multi week / month tours & fitness
- Thread starter User
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
midliferider
Guru
- Location
- Northampton
I have not done super long distances but my experience from 1-2 weeks is as follows.
Touring is different to your day rides at home. You have all day to cycle. You cycle at a leisurely pace, take regular rest, you need to admire the scene and take photos, stop at various restaurants to taste local delicacies. I would say moving average of 12-14 miles and total average of 10 miles a hour is a reasonable speed to aim at.
Vary the distance according to the terrain. If the terrain is flat and easy, do 60 miles. On more difficult, hilly ones, do 40 miles.
Have a rest day after every 7 days of riding. You can not keep riding everyday.
Remember, you get fitter as you ride.
Good luck.
Touring is different to your day rides at home. You have all day to cycle. You cycle at a leisurely pace, take regular rest, you need to admire the scene and take photos, stop at various restaurants to taste local delicacies. I would say moving average of 12-14 miles and total average of 10 miles a hour is a reasonable speed to aim at.
Vary the distance according to the terrain. If the terrain is flat and easy, do 60 miles. On more difficult, hilly ones, do 40 miles.
Have a rest day after every 7 days of riding. You can not keep riding everyday.
Remember, you get fitter as you ride.
Good luck.
mcshroom
Bionic Subsonic
- Location
- Egremont, Cumbria
Similar experience to mine there MLR. I tend to have a short day in the middle of a 2 week somewhere which helps refresh things, and also gives you time for the luxurious activities of touring such as washing clothes 
jazzkat
Fixed wheel fanatic.
- Location
- The Cumbrian Riviera
[QUOTE 3057760, member: 9609"]
I have a rather mad plan to cycle down into Italy[/QUOTE]
It sounds like a brilliant plan, not mad at all.
I have a rather mad plan to cycle down into Italy[/QUOTE]
It sounds like a brilliant plan, not mad at all.
Bodhbh
Guru
Definately, I do a 20mile a day commute and by around Thursday I'm generally a bit sore and the stairs at work are no fun. I dunno if it's the more relaxed pace, or just a morale thing, but I rarely feel it on tour despite doing 2, 3 or 4 times that a day.
The first and only long tour I've done (3 months across to the Black Sea) was the only one I wasn't really very fit for. Two weeks in the aches seemed to be coming to a head, but I just got up one day and they'd stopped happening. If you've months, you can afford to get fit on tour, maybe not so if you have 10 days, the best part of 1000 miles, and a plane to catch.
oldfatfool
Guru
Touring you spend more time eating, drinking and generally pottering so 50 mile might take 6 - 7 hours rather than the 3 hours you would take around home. I find I am more tired following one of ColinJ's forum rides than I ever was loaded touring in the Alps
snorri
Legendary Member
- Location
- East coast, up a bit.
You will get fit on the tour, just don't overdo it on the first few days and you will discover a distance per day that suits you. The new sights and sounds along the route should distract your attention and the miles(Km) will look after themselves.
On longer tours I find a mental rather than physical tiredness affects me in which case it's time to hop on a train for a bit or spend two nights on a campsite or hotel and spend a day or two sightseeing on foot.
On longer tours I find a mental rather than physical tiredness affects me in which case it's time to hop on a train for a bit or spend two nights on a campsite or hotel and spend a day or two sightseeing on foot.
and I'm sure you'll be enjoying it too much to be worrying about any aches and pains. 
]
Ticktockmy
Guru
- Location
- Crawley, West Sussex
I tend to treat long tours as a series of day rides and limit each riding day to about 60 miles max. Depending where I am, and depending in the weather/Temperature, ie, in South east asia I would start at 5.00am ride till 10:30 am, find somewhere to rest up to have a break until mid afternoon then ride till I arrive at my night time stop or until dusk. Here in Europe I just get started when ready depending on whether B&B or camping, then then ride all day allowing for cafe and munchy and sightseeing stops. I have never seen the point in setting high mileage days, as I tend to tour to become involved with the sights and sounds of the area.
I cycled across France, to Barcelona, at 47, having never ridden more than 45 miles (on the flat to Skipton & back). At 49 I cycled across Spain in June, having not cycled Jan-April and spending most of May on the p.i.s.s. Both times it took me a couple of days to get into the swing and after a week I felt like a million dollars.
I absolutely love touring but I definitely would not enjoy training, so I don't, I'd feel worn out too. But on a tour I am enjoying myself so much that I just don't notice it.
I absolutely love touring but I definitely would not enjoy training, so I don't, I'd feel worn out too. But on a tour I am enjoying myself so much that I just don't notice it.
Usually I'd have a rest day about every 5 days. When I first set off on a long tour I trained on the road and could only manage about 3 days in a row. You'll need some down time to do laundry, repair things etc. Don't worry about feeling exhausted after 7 consecutive days. It's rare that cycle tourers would go this long without a day off.
- Location
- London
Sounds great.
Do you have a route worked out?
Do you have a route worked out?
Everybody is different, I have rest days only if I am with somebody else and am forced to, a rest from what? I am not working, but riding my bike. It takes me 3 days to really get going but then I get in a groove and never want to stop, also, the rest days (for me) turn into bar (wasted) days.
midliferider
Guru
- Location
- Northampton
[QUOTE 3067887, member: 9609"]Just testing myself out to see how I would get on I have done 500 miles in the last 10 days just by going out 2 or 3 times a day and doing 10 - 30 mile rides at a time. I seem to be less exhausted on day 10 than I was on day 3. which is encouraging, but I do have some long term spinal problems and I am a little disappointed how that has performed, feel a bit twisted and out of alignment - see how I feel in a few days time.
My backside has taken a right pummelling too, I must try out some proper cycling trunks with the padding in, or may be that will just toughen up over time too.
And I have finally shifted the excess weight that has been with me since xmas. was 13st13 at the start which is higher than I like, now down to 13st 1 which is about ideal, if I get under 13st people start saying I look unwell.[/QUOTE]
My honest opinion is that you worry too much.
My backside has taken a right pummelling too, I must try out some proper cycling trunks with the padding in, or may be that will just toughen up over time too.
And I have finally shifted the excess weight that has been with me since xmas. was 13st13 at the start which is higher than I like, now down to 13st 1 which is about ideal, if I get under 13st people start saying I look unwell.[/QUOTE]
My honest opinion is that you worry too much.
