Twenty a day for 2020?

[Peter F]

It's called commuting...

I used to do thirty miles a day five days a week...

That would certainly help. I commute but it is only 15 miles a day and circumstances mean it's normally only 4 days a week. I do try to do longer rides home in nice weather but on a good week with a weekend ride I'm still only doing 100 to 120 miles a week.

Can I ask what circumstances mean that you don't ride?
I can't imagine there is any time to be gained by driving, unless of course kids need dropping off in a different direction.

Driving is faster. It takes 15 minutes by car and 25 to 30 by bike plus another 15 to shower and change. If I'm running late I drive. I can leave the house at 8:30 whereas on the bike I need to leave by 8:00.
Other reasons can be:
I need to bring in fresh ironed shirts. I change into a shirt after my shower.
I need to travel to a different location during the working day
I need to be home promptly for a reason.
The weather is too bad I.e very strong winds, excessively heavy rain or Ice. Not a fair weather cyclist but there is a sensible line.
The bike is out of action, such as Monday this week.

[[XAP]Bob]

Bike out of action - n+1 is the obvious answer

We dropped to “only” one car over a decade ago, and have hired a car to cover that “gap” twice in all that time. It does rather encourage the cycling for the commute. I used to load an extra pannier once a week with smart shirts, undies, socks, trousers, but I had a locker at work, so the shirts and trousers could hang well there.

[Peter F]

Bike out of action - n+1 is the obvious answer

We dropped to “only” one car over a decade ago, and have hired a car to cover that “gap” twice in all that time. It does rather encourage the cycling for the commute. I used to load an extra pannier once a week with smart shirts, undies, socks, trousers, but I had a locker at work, so the shirts and trousers could hang well there.

I have two bikes, the other one has a seized freehub. I only discovered when I realised my road bike was going to be out of action.

[carpetcleaner]

Don't take this the wrong way, but are you guys married with kids and do you work? There is no way I'd get away with spending that amount of time out on my bike, even before I had kids. With a young family I wouldn't even bother asking. Maybe when they leave home and I retire...

Just get out on your bike and ride.

The mileages of other riders are irrelevant.

[Peter F]

Don't take this the wrong way, but are you guys married with kids and do you work? There is no way I'd get away with spending that amount of time out on my bike, even before I had kids. With a young family I wouldn't even bother asking. Maybe when they leave home and I retire...

Just get out on your bike and ride.

The mileages of other riders are irrelevant.

I was simply asking how people find time to do so many miles

[Reddington]

I was simply asking how people find time to do so many miles

My wife is more than happy for me to go out on the bike for an hour or two.When I go to the gym I'm gone roughly 1-2hrs anyway so riding the bike is no different.She's just happy that I'm doing something to stay fit and healthy.I take my bike on holiday and just get up early to ride and am usually back by the time they are all up an ready.It's just a case of managing time better.Oh and yes I have kids and yes I work.
You have to get a work-family-freetime balance!

[[XAP]Bob]

Bike out of action - n+1 is the obvious answer

We dropped to “only” one car over a decade ago, and have hired a car to cover that “gap” twice in all that time. It does rather encourage the cycling for the commute. I used to load an extra pannier once a week with smart shirts, undies, socks, trousers, but I had a locker at work, so the shirts and trousers could hang well there.

I have two bikes, the other one has a seized freehub. I only discovered when I realised my road bike was going to be out of action.

Hence I said n+1 rather than two

Which is shorthand for “there’s always room for one more bike”,

Though once you have two it shouldn’t really need more than that for a short commute. There are plenty of reasons to *not* cycle every day, by t I found that they all disappeared when I chose to sell the alternative.
It may have come across as a criticism, but it really wasn’t meant that way.

[Peter F]

Bike out of action - n+1 is the obvious answer

We dropped to “only” one car over a decade ago, and have hired a car to cover that “gap” twice in all that time. It does rather encourage the cycling for the commute. I used to load an extra pannier once a week with smart shirts, undies, socks, trousers, but I had a locker at work, so the shirts and trousers could hang well there.

I have two bikes, the other one has a seized freehub. I only discovered when I realised my road bike was going to be out of action.

Hence I said n+1 rather than two

Which is shorthand for “there’s always room for one more bike”,

Though once you have two it shouldn’t really need more than that for a short commute. There are plenty of reasons to *not* cycle every day, by t I found that they all disappeared when I chose to sell the alternative.
It may have come across as a criticism, but it really wasn’t meant that way.

Selling the alternative was considered but my wife likes having a car to use when I have to drive to work. Besides, before I was into cycling I was into cars and my car is something of a hobby as well as a mode of transport. Once I stopped using it regularly my mileage dropped so fuel economy stopped being an issue. It's also older, 16 years, so when it needs repairing I do it myself and I'm not so constrained by needing the car back on the road on Monday morning. Riding to work has been quite liberating in many ways.

