# Pro Milage



## biketwins

Does anyone know the avg. weekly milage of a professional cyclist? Also, does anyone happen to know the avg. yearly milage of a professional cyclist?


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## redondoaveb

*Lance Armstrong*

I read that Lance was doing between 100 and 130 miles a day during training. Don't know if this is accurate (oh, wait, it must be, I read it on the interweb).


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## meat

I had a couple of riders stay at my house last year during a break in racing here on the West Coast. In three days they had just over 300 miles of fairly hill rides. The fourth day they did the tour of two parks (Sequoia and Kings Canyon). I can't even imagine what their yearly total looks like.


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## chase196126

It really varies from guy to guy. 99% of pro riders train on time rather than mileage and a good 70% plus use power meters in their training. 

Most guys I know (me included) train around 18-25 hours a week depending on the time of the year and what their training goals are. During the winter I usually end up around 18-20 hours a week with the majority of those hours on the trainer. Very little of my training is super easy miles. All of my workouts include some sort of interval. 

Not too many guys I know do 30+ hour weeks with any frequency. Most have figured out quality training trumps riding at low intensity for hours and hours. Protour riders who will be competing in Grand Tours may be an exception to this. When you are forced to ride 3 high volume/high intensity weeks you have to train for that sort of effort.


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## biketwins

chase196126 said:


> It really varies from guy to guy. 99% of pro riders train on time rather than mileage and a good 70% plus use power meters in their training.
> 
> Most guys I know (me included) train around 18-25 hours a week depending on the time of the year and what their training goals are. During the winter I usually end up around 18-20 hours a week with the majority of those hours on the trainer. Very little of my training is super easy miles. All of my workouts include some sort of interval.
> 
> Not too many guys I know do 30+ hour weeks with any frequency. Most have figured out quality training trumps riding at low intensity for hours and hours. Protour riders who will be competing in Grand Tours may be an exception to this. When you are forced to ride 3 high volume/high intensity weeks you have to train for that sort of effort.


Why do pro's train with time instead of distance?


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## Sonomasnap

chase196126 said:


> It really varies from guy to guy. 99% of pro riders train on time rather than mileage and a good 70% plus use power meters in their training.
> 
> Most guys I know (me included) train around 18-25 hours a week depending on the time of the year and what their training goals are. During the winter I usually end up around 18-20 hours a week with the majority of those hours on the trainer. Very little of my training is super easy miles. All of my workouts include some sort of interval.
> 
> Not too many guys I know do 30+ hour weeks with any frequency. Most have figured out quality training trumps riding at low intensity for hours and hours. Protour riders who will be competing in Grand Tours may be an exception to this. When you are forced to ride 3 high volume/high intensity weeks you have to train for that sort of effort.


18-25 is pretty heavy for an amateur. Are you a Cat1? I am a Master Cat3 and shout for 15+ per week. Would love to have the time to do more but 20+ seems unusual.


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## *sigh*

biketwins said:


> Why do pro's train with time instead of distance?


My guess would be because mileage isn't always comparable from ride to ride. If you base it on time/intensity you can get consistent workouts in and making sure you are working on specific aspects of your riding versus watching the odometer and making sure you squeeze those last few miles in.


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## Ghost234

Sonomasnap said:


> 18-25 is pretty heavy for an amateur. Are you a Cat1? I am a Master Cat3 and shout for 15+ per week. Would love to have the time to do more but 20+ seems unusual.


He is a domestic pro. 


I only do about 8-14 a week, more on the lower side of that. I wish I had the time to do 15+, but the only time I could do that is during the Winter, when I would much rather watch paint dry than ride the trainer for extended periods of time.


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## foto

We have some nice paint round here.


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## malanb

why would you train with distance? the smart thing to do is train by time


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## den bakker

fwiw, Nicki Sørensen did 10k miles of racing alone last year....


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## Mtn2RoadConvert

i would assume mileage probably varies considerably among different riders, depending on what their goals are along with their strengths and weaknesses. I just started working with a cycling coach and it is just as much about the quality of the ride as it is the mileage. More focus is put on power output and staying within certain zones. Number of hours is probably a better indicator of training.


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## Oxtox

biketwins said:


> Does anyone know the avg. weekly milage of a professional cyclist? Also, does anyone happen to know the avg. yearly milage of a professional cyclist?


figures I've seen vary widely, but 80-120+ miles per day and 25K+ per year are probably in the ballpark.


