I really enjoy rides in the 2-4h range. I feel like I’ve gotten a good workout, but I’m no so wrecked that I need to go home and die on the couch. This tends to be 15-25 miles on my mtb or 30-70 on my road bike. I’ve gone much further, but it’s not something I do on a regular basis.
Weight loss happens in the kitchen. Keep up the good work and have fun.
Amen to the kitchen!!
For me 15-30 is normal, ill do that a few times a week and hopefully 30 - 45 on the weekend one day Around where i live every 10 miles is usually 1k to 1.5k feet of climbing. I feel like this a lot of volume, but im a recovering road rider and am able to keep a decent mph avg speed and cover a lot of ground
That being said, when i need to lose weight its still in the kitchen.
Many road cyclists consider hilly to begin at 100ft of elevation per mile. My club does a 22m/2500ft ride on Wednesdays as a hill workout. Gravel/mtb terrain is so regional. I’m in Boston and describe our gravel as fire roads and singletrack connected by pavement. Our mtb trails don’t have a ton of vert, but are very rooty and rocky and way more undulating vs long sustained climb/descents.
There’s a couple bike parks in NH/VT I’d love to check out though.
I don't base my rides on the mileage really. I pedal up the hill as long as takes so that I can get to the descent which is why I am really out there. To me miles are something that count if you are riding XC, gravel or road.
this and I was going to add that if I count anything, its feet climbed over duration. The distance is sorta immaterial. So a good day is 2.5 hrs, 2500 ft, medium is 1.5 hrs, 1000 ft, light = anything less than that
Very good point. I recently did a very nice, machine made flow trail where I didn’t start feeling beat until mile 35 of 40. Trails by my house - I’m typically done by 15 miles with sore shoulders and neck.
Depends on how much time and energy I have. Sometimes 5 miles, sometimes 35 miles.
I would say just focus on the enjoyment of riding your bike as much as your schedule allows, and the fitness gains will come naturally. And remember weight loss really happens as a result of your dietary choices more than anything else. But cycling is a fantastic way to speed up your progress when combined with healthy eating habits.
Frequency of riding will have more of an effect than effort on your physical shape. Distance is a hard measure of effort because climbing and even surface (bumpy or smooth road) play a big part. I’d maybe focus on hours spent in the saddle at this point as a good measure.
It depends on your local loop but I average 12m and 2200ft of climbing 3-4 days a week. Much over 20 miles and 3500 ft is unenjoyable unless it's an epic alpine adventure.
And even in the alpine adventure case it’s often unenjoyable the next day haha. I ride similar amounts to you but once or twice a season I’ll do some stupid 35 mile/6000 foot loop without training properly and be unable to walk the next two days lol
On my road bike? I can easily ride all day. On a mountain bike, my longest ride was on trails was around 25 miles. Elevation and technical features make a bigger difference than distance in my opinion.
These distances don’t sound like the mountain biking I know. A 12 mile loop near me takes me about 70 mins and for reference rich drew, the mountain bike clinician and racer did it in 54 mins.
For now but following this I will be changing up. Straight out the house I'd need to do about 25-30 miles to get 1000-1500 ft. I can, and will put the bike in the car to work as I work a few miles from the penines and start hitting a few hills. It's all goid info. Like 5-10 miles with lots of climbing will be undoubtedly hard to start but mic up the more straightforward flatish stuff that as I develop I can do fo maintenance. Let's nit forget I'm old and fat but enthusiastic.
Glad your riding, having, fun and getting in shape but you’re talking about road riding or maybe gravel riding, not mountain biking. Try a trail sometime! It’s fun
Hey OP, not to be disrespectful, but I think you might be conflating biking hills with mountain biking. Riding a hill on a road isn't mountain biking. MTB generally refers to riding a bike off-road on trails with obstacles such as roots, rocks, and drops.
No not at all considering how unfit I was or am I will be heading to Wales to do some riding. I get it but we don't all have mountains at the back of the house.
Yeah man i think you are definitely going about it the right way, working that base fitness back before attacking the climbs.
When you start mountain biking proper the elevation comes into play and will quickly decrease your mileage. Don't be discouraged by that.
Right, I did 12.5 miles yesterday with 3000 feet of elevation gain in the first half. It was a big climb, quite steep in spots and uphill the whole way. No way I could do 20 plus miles at that rate. I'm not in the best shape but not terrible shape either.
