How short is too short?

[Louis]

I mean time for a ride. Get you mind out of the gutter.

Let's say you're super-busy and don't have much time to ride. (This includes trainer workouts inside.)

Less than 20 min I figure I might as well not bother.

At what point do you say "it's just not worth it?"

45 minutes, 30 min, 15?

Louis

[shinomaster]

I truly believe it all adds up. My 10 minute commute, is two short intervals a day.

[merckx]

Short rides are more for the brain than the body, so they certainly count.

[stevep]

i got a mini loop thats 50 minutes... if its getting dark or something
less that that i dont really do.

[Grant McLean]

I mean time for a ride. Get you mind out of the gutter.

Let's say you're super-busy and don't have much time to ride. (This includes trainer workouts inside.)

Less than 20 min I figure I might as well not bother.

At what point do you say "it's just not worth it?"

45 minutes, 30 min, 15?

Louis

If you're "too busy" to find time to ride for at least an hour a few times a week,
honestly, I think one needs to examine their priorities in life...

just sayin'

-g

[chuckroast]

It's 10 minutes to the grocery store, nothing wrong with that....especially if wine is on the list.

[Frankwurst]

I've always said riding is like putting money in the bank...every little bit helps and it all adds up. :beer:

[CNY rider]

25 minutes gets me from my front door to work.

Seems like a nothing of a ride.

Yet my day seems much better any time I ride to work.

Outside of commuting/grocery run type stuff I don't really do rides less than an hour.

But any day I ride is a good one. :beer:

[thwart]

It's been 2-3 wks since I've been on the road rather than the rollers... snow, snow and snow, cold and wind.

10 minutes sounds pretty good to me right now.

[Kevan]

short enough to keep you interested.

My 'round the block ride is about 45 minutes long, about 13 miles long. Any less would be too short.

[girlie]

you ride it.....
Longer is always more satisfying and memorable.
Shorter if done properly is exhausting and yet satisfying.

I like the out and back repeated.....you always know what to expect and where you are at......long or short if done properly you will be happy.

[Grant McLean]

Pedal power and the glory as Scot breaks record for global cycle




By CLAIRE SMITH
HE HAS cycled 18,000 miles, endured floods, stomach cramps and road rage, been mugged and knocked off his bike and spent the night in a Pakistan police cell.
But yesterday, with tears in his eyes, 25-year-old Mark Beaumont, of Fife, finally fulfilled his dream of becoming the fastest round-the-world cyclist.

The Scot reached the finish line at the Champs Elysées in Paris at 2:30pm – 195 days and six hours after he set off – smashing the previous record of 276 days.

Mr Beaumont was given a rapturous reception at the finish line by his mother, Una, father, Kevin, and sisters Heather and Hannah.

He said: "It's an absolutely fantastic feeling to achieve the world record after six months on the road.

"I could hardly get over the finishing line because so many people turned out. The last two days on the road have been hard, but about 40km from Paris the adrenaline kicked in and I flew up the last hills.

"I'm going to celebrate and then crash out. I think it will take a while for it to sink in."

The endurance cyclist, who has pedalled an average of more than 100 miles a day for six months, said his priority would be to get some rest.

"It's great to see my friends and family and now I'm looking forward to getting some sleep.

"The challenge was one of those things which was out there to be done. I love the idea of being the first and the fastest."

Hannah Beaumont, who travelled back from a gap year in Shanghai to surprise her brother, said: "I've never experienced anything like it. There were camera crews all around and Mark had tears running down his face. He had such a look on his face when he realised I was in the country. It was very emotional and wonderful."

She added: "Mark's in really good health. He is a little bit sore but he's on good form. He's been really well looked after."

Mr Beaumont, an economics and politics graduate from Newburgh in Fife, received messages of congratulation from Prince William and Olympic cyclist Chris Hoy, who said: "I think it's an amazing feat he's achieved."

Prince Philip is also said to have kept a close eye on Mr Beaumont's progress and his support team have been sending regular updates to Buckingham Palace.

Una Beaumont, who co-ordinated her son's epic journey, said: "I am very proud of him. With Mark, the passion is being the first and the fastest, and that has definitely helped him through all the challenges and it will mean a huge amount. It's about pushing himself to the limit.

" I believe that (the record] will be his for a very long time – it'll take another very special person to do what Mark's done."

Amarilis Espinoza, a spokeswoman for Guinness World Records, said the organisation had been following the cyclist's progress.

She added: "We are very excited for Mark to be arriving in Paris. We will be reviewing documentation from him and our researchers will go through the paperwork, but it has been logged as an official attempt and it seems everything is in order."


