How long are you comfortable cycling for on a regular basis?

[ebikeerwidnes]

I find I can manage 2 hours plus a bit

beyond that and the fact that I ride in jeans becomes a problem

as far as fuelling goes then recently I have found that on Thursdays, Fridays and at the weekend I am starting to feel I urgently need something to eat in order to continue
i.e. cake
and something to drink
i.e. tea
at a varying distance from home

Happily, I find that by a total coincidence the new Dinky Cafe Boat happens to be just about at that point on the canal!!!

 

[Sharky]

Whatever distance you have in mind, comfort comes with repetition. Do a journey 4 or 5 times and it becomes comfortable. Go for 25% longer and tiredness, saddle sore and bonk quickly turns up. But repeat several times and that becomes comfortable.

 

[ColinJ]

Up to 2 hours is fairly boring for me. Over 2 hours is the absolute pits.

I am a reluctant cyclist but it is good for fitness training.

A younger colleague came out riding with me a few times in the 1990s. Our rides were typically about 2 hours long. I asked him if he fancied joining me on longer rides, 6-12 hours, say? He looked at me as if I were a complete lunatic, shook his head, and said almost exactly what you posted above! I could not understand why he felt like that (or you do)...

I have actually gone off the boil with longer rides though. What I used to do in miles I would probably do in km instead now, so...

• I used to do a few 200 km rides a year, ~= 125 miles. I would do 125 km instead now, but IIRC it has been some time since I rode that distance. My longest ride so far this year is 114 km and I doubt that I will exceed that in the remaining weeks of this year.
• My imperial centuries would now be replaced by metric ones.
• A 50 miler would now be a 50 km ride instead.
• The little 20-30 mile rides that I used to do regularly when not doing longer ones would typically be 20-30 km instead.

The reason for this change is that I have got a lot slower over the last 10 years so those metric distances are taking me almost as long now as the imperial ones used to!

If I ever got my speed back to where it was 10+ years ago then I would start doing longer rides again.

So... 'regular' longer distance these days would be about 50 km (31-35 miles).

 

[presta]

Four hours is a long while to go without food, if you stop to eat you might find you're more in the mood for going further.

The most I'd generally do without food was a couple of hours. In a three hour ride I'd stop to eat once, and anything more than that I'd stop for about ten minutes in every hour. As far as mileage goes, how many miles a day depends on how many days I'm keeping it up for.

 

[Drago]

3 or 4 hours, perhaps. Not really pushed myself hard for either time or distance in a few uears now, but I'd have no qualms at the thought of a 50 or 60 miler tomorrow, just so long as I wasn't expected to do it very quickly.

 

[gbb]

No longer cycle (arthritis) but my old regular loop was 50 miles, around 3.5 hours riding. Id do that non stop, get off the bike and probably have a can of rice pudding or similar and carry on the day. Never generally felt the need to stop unless is was particually warm or occasionally you're body let's you know ot needs something.
Generally though, 3.5 hours non stop.

 

[All uphill]

At this time of year a couple of hours is enough, I find. Mucky roads, lower light levels and shorter days will do that.

I hope and plan to get back to three or four hour rides next spring.

 

[Pblakeney]

How long will I ride non-stop? I found out during covid that it is 50 miles, around 2-1/2 to 3 hours.
With stops? 8 hours a day for 6 days in a row while on holiday is easily manageable, and that is with serious mountains.

 

[a.twiddler]

Most of my rides are utility ones of a few miles. I like to write up my rides if there is something interesting along the way, and the longer the ride, the more likely it is that something interesting will happen. I don't find any riding boring, but there's more potential for getting blase on regular local routes. So there's my motivation for longer rides. I've not managed a 100 mile ride for decades but I managed it this year. Over the last few years I've been doing more long rides, maybe one a month during the summer, maybe more, but winter time leads to shorter rides.

Like other posters I'm not as fast as I used to be, and I wasn't particularly fast back then. What I have found is that I can keep going all day at my own pace with no apparent ill effects the next day. I can ride for about 30 miles or three hours, whichever comes first, before needing a break, all depending on hills and headwinds, but need breaks at shorter intervals after that. It's nice to stop at a cafe, but I carry enough supplies to get me through if an expected refuelling stop is closed. If I were to do a multi day ride, I would definitely need to reduce the daily mileage or have a rest day at some stage.

The secret of my longer range nowadays is that I discovered recumbent bikes a few years ago, and they just work really well for me.