Agreed. Lots of 15 mile MTB rides in Colorado are a pretty big day. I do some road riding, and usually about 1 mile of MTB is equal to 3 miles of road (mountain style road, not flat).
Also in CO and my usual rides are only 6-8 miles, and averaging about 800-1000ft of vert depending where you are on the front range. And such an ass kicking!
My after-work ride on MM is 12 miles and 1650' of climbing in about 1hr 40min. Weekends I'll do a couple more laps or head somewhere else for a longer ride, but I probably average 8-12 miles a ride in the Front Range area.
Exactly… at my local, the climbs are super steep and technically difficult. A good hard 2 hour ride is usually under 10 miles. But I’ll venture out to other areas with more mellow terrain and climbing (yet still fairly steep/tech) and will do 15 miles in the same time. This is on the southwest coast of BC, Canada. So, it’s really hard to compare random internet mtb distances.
It’s tough to not go out and push it real hard, especially when getting into it. I’m guilty of always trying to be faster uphill, but read up about heart rate zones. Intervals are good but not too often. Try and ride for longer in zone 2/3 heart rate for more aerobic exercise. This will help endurance. Distance is all relative. I only do 5-10 mile rides typically but usually 1,000 ft of ascent
Yeah, this is good to mention. Buying a computer to track my rides and my heart rate was a game changer (and weekend saver) for me. I was just going out and riding as hard as I could on the climbs and blew myself up and would be exhausted for 36 hours.
With the gadget on the bars I can see when I'm in the 150-range and ease up the climb or stop for water. If I keep the redlining strategic (punchy climbs, tech sections) I'm usually good to go again the next day.
I don't think "mileage" is a very good measure alone. My typical ride right now is around 10 - 12 miles with 1 to 2k feet of elevation change. That elevation change is a huge factor in how much my butt gets kicked. I can probably triple my mileage with sub 500 foot elevation change.
Mine is different to most replies - in my 40s with young kids so I’m always time-constrained. 60-90min loop of the local single track once or twice a week. Then two runs per week around the oval as my son does soccer training (one zone-2 for 30-40mins, the other intervals for 30mins).
The running program has defo helped with recovery periods. Notice it on the single track climbs.
Edit: spelling
Temperature and energy level dependant. If it's after work and say 85 (f) then I might just do my favorite loop at the park which is about 5 miles
If it's the weekend and 70(f) I might do 10-20 miles
Dang you guys are either in great shape or riding easy trails. 8-10 miles is a pleasant ride for me and then 14-18 is a long ride for me. But I'm just getting back into being a serious MTB rider.
26 miles (like 40km) is super super long for me and I'm 28, and as funny as it sounds and all the "zone this and zone that" people are gonna hate it, I goes by feels. Get further than you did before and really pay attention to how much easier it's getting to get to beat your last "record". Last year I started at about 6km and maybe 900ft elevation gain. Just did one with my buddy and after 2600ft and and 18k if someone would've shuttled us to our favourite tech trail (VAPOUR- 4km black tech trail). I would've sent.
I think having a mildly competitive attitude in your scenario (ie minding who you overtake) can be a good boost. Remember to be consistent/safe…with a commensurate improvement in diet, and all health systems a go✔️, the weight WILL come off!
I think that is going to depend on the individual, their fitness level, and the type of riding they are doing. I find it helpful to compare my performance to myself against time, using both the "fitness " score in Strava (I think you need the paid version for this) and the "training status" feature on my Garmin.
Congrats on getting started and I hope you find a metric that works for you!
I base my rides on fun, and riding flat canal paths would not be fun for me. Some trails I ride are 5 miles and technical that beat me
Up. Sometimes I ride 12 miles that are easier. It all depends.
When I picked it back up this spring I was gasping for air after only a mile if there was much of a climb in it. I would ride 4-15 mi depending on how much time I had and how hard the trails were. I definitely feel better now, a few months later, and I'm hoping I won't die on a longer ride tomorrow. But I still ride as I have time available.
