Is a 7 mile cycle ride considered "nothing" or fairly good going?

[JudyOha]

I'm not the fittest person but I'm mid-20s, female and had cycled 7 miles the other day (mostly a flat route with some slight uphill and downhill bits). I know it depends on the person but if you're reasonably fit, I'd like your view on the 7 mile distance.

I really admire people who can do like the London to Brighton or even London to Paris cycle routes.. there's no way I would manage that. I don't know how just normal people do it?!

Not sure about cycling it, but I consider it a good distance if I'm running it!

I think any exercise is brilliant and anyone who is active is doing a good thing. I don't think 7 miles on the flat is particularly hard work though especially for a healthy person in their 20s.

Fairly good going, especially if you do it regularly

Did your get out of breath and sweaty?
It's a good indicator that your body is working harder than usual, therefore, a good thing.

It’s a good starting point. Next time you’ll be able to a little further, and feel more comfortable with the distance.

I don’t think it’s anything to write home about , my quite out of shape 60 yr old husband does 8 miles every morning on his exercise bike on the hardest setting . That said anything is better than nothing .

At you age I’d think that was what you should be able to do at least (depending on how steep). I’m 57 and as long as mainly flat would be very embarrassed if I couldn’t manage that and I’m carrying quite a bit extra weight!

Well, fitness is cumulative - the more you do, the fitter you get, so that's how "normal people" do it ... they're just like you, but they do more exercise more regularly.

7 miles on a bike is fine, but it's not a long way at all.

Well. All exercise is good. And anything that changes a car drive to a bike is even better. However DH and I are early 40s and consider a 15 to 20 miles ride a nice easy pop around the villages for a bit of fun, and no we're not super fit or anything. 7miles is probably like walking a mile.

7 miles is better than 6 miles

I wouldn't think twice about doing 7 miles, but I'm a regular cyclist. I find cycling to be the most reliable way of fitting exercise into my life as it's transport (instead of getting the bus / driving) rather than having to set aside a portion of my day for exercise.

I rarely count how many miles I've done on the bike - it gets me from A to B and that's fine.

If you do want to do London to Brighton or Paris, keep building up distances incrementally and try to work cycling into your daily routine. You'll find yourself getting fitter and able to go for longer distances almost without realising it

It's 7 miles further than I do, so, looking at it like that - it is great.

If you were a regular cyclist, doing 75miles over a weekend day out, it would barely be a warm up.

So, it depends. Why do you need to compare? If you are just starting out, then that's great. If you want to improve your fitness then do that regularly, or gradually increase distance and/or height climbed.

When people start the C25K (running) it is a gentle walk round the block as the first sep, and the idea is it builds up to a 5k run. Would the same apply to your ride?

It’s fine but nothing special, but all exercise is good. If it helps, DH cycles 15 miles to work and then 15 miles back every working day. He’s in in 50s. If he goes cycling for fun, he’d do about 40 miles. He has done some of those 100 mile charity courses as well.

I've just moved from running to cycling because of injury. For me 7 miles would be a steady run, about average and short bike ride. I've been doing little 11 mile ones this week after work and aim to increase this over weekend. And get faster, my average was 10mph which is slower than I used to run at my fastest!

But its about improving yourself, against yourself. Plan out slightly longer and longer routes, don't increase too quickly. Do you get sweaty, red, out of breath? That's the test.

I wouldn’t say it’s far - I can cycle that as part of my gym cardio routine, however if you feel it’s increasing your fitness and are out of breath after it, and gradually building up to longer, faster or more challenging hilly rides, that’s good.

Oh right, my entire back and face was covered in sweat (but that might also be slightly due to being over-dressed for the warm weather). I do have mild asthma as well so was a bit out of breath.

If it’s the first time you’ve cycled in ages then that’s a decent distance to get you started. The great thing about cycling is that you get fitter quickly if you just keep doing it regularly. My daily commute is 8miles one way, with some hills. I’m an otherwise totally non-sporty middle aged woman. If I haven’t cycled in a bit I’ll dread the way back at first and feel wiped out, say, on the Monday evening. However if I persist in cycling it will already feel a lot lighter by Wednesday, and by Friday I’ll tackle the last big hill without getting off.

Just by cycling to work I’ve built up enough stamina to go on weekend rides of about 30-50 miles, and I have cycled from London to Brighton and even London to Paris eventually, all on my single speed commuter bike!

Having said that, I have absolutely no ambition to race or hit any particular speeds; as long as I get there eventually I’m happy!

Make sure your tyres are well pumped up and everything is well oiled and properly set up for you, this can make a considerable difference in terms of how much energy you expend and how enjoyable the experience is.

Trust me, if you can do 7 miles you’ll be able to do 50 miles or more, just keep going and you’ll build up strength and stamina before you know it.

It's nothing amazing or anything to write home about (most people I know who cycle would consider 15/20 miles a short ride and then 50+ a longer ride), but it's a great start and any exercise is better than no exercise

Exercise and fitness is about gradually bettering yourself and everyone has to start somewhere. People doing too much too soon risks injury and being put off.
Keep going and well done.

Thanks everyone so far :)

@MsAdventures yes that totally makes sense - thanks :)

Does anyone else always find the first mile toughest of all? The 7th mile was only 10% as hard as the first mile. I was also told I have tight hamstrings so I don't know if that's limiting me in any way for cycling?

If you have asthma that you notice while cycling, take your blue before you start. Your body will like not being unduly stressed.

7miles and getting warm is a great start and many people won’t be able to do that.

If your hamstrings are tight, cycling may make them tighter so stretching afterwards is a really good idea. 30s or more trying to touch your toes for example ( sitting with legs straight in front of you can be nicer than tipping from waist if you get light headed!)

It's better than sitting in a car but as far as calories burnt or getting your heart rate up it's minimal depending on how flat it is. Generally you need to cycle at least double, really triple the distance you would walk (we would walk about 8 miles typically)

It's certainly a great start!
But I mainly posted to say this, I recently did the Manchester to Blackpool bike ride and my sister wanted to come along....she did no training, drinks and smokes lol and she completed it with me 😁 she is a bit bonkers like that but if she can do 60 miles anybody can!

I cycle for transport rather than fitness so rarely do much more than twenty miles, but can do twenty without too much difficulty. Once you get going, keeping going seems straightforward enough.

Mind you, it does depend on the bike. I've got a hybrid, which is slightly harder work than a road bike, however I recently offered to ride a friend's bike back for them. Only five miles but I swear I felt them a hell of a lot more on his mountain bike....didnt help that the tyres weren't as fully pumped up as they could have been but it didn't half make a difference.

7 miles is not very far to cycle but it's a start.

Tight hamstrings won't limit your ability to cycle, but cycling will exacerbate this so you really need to do plenty of stretching several days a week to help with the hamstrings.

I did 25 miles recently with one small practice ride (of about 8 miles) and I'm quite unfit.

There were hills.
I couldn't do the hills, I had to walk up them. But I did the rest of it, even though it was hard work.

It's bloody good exercise though. I should get out more often, I actually really enjoyed it (apart from the up hills!)