Biking can be fun and beneficial to the body and the overall health of a person. It is an excellent form of exercise to get your body moving. However, how hard and how many miles should you bike a day?
The answer to this question is not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing. Ideally, five miles of biking daily is ideal if you want a regular exercise in your body. However, there are many factors to consider when it comes to determining the frequency of your bike ride to fit your body’s capability.
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How Many Miles Should You Bike a Day?
At this stage, there is no point in saying that you will need to ride a bike for a specific distance every day. Because each of us has a different level of experience when it comes to biking. If you are new, you will probably struggle biking for 30 minutes in a single ride. If you have more experience, you can probably do more.
However, there are basic factors you will need to remember when it comes to determining the frequency of your biking activities. Please see the list below.
Your Fitness Level
In many ways, biking is all about the battle between your fitness level and fatigue. What you do not want to happen is for the fatigue to start winning that battle. If it does, you will be inviting the risk of overtraining and potential strain and injuries.
There are times that it can also lower your immune system leaving you open to sicknesses such as colds and infections. So, the best way to prevent all of these things from happening is to give yourself enough recovery time between your bike rides.
So, it is not about biking daily, especially if you are new to biking. But how long is the recovery time? It will all be determined by your fitness level and how hard you push yourself during the last ride.
Your Skill Level
If you are a beginner, it is normal for you to be tired and physically drained after a long ride which is more than your comfort zone. The suggestion is for you to take a recovery time until such time that they feel normal and their legs fully recovered.
It may take a day, a week, or more, depending on the biker’s condition and how they feel physically. If you are ready physically, then you can take your bike again and start biking on the road. Only you will know the right time for you to ride again.
However, if you are an experienced rider who wants to go the extra mile and ride outside your comfort zone, it is expected that you will be biking for a much longer distance. It is likely that the recovery time will only be a few hours.
Your Personal Biking Goals
Another factor to consider is your personal biking goals. Questions such as what do you want to achieve with your biking? Do you want to maintain the fitness you already have, or do you want to improve it?
If you want to maintain your fitness level, my suggestion is to be consistent with the current intensity of your ride. However, if you’re going to improve it, you want to increase the intensity, but it will take you more time to recover. If your fitness level is excellent, it is expected for you to recover quickly.
It will also be better for you to calculate your heart rate to know your current biking condition. Apps like Strava have the ability to determine how much time you spend on different heart rate zones while out on the ride and will also give you a glimpse of how much hard you push yourself during the ride.
Also, by measuring your heart rate, you can also determine the right amount of time for your recovery. Your heart rate will take time before coming back to its normal resting base rate. You will also need to learn to listen to your body when checking if you are fully recovered or not.
How Much Distance Should I Bike Daily If I am a Beginner?
If you are still new to biking, you will need to build up slowly. You will need to start short and easy. I suggest riding about 3 miles at first. Then, you will need to build up slowly during your early days.
Then, you can increase the frequency of your ride gradually. The once-a-week ride will become twice a week and so on. The 3 miles become 5 miles, then 6 miles and longer. But do not forget to rest in between. Make sure you have the best recovery time to prepare your body physically and mentally on the next ride.
Another way to improve your performance is to keep track of every achievement you have made. You can record yourself and track your progress. If you plan to navigate longer miles, you can join local cycling clubs and ride in groups. Doing this action will undoubtedly help you improve.
You will need to check on your progress and try to increase it gradually. Any changes you will make in terms of the distance you want to achieve should be small. These small changes can be handled by your body easily compared to big ones, which have the potential to get you injured.
Keep on Improving at Steady Rate
The best thing about biking is once you get used to it, extending the ride will become much easier once your body adapts to it. Riding 6 to 12 miles every week is already beneficial to the body but will not make your body beat up too much.
However, if you are an experienced rider and are in excellent physical condition, riding 60 miles a week will be just a piece of the cake. And reaching this distance for a weekly target is a great feeling, but you need to work hard for it if you are a beginner.
Always remember that there is no hurry when making this improvement. Keep on improving at a slow and steady rate but make sure that your body can recover well before doing another ride.
Conclusion
How many miles should you bike a day? There are different factors to consider when it comes to determining how many miles to bike daily. But the most important thing is to know your fitness level and skill level so that you can formulate your goals and aspirations when it comes to the distance you want for every bike ride.