# How often/far is safe to ride?



## Leighton (Jul 17, 2008)

As a new cyclist, how often can you ride without worrying about hurting yourself?

I feel like I can ride every day, but I don't want to push my luck. I've always ridden occasionally, but I am just now getting serious about riding.


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## Touch0Gray (May 29, 2003)

you can ride every day if you want to.....people all over the world do it.....in many countries, a bicycle is a primary form of transportation


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## malanb (Oct 26, 2009)

wtf post


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## gaspi101 (May 12, 2011)

The limits are the limits of your own body. There's no number. But if you want a number, try this: If you're going to ride every day, ride no more than 200 miles per ride, and no more than 20 hours per ride. More than that after 3 or 4 consecutive days of rides, you may begin to feel some fatigue. 

Bottom line--harden the fukc up and ride your bike.


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## robc in wi (Sep 8, 2011)

I found that for me 4-5 rides per week works best. I think what's more important is varying your rides in terms of intensity,length, and type of ride. Just like any type of exercise, your muscles need time to recover after you break them down. You can certainly noodle around 7 days a week but if you want to get faster and have more endurance then you need to push yourself. I don't have a lot of time to ride during the week but usually try to do one hour ride with long climbs, one with an extended hard effort or two and then do my long rides (40-60 miles) on Saturday and Sunday. I start with fewer miles in the spring (long nasty winter here in WI) and ramp up as I get stronger. I recommend both group rides and solo rides if you can.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

malanb said:


> wtf post


easy there, chief. this is the beginner's forum. snarkiness is welcome in the other forums but not here.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

The practical answer is, whatever your body and time and enthusiasm can handle. 

As long as you have a decent-fitting bike, you can ride quite a lot. Eventually something will get sore / tired from overdoing it.


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## andulong (Nov 23, 2006)

I could make a list of things you should not do every day and cycling would not be on it. It is possible to over train but if you are referring to commuting or casual riding then probably not an issue.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

Cycling is funny. You're already sitting on your butt, so it's possible to go on some very long rides.

If you're riding like you mean it, though, you may want to be a little more conservative, especially if you've had overtraining injuries from other sports in the past or you have some structural abnormalities.

When I decided to come back from a knee injury and get it right, I started with three 30-minute rides, and worked my way up 10%/week. That's more conservative than I think most people need to be when they start - you can probably ride more volume than that right off the bat and not get hurt. I think a lot of people do fine if they ride for as long as their desire and energy takes them, three or four days a week. Just don't keep going if something starts to hurt, and don't push yourself hard on consecutive days, or ride if you're already suffering joint pain. If you decide to build from there to a volume or a length of ride that's a challenge for you, IMO the 10%/week guideline is pretty good.

At this point, I ride six or seven days a week, although some days are just commuting. As long as you don't try to do it right away, our bodies can adapt to quite a lot.


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## TomH (Oct 6, 2008)

If you die after a ride.. ride less.


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## BostonG (Apr 13, 2010)

Hard to give an accurate answer because, as others have mentioned, it depends - on your age, fitness, recovery rate, pace, etc. 

Assumptions:
Your enthusiasm and desire is high and you want to ride all the time
Your rides lean more towards a training type (e.g. hard intervals, hills, sprints, etc.) as opposed to easy paced rides.

Now, you can ride every day but 2-3 of those days should be recovery rides if you are pushing yourself. 

Since you are new, my advice is to start easy and build a foundation before getting into hard, vomit inducing intervals too much. Unless you already come from an athletic cardio type of background, it'll take a while for your lungs to build up and your legs to develop. Work on building your base, cadence, pedal technique, and handling (e.g. holding your line).


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

Kind of two questions here. First, you said you're new. You're getting used to it, and sometimes things will get sore until they toughen up or get stronger. In that phase, you listen to your body, and back off or take a break until things feel right. You don't ramp up the mileage and/or frequency too fast if something starts to hurt.

