June Cycling Challenge 2014

Did 329km last month...

This month I'm aiming for 500km - At 117km at the moment so off to a good start

June 1st 13.72 miles in 2 hours
June 3rd 13.22 miles in 2 hours

June totals: 26.44 / 4 hours

A quick question. I have been riding every other day to give my body a chance to rest/recover. Do you guys ride every day? I am not sure my body could take that.

At the pace you are riding you should perhaps scale it back to an hour every day and two hours every third or fourth day. This is making the assumption that you are riding on fairly flat ground. The amount of rest and recovery depends on not just your goals but also your effort. <10 mph on a bike is a leisure pace that is not putting much of a load on your heart or muscles unless you are battling winds or hills or a stop light every block. If you are not breathing hard you should not need rest days unless the distance is great or the time in saddle is long(2 hours is not long). I do not agree with the recommendation above to take rest weeks for a fitness cyclist. Unless you are doing all out workouts or races once or more a week active recovery with occasional total rest days should be fine for constant improvement. As you gain fitness, strength and speed it takes more effort, speed, and possibly distance or time to get the same benefit.

Just to point out that a rest week does not mean no riding or exercise.

The training effect or training cycle remains in effect - even for a "just coming out of winter and it's time to hop on the bike and enjoy the summer riding" types. The training stress from the workload will depend if that rest week is "3 days, 5 days, or a full week" and how to structure it. My rest weeks at this point in the season are 9 1/2 hours (8 on the bike and the rest doing weights, core work, yoga, stretching) spread out over 7 days.

Irishlaurie may or may not be stressing her system through 4 rides of 2 hours each per week based on what she was or was not doing leading up to riding that much. Sounds like she has a good handle on it with her comment "I'm not sure my body could take that" which means she is listening to her body and building in recovery between rides. And she is just shy of the "Masters" age category where most - including Friel - recommend building in more frequent bouts of rest/recovery due to our age.

I know that after my end of the season lay off of 2-3 months, when I hop back on the bike in January riding along in Zone 1 and barely getting up to Zone 2 feels like quite a slog in the beginning month. Come June, and what stressed me in January in those first weeks of 6-8 weeks on the bike are simple active recovery rides now.

6.1.14 - 28.3 miles - 18.0mph
6.3.14 - 18.9 miles - 19.6mph
6.4.14 - 18.9 miles - 19.0mph
6.4.14 - 19.0 miles - 19.1mph
6.5.14 - 18.8 miles - 18.3mph

Total - 103.9mi 5h 33m

Goal = 600 miles / 496.1 to go

6/2 - 12 miles (19.3 km) - 43 min - 16.6 mph
6/4 - 15 miles (24.1 km) - 53 min - 16.8 mph
6/5 - 15.7 miles (25.3 km) - 56 min - 16.8 mph

MTD - 42.7 miles (68.7 km) - 2hr 32min

Thanks for all the replies. I am very new to this. I ride really slow but have been increasing my miles very slowly. I think for now I will keep at the every other day due to time and other constraints. I am not training per say for anything just cycling for fitness. Looking forward to my ride this evening after work

Enjoy your ride! FWIW having time for 2 hour rides every other day is great! It is my thought that most folks never come close to doing what their body is capable of doing.I ride every day so that I can enjoy the foods I like and still lose weight. Some days, like yesterday I ride really hard to get better at riding, which for me is also fun. It is very important IMHO that we enjoy our exercise. It makes it easy to keep doing it.

What ^ he said.

good ride today total 40 miles reccy ride of next weeks 10 mile timetrial . plus 1 lap of chain gang avg speed 19.5


goal for the month 700 miles



1/6/2014 31 miles 90.30 mins 20.5 avg.
2/6/2014 10 miles 35 mins 17.2 avg
3/6/2014 25 miles 63.49 mins 23.62 avg
3/6/2014 10 miles 35 mins 17.2 avg
5/6/2014 40 miles 122 mins 19.5 avg

junes mtd 116 miles

miles to go to 700 target

584 miles to go

6/1 - 0 miles.
6/2 - 5.1 miles at 10.2mph listening to a variety of artists on my Walkman with external speakers (no earbuds or headphones).
6/3 - 4.9 miles at 10.4mph listening to Supertramp and Tegan & Sara.
6/4 - 4 miles at 10.4mph listening to Trombone Shorty and Taco.
6/5 - 3.1 miles at 9.7mph listening to Jack White.


MTD = 17.1 miles.

6.1.14 - 28.3 miles - 18.0mph
6.3.14 - 18.9 miles - 19.6mph
6.4.14 - 18.9 miles - 19.0mph
6.4.14 - 19.0 miles - 19.1mph
6.5.14 - 18.8 miles - 18.3mph
6.5.14 - 19.1 miles - 19.1mph

Total - 123.0mi 6h 32m

Goal = 600 miles / 477 to go

Pfft, it was triple digits today Rode twice! Get on it...lol.

June 1--26.18 miles
June 3--1.41 miles
June 4--10.55 miles
June 5--20.79 miles

Total=58.93 miles; 166.07 miles to go.