What is your favorite distance to ride?
 

So for all you experienced folks, what is your favorite distance to ride? I am just getting into cycling with aspirations of doing a century ride this summer/fall. Right now I am just looking at road bikes (hope to get one this March assuming the US Govt stays funded and I keep getting a paycheck :lol: ) . I have a hard tail mountain bike and I like to get out for about an hour (not sure what distance I am going since I don't have a bike computer yet) . I am looking forward to longer rides though in the spring.

This is the long distance forum isn't it? Life begins at 100 miles here:thumb: In the mean time, take that MTB down to Oak Mtn. Those trails kicked my butt:o

400k is my favorite distance. It's about the most I can ride on Saturday and still do something else on Sunday.

I ride 80 miles every Saturday during the season, but those are just training rides so not really my favorite distance
100 miles is a bit more than my weekly long ride, but not so much longer that it's anything special
On a 200k there are usually some fast guys that I try to keep up with so I'm dead by the end if not before
I usually still have gas in the tank at the end of a 300k
A 600k is too far for me to ride in one day
Anything longer than that is really more of a tour than a ride

I have the most fun on 40-60 mile rides. That's short enough that I can go as hard as I like, as much as I like, and still finish able to pedal. Longer rides are fun too, but they become less athletic and more mental.

Used to be 400K ... I'd like to feeling really comfy on them again. :)

I had no idea the metric system was so widely used once west of the state line. :) Reminds me of the hero in "Breaking Away". Metric numbers do sound more impressive. (please note: just making a friendly joke and I hope it does not offend).

Hi Voyager1, you really have to learn about your point of no return as you ride longer and longer. If you hit that too far from home, it is not good. I've bonked twice in my life and I try to make sure it never happens again. Best of luck with your riding and the new road bike.

60-70 miles is a nice distance for me that still allows me to get something else done (e.g. errands) that same day. I do enjoy the challenge of 100 miles through 200K. I'm not interested in going much further because riding in the dark does not appeal to me. My body prefers to sleep when it is dark :)

He's referring to the standard randonneuring brevet distances.

30 miles is a nice distance. I can keep my attention to the riding / pedaling high, concentrating on cadence-cadence-cadence. Unfortunately, I haven't done my 30-mile cadence / TT route for several years -- and it shows in my avg pace on the longer rides.

140-kms is a nice distance. Perception is that it takes no more energy than 100-kms, and only takes an extra hour to hour-and-a-half -- not all day. [Quoting local RUSA #1609 when he was editor of "American Randonneur" -- "regarding 200, it's not the distance, it's the time."]

Beyond 140k, the rides are fun or not depending on several factors, not necessarily in this order:

• ride partner(s), and sometimes just your shadow is the best, other times not,
• the course,
• in-shape-ness quotient.

For me, beyond 300-kms, the rides become a different kind of fun.

A bit of a different take, but before randonneuring, my answer used to be "anything greater than zero".

Now, I pretty much only do brevets, and I don't get out of bed for anything less than 50mi or so.

It's starting to become problematic, because I'll often skip out on 'social rides' of shorter distances to get coffee or lunch. Trying to change my mindset back and just get back out on the bike, period.

As for the 'traditional' answer: I've only done one 1200k, but it is easily my most fond randonneuring experience so far. So, I'd have to go with that distance. All the other distances are just 'training' different aspects, whether it's energy management, night riding, etc.

My thoughts exactly. If you ever have a chance to ride the Rocky Mountain 1200 (BC Randonneurs), DO IT!


The shorter distances each have their individual appeal. Except for 600k. Day 2 is always an ordeal.


SP
OC, OR


:recum:

I've never ridden longer than a double century - yet - but I like all my rides so far because it feels like something that is completed in one long-ish day and then I go sleep and relax the next day. A 400km will be hard for me and I DNF'd one. A 600km... ugh, will think about that when I get there. The idea of waking up after a very long ride and having to ride again is daunting, though I have a feeling that once I'm caffeinated and the blood is pumping then it'll be alright.

Exactly the way I feel too.