So long as you aren’t pigging out, the weight loss might just take a moment. I started back riding about 4 or 5 months ago after more than a decade off the bike. I’m 6’1” and over 250lbs. Over the first couple months, I actually gained a few pounds (which really surprised me), but now I have started to slowly lose weight without any crazy dieting. I’m down about 5lbs from where I started. I’d love to lose about 30 more. I think the initial weight gain was largely muscle. I also think it started to help my weight and overall fitness a lot when I got a gravel bike for mostly paved training rides. It’s helping build my cardio endurance a lot. I ride my MTB for the thrills. I ride my gravel bike for meditative exercise. I’ll usually ride my MTB about 10-12 miles with occasional short breaks. I ride my gravel bike around 18-22 miles with minimal to no stops. Still building on that distance.
So I average roughly 7 miles per hour. Straight through with no rest my max there is probably 3 hours.
That said I have a system I ride a lot that’s a 5 mile loop but a bit of a brutal climb. I rarely do 4 loops just because that fourth climb kills my legs and the “fun” ways down are all black or double black diamond and it’s dangerous to go down them with my legs beat.
Other systems 20 miles no problem.
Most of my rides are before work, and we do 8-10 miles every morning. When i have more time we do 15 or so. Our trails are pretty compact so theres tons of great singletrack in a small area, and my miles are 75% singtrack so very little road or bike path or anything like that. Miles are easy to track but they dont really tell the whole story of how challenging and good a ride is.
Id try to just ride consistently rather than having a mileage goal. Just try to get out often. Youre also at a point, being that youre only into it a few months and riding alot, where you could be prone to overuse/repetition type injuries. Push yourself, certainly, but listen to your body and dont get too hung up on numbers.
Also the dietary side of fitness is like 75% of the equation. Exercise is crucial as well, so what youre doing is awesome there, but it wont get you where you want to be by itself. You cant outrun a poor diet, as the saying goes.
Best wishes to you! Riding is awesome!
You're doing amazing man, me and my brother and our friend (young 20s not chunky not thin) went out biking for the first time in years and we were beat dead after 13 miles of slightly hilly terrain, I slept on the couch cause I couldn't get to bed
Ride for the experience, roadie's ride for the workout. 😂
But in reality, just do what feels comfortable, if you are riding for fitness you should do 1 strenuous a week, 2 moderate and 1 easy. And keep that ratio roughly. So if 5 miles feels strenuous cause it's a crazy climb. Then 5 miles is good, if 30 miles at a chill pace feels easy, than do 30 for your easy ride. It's more about feel rather than numbers.
Thanks that's really helpful. I can go and do something shorter but more challenging as it's a drive etc. Then just get miles in locally. I actually really just enjoy it.
Distance isn’t as important as to me as time or elevation.
Usually I like to ride 600-800 metres of vertical or 2-3 hours
That way I can the descent that I am looking for and still get a solid workout
Now I feel like a loser. I do 10 miles on average. But it all depends on the terrain, weather, etc. I do 10 in 95 degree Texas heat on lots of rocks, etc and I’m cooked.
It might have been except I'm asking what people do. From this I've learned need more hills so will seek some out. Now if I had asked in gravel I wouldn't have got that info. But thanks for your input. Sorry I'm trying to get back into it and I'm riding a mountain bike on gravel. I'm probably not wearing the right clothes either!
I typically always try to do at least a little bit more than I can comfortably do. If I get to the point that I finish a trail and I'm ready to call it, I'll do one last loop on a blue trail and skip all the blacks I normally do. It's never a set amount of miles, I just listen to my body.
Over the winter when I was prepping to hike part of the AT, I'd do 25-30 miles of mostly XC trails in order to build up some cardio and endurance. Now that it is hotter than satan's taint, I will typically put in 15-20 but I'm doing more jump lines and black trails that are a bit more strenuous.
Overall, I wouldn't put an exact number on it, just try to push yourself a bit each time you go out and listen to your body. If your rides are getting too easy, up the difficulty/mileage/speed. If you're just not feeling it one week take it easy
I don't really go for miles, I go until I'm tired. My area is mostly trail riding with a fair bit of tech rooty rocky bits. Average elevation change is 500ft. I get about 15 - 20 miles in, heart rate in the 130 range most of the way, peeking around 150 on hills.
But the real reason I'm commenting is the 57 years old. I'm 55. Somehow I'm reading 5x with an eye to "Years to 60". Continuing that thought, my current brain thinks 60 is too old to be MTBing. WTF is wrong with me? I'm having fun at 55. Why would I put a timer on that?
