I’m trying to get to 100km per week...

[littlefireseverywhere]

I’ve been cycling for a year, just got new gravel bike. Want to build up my fitness & also distance. Currently cycling 2x20 km and 2 x 10 km, how should I build up?

Each week, I should add!

I don't do gravel biking, just road biking, so slightly different but I find one long ride a week does it. My target is 100km a week too.

I tend to do 2 x 20km-ish during the week and 60-70km at the weekend on one ride. It becomes a ritual, and even though 60km seems a lot - you take breaks, stop, don't be going for a PB, just enjoy it and before you know it, it is over.

Worst case 60km is a 3 hour ride!

Add a little bit each week - 10% Do this for 3 consecutive weeks, then take an ‘easy’ week every 4th week.

I wouldn’t focus on distance either, it’s fairly meaningless. For example 100km in Norfolk isn’t the same as 100km in Yorkshire. The latter would take much longer and would be much harder on your body due to all the climbing.

Also if you are intending to do a lot off road, given you have a gravel bike, that would also be much tougher going.

There are some great free plans on the British Cycling website.

Happy peddling.

Where do you actually ride your bike, OP? I imagine not on gravel.

4x 25km would reach your goal. That's just 4x1.5 hours a week, right?

Thank you for all the comments. I cycle in the Cotswolds, so it's not the YOrkshire Dales but also not flat. Undulating hills, I think. I do a combination of single track roads, and not too bumpy untarmacked roads / bridleways. Just been out this morning, did a fairly flatish route, only 180m of elevation (according to Strava) and 16km took me 1 hr 5 mins. I'm still quite unfit!

Also I love it, that feeling of freedom is totally amazing! I'm certainly hooked. In fact finding time to cycle has taken over family & work life at the moment.

Yay! Welcome to the club. I prioritise bike time over pretty much everything else, it makes me feel so good and so satisfied and happy. I know I’m a better parent, partner and worker as a result. It’s a complete obsession and total addiction. There’s nothing like it. I even own an array of marvellous gadgets (Burley trailer, Followme tandem and kids ride shotgun seat) purely so DS (age 4.5) can join me so I don’t miss any possible bike time 😂 He just thinks it’s normal to go on 3-4 hour bike rides as it’s what he’s done since 5 months.

That doesn’t sound slow, especially off road. There’s an old saying I love “it never gets easier, you just go faster.”

That saying totally resonates, it doesn't get easier but you do get there quicker. When I started off, i was doing around 7km per hour, so I've definitely got quicker. I just find I've not the confidence to go very quickly downhill, interested in how to work on that too.

Hehe - I joined a gym this week and am exhausted after doing 4km on an exercise bike at the lowest setting! You have my admiration OP!

It really depends on how much time you have and when. I reckon you are riding about 15kmph). To do 100k a week you will need about 6.5 hours over the week.

Your longest ride at the moment sounds like about 1 hr 20m so I would build this up 20m at a time until you get to 2hrs 20m. Also add 15m per week to your shorter rides.
If you have time you can build in a break to your longer rides. Aim for a coffee shop about 15-20k away for an incentive.
Don't worry about speed. It will come with you noticing. Best idea would be to get a heart rate monitor and work out what level you can comfortably ride at for at least a hour without a break. This should be around 75% of your max HR. If you then ride to this target you will find yourself going further without realising it.

Going downhill is mainly confidence. If you learn to corner well then you will become more confident downhill. In the meantime when going down shift you weight towards the back of your seat and push down on your pedals which should be such that the cranks are horizontal (ie position of clock hands at 3:45) unless your are cornering.

On corners push down on your outside leg (cranks at 6 o'clock) and tilt your inside knee out very slightly. You can practice this on flatter corners but need enough speed to stop pedalling to get a feel for it.

@Mumski45 I'll give that a go, I know alot of it it practice. Have to say, it's great to talk bikes. I talk to some friends and all of a sudden I'm a middle aged cycling bore.

I did lots of off-road cycling in Cotswolds last year -- fun :).

And muddy.
Don't think I was much faster but we got lost a lot is main reason.