What’s your mileage sweet spot and how has it changed?
 

It seems counter intuitive but even though I’m decades older, from when I began cycling, my sweet spot has never changed. It’s still about 35 to 45 miles.

How about you?

Whatever miles I have the time for that day. I almost never get the bike out if I don't have time for at least 15. But the 35 to 45 you mentioned is pretty much my preferred distance.

Well I cannot run like I once did if at all so the bike is it. I generally like to ride 50 miles but I am retired and 60. Funny thing is I am not a century stalker as I know some like to get a huge long ride in at certain intervals. I have not done a century in about 5 years yet I have road over 10,000 miles this year. I would say my average ride is 50ish. I don't like to suit up and get going for less than 30 unless I have done a long race-walk before the ride. Sometimes I racewalk about 5-6 miles then go ride 25-30 depending. I find doing this I never at all need food and actually do not take any water unless it is summer. I road the last 2 days here at about 45 degrees and 55 miles each ride but no water taken. The problem with a long one at over 80 is then I really need something to keep from hitting the wall and I ride enough. I prefer the steady daily riding about same. I should mention I don't train for anything except possibly pizza, beer, donuts, and ice cream. Short fast ride have there place especially when going specific training.

35 to 45 for me, been pretty consistent over the years in mileage , the changes have been in speed to accomplish.

I usually ride by time.

Good point. My sweet spot is between two and three hours.

I ride 15-20 miles a day almost every day. My "sweet spot" is probably longer than that, but I don't have the time to do a longer daily ride. When I finish, I feel like I could ride forever, but I know that's not true. When I've gone on longer rides, after about 50-60 miles I feel I've done enough. I'm a relatively new rider (been riding four years) and have done two centuries, because I wanted to do the 100 miles. The last 40 miles or so were sticking it out to finish, not riding for the joy of it.

Around 50 miles in summer; 40 spring/fall; 20 if below freezing.

Interesting to think about this.

In the decades of riding before I discovered randonneuring, I'd say 40 miles was my go-to distance. After two or three years of rando, 200k became the sweet spot, ezpz. That held true fur several years, even after i moved from Indiana to west Texas. Then i moved to Oregon; with elevation added to the mix, things changed. I've switched from recumbent to upright in no small part due to improved climbing speed. Even so, the sweet spot is probably more like 100k. I still ride a 200k or longer monthly, but that distance is now more of an event.

I'm still working but 5,000 a year is about right for me atm. Try for 500 a month and exceed that for 2 or 3 and get a little less other months. On n work days 30-35 is good. Work day might be 17-20 if at all

35 to 45 miles is about right for this 67 YO, My younger years were filled with centuries, doubles and insane amounts of climbing. Now I ride more for pleasure rather than distance.



today I did a whopping 10 miles in 17* F on the MTB.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...f2211f6b3.jpeg

About 30 miles per day is easily sustainable for me, every day, with the rest of retired and married life thrown in. Luckily that's my wife's sweet spot too. I rode that when I worked too, with some of my round-trip commutes in that range. I also enjoy riding my age (64) every week or two.

Depends of course on multiple factors but between 40-60 miles brings the most enjoyment with the least amount of "suffering" from fatigue.
This has been consistent the last few years and I hope to kick this up to 60-80 miles in 2022 if I can stay healthy.

I turned 73 this year and ride about 20 miles a day. I am still comfortable with longer rides but don't go after them. I have Parkinson's so things may slow down further over the next decade but cycling is good to slow progression so I will try to keep up. I am watching ebike developments and plan to snag a nice, lightweight one if I see a need for a boost.

on a road bike? I haven't been over 70 miles in over a decade
a long summer ride will hover around 60 miles, but that's maybe once a year
30-40 miles is more of a regular ride day
44 miles if I bike commute round trip

on the mountain bike it's all over the place
1-5 hrs out in nature, miles covered approx. 5-25

the hybrid fills in the gaps

I've had peak periods in my life
a cpl weird long all day rides in my late teens
some exceptionally long rides 75-88 miles approx. a decade ago
these days whenever I think I'm strong & doing well, I get my humility handed back to me as someone blows my doors off

~2 years ago before this pandemic changed everything my sweet spot was 65-80 miles...although that presumes a group ride with maybe 3 other cyclists pacelining. Solo, a bit less; call it 50-70 miles.
But ever since COVID I have severely curtailed my typical distance -- in part because I almost never ride with other people anymore, in part because I'm trying to avoid other people and the farther away from home I get the harder it is to not have to stop for food or bathroom breaks which invariably require being indoors with other folks -- and so nowadays I'd say my sweet spot is only 30-40 miles. Stupid virus...

