Is the OP a plodder? If so don't plod. Concentrate on your riding technique so you are as efficient as possible then you will find you can ride 40,50, 60 miles each day without problem, or becoming knackered and do it reasonably quickly with good recovery time. If you haven't got SPDs or cleats then get some as this will grealy increase your pedalling efficiency and the distances you can comfortably ride. Eat properly and perhaps do some cross training. Get plenty of sleep.
Hu? This doesn't make sense. The point is most people will maintain a given level of perceived effort (PE) when riding a bike. They get fitter & can produce more power so for the same PE so travel faster. Personally I will gravitate to a level of cycling which puts my heart rate at 130-150bpm for multiple <70 mile trips if I've got no reason to regulate my effort level. This is my 'DLOCK', on the PE scale it's moderately hard effort level & I can keep this up for <300 miles/week with mild fatigue levels week in week out as long as I have one rest day. When I have a specific objective in my cycling, say doing a structured training ride or going to a meeting across town, my PE will be different to my DLOCK PE. Before I started training properly this put my nominal ave speed in the 18-20mph range, now this exact same effort level puts me in the 20-23mph speed range.
I've heard this a lot, how does being clipped in actually make you more efficient?
To keep your foot on a flat pedal (even with toe-clips) you need to keep a fair amount of weight on the pedal, not only does this mean you have to push harder on the down stroke but you're also putting power into resisting the upward motion of the pedal on the upstroke.
Going clipless allows you to completely unload the pedal on the back stroke & if you train properly you get into the habit of pedalling in an egg shape with the peek of the egg being about -45 deg TDC. Once trained you're gain double the power you were putting into resisting the upward motion of the pedal. You can easily be looking at gaining 15% power like this. Also it puts less strain on your joints. Further to this, when you want a big burst of power you can use the upstroke to gain a little more torque (more so at low cadences than high), which is useful for getting over that short steep section of a climb.
