[Closed] Who'd be pleased to get just one 500 mile month?

500 miles of just for fun riding? If you're commuting 500 shouldn't be [i]too[/i] difficult (not that I've managed a 500month yet this year) 500miles of proper mountain biking in one month tho, that would be pretty fricking awesome.

1 ride a month would be an achievement for me!

I'd be pleased with even 500km.
Commuting for me would be about 80km (assuming 4 5-day weeks).

Best I ever managed was 300miles/month commuting in a previous job. That still needs a few pretty decent length weekend rides. So impressed by those that can squeeze in 500.

100km in a day is my only target (not done that for decades)

500 miles of quality mtb would be loads, but it is not a lot on a road bike. A lot of people could do that if they just rode to work and to the shops.

I've done 170 off road miles this month, all in the dark, and am well happy with that. Don't have the time for 500 miles a month

just done 690 miles for april.

Hmmmm, not considered the non-fun commute/training. Even totting up that I'd struggle to get the miles.

I like the 100km target in a day. Will add that to my 'to do' list. My legs have about 50 miles* in them over a day at present.

*figure plucked from the air and based on nothing but guess work

EDIT: Blooming heck tenfoot, it's only the 02nd April 😆

Yep. According to Strava, the most I've managed is 300k, but that is mostly offroad (mixture of mtb and cx).

just done 690 miles for april.

Cheers,
Jamie

I'm starting a new job next month, going up from a 10 mile / day commute 5 days a week to 30 miles 4 days a week. Looking forward to getting some more miles in!

Cheers,
Jamie

EDIT: Blooming heck tenfoot, it's only the 02nd April

Oops

Not including commuting, I managed 1,000km of road riding in March, which I am pretty pleased with - helped by having 5 weekends. Now to beat it in April!

I assume these are mostly road bike miles?

I'm managing 100 miles a week. Commute 24 miles a day 2-3 days a week, but midweek night rides haven't died a death with the wet winter, family stuff means a lot of the audax rides I had my eye on are already "busy" and I'm struggling to shrug off a mysterious bug that knocked me out last week.

Hopeful of one 500 mile month later this year.

In a good week I used to manage 275km, this included 2 club runs, a Sunday solo run and 90km of commuting.

Last week I managed nearly 70km offroad which is a new record for me (not counting riding holidays). I have 85km pencilled in for this week. Would have been 170km but I have plans at the weekend. I'd be very happy to hit 800km (500 miles) total for this month though.

It needs to be part of a training plan. I can't just go out and go hard every time, and it needs to fit in with life. For example, I was supposed to ride 45km this morning, but I'm not feeling 100% after some broken sleep and I have to meet some friends this evening so I'm resting instead.

It is easier if you commute and ride road. 800km off road a month would very likely break me, or be unsustainable.

just done 690 miles for april.
You must be absolutely knackered today, Ton

doh!!!! I meant march obviously....... 😆

I've just managed my most milegae EVER last month at 450 total miles. BUT only 87 were Fun ie mountain biking miles. the rest was commuting. I suppose its all cycling, but give me MTB mileage any day.

Only done 2418 miles this year, about 100miles a week commuting and 100 "leisure".

I have managed a couple of mtb rides over the last few weeks, so about 100miles, Now that the ground is starting to dry out i will up the mtb rides, try and get one c50miler a week in.

My commute is 20 miles each way so getting in 500 miles is pretty easy. Riding every day this week so that's 200, plus I'll be out on Sunday. Probably do every day next week too, so close to 500 miles over 2 weeks.

I don't usually commute on the bike every day but when I do in summer I can clock up 250 miles in a week.

My biggest week last year was over 320 miles.

And I still absolutely love every minute of it.

[i]Only done 2418 miles this year,[/i] Why would you say 'only', is that for effect?

My commute is about 2.5km, even if I ride home for lunch then back up to work in the afternoon, then my commuting distance would only be 200km a month and in reality I hardly ever come home for lunch, and some days I work from home, making it generally less than 100km.

I'm generally trying to hit 200km a month, with 300km a month being a nice bonus. I expect to exceed this in the summer, but have kept within this this year so far - most of this is road miles, only 100km or so off road so far this year.

Must admit, I do enjoy my commute in. Not the best/most fun route but it's time in the saddle and out of the car.

It's all relative isn't it? A Cat 1 I follow on Strava is on around that this year. He is in a completely different league though.

