Road Riders - how many miles will you ride in an avg week?
Discussion
People like Tony Gibb ride 5 hours a day - easy 700 mile weeks - he doesn't work
The best you can do whilst working seems to be about 400 miles a week - people like John Mc Clelland do this
You will win club road/track trophies on 300 to 350 miles a week.
It all comes down to if your life allows you to ride a bike more hours than anything else.
If you are not riding 1000 miles a month you are not at the races - literally.
After you have organised your life to ride, then it comes down to how much you can hurt each day and how fast you recover after hurting.
Currently I'm averaging 280 miles a week so get my arse kicked still by the above riders, 350 miles a week when I was 20 meant that I was racing against national champions, olympic riders etc on a regular basis and getting my arse kicked in by them - they didn't work whilst I was.
So how much do you want to be good, how many miles will you ride?
The best you can do whilst working seems to be about 400 miles a week - people like John Mc Clelland do this
You will win club road/track trophies on 300 to 350 miles a week.
It all comes down to if your life allows you to ride a bike more hours than anything else.
If you are not riding 1000 miles a month you are not at the races - literally.
After you have organised your life to ride, then it comes down to how much you can hurt each day and how fast you recover after hurting.
Currently I'm averaging 280 miles a week so get my arse kicked still by the above riders, 350 miles a week when I was 20 meant that I was racing against national champions, olympic riders etc on a regular basis and getting my arse kicked in by them - they didn't work whilst I was.
So how much do you want to be good, how many miles will you ride?
okgo said:
Surely there is an element of doing the right training?
I don't think adding another lap or two of Richmond park to my commute which would doubt my miles would make that much difference.
Must be. The quickest person I ride with claims to do much fewer miles than me, but I can't hold on to his back wheel. He did a <60hr 1200km, despite being sufficiently injured in a crash early on that he had to be helped on and off his bike.I don't think adding another lap or two of Richmond park to my commute which would doubt my miles would make that much difference.
summit7 said:
People like Tony Gibb ride 5 hours a day - easy 700 mile weeks - he doesn't work
The best you can do whilst working seems to be about 400 miles a week - people like John Mc Clelland do this
You will win club road/track trophies on 300 to 350 miles a week.
It all comes down to if your life allows you to ride a bike more hours than anything else.
If you are not riding 1000 miles a month you are not at the races - literally.
After you have organised your life to ride, then it comes down to how much you can hurt each day and how fast you recover after hurting.
Currently I'm averaging 280 miles a week so get my arse kicked still by the above riders, 350 miles a week when I was 20 meant that I was racing against national champions, olympic riders etc on a regular basis and getting my arse kicked in by them - they didn't work whilst I was.
So how much do you want to be good, how many miles will you ride?
Those figures stack up fairly well with my 4:1 cycle:run rule of thumb - to be relatively competitve at a national level as a distance runner you need to be doing ~100 miles per week (so ~400 a week for cycling) and can fit that around working (train twice a day). Unless a very talented runner you won't win many national races on that but will comfortably win local club races.The best you can do whilst working seems to be about 400 miles a week - people like John Mc Clelland do this
You will win club road/track trophies on 300 to 350 miles a week.
It all comes down to if your life allows you to ride a bike more hours than anything else.
If you are not riding 1000 miles a month you are not at the races - literally.
After you have organised your life to ride, then it comes down to how much you can hurt each day and how fast you recover after hurting.
Currently I'm averaging 280 miles a week so get my arse kicked still by the above riders, 350 miles a week when I was 20 meant that I was racing against national champions, olympic riders etc on a regular basis and getting my arse kicked in by them - they didn't work whilst I was.
So how much do you want to be good, how many miles will you ride?
okgo said:
Surely there is an element of doing the right training?
I don't think adding another lap or two of Richmond park to my commute which would doubt my miles would make that much difference.