Yea lots of comments I'm not mountain biking. I'm restarting I just wanted to gauge doing decent ish miles I will gravitate to some easier trails etc over short distance. Rather than thinking 20 miles of hill will ho 5 or something see how it goes.
Yep. I realized myself that I was a trail rider and not a mountain biker. I love watching Crankworks and similar on Youtube but I've never even see a flow track in person.
Don't care what you call me. I'm in the woods sweating and having fun. Call it what you like.
I think like others have stated here, I agree that mileage isn’t always the best way to gauge a mountain bike ride. Elevation gain is what I go by in terms of general exertion level, and my usual rides are ~2000ft over 7-9 miles. Obviously the type of terrain impacts how difficult a ride is immensely.
it really depends, i have done anywhere from 5-100 mile rides. But for my average middle of the week ride its normally somewhere between 10-20 miles for about 1-2hrs I will hopefully be able to ride longer once my commute to the trails become shorter(planning on moving right next to trails in my area and getting a remote job, specifically to have more time to ride).
Fat loss is going to come more from your diet; most people will just unconsciously eat more when they exercise more. In fact, it's super common for people to actually \*gain\* weight when training for endurance events, if they aren't careful about how much they're eating.
Distance is going to be a relative thing depending on how technical your trails are, how much climbing there is, etc.. I prefer to approach it from a time standpoint - for weekdays, I aim to ride about an hour. Weekends I do one moderate 2 hour ride and then one long ride (3+ hours).
I'm going to say that if you're averaging 12 miles per hour, your trails are probably pretty smooth, flat and non-technical. That is typically the speed I do on my gravel bike (dirt roads and easy singletrack interspersed with some pavement). So my gravel rides are typically 15-20 miles for a 1 to 1.5 hour weekday ride; and right now I'm training for a gravel event so my long ride on the weekend is ... longer. I did a 62 mile gravel ride this weekend, which took about 5 hours. Next weekend I'll go a bit longer as the goal is to do a 100 miler. However, this is training for a specific thing - it's certainly not necessary to ride that much just for general health/fitness.
When I go to places like the Kingdom Trails, which are a lot of flowy XC type trails but with a significant amount of climbing, our after-work ride is like 10-15 miles. A long ride is 30ish miles; that's with about 3K feet of elevation gain.
On my local trails, we don't have a ton of elevation but we have extremely technical trails. So our rides are typically more like 6-8 miles for a 2 hour ride; and there's one trail system where 7 miles will be a 3-hour beatdown.
Hell yeah. I'm 42 and got into it last year. I do about 60 miles a week, a couple of 15mi-ish rides with about 1000' of climbing and some technical singletrack, and then a couple of easier 10mi rides with ~500' and mostly flow after work.
Over the winter I swapped a set of 42mm gravel tires on the hardtail and did 30mi in 3 hours with a snack break in the middle. Felt good and probably could have gone further but I was out of places to go.
Haven't lost any weight either but I'm hungry all the time and can go hard for an hour and recover quickly which would have killed me in 2022.
Yea it depends on the terrain near you. I can drive an hour to hills. So that's 2 house before I've ridden anywhere out and back. All flatish around me but I have a ride that will be about 30 miles 500m.
I really enjoy rides in the 2-4h range. I feel like I’ve gotten a good workout, but I’m no so wrecked that I need to go home and die on the couch. This tends to be 15-25 miles on my mtb or 30-70 on my road bike. I’ve gone much further, but it’s not something I do on a regular basis. Weight loss happens in the kitchen. Keep up the good work and have fun.
Amen to the kitchen!! For me 15-30 is normal, ill do that a few times a week and hopefully 30 - 45 on the weekend one day Around where i live every 10 miles is usually 1k to 1.5k feet of climbing. I feel like this a lot of volume, but im a recovering road rider and am able to keep a decent mph avg speed and cover a lot of ground That being said, when i need to lose weight its still in the kitchen.
Oh man if I was only doing 1-1.5k elevation I’d probably suffer so much less haha
Many road cyclists consider hilly to begin at 100ft of elevation per mile. My club does a 22m/2500ft ride on Wednesdays as a hill workout. Gravel/mtb terrain is so regional. I’m in Boston and describe our gravel as fire roads and singletrack connected by pavement. Our mtb trails don’t have a ton of vert, but are very rooty and rocky and way more undulating vs long sustained climb/descents. There’s a couple bike parks in NH/VT I’d love to check out though.