Looking back the past several years it appears that my average ride is approximately 60 miles so I’ll go with that. I averaged 85 miles a day on my cross country ride and that felt about right for that trip. I still enjoy doing longer rides but I’m getting slower. I’m guessing going slower will probably shorten up my rides over time.

Pre-Covid, my average ride was just under 40 miles or just under 14,000 miles per year. Average speed just over 16 mph. Most rides just over 2 hours. I would generally only do a long ride (over 100 miles) about once every two or three weeks.

A good sweet spot ride for me is 40 to 50 miles and 3,000 feet of climbing. I started regular cycling after a multi year break in January 2018 and maybe 15 miles and almost no hills was good for me. 2019 I started group rides and found 20 to 25 with some hills good as my new sweet spot. 2020 got me to 40 to 50 miles. This year I learned to enjoy hills with some others from the group. In 2020 and 2021 I averaged a little over 100 miles a week. I'm turning 61 in less than 2 weeks.

In my 70's I have found if I do around 20 or just slightly more I can go every day, if I push it I recovery day is very likely needed. Fortunately friend and family are good with that on group rides although one son-in-law will stay out longer.

Based upon mileage, about 30 to 40 or 125 miles per week. In reality, I ride by time and routes and the mileage is the result. Today, it is windy, cold and rainy but if the weather breaks for a couple of hours, I will do hill repeats around my house. Not a lot of mileage but harder sustained longer efforts. Or I may set up the trainer and not generate any mileage just time in the saddle.

I missed part two of the question, how it's changed. The mileage hasn't changed much, nor has my pace, but the elapsed time has gotten longer in retirement. I'm more likely to bring a lunch, a lock, extra water and clothing and make a day of it. I'm also more likely to spend more days on the bike, since some other activities are on hold because of this bug that's been going around.

My wife is a geocacher and when I go out with her, it'll take all day to ride 40 miles. We have a picnic lunch and see a lot of fun stuff. We get most of our errands and shopping done on the bikes too. Even at Costco!

Most of our cycling has been touring and commuting, so we're geared up to carry stuff, used to being outside all day, and finding creative places to pee. COVID just reinforced those skills.

The ideal would be about 30-35 miles. Since changing jobs about four years ago though, I only have time for rides like that on the weekend. I'm happy to ride even 10 miles after work. It keeps the blood flowing and a short fix is better than nothing at all.

Last year I had lots of good days and went 3,547 miles. Only have 4 IGH hubs now.
No such thing as a regular ride for me. 35 city miles takes me no more effort than sitting on the couch, since I don't push the pace. LOL.
This year I spent a lot of days trying to make HB stems and CF bottle holders. Also bought a new roadster that took a lot of time changing stuff, including a whole new front wheel with SA XL-FDD. Also added rods to the rack and added 3/4" to the dropouts and changed the fender to the one off my 1973 Raleigh. LOL. It came with stupid roller brakes. The Nexus 7i is fine.
July was hotter than a bugger, had to sleep on the couch about 40 nights. And just took a car ride 4 times for airconditioning.

3,179 miles in 2021 with 11 highway all day rides that averaged 101.5 miles. I guess it was a bigger struggle against cramps, that left me short of a century 4 times. I take 12 or 14 hours, whatever. My CCM with a SA RD3 speed had my 3 easiest centuries. LOL.
>> So the 11 all solo rides were >> 102.7, 112.4, 93.4, 92.6, 96.6, 128.5, 83.6, 100.4, 100.6, 104.7, 97.
Last highway ride of the year was 57 miles on Oct.16. First one was May 28, kind of late.

Puttering around the city, the rides are 20 to 45 with a fast food meal. Except going out west, there's not many hills unless I ride down to the river paths.
ZERO miles in my whole life with a light bike, helmet, heart monitor, clips, strava, or lycra. LOL.
=== And today is my COLDEST ever birthday. -36C to - 23C. It was a day record -41.6C in Leduc yesterday.

Mon through Fri try to ride for about 90 minutes to 2 hours a day.
Weekends 3 to 5 hours a day. Miles depends too much on speed which varies widely for me. Flats, climbing, gravel or mountain etc.