Quality is important but the best guys will be combining quality and quantity in their training schedule (applies to any endurance sport). One thing that UK running is only just emerging from is an over-emphasis on quality without the good aerobic base produced by the quantity aspect. I don't know if the same is true of UK cycling.I don't think adding another lap or two of Richmond park to my commute which would doubt my miles would make that much difference.
Edited by ewenm on Wednesday 21st September 11:06
Varies depending on work commitments, Dad-cab arrangements, pub appointments, weather etc but usually circa 20-40 miles per week off road, and 40-100-ish road miles.
I am in it for the fun and fitness, I was planning on entering a couple of 'fun' races this year but crashed badly off road in May and am only just getting my fitness back. I am doing the Bath-Bournemouth next Sunday which is 80 miles and will be my first big-ish ride since May.
I REALLY enjoy riding and am worried that if I begin to take it too seriously it will become a chore rather than an enjoyable activity! I push myself quite hard and have managed to raise my average from 16.5 mph when I first got my road bike in Feb to 18.5-20 mph depending on conditions, road surface etc - but I am well aware this would be a slow average in club racing. . .
I am in it for the fun and fitness, I was planning on entering a couple of 'fun' races this year but crashed badly off road in May and am only just getting my fitness back. I am doing the Bath-Bournemouth next Sunday which is 80 miles and will be my first big-ish ride since May.
I REALLY enjoy riding and am worried that if I begin to take it too seriously it will become a chore rather than an enjoyable activity! I push myself quite hard and have managed to raise my average from 16.5 mph when I first got my road bike in Feb to 18.5-20 mph depending on conditions, road surface etc - but I am well aware this would be a slow average in club racing. . .
ewenm said:
Quality is important but the best guys will be combining quality and quantity in their training schedule (applies to any endurance sport). One thing that UK running is only just emerging from is an over-emphasis on quality without the good aerobic base produced by the quantity aspect. I don't know if the same is true of UK cycling.
Well I plan to start racing next year, so we will see how my limited milesage yeilds in CAT4 races!Edited by ewenm on Wednesday 21st September 11:06
About 125 a week commuting to work, I go a roundabout way to avoid busy roads & to make it enjoyable. It only takes around an hour a day longer than driving. So all cycling just takes 5 hours out of my time!
I also run up to 50 miles a week, the bulk of it during lunch time at work. I find running helps cycling a lot & vice versa.
I also run up to 50 miles a week, the bulk of it during lunch time at work. I find running helps cycling a lot & vice versa.
Normally the weekend is the only time i manage to get out, so usually between 100-150 miles, albeit predominately hill work - either way i'm guessing that i wont be winning races anytime soon.
Have done sweet FA this year really on account of weddings / work commitments etc, but next year will be entering into a few events so need to up the mileage. Saying that i do supplement this with a fair bit of gym work so should have a reasonable base...at least in theory.
Have done sweet FA this year really on account of weddings / work commitments etc, but next year will be entering into a few events so need to up the mileage. Saying that i do supplement this with a fair bit of gym work so should have a reasonable base...at least in theory.
Mine is currently atrocious due to time and having to fit in swimming and running. Running I'm doing around 30 miles a week, cycling will vary between 2x2h heavy training sessions and a couple of 40+ mile rides, I'm generally training 5-6 days a week, weather and time available sway whether that training goes in to riding or running. (plus with hardly any training I managed a good time at London Tri bike leg but the run needs a lot of work!)
Hopefully I'll be based in the UK for 2012 instead of my current 50:50 UK:SA and I can get back to commuting which REALLY helps get the training miles up.
Hopefully I'll be based in the UK for 2012 instead of my current 50:50 UK:SA and I can get back to commuting which REALLY helps get the training miles up.
My weekly mileage varies. Biggest week this year was 590 miles, but I have had a couple of weeks off too. Through the racing season I'm doing 200 ish miles a week, and one or two interval sessions on top of that. The old adage in cycling of putting long base miles in over the winter remains true IMO. Without that you have nothing to build upon.
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