Originally Posted by
olejason
Distance isn't necessarily all that important. Racking up a 10 mile ride just leisurely coasting around the neighborhood probably isn't going to provide the workout a really hard 3 mile ride would.
This is an interesting post. In some ways distance is important simply because time in the saddle is important. I try to be somewhere between leisurely coasting and really hard workout. Probably closer to leisurely coasting. Which may have been a good strategy for someone coming to biking from a total lack of fitness. My CV system would always give out before my legs would give out. So I rode slow and spun those pedals as fast as I could (Jethro's linked thread is great). And added on the miles. I am at close to a 1000 miles since I started this spring.
I am still slow though. But I am much faster than I was and can ride a 50 mile ride. So, I think I more or less have been using the right strategy. I have started pushing it for parts of some of my rides, like pushing up a hill that I would formerly slowly roll my way up, barely staying upright. I also am walking and I push it when I walk as I walk with friends who walk fast.
My first rides were 2 to 4 miles long and were hard and uncomfortable. I was fat and my bike didn't fit and I was out of shape.