How many miles does a Tour De France rider ride a day?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bergauk
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bergauk

bergauk

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I'm just curious, as I'm trying to plan out a really long ride to go visit a friend via bike and she lives well outside of a days riding distance. I can do about 40 miles a day on average without getting exhausted. I'm curious how far I could go past that before stepping into crazy levels like a rider in the Tour De France does.
 
Ah, so my goal of 70 a day isn't too insane. I'm hoping to make it a 2 day trip, and I was just curious as to how close I'd be to getting near professional caliber.
 
That still sounds pretty crazy to me. I guess now we'll know what happened if we don't hear from you for a while. ;)
 
Yeah, its not going to happen for a while ;) Gotta be able to do 70 miles a day for two days locally before I can go do the actual ride. That means I have to plan a whole new route to do past my normal 40mile one. :crazy:
 
Just do the 40 mile ride twice. Or at least work up to it.

And I like gmap-pedometer for laying things like this out.
 
I've thought of that, but its actually a really boring and I don't think I could stand it twice in a day. I'd rather just slowly add onto the ride and make it longer.
 
Really, though, a 100+ mile ride isn't that far. Back when I used to race competitively, we would have 60-100 mile practices on a regular basis, depending on what we did. We'd run those in about a four or five hour cycle, sometimes that extra distance being optional. On the hot, damp, early summer days - I'd always be up for the extra 20 miles.
 
Are there a lot of hills around in this area? 40-50 miles on flat road should be no problem at all. Where in CA are you riding too?
 
opendriver
Are there a lot of hills around in this area? 40-50 miles on flat road should be no problem at all. Where in CA are you riding too?
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Riding from my house in the San Jose area, to Calaveras county. Its about 120 miles, San Jose to Stockton is going to be mostly flat I presume. But the rest of the road from there on I'm not sure how its going to be. Maybe light hills. I've been in the area she lives before but not on bike so the conditions and roads I'll take are going to be different.
 
Hey,

I am a pretty fit young man, 24, and I really want to do a bike ride from San Francisco to Carmel, CA. Google maps, bike route, gives me a route of about 140 miles.

So.. A) Does anyone know a better route? (not just going down Hwy 1)

and B) Do y'all think I could make it one day?
 
riosborne
Hey,

I am a pretty fit young man, 24, and I really want to do a bike ride from San Francisco to Carmel, CA. Google maps, bike route, gives me a route of about 140 miles.

So.. A) Does anyone know a better route? (not just going down Hwy 1)

and B) Do y'all think I could make it one day?
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Fit at what? A jogger's muscles are conditioned to a completely different build than a cyclist and vise versa. However if you are in shape, and very healthy, you could do a 140 miler if it's mostly flat, and you have a real road bike. Be prepared to be completely tired out, or maybe even to be picked up. Bring cash for the liquid refills and food.

140 with hills probably will require a few more shorter training sessions to determine your ability. I ride about 1,000 miles a year, and 140 would wear me out, especially riding alone.

Edit: I'm riding 200 next weekend, with 9,000 people. Seattle to Portland, baby, Yeah!
 
bergauk
Riding from my house in the San Jose area, to Calaveras county. Its about 120 miles, San Jose to Stockton is going to be mostly flat I presume. But the rest of the road from there on I'm not sure how its going to be. Maybe light hills. I've been in the area she lives before but not on bike so the conditions and roads I'll take are going to be different.
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Well since this was posted 2 years ago, how did it go??
 
I know everyone here are petrolheads but I'm STOKED about Le Tour and my own local rides. There is something very rewarding about breaking through all sorts of mental barriers, pain, and instinct to push on to the end. Couple that with scenery, comradery, and adrenaline, it's incomparable.
 
I've done a ride form one city in China, crossed through a province and into another city. In total the journey was 180k. I did it with a friend and we did in just over a weekend. The problem we had was laws regarding push irons on the highways so we had to take the smaller roads through the mountains, some of the roads were not ever covered with an appropriate covering. It was gruelling but we pushed each other on and finally were relieved when it was over.
 
Sirjake
If I ride 100 miles per day in 5 to 7 hrs, in a year would I be able to do atleast okay if I competed in the tour de france?
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Well are you riding in mountians? They are.
 
p-coletray
However if you are in shape, and very healthy, you could do a 140 miler if it's mostly flat, and you have a real road bike.
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This is Northern California... Not flat at all :crazy:

I'd split it up IMO. That's a pretty long way. 70 miles during this hot summer in the hills can be brutal.
 
Sirjake
If I ride 100 miles per day in 5 to 7 hrs, in a year would I be able to do atleast okay if I competed in the tour de france?
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No. Yesterdays stage was 111 miles and the winner did it in 4 hours 18 minutes, and that included going over 5 categorised climbs (although that did include a 30 mile descent from Sestrieres.)

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