If I have people to ride with, 200k is a good distance, takes about 10 hours, kills a Saturday, can all be done in daylight.
For weekday rides, I have a couple of loops of 21 miles and 30 miles depending on my time and energy.
I've done quite a few 400k and 600k (and one 1,000k and one 1,200k)- but usually, anything much more than 200k, the fun will run out some time before the miles do. So you have a fun ride, but also spend some time just finishing the thing up when you'd rather be doing something else by then.

This time of year, 100k is plenty for me. During the summer when there's a ton of daylight, a 200k isn't bad.

I'm doing a 200k this Saturday and I have to admit, I'm not 100% looking forward to it, but once I'm out there, I'm sure I will.

on a regular basis, 100k is a really nice distance. 200k really means a weekend gone for me. I think of all the randonneuring distances, I like 1200k's the best. I really like only thinking about riding and being in the moment.

Not being a smarta$$, but what does Monday feel like? Does the soreness only kick in later in the week?

I try to stay in pretty good shape so there is no soreness, only tiredness on Sunday. 400k takes me around 20 hours, so I have time to take a nap for a few hours and spend most of the day Sunday with my family. Monday I'm back at work like nothing happened, and Tuesday morning I'm back on the bike.

Of the long ones, 400k. I'm slower than kingston so I'm not much good on Sunday, but it's long enough to really feel like something special without having to gain enough time to sleep.

For fun rides, 75 miles is maybe my favorite, or a bit shorter if I'm on a touring ride (i.e. about the same amount of time, at a slower pace/with more stops). That is what I can do easily without any attention to nutrition beyond what I will naturally consume, and when in shape, without feeling tired after.

Though I sometimes go out for shorter rides and then wonder why I don't do that more often--it seems like a waste to get out the road bike and gear for a 20-30 mile jaunt but if I actually get up early on weekends I can do that before my regular day, and I can go hard the whole time.

(Most of my non-event miles are commuting/transportation , and thus I look at them differently.)

As for soreness, the amount my legs hurt after brevets is proportional to the amount of climbing, not the distance. I ride flats at a effort level I can maintain indefinitely, but I'm too fat to climb hills above 5% or so without pushing past that. My shoulders and back and arms are mostly what hurt after longer rides. (And once, memorably, I felt really great on a 200k and sprinted in the last forty miles for kicks, and my intercostal muscles were very sore the next day from gulping air to keep barely in the aerobic range.)

I'm a cycle commuter, so my favorite distance is the minimum safe distance to get from point A to point B (which aren't always that close).

Eugene to Portland puts me at a minimum of about 140 miles, and a maximum (so far) of about 200 miles for a good day trip. :)

I regret to admit that it took me a day and a half to get to Crater Lake, but there was some wicked hill climbing getting up there. Maybe next time I'll make it in a day.

I think I did about 9 century+ rides last year, and almost all of them were long commutes.

When I was at my peak, and 400Ks were my favourite distance, there wasn't much in the way of soreness.

I did those events in Canada, and with the shortened season, we would start in early April and do a 200K on one weekend, a 200K on the next weekend, a weekend off where I'd go out and do a 100K one day and 50 km the next, then a 300K, then a weekend off where I'd do a 100K one day, and maybe 75 km the next, then the 400K, then a weekend off where I'd do back-to-back 100s, and then the 600K.

Plus all sorts of cycling during the week.

When you're in that kind of mode, you're just used to it.

But I would plan a super-relaxing 24-48 hours after each long event that would often include a massage. :)

Right now, I'd probably say 100 km is pretty comfortable, and I can get it done in an afternoon.

My favourite distance by far is that last 10m coast to park outside the bakery.

Not a specific distance but right under 6 hours is my favorite. It's enough so that I can leave after work and go on a long ride but still get home in time to do a little bit of hanging out. I can also easily ride that amount of time two days in a row without undue on/off bike fatigue. I usually end up around 85-90 miles.

Same for me. 40-60 miles are my normal daily distances, 6 days a week. Yesterday's ride was 47 miles, today's was 50. I seem to rack up more monthly and annual miles this way than doing the longer 200-300k rides and then had to take a few days off to recover.