[Peter F]

I was simply asking how people find time to do so many miles

My wife is more than happy for me to go out on the bike for an hour or two.When I go to the gym I'm gone roughly 1-2hrs anyway so riding the bike is no different.She's just happy that I'm doing something to stay fit and healthy.I take my bike on holiday and just get up early to ride and am usually back by the time they are all up an ready.It's just a case of managing time better.Oh and yes I have kids and yes I work.
You have to get a work-family-freetime balance!

I agree, there is a balance, it's just that with an 11, 8 and a 4 year old that balance is disrupted by necessity a lot of the time.
I just struggle to imagine getting 2 hours of free time to myself every single day, but hey everyone's circumstances are different.

[foxyrider]

Two things changed in June - we got the nod to do more riding - good, and the glorious weather finally broke - bad!

The weather caused me to abandon 2 rides - i don't have to go out when its chucking down or blowing a gale so i only did 11 ride days. Ao here are the numbers;

Total km 1490
Total m 12518

Avg ride km 135.4
Avg ride m 1138

ytd km 8709
ytd m 74472

ytd 70 ride day avg km 124.4
ytd 70 ride day avg m 1064

ytd total avg km 47.9
ytd total avg m 409

So June, whilst not riding as far in total has the highest stats per ride in 2020 and the year projections have likewise gone up, nudging closer to 30 miles per day! After 'flaming' June i'm just over 700km ahead of schedule for my 16000km target so i'm well chuffed.

Has the weather impacted anyone else? Have you been able to up your game with longer rides? lets hear your stories.

[pedalsheep]

Well I'm still plodding round the Isle of Wight. I don't keep detailed stats like foxyrider and my riding patterns are very different - more rides but shorter, my average ride length is roughly half his! Still very few ferries so no possibility of longer rides on the mainland yet.
Total mileage by July 1st, 5014 miles. I'm happy with that!

[Newbie2020]

I am in amazed awe of the miles that some of you are getting in !! I'm doing well this year by reaching my annual target (2000 miles) by 30th June! Not sure if I have it in me to aim for 4000 for the year! Managed a (very slow) 60 miler yesterday (3120 ft of climb and into the wind 2/3 of the way) on top of 43 on Friday and 18 on Saturday. Was going to have a rest day today but can't cycle Wednesday after work and weather looks rubbish for tomorrow so might have to go out tonight The cleaning can wait!!!

[foxyrider]

How did that happen, where did July go? I think for most of us the weather has been a bit more mixed, certainly here in Brizzle there have been days when only the brave would venture outdoors!

At this point i must admit that i'm on Strava, essentially as a ride recording exercise - i'm certainly not chasing segments! I do however, often sign up for challenges and for July the biggy was to ride 1600km during the month, a figure i rarely reach but with a bit of a push i could do it. I came up with a plan, ride a couple of Imperial centuries and then i could just do my normal rides to hit the target, easy peasy. Thats when it got out of hand, every ride in July, 13 of them, has been over 160km/100 miles, three times i went over 200km, a total of 2453km / 1580 miles, nor were they flat, ascent totalled 19871m / 65197ft! Thats a new monthly record by 800km and only 1200m off my climbing record so i'm well chuffed.

If all that silliness wasn't enough, my average speed was 25.4kph / 15.8mph, which doesn't sound much but that is over in excess of 96 hours in the saddle! Anyhow, the nett result is that my average for the year is now 52.4km / 32.5 miles per day so quite a bit ahead of target and talking of targets, i'm over 1800km ahead of schedule to reach my 16000km year target or put another way, about 6 weeks of normal riding in hand. All this on my old hack bike which runs a retro 7sp system hanging from its 531 frame and toting a bag with camera, cape and sandwiches (plus of course lock and now facemask!), no lightweight.

August will not be a repeat! hopefully i'll still get some good rides in but i'm planning a week away at the end of the month sans velo so that buffer should keep me on track.

So where are you lot in your mile munching plans? Don't let my bragging stop you telling us about how July was for you, however modest your ambitions its nice to see how you are getting on.

[PaulaT]

So where are you lot in your mile munching plans? Don't let my bragging stop you telling us about how July was for you, however modest your ambitions its nice to see how you are getting on.

I don't have any - quite the reverse at my age. Plus I stop every 5 minutes or so to get the binoculars out for a bit of birdwatching. Much more sensible

[rjb]

We achieved it on the tandem last year for the first time. This year mrs rjb has a medical issue which is restricting our mileage. Still managing approx 16 miles a day but almost every day so we still clocked up 511 miles for the month giving us a total of 3793 so far this year.