Picking up the bike
 

Hello, everyone!

I have been running cross country for the past six years in middle and high school, but I have finally decided to pick up cycling. I have been cycling numerous times, but I have never put too much time into it since I have been running so often (My coach often got mad at me when I would hop on the bike for a bike ride after a hard practice or before a major race haha).

I am unsure with where I should start with cycling in terms of the distance or time I should be biking. I am trying to build up my biking fitness before I make a jump to harder work outs or longer distances. Cardiovascular fitness wise I think I am fine, but I still need to train my body to be bike fit rather than running fit. I have been doing 20-mile rides every other day the past week or so and I was wondering if that seems plausible or should I lower the miles? Normally I fit in a shorter ride between each 20-mile ride since I am rather sore the following day. Is that fine, too?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope that you will be able to share your wisdom with me! :)

You have build up saddle time before you ride long distance.

Take it easy for the first 500 miles. Gives your legs time to adjust to pedaling.

Ride as much as you can. Rest when you need to.

I like to take two days of rest as I come back very strong.

+1 10 wheels. Also note that the first 500 miles, expect sore butts.

Thanks a bunch, 10 Wheels! I will definitely keep those points in my mind while my body is getting accustomed to all the biking. Cheers for sore butts!

my 2 cents - rest/recover/rebuild 48 hrs between training sessions. that means ride monday skip tuesday and wednesday then go nuts thursday. rest friday and saturday and hit it hard sunday. 20 miles sounds ok if you can go all out. if you want to build toward longer rides get your time up to two hours and see how far you can go. I would suggest you be less concerned about mileage but more concerned about saddle time, intensity and building your knowledge of nutrition timing. after all you can't bike 75 miles unless you know how to deal with fueling yourself for that duration of time, as well as pacing yourself for maximum avrg speed over the whole distance.

good luck and have fun!

this isn't so much a training recommendation, technically, as it is a good idea. hop on the bike and just ride around, don't set a goal of riding x miles in y amount of time. you'll be surprised just what kind of mileage you'll get going about it this way... plus it's far easier on the legs.

also, don't judge this advice against the ticker in the footer, it's new.

I'm up to 674 miles since July 4th and my butt is definately sore, ouch!

try 48 hrs of rest, that's 2 whole days of no riding. try it :-)