How Many Miles Should I Bike a Day?

A lot of people are of the opinion that biking is just for leisure but in reality, it has a lot more benefits. Due to this enjoyable routine, you can always keep yourself in shape while also being mobile.

There are a lot of sports that only limit you to a single place but with biking, you can travel a lot and experience the outdoors. But as with all other sports, you can’t just start biking without any set goals in mind. By setting goals you will spice up things a bit and also increase your stamina in the meantime.

If you have some set goals in mind then the whole experience will be more enjoyable to you. But the most common question from an average cyclist is how many miles should I bike in a day?

There is no simple answer to this question as it varies from person to person. A lot of cyclists already have their set goals and they always measure them per mile.

However, there are some certain factors that you should take into consideration and then decide how many miles of cycling is best for you.

Beginner Cyclists:

If you are new to cycling and have no health-related problem then general advice to you would be to at the least cycle 10 miles a day. But this can’t be taken as a rule as this will be different for other people.

Things to Consider:

If you want to come up with the number of miles that will be optimum for you, you should know the following factors. The factors are:

• Set Goals
• Fitness & Health
• Bike Type
• Terrain

In order to fully understand these factors, we will provide you with a complete breakdown.

Set Goals:

The most obvious thing when people consider biking is that they want to achieve a certain goal. These goals can range anywhere from staying fit to losing weight. The most obvious reason for most people is to remain healthy and active. If the only goal that you have is to lose weight and stay fit, then you should never cover a lot of miles. As for losing weight, you only need to cover the distance that will help you in burning that set number of calories.

You can burn all of the required calories in your body in only a few miles. So, there is no need of going for a lot of miles. An optimal of thirty minutes would be enough for you as most average cyclists can easily cover a distance of 6 miles in this time frame.

But on the other hand, if you are keen on boosting your progress then what you can do is to start with 5 miles/day. Then keep adding more miles as you progress. In order to get the best results, you will need to combine your cycling routines with other activities such as cardio, etc. When you feel comfortable doing 5 miles/day then you can progress to the next level. With this routine, you can easily increment 2 miles once you’re comfortable enough.

Century Ride:

If you want to push yourself to the max and want to go for century rides, then you will need to train really hard. In this routine, you should start with at least 10 miles and then move on from there. This distance is the starting point that will help you in getting ready for an enduring and long ride later on. Going for century rides is not everyone’s cup of tea. As it requires you to cover a distance of 100 miles. So, if you are keen on doing the century ride, then you will have to prepare in advance and train your body.

Through these tough rides, you will be able to build your endurance and stamina. You shouldn’t be disappointed if you aren’t making 100 miles as your initial goal should be to get as near to 100 miles as you can.

Fitness & Health:

Another important thing to consider when determining the number of miles, you should ride a bike is your health and age. If you are young and in good health then there should be no problem in doing 10 miles/day due to your optimal health. But the same cannot be said for a person that is of old age and has some health issue. Even if you don’t have any health issues, you shouldn’t be taking longer bike rides as it won’t help your fitness and health. We would recommend taking short trips.

On the other hand, if you are a physically active person and exercise daily, then doing 10 miles/day shouldn’t be a challenge for you. You can push yourself as much as your body can take. If you are doing cycling for a long time then it will be very easy for you to complete a 100-mile run on a daily basis. However, if you are not that fit then you should take things a bit slower than usual. 5 miles/day would be a good starting for you. You can further increase that distance as you progress.

Bike Type:

Not all bikes are similar and that is why the type of bike that you riding affects the number of miles you ride. There are bicycles in the market that are designed for professionals and provide a lot of speed. But there are also bikes that are meant for leisure activities and road biking. There are also electric bikes present in the market that don’t require that much effort and provide you with a lot of assistance. But these bikes aren’t very useful as you don’t get any benefits as you are not putting in any effort.

Road bikes will allow you to ride some extra miles as they are designed for challenging roads. They don’t have the convenience of a road bike but are more suitable for longer rides. These bicycles will also help you in getting more fit and increase your stamina which you don’t get with electric ones. Using a road bike, you should be able to do 10 miles/day.

Mountain or gravel bicycles are designed in a way that will slow your pace a bit and thus you won’t be able to cover long distances. So, the type of bike you ride greatly affects the number of miles you can travel.

Terrain:

The last factor is the terrain that you will be riding on. If the terrain is flat then you can easily cover more miles compared to if it is rough and hilly terrain. You will need to put a lot more effort into riding through rough terrain so you won’t be able to cover a lot of distance. So, you should try to ride on a flat surface as it will maximize the number of miles that you can ride on your bicycle.

How to Go Faster?

The most common mistake that people make is that they don’t focus on improving their speed. If you are comfortable riding at high speed then everything will become much easier for you and you will be able to cover a lot of miles in no time. There are two things that you need to consider for improving your speed.

• Body Posture
• Pace

Body Posture:

Your body posture plays a very important role in how fast you can ride. If you want to get a better riding experience then having the correct posture is really important. You should have a straight posture with bent elbows and your shoulders near to the handlebar. This posture will allow you to maximize your cycling speed and thus you will cover more distance in less time.

Pace:

A lot of people neglect their pacing which is a very serious mistake. The right pace directly affects your biking speed and helps you in improving it. If you have an irregular pace then you will become sloppy along the way. You need to balance the amount of energy that you putting into cycling. The key to having better pacing is to start slow and then gradually increase your speed. This will help you get a more consistent pace and you will be able to cover more miles.

Conclusion:

It is necessary to have a set amount of goals when riding a bicycle. This will help you in getting more engaged as then you will take it as a challenge. In this way, you will improve your biking skills, which will have a positive effect on your health. The answer to how many miles should I bike a day depends on the factors that we have mentioned above. But for beginners, 10 miles/day is a good starting point. You can then raise the benchmark as you see fit based upon your hard work.