Second, once you're in shape, you seem to be wondering how often and/or how far you can ride. Answer is that it's limited only by practicality and your own desires and condition. There's no inherent limit on the activity. People go on long tours where they ride 75-100 miles a day for weeks at a time. If they've got the right conditioning and technique, and don't get injured in a crash, they just keep getting stronger.

So the answer to your specific question is that you certainly can ride every day. If you seem to be hurting something, adjust to it. Even if you're very tired, a shorter and slower ride isn't going to hurt you, and can help recovery.

A whole lot of people on this board commute by bicycle every weekday, and go for longer rides on the weekend. No problem.


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## MYMOJO34 (Aug 18, 2011)

Just listen to your legs. They are the only ones who can really answer that question.

But don't ignore what they tell you. If they need a break, give them a break.


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## adjulian (Apr 27, 2009)

MYMOJO34 said:


> Just listen to your legs. They are the only ones who can really answer that question.
> 
> But don't ignore what they tell you. If they need a break, give them a break.


Couldn't agree more! +1


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## teflondog (Aug 23, 2011)

Leighton said:


> I feel like I can ride every day, but I don't want to push my luck.


If you feel like you can ride every day, do it. I take a day off if my legs are killing me after a hard ride. A good indication is when I can barely walk a flight of stairs. But if I'm only slightly sore, I'll take an easy ride in a low gear to get some blood flowing to my legs. The soreness actually goes away quicker if I do this.


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## aclinjury (Sep 12, 2011)

Should not ride everyday. Your muscles & joints & anatomy do need a rest. Exercise everyday is fine, but not ride everyday.


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

As long as your bike fits and you don't run into anything (and nothing runs into you), you can ride every day without getting hurt. What you don't want to do is ride too much, too soon, too often. Start small and build up to longer distances and harder rides. Trying to do too much too soon will set you up for an overuse injury, like ITBS. Trust me, you definitely don't want that.


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## JCavilia (Sep 12, 2005)

*???*



aclinjury said:


> Should not ride everyday. Your muscles & joints & anatomy do need a rest. Exercise everyday is fine, but not ride everyday.


Should you not walk every day? That uses your anatomy too. How is bicycling different from other exercise in this regard? Why is it fine to exercise every day, but not ride? I see no justification for your statement. 

Millions of people ride a bicycle every day. They don't ride 24 hours a day, so they do rest between rides. If you're not hurt or sick or excessively tired, there's no reason to skip a day. Even if you're very tired, you can just ride slower. 

I have to go now, and ride home from work, like I do every day. Bye.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Everyday*



aclinjury said:


> Should not ride everyday. Your muscles & joints & anatomy do need a rest. Exercise everyday is fine, but not ride everyday.


Really? That's totally weird! I've been riding every day (except rare rain-outs) from the middle of April to the middle of October for nearly the past 40 years. What's going to happen to me?

Perhaps you have confused your opinion with facts?


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## rm.newland (Oct 18, 2011)

*How far*

Honestly as far as you feel comfortable with. Base it off of your experience, build up with longer rides as you feel more comfortable


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## Trower (Apr 28, 2009)

I ride every day! Don't have a car, so bike is the only option. Have done almost 3k since the middle of May. So get out there and ride, you'll be in better health for it


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## DirtySanchez (Sep 26, 2011)

I'm a newbie too, ridden about 600 miles total...i'm currently riding 15-25 miles every other day and its working out great


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## ezrida (Aug 20, 2011)

ride, ride, ride. If tired or no time then rest, if not and feels like riding then ride. There isn't exact science to this.


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## teflondog (Aug 23, 2011)

aclinjury said:


> Should not ride *double centuries* everyday. Your muscles & joints & anatomy do need a rest. Exercise everyday is fine, but not ride *double centuries* everyday.


Maybe that's what he was trying to say?


