How many miles

Langman

I have caught the cycling bug, after a summer of cycling I am reasonably fit and enjoy cycling. My job allows to a certain degee to get a good ride in during the day. My question is how many miles a day/week do I need to do to iimprove thoughout the winter? For example is a good 25 mile ride any use or do I need to always do 50-60?

Infamous

You only really need one long ride a week. But really, how long is a piece of string? There is no set number of miles, the pros will require many more miles than the beginner to improve for example.

If you want to improve, you need to be gradually increasing either the intensity or mileage each week.

Join a club.

Langman

I am in a club and ride most weekend with them - if I ride out to the ride its a total of 100miles. But do family stuff at weekends so I usually drive out and do 50-60 hard miles.

What about during the week, as I get the time I think I should use it - or should I rest? I rested today - but felt like I should have been out even though my legs felt tired.

jonmack

Quality of miles, not quantity!

All the training stuff I've been reading recently always describes rides by their length in time, not miles, so a long ride would be considered 3/4 hours, a short ride maybe 1/1.5 hours, and obviously somewhere between 2-3 is a mid length ride.

If you can get out for an hourly ride every couple of days, and then a mid to long on the weekends, that'll do you a lot of good! You don't always need to push the distance, but if you plan on doing say 75-100m sportives, then getting the practise in on those kinda distances is quite important.

Langman

Thank you - very helpful advice.

shockedsoshocked

If you enjoy riding and have the time, i'd say do as many miles as you feel like doing!

giroist

The mistake a lot of people make is to think that lots of miles equals good training which isnt the case at all.
I found out this week that with my club the three main rides in the week step up a gear after the first week in november, the Saturday ride doubles in length and gets faster, the sunday ride gets faster because you cannot do 80 miles at 16 MPH in the winter because it takes all day and the wednesday ride becomes like riding a pro calandar event in December I am told, which all helps.

oldwelshman

giroist wrote:

The mistake a lot of people make is to think that lots of miles equals good training which isnt the case at all.
I found out this week that with my club the three main rides in the week step up a gear after the first week in november, the Saturday ride doubles in length and gets faster, the sunday ride gets faster because you cannot do 80 miles at 16 MPH in the winter because it takes all day and the wednesday ride becomes like riding a pro calandar event in December I am told, which all helps.

Why do lots of miles not equal good training?
How many miles do you think the TDF riders do? 250 a week? I think not.
At this time of years lots of miles is god for base.
It depends on how hard you ride.
I do not think any one would advocate flat out training every day as recovery is important.
As for your average speeds not sure where you get those from.
Why cant you do 16mph for 80 miles? I av 18mph for 8o or more in winter for weekend rides and would describe our winter rides as steady until spring certainly not hard.

giantsasquatch

Langman wrote:

My question is how many miles a day/week do I need to do to improve thoughout the winter?

The fastest way to improve is to play it by ear. The vital key is to be fully recovered before the next ride, so to repair damaged muscle tissue so the body is stronger not weaker for the next onslaught, for which you can push yourself 100% each time.

It is all too easy to overtrain, improve but get weaker. Older riders take longer to recover. Good diet and it's timing plays a big role to help you feed the body for energy and recovery.

One day or 2 days together of long hard ride of 60 miles with good mixture of hills, along with shorter harder 25-30 miles spaced throughout the week is a good strategy for improvement.

redddraggon

giantsasquatch wrote:

Langman wrote:

My question is how many miles a day/week do I need to do to improve thoughout the winter?

The fastest way to improve is to play it by ear. The vital key is to be fully recovered before the next ride, so to repair damaged muscle tissue so the body is stronger not weaker for the next onslaught, for which you can push yourself 100% each time.

It is all to easy to overtrain, improve but get weaker. Older riders take longer to recover. Good diet and it's timing plays a big role.

One day or 2 days together of long hard ride of 60 miles with good mixture of hills, along with shorter harder 25-30 miles spaced throughout the week is a good strategy for improvement.

I think he should get a compact too.

chrisw12

redddraggon wrote:

giantsasquatch wrote:

Langman wrote:

My question is how many miles a day/week do I need to do to improve thoughout the winter?

The fastest way to improve is to play it by ear. The vital key is to be fully recovered before the next ride, so to repair damaged muscle tissue so the body is stronger not weaker for the next onslaught, for which you can push yourself 100% each time.

It is all to easy to overtrain, improve but get weaker. Older riders take longer to recover. Good diet and it's timing plays a big role.

One day or 2 days together of long hard ride of 60 miles with good mixture of hills, along with shorter harder 25-30 miles spaced throughout the week is a good strategy for improvement.

I think he should get a compact too.

I wouldn't bother with the compact tbh, or miles for that matter, just get down the gym and hit those Swiss ball things. Train the core, you don't need to ride.

Jon8a

Recovery is the most important part of any training regime. I aim to get a minimum of 6 days recovery out of 7.

Franco_OFFICIAL

150k a day. No less or-a you not make-a thee peloton.