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## rcharrette

You are correct with using time rather than distance. I live in SW Colorado and my ln laws (which we just visited and brought bikes) live in South Florida. I can cover a hell of a lot more distance in a few hours there than I can here in Colorado!


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## Eric_H

For the pros, as Chase says the mileage/hours will vary quite a bit. Most domestic guys do not log the same hours on the bike as the Pro Tour riders, simply because they do not have as many race days, as many stage races, and as many races over 200 km. The guys riding Grand Tours and one-day specialists doing races that are 250+ km put in some serious hours, often upwards of 30 hours/week during building periods. Once they are in the racing season those training hours drop as they are racing frequently plus they have to cope with a lot of travel. Most Pro Tour guys have a period in the season with a break, and they repeat a short volume cycle with 1-2 high volume weeks.

Even among the Pro Tour guys, the hours will vary significantly. Some guys just need the volume of 25-30 hour weeks to achieve top form, other riders pick up form quicker and do not require as many hours. As a rider ages, he can rely on the years of big mileage just a little bit more plus he will not recover quite as quickly, so the total hours will have to drop. Example of a rider who is able to gain form quickly - Oscar Freire comes to mind, simply because throughout his career he has been a bit fragile in terms of injury, yet seems to be able to come back quickly and get results each time. An example of a rider who gets form more slowly is a diesel like Svein Tuft - his best form always comes later in the year after he has a huge volume of training and racing.


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## Gatorback

chase196126 said:


> It really varies from guy to guy. 99% of pro riders train on time rather than mileage and a good 70% plus use power meters in their training.
> 
> Most guys I know (me included) train around 18-25 hours a week depending on the time of the year and what their training goals are. During the winter I usually end up around 18-20 hours a week with the majority of those hours on the trainer. Very little of my training is super easy miles. All of my workouts include some sort of interval.
> 
> Not too many guys I know do 30+ hour weeks with any frequency. Most have figured out quality training trumps riding at low intensity for hours and hours. Protour riders who will be competing in Grand Tours may be an exception to this. When you are forced to ride 3 high volume/high intensity weeks you have to train for that sort of effort.


That is what I thought. Time is the measurement for most. I'm friends with a young domestic pro who is doing about 20 hours weekly right now during his base training.


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## iliveonnitro

I was a cat4 last time I trained with miles. If my garmin or powermeter has a dead battery, I'll just go off a stopwatch. I can't remember the last time I looked at my weekly distance on a bike. Plus, when riding a trainer, you can only go by time/kJ as distance is a meaningless number.

All the domestic pros I've trained with typically average 20-25hrs/wk in nicer weather and ~15-20 on the trainer. I'd guess that equates to about 18-20k miles a year, including a few weeks off the bike. No clue for ProTour riders.


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## MisterC

My rest weeks are 14 hours. My longest week is 29. My build weeks are 25.

My friends say I'm crazy.

My plan for the year is about 1000 hours. Last year I think I did 750.

I train with power but I try to listen to my body and have ended workouts early because I felt particularly bad that day.

I want to come out swinging in the early spring so my longest weeks include a lot of trainer time. 3.5 hours on the trainer isn't even really remarkable anymore. It's just what you have to do.


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## Ruonpoint

MisterC said:


> My rest weeks are 14 hours. My longest week is 29. My build weeks are 25.
> 
> My friends say I'm crazy.
> 
> My plan for the year is about 1000 hours. Last year I think I did 750.
> 
> I train with power but I try to listen to my body and have ended workouts early because I felt particularly bad that day.
> 
> I want to come out swinging in the early spring so my longest weeks include a lot of trainer time. 3.5 hours on the trainer isn't even really remarkable anymore. It's just what you have to do.


I think your friends might be right! An increase of 25% is pretty huge, however I wish you the best of luck. What level of rider are you and how long have you been competing?


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## petalpower

MisterC said:


> My rest weeks are 14 hours. My longest week is 29. My build weeks are 25.
> 
> My friends say I'm crazy.
> 
> My plan for the year is about 1000 hours. Last year I think I did 750.
> 
> I train with power but I try to listen to my body and have ended workouts early because I felt particularly bad that day.
> 
> I want to come out swinging in the early spring so my longest weeks include a lot of trainer time. 3.5 hours on the trainer isn't even really remarkable anymore. It's just what you have to do.