The pros average over a 1000km in a week. So using pidgin logic, a pro trains 4 times as hard as a Cat 1?

I don't commute on a bike.
Most I've done in a month is 300 miles or so, and most of that will be road.

I'd be very happy with 500 miles off road a month.

I follow Dean Downing on Strava and he's just over the 3000 mark for the year to date and I would imagine that will start to ramp up now. I'm not near that but I have done 3 more rides than him 🙂

Only done 2418 miles this year, Why would you say 'only', is that for effect?

Because it is less than I want to have done*, and compared to some it isn't a huge amount.

* I enjoy riding, more time on a bike gives me more time to enjoy the world.

I just checked Strava and have done 500 this year and that is good going for me! No commuting and a fair few of those are MTB miles

I set my self a target of doing 50 miles a week off road. I have only beat it a couple of times in the last probably 6 months.
I average about 40 miles a week, but I have a feeling this will be easy to beat over the summer.

I don't commute so all my cycling is for fun.

I managed just over 400 miles in March, most of this is commuting miles.
I'm hoping to get a few 500 milers in over the summer.

[i]I don't commute so all my cycling is for fun.[/i]

I do commute and all my riding is for fun 🙂

I don't need to do it, I could take the car but I'd much rather leave the car on the driveway and use my bike. I'm not grinding out the miles, I enjoy every one, whatever the weather.

I commute up to 30 miles a day......it can all be done offroad, or if I want on road.
I ****ing love it all, rain/shine/wind/snow/hail/cars/no cars.

Gary_M

You know what I meant 🙄

I did, hence the smiley. Maybe you can't see it, I can see your 'rolling your eyes' one. 🙄

When I get on the bus or train on the way to work I am already thinking about work, but when I get on the bike to go to work I am going on a bike ride.

Commuting is still fun.

Talking of pro's, this popped up yesterday, nice little outing 😯

[img] [/img]

😯

Checking my ride diary for the last few years I've managed a few 400s I've but only ever managed one 500 [u]offroad[/u] mile month last february but that was mostly xc commuting, only 3 fun rides*. Bar winning the lottery (that i don't do) and quitting my job I doubt I'll ever manage a proper 500. Either 16miles everyday or 34 alternates, doubt I could keep it up doing proper mtb riding for that long.

Something to think about tho. If we get a nice spell in summer:
tuesday night 35
thursday night 35
Saturday 35
Sunday 20
125mile week, keep that up for a month? Would need to cash in a load of brownie points, a month of catching the train wouldn't be fun and a 50+ mile weekend would be bloody hard. Hmmmm.

*don't get me wrong, my offroad commute is fun, way better than any other method of getting to work, it's not [i]proper[/i] riding tho, no hills for starters

[url= http://www.strava.com/activities/114907581 ]continuing the stupid pro rides theme, [/url]

Are the everyday commuters carrying clothes in every day in panniers?

Toying with the idea of binning the car except for emergency commutes, so I'd like to hear the strategies - my work place is pretty well setup, so no excuses there.

I just about struggle, but often do, 500k's a month, all of them are on the road. I don't count any CX rides in as they last max 2 hours and just bounce around local trails, rarely do CX rides expand further than 2 hrs, if they did I'd count them in.

You shouldn't beat yourself up if you can't achieve 500, it's an arbitary figure any way.

On the weeks I commute on the bike every day I take a rucksack with shirts on a Monday then take it home on Friday. Ill also take a couple of days lunch on the Monday.

I don't need to carry shoes etc and I swap trousers/towel and bring in undies on the days I drive.

Are the everyday commuters carrying clothes in every day in panniers?

My normal week is 4days riding and one day to bring in all the crap. On those occasions when I run out of clothes and can't face driving, I just load up my Timbuk2 with a weeks worth of clothing and ride. I have found I would rather load up for one ride than take in a bit everyday.

brassneck, I have a ruck sack and pack work clothes (shirt/trousres that don't crease too much, work shoes, lunch) and that's a 15-20 miles commute each way.

I'm the only one in my office but no facilities to shower. Just get to work early so I can stop dripping. Also find if I take it easy over the last few miles as i arrive helps the process.

Are the everyday commuters carrying clothes in every day in panniers?

*not unless I wanted to spend all weekend sleeping/resting

brassneck, at the moment I do my commute with shirt, trousers, socks and underwear + phones, wallet etc. in a pannier. I'm also trying to do one long ride pre-work a week on the proper bike. For those days, if I'm organised, I take double clothes the previous day on the commuter and then just have to take phones, wallet and keys in the jersey pockets.

