help how many miles should i do

More than nothing and less than 25 hours a week.

Where in that range depends on lots of things that we don't know about you or your race goals.

Club racers can manage on 5-7 hrs/week with 4 rides/week. How they perform depends on the type of race and their natural level of ability (and how smart they are about using those 5-7 hours).

Those that want to improve their racing engine over the longer term will likely need to factor in 8-15 hrs/week with 5-6 rides/week.

For development towards Pro status, you'll need more although 15 very well used hours is certainly a feasible volume for a Pro cyclist.

This all assumes that those hours are of a sufficient intensity. Tooling around on the bike doesn't count and ain't gunna cut it for developing an engine suitable for racing.

What you need to do depends on what your goals are and where you are starting from.

little wiser wrote:

my goals around fifteen years ago i did a twenty two minute ten not stunning i know but pleased me 58 for a 25 and placed quite high up in crits and short ish road races around fourty fifty miles would love to beat all the things i did then!!! as for where im starting from fairly low point commute to work 6 miles each way been doing that for 12 mths but before that 3 years in gym on a very reqular basis any more advice gratefully recieved

As you are not sure of where you are fitness wise....why not just get out and ride. Put in a reasonable amount of effort over a course of about 10 miles and then try to equal or better your time next time out on the same course. If 10 miles is too easy then add in some hills or some more distance until you find it challenging.
I am constantly setting goals and when I beat them then I set new goals such as doing 12 miles in the same time that I have previously done 10 miles...When I got the 12 mile time I increased it to 14 miles (one extra lap of a local hill)....I am now doing a 20 mile circuit in around an hour which includes 5 x 1km average 7% hill climbs.....4 months ago I was struggling to complete one lap of the hill..never mind about doing it in a decent time!

The secret I find is that if you aren't pushing yourself then you are not going to improve.

fuzzynavel wrote:

If 10 miles is too easy then add in some hills or some more distance until you find it challenging. .

If 10 miles is too easy, you aren't riding hard enough.