Chef Joe

Just looking for some recommendations.
What's a good starting point as far as mph and distance goes? I'm assuming ride at whatever is comfortable. I plan on doing some long rides but dont want to strain or hurt myself starting out doing too much. Ive been doing 10 to 20 mile rides since getting my new bike 2 weeks ago and want to know when I should shoot for the 30+ range. My body feels great after every ride and I dont feel exhausted or overworked after each ride.

Troul 

factor in the weather, your diet weeks up to the rides, pre/post recovery from the longer rides, & frequency of the rides.
If all is checking out good, I wouldnt see a reason you would hold back from adding as many miles you can per ride. Just have a plan B in case you run into any issues & require assistance (uber, lyft, significant other, bus, cab, food/water [cash] .

TrojanHorse

The usual rule of thumb is 10% per week but as long as you have a plan B in case things go sideways, no reason you can't go 30 now.

surak

30 miles is around where you'd want to start paying more attention to hydration and nutrition. At least have some places you can get food and drink, especially if you typically don't eat and drink on your rides. I found that was the biggest difference for me when increasing mileage this summer from 40 to 100. My muscles wouldn't feel more thrashed, but the "fuel" would sometimes run low when I didn't eat enough during my rides. Never bonked, but had some climbs I had to bail until I ate some more.

Eating the right amount was actually harder for me to get used to than adding more distance. It's surprising how the body might not feel hunger, but you'll know you have a severe calorie imbalance when you start getting lethargic. In my case, I would feel less hungry, which obviously is the wrong signal. I figure it's because I got tired of eating Clif bars, so mixing up your food intake can also be a good idea on longer rides.

Chef Joe

Thanks, this helps.

rgconner

Strava Premium is a pretty good tool as well. It gives a "green river" of your average effort of the last three weeks so you can keep your efforts inside the zone, or go over to increase effort, or back off to recover.

Kedosto

livedarklions

There really isn't some magic point at which the distance makes the ride "serious", everybody has to find their own comfort zone.

If you're already doing 20 mile rides without discomfort after just 2 weeks of riding, it sounds like you have a pretty good fitness level and you can keep going. I went from not having ridden in years to riding solo centuries in a matter of 2 months last year, so I'm not a big believer in rules of thumb. I was able to handle that because I had been working out intensely in the gym for a couple years. I ramped it up very fast and the worst I experienced was a few cramps I could make go away by getting off the bike and walking for a couple minutes before getting on again.

The big difference between a ride of 20 miles or so and say, 35 is that you have to do a little more prep. Make sure you have a little food with you and enough water. You cannot always count on a convenience store being there when you need it. Also, carry a pump (or CO2), tire irons and spare tubes and know how to fix a flat roadside. When you start doing distance riding, it's not a matter of if you are going to get a flat, it's a question of when, and getting rolling again after 10 minutes or so is a lot more fun than having to go to Plan B.

Shoot for 25 on your next ride and if you feel as good as you do doing 20, try 30 on the next ride. This ain't climbing Everest, I suspect you'll be just fine.

And definitely, carry cash, cards, and a phone.

Lazyass

If you aren't feeling exhausted or overworked then you're not riding hard enough to get stronger. Go for the 30+ mile range your next ride, it's not that big a deal.

rumrunn6

I think actor Matthew McConaughey was the person who said: "I run as far as I can, then I turn around & go home"

it's a bike, if you get tired, just roll ... meaning, go for it & see what happens

Flip Flop Rider

go further now. if you have the time go for it, you can always rest if you've over done it, but that has rarely occurred with me. once you go 30, you're going to want go further

livedarklions

I'm calling BS on that. You don't need to make yourself miserable to have significant gains.

Lazyass

If becoming exhausted by exercising makes you miserable then you're soft. If you stop exercising before you start getting exhausted then no you will not make "significant gains".

Maelochs

Everyone is different. Nobody knows what your capacities are. We can only make guesses .... but we can certainly Act like we know.

Maybe draw some routes that have bail-outs? I know I can put together loops and such, where I can go 15 and then take a side-road and add five, or ten, or 15 more miles , and then there are side roads along some of those if I decide I have had enough and want to head back. I use Ride with GPS but you can use google maps or any other service ... just draw out routes that offer options. Likely you could do 40 right now ... but you don't want to be 20 miles into a route with no bail-outs when you realize that it is not the right day for that effort.