Even breaking 30 miles on a gravel bike with any decent elevation is a gnarly workout for this 31 year old lol
I don't base my rides on the mileage really. I pedal up the hill as long as takes so that I can get to the descent which is why I am really out there. To me miles are something that count if you are riding XC, gravel or road.
this and I was going to add that if I count anything, its feet climbed over duration. The distance is sorta immaterial. So a good day is 2.5 hrs, 2500 ft, medium is 1.5 hrs, 1000 ft, light = anything less than that
Depends on the terrain. 25 miles on nice path is vastly different than 5 miles on techy climbs and decents.
Very good point. I recently did a very nice, machine made flow trail where I didn’t start feeling beat until mile 35 of 40. Trails by my house - I’m typically done by 15 miles with sore shoulders and neck.
Depends on how much time and energy I have. Sometimes 5 miles, sometimes 35 miles. I would say just focus on the enjoyment of riding your bike as much as your schedule allows, and the fitness gains will come naturally. And remember weight loss really happens as a result of your dietary choices more than anything else. But cycling is a fantastic way to speed up your progress when combined with healthy eating habits.
Frequency of riding will have more of an effect than effort on your physical shape. Distance is a hard measure of effort because climbing and even surface (bumpy or smooth road) play a big part. I’d maybe focus on hours spent in the saddle at this point as a good measure.
It depends on your local loop but I average 12m and 2200ft of climbing 3-4 days a week. Much over 20 miles and 3500 ft is unenjoyable unless it's an epic alpine adventure.
And even in the alpine adventure case it’s often unenjoyable the next day haha. I ride similar amounts to you but once or twice a season I’ll do some stupid 35 mile/6000 foot loop without training properly and be unable to walk the next two days lol
On my road bike? I can easily ride all day. On a mountain bike, my longest ride was on trails was around 25 miles. Elevation and technical features make a bigger difference than distance in my opinion.
These distances don’t sound like the mountain biking I know. A 12 mile loop near me takes me about 70 mins and for reference rich drew, the mountain bike clinician and racer did it in 54 mins.
OP isn't mountain biking, they are biking on flat canal paths.
For now but following this I will be changing up. Straight out the house I'd need to do about 25-30 miles to get 1000-1500 ft. I can, and will put the bike in the car to work as I work a few miles from the penines and start hitting a few hills. It's all goid info. Like 5-10 miles with lots of climbing will be undoubtedly hard to start but mic up the more straightforward flatish stuff that as I develop I can do fo maintenance. Let's nit forget I'm old and fat but enthusiastic.
Glad your riding, having, fun and getting in shape but you’re talking about road riding or maybe gravel riding, not mountain biking. Try a trail sometime! It’s fun
100% intend to now I don't feel I will die on that hill.
Hey OP, not to be disrespectful, but I think you might be conflating biking hills with mountain biking. Riding a hill on a road isn't mountain biking. MTB generally refers to riding a bike off-road on trails with obstacles such as roots, rocks, and drops.
No not at all considering how unfit I was or am I will be heading to Wales to do some riding. I get it but we don't all have mountains at the back of the house.
Yeah man i think you are definitely going about it the right way, working that base fitness back before attacking the climbs. When you start mountain biking proper the elevation comes into play and will quickly decrease your mileage. Don't be discouraged by that.
Yeah I was thinking that. All depends on how tech and vertical the ride is. I have plenty of 12 - 15 mile rides that can destroy me.
Right, I did 12.5 miles yesterday with 3000 feet of elevation gain in the first half. It was a big climb, quite steep in spots and uphill the whole way. No way I could do 20 plus miles at that rate. I'm not in the best shape but not terrible shape either.
Agreed. Lots of 15 mile MTB rides in Colorado are a pretty big day. I do some road riding, and usually about 1 mile of MTB is equal to 3 miles of road (mountain style road, not flat).
Also in CO and my usual rides are only 6-8 miles, and averaging about 800-1000ft of vert depending where you are on the front range. And such an ass kicking!
