Do you ride by miles or time?
Last Post 04/20/2014 04:52 PM by inferno 7. 27 Replies.
Author Messages
zootracer

Posts:833

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04/17/2014 12:35 PM
Off the bike for a few days with the flu. I forced myself to get on my bike yesterday. I wanted to keep the ride short and went for two hours, cutting my usual ride short by a half hour or so. Got to thinking that riding by time might be a better way to go. Riding by miles means I do my usual loops, which is getting dreadfully boring. What do you do?
ChinookPass

Posts:809

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04/17/2014 12:50 PM
Pick a destination, maybe some place on the map you've never biked to. Go there. Have a coffee. Turn around. That's what I do if I ride on the weekends.

Normally, though I just stop when I get to work. Sometimes I take the long, hilly route.
Keith Richards

Posts:781

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04/17/2014 01:08 PM
I always ride by time myself.
----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.
79pmooney

Posts:3180

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04/17/2014 01:30 PM
I have always used miles. With no computers on all but one of my bikes and my cell phone not easy to get at, I ride with no way to track time but I know the distances of most of the roads I ride by memory. And the ones I don't, I measure off on a Thomas Guide and add to my spreadsheet.

Time is less than helpful as a measure of wear to bike parts, tires and chains. (Do the same mileage in less time and you wear everything more!)

My big measuring stick is laps around the earth. That happens a little slower. If all goes well, I'll finish the next one in 2016.

By miles, I can set out to do a 34 mile loop, do my 34 miles and be home. But if I set out to do 2 hours of riding and 2 hours are up but I am still on the road, what to I do? Walk home in my cleats as punishment?

Ben
zootracer

Posts:833

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04/17/2014 01:42 PM
Never thought about it. Between my two bikes I have been around the earth 2.9 times in the past 15 years of riding.
Keith Richards

Posts:781

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04/17/2014 01:59 PM
Posted By 79 pmooney on 04/17/2014 01:30 PM
But if I set out to do 2 hours of riding and 2 hours are up but I am still on the road, what to I do? Walk home in my cleats as punishment?

Ben


Simple, you turn around after an hour.
----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.
jrt1045

Posts:363

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04/17/2014 01:59 PM
time, do a mix of atb and road and its hard to go by mileage ...for me
Yo Mike

Posts:338

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04/17/2014 02:12 PM
Miles on the bike

Hours (minutes) on the trainer

I don't like to think about TIME when on a ride, and hate having to be home at a certain time.
Orange Crush

Posts:4499

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04/17/2014 02:20 PM
in winter I ride by kms/destination

during main season I ride by metres vertical or kms climbed

Keith - I find that impossible to do; I could never ride by time. In fact this is why I created a work situation with every Fdriday half day off so I'd never have to feel like I was cycling on a clock.
vtguy

Posts:298

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04/17/2014 02:38 PM
Time on my mt. and cross bikes -- time & miles on my road bike
Oldfart

Posts:511

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04/17/2014 02:54 PM
Both. Off Road by time because around here the average speed going hard is around 6 or 7 kph. On road I usual go by distance but sometimes time. We have some good hard long climbs which take time but otherwise it looks like a short ride. I used to ride up Mt Seymour from my house which would have been maybe 1:45 to 2 hours time over around 40 k. You look at the computer when you get home and feel like you didn't go hard or far but the climb is 12 k or so and steep at the bottom.
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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04/17/2014 03:02 PM
IN the winter / on the trainer - time.

On the road - usually miles, but sometimes time.

Miles mean nothing on the trainer, so it is all about time then. I am working towards using time more often when riding outside, but oild habits die hard.

But if youa re riding by time, having power is a big benefit. For me, rising 3 hours at XXX watts is much more productive than riding 60 miles. Especially in triathlons, speed in nothing more than the byproduct of the power you put out. So if I know I want to ride a half-ironman @ 180watts (75% of my FTP), and I can ride 3 hours at 200w, I know I am properly prepared for that race, etc.