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## Peanya (Jun 12, 2008)

It's not good at all to ride more than 7 days a week, or more than 365/366 days a year. Hope that helps.


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## Amado (Oct 20, 2011)

As long as u can ride without strength....


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## Daesu (Oct 21, 2011)

Peanya said:


> It's not good at all to ride more than 7 days a week, or more than 365/366 days a year. Hope that helps.


this seems about right!


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## Downshifter (May 30, 2011)

I'm assuming the OP is asking about training rides, not just commuting or noddling around the neighborhood. Since he's new, I suggest including some rest days each week, rest days of no riding or no training rides--or at least easy recovery days. And it's also a good idea to increase duration and intensity gradually.


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## gaspi101 (May 12, 2011)

As has been said, listen to your body. It knows what's what. Kick its ass every day, and it will reward you many times over. And when you can't walk anymore from the soreness of your legs, take a day off. Then get right back on.


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## Leighton (Jul 17, 2008)

Downshifter said:


> I'm assuming the OP is asking about training rides, not just commuting or noddling around the neighborhood. Since he's new, I suggest including some rest days each week, rest days of no riding or no training rides--or at least easy recovery days. And it's also a good idea to increase duration and intensity gradually.


I kind of figured that would obvious. I can't believe people thought I was talking about riding ten miles a day, as if that would hurt you.

I was referring to hard 20+ mile rides. My justification was that you can't weight lift in the same muscle groups every day without fear of hurting yourself, so I figured cycling might be the same.


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## AndrwSwitch (May 28, 2009)

You know what they say about assume. :wink5:

A person is capable of quite a lot if he works up to it, and where weight lifting is an anaerobic activity, cycling is mostly aerobic. So there's a big difference in training tolerance there.

You gave this trainwreck its push two weeks ago. What have you been doing? How do you feel?


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## victorscp (Nov 8, 2011)

i would think ride til you feel comfort. i plan on riding maybe 3-4 times a week


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## ctaborda (Nov 8, 2011)

20-30 to start!


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## ScooterDobs (Nov 26, 2010)

For what it's worth, I got back on a road bike after 14 years, late 40's in age, about 30 pounds and 20 cholesterol points too high. Bought an old Trek 420, brought it to riding condition and started riding. I use a heart monitor for my rides. Currently at 900 miles in the last three months, so not pounding out the miles but getting there. I ride 5 days per week when I can. I found that I ride to the heart rate monitor. If I am in the 135 to 145 bpm range I would do well. When it hit 150 for a while I would start to hurt and fade.
As my conditioning improved my times dropped for the same routes, so I extended the miles. What saved me from going too far was the heart rate monitor.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

ScooterDobs said:


> For what it's worth, I got back on a road bike after 14 years, late 40's in age, about 30 pounds and 20 cholesterol points too high. Bought an old Trek 420, brought it to riding condition and started riding. * I use a heart monitor for my rides. * Currently at 900 miles in the last three months, so not pounding out the miles but getting there. I ride 5 days per week when I can. I found that I ride to the heart rate monitor. If I am in the 135 to 145 bpm range I would do well. When it hit 150 for a while I would start to hurt and fade.
> As my conditioning improved my times dropped for the same routes, so I extended the miles. What saved me from going too far was the heart rate monitor.


Good point about utilizing a HRM. IME when used correctly and in conjunction with an effective training regimen, they can be a valuable tool to help cyclists monitor (and regulate) their HR during fitness/ training rides - along with tracking cardio improvements. 

I've been road riding long enough that I only sporadically use my HRM on the road, but still depend on it to monitor my HR zones/ intensity of my indoor trainer rides.


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## SolitaryRider (Oct 20, 2011)

I used to ride every day.....when I was 10. I never even gave it a thought.

I'll bet with a little practice, I can ride 6 days a week now at 49.......


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## turfysti (Nov 15, 2011)

adjulian said:


> Couldn't agree more! +1


i agree x2


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