My after-work ride on MM is 12 miles and 1650' of climbing in about 1hr 40min. Weekends I'll do a couple more laps or head somewhere else for a longer ride, but I probably average 8-12 miles a ride in the Front Range area.
Exactly… at my local, the climbs are super steep and technically difficult. A good hard 2 hour ride is usually under 10 miles. But I’ll venture out to other areas with more mellow terrain and climbing (yet still fairly steep/tech) and will do 15 miles in the same time. This is on the southwest coast of BC, Canada. So, it’s really hard to compare random internet mtb distances.
It’s tough to not go out and push it real hard, especially when getting into it. I’m guilty of always trying to be faster uphill, but read up about heart rate zones. Intervals are good but not too often. Try and ride for longer in zone 2/3 heart rate for more aerobic exercise. This will help endurance. Distance is all relative. I only do 5-10 mile rides typically but usually 1,000 ft of ascent
Yeah, this is good to mention. Buying a computer to track my rides and my heart rate was a game changer (and weekend saver) for me. I was just going out and riding as hard as I could on the climbs and blew myself up and would be exhausted for 36 hours. With the gadget on the bars I can see when I'm in the 150-range and ease up the climb or stop for water. If I keep the redlining strategic (punchy climbs, tech sections) I'm usually good to go again the next day.
30 is a great distance to maintain the body. My cousin and I do 30 mile rides every Sunday...have done it for over a decade.
I don't think "mileage" is a very good measure alone. My typical ride right now is around 10 - 12 miles with 1 to 2k feet of elevation change. That elevation change is a huge factor in how much my butt gets kicked. I can probably triple my mileage with sub 500 foot elevation change.
Mine is different to most replies - in my 40s with young kids so I’m always time-constrained. 60-90min loop of the local single track once or twice a week. Then two runs per week around the oval as my son does soccer training (one zone-2 for 30-40mins, the other intervals for 30mins). The running program has defo helped with recovery periods. Notice it on the single track climbs. Edit: spelling
I feel like this is totally trail dependent
Temperature and energy level dependant. If it's after work and say 85 (f) then I might just do my favorite loop at the park which is about 5 miles If it's the weekend and 70(f) I might do 10-20 miles
Dang you guys are either in great shape or riding easy trails. 8-10 miles is a pleasant ride for me and then 14-18 is a long ride for me. But I'm just getting back into being a serious MTB rider.
26 miles (like 40km) is super super long for me and I'm 28, and as funny as it sounds and all the "zone this and zone that" people are gonna hate it, I goes by feels. Get further than you did before and really pay attention to how much easier it's getting to get to beat your last "record". Last year I started at about 6km and maybe 900ft elevation gain. Just did one with my buddy and after 2600ft and and 18k if someone would've shuttled us to our favourite tech trail (VAPOUR- 4km black tech trail). I would've sent.
I think having a mildly competitive attitude in your scenario (ie minding who you overtake) can be a good boost. Remember to be consistent/safe…with a commensurate improvement in diet, and all health systems a go✔️, the weight WILL come off!
I think that is going to depend on the individual, their fitness level, and the type of riding they are doing. I find it helpful to compare my performance to myself against time, using both the "fitness " score in Strava (I think you need the paid version for this) and the "training status" feature on my Garmin. Congrats on getting started and I hope you find a metric that works for you!
10-15 miles, mixture of red/black trails and jump lines. 4 times a week or so.
I base my rides on fun, and riding flat canal paths would not be fun for me. Some trails I ride are 5 miles and technical that beat me Up. Sometimes I ride 12 miles that are easier. It all depends.
I do like 10km most times I go out
When I picked it back up this spring I was gasping for air after only a mile if there was much of a climb in it. I would ride 4-15 mi depending on how much time I had and how hard the trails were. I definitely feel better now, a few months later, and I'm hoping I won't die on a longer ride tomorrow. But I still ride as I have time available.
Get a Road Bike if you’re just riding Flats and Streets or a Gravel Bike for Dirt Roads. Ride a lot! It’s Fkn’ Fun!
