Cycling UK Forum

Update time. What a glorious month we've had, bit windy at times but so much sunshine Of course, the Covid restrictions have still been affecting our outdoor riding although the slight easing last week has made slightly longer rides more feasible and further changes coming in June will have us closer to normal for day rides at least.

Luckily my household has stayed, apparently Covid free so i've continued to get out for my rides and runs throughout May so here are the stats;

Total for May (31 days) 1620km and 13271m
Avg ride (13 days riding) 125km and 1021m

Year to date (152 days) 7220km and 61954m
Avg ride (59 days riding) 122km and 1050m

Thats my 'biggest' month of 2020 helped along by a couple of Imperial centuries since the slackening of restrictions. The average day distance has climbed to 47.5km so comfortably above the 20 a day and i'm actually @ 500km ahead of schedule for my 10000 miles target. I'd still like more climbing, maybe when the Welsh lift restrictions a bit i can get into the Black Mountains!

So how's it going with the rest of you? hitting those targets or waiting to put in some big miles later?

10,000 miles a year is insane
I managed 3000 last year and that takes some effort. It's the time mainly, but also fatigue. It's an average of 2 hours a day in the saddle at 14mph

May was a great month for riding!
1102 miles in May from 27 days riding. Longest ride only 52 miles. I live on the Isle of Wight so I tend to run out of road! A full circuit of the island is about 62 but the chain ferry at Cowes is for essential travel only and the alternative is a dull, busy road. Obviously rides on the mainland are impossible at the moment as most of the ferries aren't running.
4039 miles for the year up until June 1st. Doing nicely, good job I have plenty of time, I can only dream of averaging 14mph!

Peter F wrote:10,000 miles a year is insane
I managed 3000 last year and that takes some effort. It's the time mainly, but also fatigue. It's an average of 2 hours a day in the saddle at 14mph

i'd best not admit my avg speed had i but its a number higher than 14!

foxyrider wrote:

Peter F wrote:10,000 miles a year is insane
I managed 3000 last year and that takes some effort. It's the time mainly, but also fatigue. It's an average of 2 hours a day in the saddle at 14mph

i'd best not admit my avg speed had i but its a number higher than 14!

I'm not admitting mine either but for the opposite reason!

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...

Peter F wrote: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...

It's called commuting...

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

[XAP]Bob wrote:

Peter F wrote: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...

It's called commuting...

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

In my case it's called retirement!

[XAP]Bob wrote:

Peter F wrote: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...

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.

Peter F wrote: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...

I'm self employed and can choose my work times but i usually stick to 3 days a week riding, maybe 15 to 18 hours tops. That said, when i was doing a 9 to 5 type job i'd often, even in winter, do a couple of hours either before or more usually after work, i might even meet up with friends and do 3-4 hours in high summer. By working some extra into the commute/work package you may feel less guilty than demanding a whole day for riding at the weekend when the family most certainly will demand attention!

Its not 'wasteful' time either, when i'm riding i can go over work / personal problems in my head so it can be very productive besides being good exercise!

foxyrider wrote:

Peter F wrote: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...

I'm self employed and can choose my work times but i usually stick to 3 days a week riding, maybe 15 to 18 hours tops. That said, when i was doing a 9 to 5 type job i'd often, even in winter, do a couple of hours either before or more usually after work, i might even meet up with friends and do 3-4 hours in high summer. By working some extra into the commute/work package you may feel less guilty than demanding a whole day for riding at the weekend when the family most certainly will demand attention!

Its not 'wasteful' time either, when i'm riding i can go over work / personal problems in my head so it can be very productive besides being good exercise!

I do regularly stretch the ride home out from 7 to 15 - 20 miles but my contracted working day is 8.5 hours ( they don't pay us for our lunch break) and then I sometimes di another 30 minutes just to get through everything. This makes it hard. I leave the house at 8am but if I get back later than 6:30 I'm very unpopular.

Peter F wrote:

foxyrider wrote:

Peter F wrote: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...

I'm self employed and can choose my work times but i usually stick to 3 days a week riding, maybe 15 to 18 hours tops. That said, when i was doing a 9 to 5 type job i'd often, even in winter, do a couple of hours either before or more usually after work, i might even meet up with friends and do 3-4 hours in high summer. By working some extra into the commute/work package you may feel less guilty than demanding a whole day for riding at the weekend when the family most certainly will demand attention!

Its not 'wasteful' time either, when i'm riding i can go over work / personal problems in my head so it can be very productive besides being good exercise!

I do regularly stretch the ride home out from 7 to 15 - 20 miles but my contracted working day is 8.5 hours ( they don't pay us for our lunch break) and then I sometimes di another 30 minutes just to get through everything. This makes it hard. I leave the house at 8am but if I get back later than 6:30 I'm very unpopular.

Maybe your work / homelife balance needs some tweaking

foxyrider wrote:
Maybe your work / homelife balance needs some tweaking

You ain't wrong, but I don't have a lot of options at the moment.

Peter F wrote:

[XAP]Bob wrote:

Peter F wrote: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...

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.

Peter F wrote:10,000 miles a year is insane
I managed 3000 last year and that takes some effort. It's the time mainly, but also fatigue. It's an average of 2 hours a day in the saddle at 14mph

I have a friend who did almost 16,000 last year.He has ridden for the last 60-odd days every day.He does 2 or 3 100+mile rides a week!I think he's only done 5700 so far this year and his weekly average is 349 miles!His all time distance,since Strava began is just shy of 85,000 miles.He was semi=pro back in the 90s and lives for cycling.His averages are impressive too!