20 miler in April. Then was off the bike for 4 weeks because of injury. Came back and did a 30 in June and did my birthday ride of 56 in July. In retrospect, I probably should have done a 35 or 40 somewhere in between because I was pretty beat at the end of the 56.

Sound ideas,I ought to follow them.

Also, I discount some of the claims on other forums about average speeds, some people tend to exagerate their avarage speeds. Nobody in particular comes to mind, just saying.

That's saying something. I'm not really sure what, but it is saying something!

Good advice, but I also love the stories of the longer rides, because I understand that they can be trained for and they are doable. I know that from reading this forum. My longest is 68, a sister and I are hoping by this fall that we will be wanting to do a 100 miles. I, like so many others get lots of information and inspiration from this forum, thanks to all of you with more experience.

I'm helping a few newbies who are getting ready for some charity rides and the biggest surprise they have is the whole NUTRITION thing - drinking and eating on the bike. They decide the training rides are also a way to lose weight and so don;t eat. So they bonk. Early. So good advice others have shared is to get fuel for your rides - it will make a big difference in how you feel,how you progress.

Thanks, Stapfam, for a reality check. Like you said, it has taken some of us a long time to get comfortable with 20 miles rides . . . I've ridden around 1,000 miles a year for many years and until last year considered 10-12 miles a regular ride. Last year I spent time here and on the touring and long distance cycling forums, learning how to improve my stamina and ability to stay in the saddle longer. As a result, I now consider 20 miles an enjoyable evening ride.

My brother just started biking a year ago. We were talking about this very topic yesterday, when he talked about going 4 miles on Sunday. I was encouraging and suggested we ride together to our parents' house -- about 12 miles round trip. My brother winced, and noted he would need to let his rear end recover before attempting it. The seed has been planted, now I'll work on growing the idea into reality.

The real reason I worked on longer rides is to see what's on the other side of the hill. I love the independence of being able to just hop on the bike and go! It takes dedication to build up to it, but well worth the effort.

I have posted this before (long ago). It's the training schedule provided by AIDS/LifeCycle, a fund-raising ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. It is the most simple schedule I've seen. It gives you 8 months to go from zero to 585 miles in a week. The ride is 7 days, and includes two centuries. I am using this as my guideline for the 3rd year. It really works well, and, as has been said above, just increase a little each week.

Tell it, brother! That's it, in a nutshell, innit?

This post couldn't have come at a more opportune time! TWL is trying to get me to do a 35 mile road ride. Now, 6-7 years ago I used to hop on the mtb and pull that off on a rail trail just about every weekend. But I've moved-no close rail-trails, and haven't had the time to ride and what trails there are, are much further than I used to have travel to get to them. But I am going to go for 35 miles I guess. Have done 15 & 20 miles on the Reno and felt like there was still plenty left, so hopefully it will go well.

Assuming I can walk again by that time.

I wish this was posted in November 06, when I took up cycling with Red Rider and her cohorts. I sagged for RR and them when they did the 06 Solvang Century with rain, sleet, hail and snow as RR and K's first Century. I was so impressed with their achievement I opened my big mouth and said "if we get a tandem I will do it with you next year." Time rolled on and we bought the bike in late October. Within a week we were signed up to do the Tour de Palm Springs century in February. Our first training ride, after a 10 mile ride home from the LBS was a 55 miler with OMG hills! I lived. I hurt. but I got stronger. Since then we have done 3 centuries. Two with over 6k feet of climbing. Did I forget to say WIND and wheelsuckers, lots of em.

A lot of it is mental. I applaud all who are working there way up or have found their comfort level. As RR says "if it aint fun it won't be done."

Thanks Stapfam, for putting it so well. I would only add sometimes our mind tells us we should fold it up and go home when all it takes is to dig down deep and find that inner drive. As the distance grows, so will your sense of accomplishment.

And I am here to tell you, yes, you CAN do 30 on the Reno.
Do it... do it...

Good advice and observations Stapfam. I still remember my first ride "back on a bike" in 2001. In fact, here's my entry from my log book.


DATE TRIP MILES Max AVG SPEED RIDING TIME (Mins)
1-Jan 12.0 27.8 12.9 56


I recall being very proud and amazed that I could ride 12 miles. Almost as happy and amazed as finishing some of the mountain centuries today.

The first metric century I did was about 8 months later-and I was one dead puppy after about 55 miles. The first 100 miler was at least 21 months after I started riding and I had a lot of people helping me on that one.

It clearly doesn't happen overnight and folks need to stay patient with themselves and go at it at their own pace-not someone else's.

The most I rode in one day was 34 miles, that was last year on my Trek 700. Did a 20 mile Sunday on a Dahon D7, so I figure I could go more distance this year on the Trek or Dahon. And I look forward to breaking 50+ miles this year and perhaps a century. I used GPS to measure my miles and recently bought a cycle computer which I used first time last Sunday. I'll put the bike computer and GPS side by side to see which is the most accurate to measure distance. With the price of gas on the rise, I have been running errands on 2 wheels which is not only fun but environmentally clean and keep you fit and healthy.

Two years ago my wife felt pretty cool when she did a 5 mile loop. Now she rides to work every day and knocks off 60 on a Saturday without batting an eye. We're planning to do the Seattle to Portland (200 over 2 days) this summer. It'll be a challenge, but we're going to try.
The journey of 1000 miles blah blah blah...

A tad OT, but which do you think is most accurate, the GPS or the bike computer?

I've found both a GPS and a Bike Computer to be extremely accurate if the bike computer has the proper wheel factors entered. Since all tires have different diameters I've found the best way is to do the roll off method and use that factor to enter into the computer.