Works quite well, though I got my long ride in on Monday this week so ended up taking normal kit in a rucksack and it wasn't as bad as I expected. Still got a 2 hour ride in and didn't really mind it too much.

[i]I have found I would rather load up for one ride than take in a bit everyday.[/i]

I'm the same, on the weeks I ride everyday and have no clean clothes then I'd rather take a weeks worth in on the Monday, then take the laundry home on the friday rather than carrying a rucksack every day.

Although in winter I do carry a rucksack every day as I carry things like spare gloves, etc so really too much for pockets. Helps keep me warm in winter anyway.

I've done 350 miles this year, but have done 45,000ft of climbing.

500 miles a month of this type of riding would be too much for me.

It's all about relative targets though Sandwicheater

I joined Tons 500 mile a month group because last year I was averaging 400 - 450 a month and it was a nice 'target' to push for, so far for 2014 I've done a 400, 200 and 580 mile months, with the split being about 30 - 40% offroad and 60% road miles.

I tend to view it in terms of 'rides' and the actual miles being a byproduct if that makes sense?

ie: I'm going out for an MTB/Road ride, and when I get back the miles have increased, I rarely go out with a specific mileage target in mind for the ride, it's normalyl a case of pick a route that I know takes the right amount of time I have free and either cut short or extend depending on mood or conditions.

I don't beat myself up if I don't hit the 500, but its a fantastic motivator to get you out the door on the days went you might otherwise think twice or bail out.

If you want to increase your time on the bike then you could look for little ways to extend you normal rides rather than trying to cram in more of them. Ride to the forest if you normally drive, or even just park somewhere other than the main car park, liek the edge of the forest where one of the trails goes past or something (if you can) so you have to ride in to meet your mates, and then ride back out to finish, gives you a little more trail time for almost free 🙂

I agree amedias, the miles are a by product and i'm pleased just to be in the saddle.

After seeing Tons post I was amazed and how much people rode/how little I did. I accept everyone's life situation is different and as long as you have a grin on your face it doesn't matter one jot.

I do hope to hit 500 miles in a month at least once this year. No idea how I'd do it but a good goal.

Are the everyday commuters carrying clothes in every day in panniers?

Oh, and if you take your shoes home to wear over the weekend, be sure to pop them in your panniers on Monday morning, again wearing wet SPDs all day is very uncool!

Cheers,
Jamie

I managed 493 in March. I have started riding to work on my bike quite a lot. But thankfully my commute is 90% off road. All on 26 inch fat tyres I don't own a road bike.
Where I live is flat so as the temperature rises and I head to hillier places to ride my mileage will go down, but the time in the saddle will go up.

Cripes. What with two bouts of gout so far this year, humungous amounts of wet stuff and intrusive work I have managed just 200 so far. Very low.

two bouts of gout

Is that officially what it's called when you get gout, a 'bout of gout' if it is than I like that 🙂

500 in a month is doable. You just have to get some long MTB miles in and be creative. June last year I managed one of my goals of a 1000 miles , only MTB, don't have a road bike. It's very hard to crack as it's 30 miles a day. March this year I've managed 730. Join one of the strava MTS, give you a little buzz.

My tip is be on top of everything, bike washing , clothes washing and use the weather forecast to make your days. You have to be prepared to ride through the odd virus or two. And make some of the rides twice a day ventures.

Mine are pitiful compared to last year, training for Lejog meant a lot of miles for 8 months. This year with a very poorly wife I've more important things to worry about. She's still kicking me out the door once in a while.

Aye, Slow start to the year for me, mostly due to work commitments. March was 513 which is great, this month should be a bit more. This is my usual MO anyway like most people I expect, slower in the winter months and then once the weather gets a bit better the commutes get longer and more weekend and evening riding is had.

Aug 2013 was 806 miles, that was a good month.

I ride for pleasure, so i see no point in going out in bad weather simply to clock up miles. Having said that, my summer weeks are (weather permitting) a couple of 20-40 mile evening rides during the week plus the weekend & my commute. At the moment its road miles because ive recently bought a new road bike & I'm enjoying playing with it.

I did 88 miles earlier, I'm so shagged I'm glad it's Tour of Flanders tomorrow, haven't stopped shivering.. 😐