Old school cycling wisdom says that base miles matter. If you’ve been off the bike over the winter, come spring you should spin for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. The idea is that you ride lots and lots in a nice easy gear putting in “base miles” before big gears, sprinting, climbing and the like. Of course, there’s those youngsters who question this. See Is base training a myth?
How many base kms? It depends what your goals are really. Some road cycling websites recommend 500 miles but surely that’s for the very serious distance racer.
I have bunch of old school cycling buddies who offer very strict advice on such matters as never ever riding without knee warmers when it’s less than 20 degrees. They dutifully log base miles.
Mostly these are older men in their sixties and seventies. Mostly I listen. After all, they’ve been at this much longer than me.
I might not get enough base kms but I try not to push too hard when I first get back on the bike. I do ride easy for the first few weeks
However, this year I’ve been riding my bike on the trainer and taking spin classes. I’m wondering what difference that will make? What does official wisdom say? Can I forgo the base miles thing?
I’m in Arizona for a week riding. Not training, no formal goals. I’ll let you know how it feels.
