Getting more distance

[henryjay]

I am fairly new to cycling, what is the best way to get used to riding more distance? at the moment I can push out 25km reasonably easy (albeit with a sore bum) but tend to run out of bike paths.

Is there a good novice local ride someone could advise that doesn't have any monster hills leaving from the wet Belconnen area?

I am keen to push out to a 1.5hr ride which I guess would be around the 35km mark (at my current av speed)..

Should I just ride for as long as I can, or is there a more scientific approach to training for distance?

[HAKS]

What does your normal ride consist of?

I found the best way to get my rides up was to go to new places. I use to always just do a lap of LBG when i lived north side or a few laps of Lake Tuggers when i was south. Then got a GPS for my bike and suddenly found myself analysing my rides, and then looking for places further a field to challenge me. I ride a lot on bike paths so don't let that deter you, Cbr does have a great network of them. So what i would say is look for little extra loops you can add onto your current ride which give you a small challenge but also the peace of mind that you know you'll be back on your normal route soon should it go wrong.

Eg. If you go a lap of LBG, maybe turn off near the Governor generals place and do lap of woden/weston creek then back to the lake. Or from Belco, maybe cruise out to Gunners and back into town, then back to Belco. Either of those should add 15km to your ride etc Before you know it you'll be looking for little extensions on those routes and so forth.

[s-s-a]

Ride from west Belco down to the lake, then back thru the inner north to the bike path along Gungahlin Drive, up to the golf club then back to Belco down the bike path along Gundaroo Drive.

Once you know how far it is from your place to the lake (near Glenloch interchange, use the bike path that starts at the corner of Benjamin Way and Belconnen Way going up thru Cook) and how far it is back to your place from the Botanic Gardens/ANU area via Palmerston, then you can add on more bits and pieces eg
- around West Basin (over dam and Commonwealth Ave bridge)
- around West and Central Basins (over dam and Kings Ave bridge)
- around entire lake
- over the dam, along the bike path to Woden (Melrose Drive) then back via Weston and up the bike path from Cotter Rd to the dam
- over the dam, thru Woden and past Mawson along the bike path that follows Athllon Drive, around Lake Tuggeranong and back via the bike path along the western side of the Parkway, Weston etc

You can no doubt add more loops in Tuggeranon and Gungahlin but I'm not so familiar with the bike path networks there.

I find it hard to believe that you are running out of bike path after 25km! From my place in Weston Ck to the lake and around via Commonwealth Ave bridge is nearly 29km and I once rode to the airport/Pialligo and back I think that was about 50km.

Steph

[rockviewau]

ride to my place in mawson, i can get to belco only on paths and return.. thats roughly 40 odd kms.

as far as riding longer distances, im a newbie too, and all i did to get distance (i struggled doing 15kms around western LBG basin in jan, to recently doing a few over 60kms ride over different terrain. One ride i did (65kms) i dont think i would have ridden on road for more than a km.

if ur new and wanna go to the lake or elsewhere, im happy to show u around a few new spots.... as im not on a road bike, i do 35kms in about 1hr 40??