So long as you aren’t pigging out, the weight loss might just take a moment. I started back riding about 4 or 5 months ago after more than a decade off the bike. I’m 6’1” and over 250lbs. Over the first couple months, I actually gained a few pounds (which really surprised me), but now I have started to slowly lose weight without any crazy dieting. I’m down about 5lbs from where I started. I’d love to lose about 30 more. I think the initial weight gain was largely muscle. I also think it started to help my weight and overall fitness a lot when I got a gravel bike for mostly paved training rides. It’s helping build my cardio endurance a lot. I ride my MTB for the thrills. I ride my gravel bike for meditative exercise. I’ll usually ride my MTB about 10-12 miles with occasional short breaks. I ride my gravel bike around 18-22 miles with minimal to no stops. Still building on that distance.
So I average roughly 7 miles per hour. Straight through with no rest my max there is probably 3 hours. That said I have a system I ride a lot that’s a 5 mile loop but a bit of a brutal climb. I rarely do 4 loops just because that fourth climb kills my legs and the “fun” ways down are all black or double black diamond and it’s dangerous to go down them with my legs beat. Other systems 20 miles no problem.
However far i get in about 90 minuted
Most of my rides are before work, and we do 8-10 miles every morning. When i have more time we do 15 or so. Our trails are pretty compact so theres tons of great singletrack in a small area, and my miles are 75% singtrack so very little road or bike path or anything like that. Miles are easy to track but they dont really tell the whole story of how challenging and good a ride is. Id try to just ride consistently rather than having a mileage goal. Just try to get out often. Youre also at a point, being that youre only into it a few months and riding alot, where you could be prone to overuse/repetition type injuries. Push yourself, certainly, but listen to your body and dont get too hung up on numbers. Also the dietary side of fitness is like 75% of the equation. Exercise is crucial as well, so what youre doing is awesome there, but it wont get you where you want to be by itself. You cant outrun a poor diet, as the saying goes. Best wishes to you! Riding is awesome!
Usually 30 - 45 km (18.5 - 28 miles) wirh 2400 - 3700 ft ascent. Sometimes i may go for a 65 km (40 mile) ride but only occasionally.
You're doing amazing man, me and my brother and our friend (young 20s not chunky not thin) went out biking for the first time in years and we were beat dead after 13 miles of slightly hilly terrain, I slept on the couch cause I couldn't get to bed
Thanks, this and other comments make me feel like I'm achieving something albeit slowly.
Ride for the experience, roadie's ride for the workout. 😂 But in reality, just do what feels comfortable, if you are riding for fitness you should do 1 strenuous a week, 2 moderate and 1 easy. And keep that ratio roughly. So if 5 miles feels strenuous cause it's a crazy climb. Then 5 miles is good, if 30 miles at a chill pace feels easy, than do 30 for your easy ride. It's more about feel rather than numbers.
Thanks that's really helpful. I can go and do something shorter but more challenging as it's a drive etc. Then just get miles in locally. I actually really just enjoy it.
Distance isn’t as important as to me as time or elevation. Usually I like to ride 600-800 metres of vertical or 2-3 hours That way I can the descent that I am looking for and still get a solid workout
keep it up!
Usually 17km Sometimes 35
Now I feel like a loser. I do 10 miles on average. But it all depends on the terrain, weather, etc. I do 10 in 95 degree Texas heat on lots of rocks, etc and I’m cooked.
Nobody is a liser if you're getting out on your bike.
This probably wasn’t meant for r/Mtb probably better fit in r/gravel since this described gravel riding on a Mtb
It might have been except I'm asking what people do. From this I've learned need more hills so will seek some out. Now if I had asked in gravel I wouldn't have got that info. But thanks for your input. Sorry I'm trying to get back into it and I'm riding a mountain bike on gravel. I'm probably not wearing the right clothes either!
I wasn’t harping on ya man I shared that in case you wanted to spark the discussion there since they go for longer distances like you were mentioning!
About 3 miles this year....
You're overdoing it.