Thirty miles, you might need half an energy bar or a small handful of raisins .... but do be sure to drink. And it is always good to have that emergency gel in your saddle bag just in case.

Alos ... you can always ride slowly or even take a break.

One time last summer I had a long ride planned on a very hot day, and I sprinted to catch a traffic light at about the only major intersection before I got to the good roads ... with the heat and the effort I jacked up my heart rate (specific issues there, not something that just happens to cyclists) and messed up my body. I used the shortest short-cuts home, and rode REALLY slowly and I was fine ... went back out that night when the temps had dropped 15 degrees.

If you get 30 miles out and there is no easy way back and you feel like you are done ... park it for ten minutes, then ride slowly. Repeat as necessary. As @Kedosto says, "listen to your body."

But probably you could knock out 40 miles easy ... on the right day.

livedarklions

Yeah, I'm so soft that I went from riding 0 miles a day to riding 168 miles in a day 13 months later, and increasing my top flat level riding speed from about 18 mph to about 25 mph in the same span of time, never once making myself feel "overworked." (Your word, not mine.) I'm 57 years old

This "no pain no gain" crap is just a recipe for unsustainable disaster. Gradual increases in endurance work just fine, and there's a whole lot less chance you will hurt yourself. Overtraining is a ridiculous strategy.

Troul 

city/town riding will have different impacts to what you can expel for energy compared to country/uninterrupted roads.

Pendergast

livedarklions

Breaks are great--I actually do the very long rides with a meal or some other attraction as being the goal at the far end of the ride (my "McGuffin"). Motivates me to go a lot farther and usually harder than if I turned it into a non-stop slog.

I definitely literally take it down a couple gears on really hot days, and there was one day this summer when I just plain decided it was too hot and humid to ride at all (100 degrees and similar humidity). No shame in using discretion, it's really not a matter of proving anything to anyone.

livedarklions

Tired is fine, maybe even exhausted. The word I really was objecting to was "overworked."

Lazyass

As a former drill sergeant and a certified personal trainer I can only shake my head and chuckle at your comments. I had people like you and they got a rude awakening haha. But somehow they all survived. If you never get exhausted, as the OP stated he wasn't, then no you are not going to make "signification gains".

livedarklions

As a person who's gotten in pretty damn good shape by ignoring trainers like you, I really don't care what kind of sadistic overtraining you inflict on your suckers. Overtraining is a real danger and can destroy more muscle than it creates.

Lazyass

You know nothing about training. And stop being a drama queen, you sound like a millennial, not a 57 year old. This is only the internet. You initiated the conversation with me, thinking you were going to school me in something which is laughable. If my replies give you stress then don't communicate with me again.

livedarklions

There's absolutely no scientific reason to believe a person can't get great benefits from exercise that doesn't reach the level of exhaustion. You can't defend your assertion, so instead you resort to insult and belittling. I'm only disappointed that someone who gets paid to insult and belittle isn't better at it than you are. I really don't care that you insulted me. I do care that you basically just told someone who's just started biking that they shouldn't bother with rides unless they are going to exhaust a nd overwork themselves. That's worse than bad advice, it's discouraging someone from making an effort based on an utterly fabricated premise. I realize this kind of snake oil is part and parcel of the charlatans in your line, but it's completely destructive.
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woodcraft

There's a distinction between joint pain, tendon strain, IT band inflammation etc.

and overall tiredness.

Especially starting out, you don't want to push to the point of limping the next day.

But muscle soreness, and exhaustion are acceptable training markers.

I gauge my effort on training rides by whether I have to take a nap after.

Livedarklions may have the luxury of frequent, small increases in ride intensity, but as a mostly weekend warrior, I get it when I can.

You don't need to get worn out, but it's nothing to be afraid of either.

livedarklions

I don't disagree with any of that. I'm pushing back against lazyass' nonsense statement that gradual comfortable increases can't produce real results. I've worked up to about 175-200 miles per weekend, and I take naps after long rides. But I worked up to it without ever getting to the point I felt "overworked" . Even if the OP never goes more than 30 miles on a ride, he's going to enjoy some benefits from that, assuming he keeps his other activities constant. A crash program may work for some people, but people should definitely not be told they're failing if they find it isn't for them.

If all the OP is looking for is an exercise program that can be sustained at a bit higher amount than the OP is doing now, does anyone really believe that doesn't have meaningful health benefits? Because that is what lazyass is claiming.