That's quite a bit of time you're investing. Just out of curiosity, are you:

Married
Have kids
Work or go to school


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## ZoSoSwiM

A few weeks ago just for the sake of seeing how my body responded I put in 20 hours of working out.. 12 hours of swimming. 6 hours on the bike. 2 hours of core/weight work. By Sunday I was pretty damn tired but not dead like I expected. However.... I had zero time for anything else that week. I honestly don't know how I could fit in more training than 20 hours. 

As for the pros.. Many of the stuff I've seen and read seems to point to 4-6 hour days. with total hours as a focus. Obviously the biggest difference in their training versus mine is that instead of fitting those hours into busy work schedules they're fitting them into sleep and rest schedules. If I didn't need to work I'd love to train 25+ hours a week. I'd enjoy it.


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## woodys737

ZoSoSwiM said:


> A few weeks ago just for the sake of seeing how my body responded I put in 20 hours of working out.. 12 hours of swimming. 6 hours on the bike. 2 hours of core/weight work. By Sunday I was pretty damn tired but not dead like I expected. However.... I had zero time for anything else that week. I honestly don't know how I could fit in more training than 20 hours.
> 
> As for the pros.. Many of the stuff I've seen and read seems to point to 4-6 hour days. with total hours as a focus. *Obviously the biggest difference in their training versus mine is that instead of fitting those hours into busy work schedules they're fitting them into sleep and rest schedules.* If I didn't need to work I'd love to train 25+ hours a week. I'd enjoy it.


^^^+1. As cyclist we can read about the importance of rest/recovery until we are blue in the face. But it doesn't make sense until you go too far. I went too far and now understand and respect it. Many days I pass up riding longer even when feeling really good or don't ride at all if I know I'll be working late or the kids have after school stuff I need to be engaged in.

With that said, I don't think I could handle pro hours. Just don't have it mentally nor physically. Hats off to the pros all the guys that can!


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## Serve

biketwins said:


> Does anyone know the avg. weekly milage of a professional cyclist? Also, does anyone happen to know the avg. yearly milage of a professional cyclist?


This what a europeen pro rides in a year.
Keep on riding Serve


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## Wookiebiker

Serve said:


> This what a europeen pro rides in a year.
> Keep on riding Serve


That's a lot of *Kilometers* ... and *Miles* for that matter (37288). Of course people need to remember a lot of them are putting on 2200+ miles in a 3 week period during May, July and September.


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## DMH2979

I don't know anyone who understand training or has been training for a long time, train by miles vs. time. It doesn't really have anything to do with consistency or anything like that -- it's this: you body doesn't know the difference between 20 miles or 40 miles, but it knows when you've trained for 90 minutes or 2 hours. Also, I could go on a "20 mile ride" with a tailwind and average high average MPH but low average power. I could also do 20 miles, up a climb, average a very low MPH but high power. So, "doing a 20 miler" means nothing to me. But I understand if someone says, lets do 2-3 hours at moderate effort level, or something similar

When I was racing full time as a cat 1, I was doing 18-22 hours/week. My coach was actually someone who was very focused on quality vs. quantity. He said those guys doing 5-6 hour rides, just riding along, were just getting themselves tired. Better to do 4 hours with good structure. 
However, when I was living in France, I did a 30 hour week, just to see what it was like. I was worked for about 2 weeks afterward and ended up over trained for the remainder of the season.

Now, after grad school and working at an intense job, I usually do 10-15 hours, and race masters and some c12 races. Everyone of those hours has structure and I also have years of big miles in my legs.


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## Undecided

Wookiebiker said:


> That's a lot of *Kilometers* ... and *Miles* for that matter (37288). Of course people need to remember a lot of them are putting on 2200+ miles in a 3 week period during May, July and September.


But that's essentially the same rate for every week of the year! I won't say it's impossible, because I rode nearly half that much last year while working, being married and raising a child, but it boggles the mind.


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## Kerry Irons

*Representative?*



Serve said:


> This what a europeen pro rides in a year.


That suggests over 165 km (100 miles) per day average. This is not really representative of what the pros ride. Slightly more than half that distance would be typical and of course it depends significantly on what the season goals are for a given rider.


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## Nevermiss

Login into Strava and follow some pros and see for yourself.


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