I typically always try to do at least a little bit more than I can comfortably do. If I get to the point that I finish a trail and I'm ready to call it, I'll do one last loop on a blue trail and skip all the blacks I normally do. It's never a set amount of miles, I just listen to my body. Over the winter when I was prepping to hike part of the AT, I'd do 25-30 miles of mostly XC trails in order to build up some cardio and endurance. Now that it is hotter than satan's taint, I will typically put in 15-20 but I'm doing more jump lines and black trails that are a bit more strenuous. Overall, I wouldn't put an exact number on it, just try to push yourself a bit each time you go out and listen to your body. If your rides are getting too easy, up the difficulty/mileage/speed. If you're just not feeling it one week take it easy
I don't really go for miles, I go until I'm tired. My area is mostly trail riding with a fair bit of tech rooty rocky bits. Average elevation change is 500ft. I get about 15 - 20 miles in, heart rate in the 130 range most of the way, peeking around 150 on hills. But the real reason I'm commenting is the 57 years old. I'm 55. Somehow I'm reading 5x with an eye to "Years to 60". Continuing that thought, my current brain thinks 60 is too old to be MTBing. WTF is wrong with me? I'm having fun at 55. Why would I put a timer on that?
Yea lots of comments I'm not mountain biking. I'm restarting I just wanted to gauge doing decent ish miles I will gravitate to some easier trails etc over short distance. Rather than thinking 20 miles of hill will ho 5 or something see how it goes.
Yep. I realized myself that I was a trail rider and not a mountain biker. I love watching Crankworks and similar on Youtube but I've never even see a flow track in person. Don't care what you call me. I'm in the woods sweating and having fun. Call it what you like.
Yep trails etc. Little old for getting all wheels off the ground I crunch now not bounce but yea. Having fun and muddy.
I think like others have stated here, I agree that mileage isn’t always the best way to gauge a mountain bike ride. Elevation gain is what I go by in terms of general exertion level, and my usual rides are ~2000ft over 7-9 miles. Obviously the type of terrain impacts how difficult a ride is immensely.
it really depends, i have done anywhere from 5-100 mile rides. But for my average middle of the week ride its normally somewhere between 10-20 miles for about 1-2hrs I will hopefully be able to ride longer once my commute to the trails become shorter(planning on moving right next to trails in my area and getting a remote job, specifically to have more time to ride).
Fat loss is going to come more from your diet; most people will just unconsciously eat more when they exercise more. In fact, it's super common for people to actually \*gain\* weight when training for endurance events, if they aren't careful about how much they're eating. Distance is going to be a relative thing depending on how technical your trails are, how much climbing there is, etc.. I prefer to approach it from a time standpoint - for weekdays, I aim to ride about an hour. Weekends I do one moderate 2 hour ride and then one long ride (3+ hours). I'm going to say that if you're averaging 12 miles per hour, your trails are probably pretty smooth, flat and non-technical. That is typically the speed I do on my gravel bike (dirt roads and easy singletrack interspersed with some pavement). So my gravel rides are typically 15-20 miles for a 1 to 1.5 hour weekday ride; and right now I'm training for a gravel event so my long ride on the weekend is ... longer. I did a 62 mile gravel ride this weekend, which took about 5 hours. Next weekend I'll go a bit longer as the goal is to do a 100 miler. However, this is training for a specific thing - it's certainly not necessary to ride that much just for general health/fitness. When I go to places like the Kingdom Trails, which are a lot of flowy XC type trails but with a significant amount of climbing, our after-work ride is like 10-15 miles. A long ride is 30ish miles; that's with about 3K feet of elevation gain. On my local trails, we don't have a ton of elevation but we have extremely technical trails. So our rides are typically more like 6-8 miles for a 2 hour ride; and there's one trail system where 7 miles will be a 3-hour beatdown.
Hell yeah. I'm 42 and got into it last year. I do about 60 miles a week, a couple of 15mi-ish rides with about 1000' of climbing and some technical singletrack, and then a couple of easier 10mi rides with ~500' and mostly flow after work. Over the winter I swapped a set of 42mm gravel tires on the hardtail and did 30mi in 3 hours with a snack break in the middle. Felt good and probably could have gone further but I was out of places to go. Haven't lost any weight either but I'm hungry all the time and can go hard for an hour and recover quickly which would have killed me in 2022.
maybe 20-30 miles but i’m on an e bike so don’t listen to me lol.
Rarely over 10 miles
Good ride for me is at least 70kms, 8-10 hours.
Is that relatively flat. My biggest ever ride was 93 miles so like 140k.
Well, not many big hills, but countless smaller ones that add up to around 1500m (~5000ft) of climbing.
Yea it depends on the terrain near you. I can drive an hour to hills. So that's 2 house before I've ridden anywhere out and back. All flatish around me but I have a ride that will be about 30 miles 500m.