Last Updated: 15 February 2008 9:43 PM

[DarrenCT]

grant is the man

[djg]

Sometimes it's nice just to stretch the legs. If I cannot get out for a ride, 2 or 3 miles to the store doesn't count as a workout, but it can be good for clearing the head in a way that driving won't.

As for a quick workout, here's about a half hour on the rollers: 10 minute warm-up, just spin in the little ring, then put it in a big gear and wind it up -- 3 minutes on, 3 easy, 3 minutes on, 3 easy, 5 minutes on, and spin 5 to cool down. I'm not saying it's the greatest workout, but it's quick and you get the feet spinning, and get the heart up, and it feels like you did something. Honestly, even just spinning for a half hour can feel a lot better than doing nothing.

Outside? There's a good hill loop in my neighborhood -- if I can get an hour, I can warm up and then do a little work.

Or you could ride around the world or something.

[soulspinner]

40 minutes fast. Less than that... do sumthin else.

[alancw3]

40 minutes and 15miles m or l.

[handsomerob]

For me, if it has been a while, I can ride around in my driveway watching the kids or put them in the trailer and take them to the park less than a mile away and still get that little smile.

[barry1021]

that's what the fixie is for isn't it????

b21

[giordana93]

It's relative. If it's the difference between having 0 miles in a week vs. only 5, then anything, even 2 miles is worth doing, especially if it can be a 3 minute warm up ramping up to a "let's see how long I can keep it at 25 mph" effort of 5 minutes or so. You don't gain much fitness from it, but you do hold on to whatever fitness you have just a bit longer (including keeping the sit bones-butt on hard saddle fitness!) I never counted the 2 mile commute to school in mileage when I used to get at least 100+ miles weekly, but have come to appreciate it now that kids have come along (and they got to big for the trailer to be dragged through the snow!). I think the trade off point is if it takes you longer to get dressed and undressed than you can spend on a ride, then better to go on a run or something, but don't discount the benefits of the high intensity (even in street clothes) 1.5 mile interval (which you can vary between a huge gear effort or a high rpm to work on form, or, as someone said, a fixed gear)

[BillyBear]

with spandex on road bike(s), 1 hour minimum

w/o spandex on computer....no minimum

[avalonracing]

10 minutes on the trainer is 9 minutes too long.

[Ginger]

I think that: "it's too short of a distance or time so it won't do me any good" is what is causing quite a few people weight issues.

10 minute walk to the store won't do me any good, I'll just take the car.
10 minute bike ride won't do me any good, I'll just wait till I have time to go further.
And then they wonder why they're 10lbs over the weight they want to be at.

Now...I will say if you don't have a bike you can just hop on and ride, I might agree with this...to get all kitted up for 10 minutes? Yeah, there's a problem there...but if you're only going for 10 minutes, take the bike with the flat pedals and comfy saddle! You're not going to get a real robust workout in in 10 minutes...but you will get the blood moving.

This was really highlighted to me at NAHBS. I didn't have a bike or a car, so I walked just about everywhere...and even though I ate three times the calories that I usually do at home? I didn't gain any weight.

I didn't loose any either...but considering the caloric consumption above my usual, I'm not surprised.

[FMS_rider]

In summer I have no minimum ride time. In winter, however, especially this winter when most of my rides have been in the teens or less, I rarely go out for less than 40 mins because it takes ~20mins to get on all the layers, ~10mins to get them off, and a minimum of 10mins to get the "chunks" off the bike. My only short ride this winter was last week when I turned around after wading through a snowdrift that was >1 ft deep for ~200 yards while carrying my 27 pound studded-tire bike, then spotted another one coming up after riding for no more than 1/4 mile.

hmmm, I just looked up the record from my "snowdrift" ride --I covered only 5.3 miles but riding time was 41min 37sec (excluding carrying time); temp was -5 deg F with ~20 knot wind avg with gusts to 28 knots (a knot is ~12 mph --there is a real-time weather station near where I live that plots wind speed in knots). It had stopped snowing before my ride but the plows could not keep up with the drifting on small country roads.

edit: Ooops, a knot is ~1.2mph (dropped the decimal) --although Wisconsin winter weather can be brutal the winds rarely make it into 250-300mph range.

On re-reading I also noticed that I wandered way OT --since I always ride alone I never have anyone to share my adventures with. (OK, so I am now looking for sympathy as well as bragging --but I am old so maybe both are allowed?)
Lew

[manet]

sometimes after cleaning and adjusting my bike i take a lap or two around the block. it's great fun.

