What is your typical length for exercise purposes?

2low

Im just starting out, I purchased a Bianchi on saturday and im hitting the road in a bid to get toned for the summer and to soak up the countryside in a more interesting fashion other than giving myself shin splints and knackered knees (running). My eventual goal is to enter some charity runs and just keep up the sport as a form of exercise/enjoyment/endorphin release.

Im currently doing between 8-10 miles a day, taking between 40-60 minutes. Seeing as i live in the countryside there are plenty of roads to follow and routes to take. I can follow a rough route but take a junction early or late here or there to miss/include some pretty steep hills, so i really can tailor my ride.

What sort of distances are other beginners doing whilst starting out? Im not completely done in when i get back and could certainly go further, but i really dont want to overdo it whilst i get my legs/body accustomed to road biking - is this sensible or should i just go for it?

thiscocks

No, that is sensible what you are doing at the moment. I remember when I first started riding i did no more than 10-15 miles at a time and just slowly builded up at my own pace when I felt like it. End of the day just do what you want, there is no rule saying you have to do x amount of miles on your bike. Just enjoy the country side and ride. Quite a nice rhyme there.

Velonutter

Add 10-15% increase to your rides every two weeks.

guy.spartacus

I find road biking dramatically different to mountain biking (that I've been doing for the past few years)

last year I did a fair few longish rides on my mountain bike (50-60 miles plus), and regularly get down the gym and train judo 3 times a week

getting on my road bike for the first time I found I was blowing after 5 miles - probably my own fault for trying to keep at the pace my bike wanted to go! I'm just building up every weekend (bit dark for a commute at the moment), hopefully getting up to the 60 mile plus rides round the Kent countryside that I've been used to

2low

Having never done mountain biking, the name itself suggests it is harder work than road biking? is this not the case?

I suspect you were hammering it if you were blowing after 5 miles!

Berk Bonebonce

Not worth getting my kit on for a ride less than 2 hours.

danowat

Good job you aren't into 10 mile TT's then!!!

I'd say, for a training ride, hour minimum for me.

secretsqizz

2low wrote:

Having never done mountain biking, the name itself suggests it is harder work than road biking? is this not the case?

I suspect you were hammering it if you were blowing after 5 miles!

NO NO NO road biking is ALWAYS harder then MTBing

for opposite view go to other part of forum

neeb

Increase it gradually and take days off it you feel tired. A lot of beginners make the mistake of thinking that they have to go out every day, when in fact you will improve quicker if you push yourself really hard one day (having worked up to it gradually) and take a day off afterwards.

cycladianpirate

Berk Bonebonce wrote:

Not worth getting my kit on for a ride less than 2 hours.

An extremely useful comment to post on a Beginners forum......

My sole advice would be to let your body tell you when enough's enough - you'll soon find that what seemed impossible becomes run of the mill. Having said that, you might want to try having a couple of rest days before the weekend and having a go at a longer route. As you say, you've plenty of options on your route so leave yourself the opportunity to bail out if needs be.

2low

cycladianpirate wrote:

Berk Bonebonce wrote:

Not worth getting my kit on for a ride less than 2 hours.

An extremely useful comment to post on a Beginners forum......

I did write a witty retort but thought better of it.

2low

cycladianpirate wrote:

My sole advice would be to let your body tell you when enough's enough - you'll soon find that what seemed impossible becomes run of the mill. Having said that, you might want to try having a couple of rest days before the weekend and having a go at a longer route. As you say, you've plenty of options on your route so leave yourself the opportunity to bail out if needs be.

Thanks for that, i'll probably give myself a break tomorrow and as you say throw an extra couple of miles on saturdays ride.

springtide9

If you were a reasonable runner (and reasonably fit).. you'll find the cross over pretty easy.
I'm trying the other way (or should I say in addition)... and apart from the knees - haven't had many problems and the bike fitness has really helped. Have my first Half in 2 weeks - and hopefully should do an acceptable time (running 3 months-ish)

The rules as far as I know are roughly the same as for running - 10% increase in distance or speed per week (give or take 50% - depends on how you feel after the last ride!)

Depends on your fitness obviously. but if you were a reasonable runner - you should be able to manage a 2 hr ride without any problems. The good thing with the bike (unlike running).. is that you can slow down and really conserve energy. i.e. my 6 year old daughter can manage a 2 hr cycle ride... but it's obviously not very intense.

stronginthesun

i come from running . i just used a time scale of 2 to 1 ie ona sunday i would go out for a 1 hour run if im on the bike 2hours .

2low

well, i wont be doing anything on the bike for the forseeable future. Managed to fracture my spine last weekend going to the clinic tomorrow to get the verdict but i should imagine it will be at least 6 weeks before im back on it.

peterst6906

2low wrote:

well, i wont be doing anything on the bike for the forseeable future. Managed to fracture my spine last weekend going to the clinic tomorrow to get the verdict but i should imagine it will be at least 6 weeks before im back on it.

Ouch.

All the best for the recovery.