brunop

where's the line? mpw-wise?

mingsta

Why would anyone need to pigeon hole themselves like that? One person's serious mileage is another's recreational and vice versa.

brunop

i see what you're sayin' but i'm wondering in terms of the folks around here who, i assume, aren't professional riders for the most part (but with screen names who knows?--lance armstrong may post on here all the time, but i doubt it! ).

me? i generally ride around 150-200 mpw (on a fixed gear). i consider myself a fairly "serious" rider. that's not to say that "recreational" is a pejorative term at all. anyone who rides a bike is to me a "hero".

any thoughts though as to mpw?

MKRG

I'd call that serious mileage.

rufvelo

I'll say 40miles around 2.5hrs riding time.

Given that a lot of folks simply can't/won't do centuries, 40miles is a reasonable marker.

MKRG

Does 41.5 miles in 2:52 count? Only 21 was planned "bike ride" the rest was a bar run gone askew. Last night = fun.

johnny99

Your subject title doesn't make sense. A 300 mile/week rider is a recreational rider if they aren't racing or commuting. If you're asking when you stop being a beginner, I would say a century ride (100 miles in a day) is the breakthrough to being a serious recreational rider. I know grandmothers who do a few century rides every year. It is not a big deal if you put your mind to it.

FLBandit

I try to maintain 100 miles a week. I just like to ride, (I'm not REAL serious about anything!) I've also found that if I ride that much I can pretty much eat anything I want and not gain weight!!

The Octopus 

Heck, it all depends what you want to do. After today's century, I'm up over 2500 miles for the year, and 15 of my rides are longer than 100 miles (296 miles in 17 hours and 45 minutes, in February, is the longest to date). I also commute and I hit the club "A" rides regularly; I do some occasional USCF racing to get my butt kicked when I'm feeling too cocky.

But.... My wife rides habitually as well (and loves the long distance stuff). We have no kids. We have desk jobs that take way, way too much of our time, but both of us have so-called "professional" positions which means that we can cut out at 4:30 to beat rush-hour traffic and get out into the country for a 45-mile "after work" ride when the weather is great. Change any of those variables -- the wife, the kids, the jobs we have, the proximity to great riding -- and the mileage goes in the tank.

Heck, the way I look at it, get what ya can, and ride how ya like!

donrhummy

I believe the studies all found that speeds over 13.73462 mph were reached purely in non-commuting instances. I think there was a +/- 2% margin of error.

patentcad

4000+ miles for 2006 through today. Never rode that much before (through the 1990's it was generally 6-9K miles annually for me, now it's 10K-12K). But I ENJOY riding my bike. I consider myself to be a competitive rider - I ride with guys that race on weekends on competitive group rides - but no longer race. I used to race every weekend. But now the combination of driving time and entry fees makes me wonder what the point is. Particularly when there are many VERY competitive group rides that are essentially 'pick up' races with all the local race honchos. That's enough for me. So that's really 'recreational' riding in the strictest sense. Fast rec. riding, but it's not racing. Or is it? Does it have to be a USA Cycling sanctioned event to be a bike race? Hell, in my experience slow 'B' rides turn into little races, don't they ? : ).

I'll tell you what: you do the Sunday races in Central or Prospect Park in NY City and then come out and do the Nyack Ride another Sunday. You tell me which YOU think is harder : ). I've done all those enough to know what I think.

HWS

Wow!!

nobrainer440

Makes no difference to me. My goal this year is 100 mpw.

Portis

What's the difference between recreational and serious? Tell me that and then i'll answer.