[Ray]

I've been thinking about this lately and took a 30 mile ride yesterday that confirmed a lot of my suspicions.

NO ride is too short.

In the past, I'd ridden a lot during the 9 non-winter months and during the winter, snuck in 'real' rides when I could. But most of my winter riding was limited to my measly 2 mile each way commute and similarly short trips to the store. Even the little half mile ride into town to pick something up at the drug store or stop at the bank was long enough to jump on the townie rather than walk. I never really thought of this stuff as 'riding', it was just getting around. And when I managed to get out for 30-40 miles, I always felt OK - not great, but good enough.

I don't have a commute anymore - working from a home office now. And last summer we moved and now its only two blocks to the drug store or bank. So I walk all the time, but I just don't have that many little trips around town on the bike anymore. Even the grocery store is only about a half mile now. And I have a new car, so I've been driving more than usual, and can usually pick up groceries on the way back from somewhere. So the bottom line is I've ridden almost not at all this winter. Practically zip. And I hadn't been out on a REAL ride in almost a month, which is a bit long but not all that unusual for this time of year.

And the thirty miles I did yesterday nearly killed me. Its about as easy a loop as there is around here. A couple of longish, gentle climbs and one good steep one, but only about a quarter mile long. Quite a few little rollers. A bit of a headwind on the way out and tailwind on the way back. But I was dying. I've finished plenty of centuries feeling much stronger than I did yesterday.

This has never happened in past winters when I was doing lots of 'meaningless' little short rides to the store and work. Literally a mile or two or less, in street clothes, not going for speed, just going. But the lack of these rides made a real difference. Hell, my knees hurt today. I just hadn't been putting ANY of that kind of strain on the muscles and connective tissue and my 48 year old carcass REALLY feels the difference. I've been active this winter - not just sitting on my butt, but essentially no riding. And I feel like I did the first few months I was riding - just nothing. I was in mountain bike like granny gears on the one steep climb - I NEVER use those gears in normal riding, but I sure did yesterday.

NO ride is too short. Keep doing it, regardless. This is a mistake I'm vowing not to make again. This spring is gonna hurt like hell and its all because of the zillions of short little rides I didn't do this winter.

-Ray

[FMS_rider]

I've been thinking about this lately and took a 30 mile ride yesterday that confirmed a lot of my suspicions.

NO ride is too short.

In the past, I'd ridden a lot during the 9 non-winter months and during the winter, snuck in 'real' rides when I could. But most of my winter riding was limited to my measly 2 mile each way commute and similarly short trips to the store. Even the little half mile ride into town to pick something up at the drug store or stop at the bank was long enough to jump on the townie rather than walk. I never really thought of this stuff as 'riding', it was just getting around. And when I managed to get out for 30-40 miles, I always felt OK - not great, but good enough.

I don't have a commute anymore - working from a home office now. And last summer we moved and now its only two blocks to the drug store or bank. So I walk all the time, but I just don't have that many little trips around town on the bike anymore. Even the grocery store is only about a half mile now. And I have a new car, so I've been driving more than usual, and can usually pick up groceries on the way back from somewhere. So the bottom line is I've ridden almost not at all this winter. Practically zip. And I hadn't been out on a REAL ride in almost a month, which is a bit long but not all that unusual for this time of year.

And the thirty miles I did yesterday nearly killed me. Its about as easy a loop as there is around here. A couple of longish, gentle climbs and one good steep one, but only about a quarter mile long. Quite a few little rollers. A bit of a headwind on the way out and tailwind on the way back. But I was dying. I've finished plenty of centuries feeling much stronger than I did yesterday.

This has never happened in past winters when I was doing lots of 'meaningless' little short rides to the store and work. Literally a mile or two or less, in street clothes, not going for speed, just going. But the lack of these rides made a real difference. Hell, my knees hurt today. I just hadn't been putting ANY of that kind of strain on the muscles and connective tissue and my 48 year old carcass REALLY feels the difference. I've been active this winter - not just sitting on my butt, but essentially no riding. And I feel like I did the first few months I was riding - just nothing. I was in mountain bike like granny gears on the one steep climb - I NEVER use those gears in normal riding, but I sure did yesterday.

NO ride is too short. Keep doing it, regardless. This is a mistake I'm vowing not to make again. This spring is gonna hurt like hell and its all because of the zillions of short little rides I didn't do this winter.

-Ray Thanks for your post. I love to hear about bikes but get much more pleasure from reading personal accounts from people who ride them. I wish more people were willing to post them. I am supposed to be a professional, but am anything but when I log in here, and posts like yours make me feel more at home.
Thanks.
Lew