But like I said....old habits die hard. I am looking at doing somewhere between 80 & 100 miles tomorrow when i should just be looking at a 4-5 hour ride.


Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
longslowdistance

Posts:2881

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04/17/2014 03:35 PM
Miles and miles when I have the time. Slowly, of course.
Sweet Milk

Posts:93

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04/17/2014 04:03 PM
I ride by destination. Although I take note of miles and time the where, why and how of my rides hold much more interest
Keith Richards

Posts:781

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04/17/2014 04:16 PM
I go by time because I usually am on a time constraint. My route is governed by how much time I have.

I cannot think the last time I said to myself, "I am going out to do X miles."

I know all the rides that I am going to do riding out of my house like the back of my hand. If I have an hour or so I will do one of a few different routes. If I have three hours I will do another longer route.

It is really kinda simple. But I have access to Rock Creek Park. I can just dip in there and make up a ride as long as I need given the time I have.
----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.
cycling chick

Posts:72

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04/17/2014 07:02 PM
Lately, I have been riding by elevation. (Sounds weird, I know.) I set an amount that I want to climb. I happen to live at the base of a bunch of great climbs. I decide if I am going to do a lot of climbing or a moderate amount and I know how many climbs I have to complete, because I am so familiar with them, to reach that goal.

I have been struggling to be a better climber because I am slower than a turtle in molasses. One of my own personal goals. Darn all this femaleness all over me.
Dale

Posts:1767

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04/17/2014 07:42 PM
*sigh*

Read the rules… it's kilometers. More Euro, more pro, longer

Time on the trainer, mixture of times or distance on the bike.
Master50

Posts:340

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04/17/2014 09:44 PM
Both
Cosmic Kid

Posts:4209

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04/17/2014 11:50 PM
Posted By Dale Dale on 04/17/2014 07:42 PM
*sigh*

Read the rules… it's kilometers. More Euro, more pro, longer

Time on the trainer, mixture of times or distance on the bike.


I'm faster in kilometers!!
Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
Ride On

Posts:537

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04/18/2014 08:01 AM
Cycling Chick, you made me very jealous and I don't even know you. I wish I lived at the base of great climbs.
Spud

Posts:525

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04/18/2014 08:37 AM
It used to be about the miles for me. With age it takes more time to do those miles, so I just ride for how ever long my legs will take me.
Pin0Q0

Posts:229

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04/18/2014 11:50 AM
Judge my performance by average speed. I ride by myself and have ten different routes. Use Garmin Connect for more in depth analysis.

It's like AWD, once have the technology it's hard driving anything but.
stinkyhelmet

Posts:94

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04/18/2014 12:05 PM
Time, as I don't have a bike computer. Took it off when I upgraded to cat 2 many years ago......was afraid to see how fast we were going :-)
Keith Richards

Posts:781

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04/18/2014 02:27 PM
I will also go by level of exertion when doing specific workouts. Do hill or sprint repeats until the body says, "No Mas" then soft pedal home.
----- It is his word versus ours. We like our word. We like where we stand and we like our credibility."--Lance Armstrong.
smokey52

Posts:493

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04/18/2014 06:28 PM
I follow Yo Mike's approach. Time on the trainer, with a heart-rate monitor to keep me honest, and miles on the ride. Fortunately, in the rides from my house, I can select multiple elevations or mostly flat.
Sweet Milk

Posts:93

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04/18/2014 07:05 PM
Trainer is a different story for me too - I go completely techno geek there and depending on my goals let myself be guided by a whole slew of different parameters including Wattage, Time, HR and all kind of derived parameters. You gotta keep your mind occupied with something...
Oldfart

Posts:511

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04/18/2014 08:59 PM
Posted By Dale Dale on 04/17/2014 07:42 PM
*sigh*

Read the rules… it's kilometers. More Euro, more pro, longer

Time on the trainer, mixture of times or distance on the bike.


and the rest of the world knows what you're talking about.
Inferno7

Posts:344

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04/20/2014 04:52 PM
Time goal 10+ hours a week


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