How can I improve my fitness using a bike?

I’ve just got a mountain bike and I want to use it to become fitter and lose some excess weight. I’m in my 20′s and I’ve not done any kind of physical exercise in 8-10 years. I’d like to aim to be able to ride in the London to Bristol event next year (56 miles). Is this do-able for a novice? Can you point me to a website with any good solo training programmes? My plan is to start going out and doing 3 miles a day increasing this in increments of a 2 miles a week. Until I can comfortably do 30 miles in three hours – what do you reckon?
I’ve got a decent mountain bike that is suitable for road use – it’s a Kraken Carrera.

Forget about miles right now and ride in terms of time. Start by riding for a minimum of 1/2 hour a day, and ride at a pace that keeps your heart rate (HR) in the aerobic training zone. This zone is classified as about 70% of your maximum herat rate. You can get a reasonable guess of your maximum by using the formula of 220 minus your age. Therefore, if you’re 20, then your max will be about 200, and 70% of that will be 140. You can get cheap heart rate monitors that use a chest strap and a bike mount. I would recommend this highly. Go to a aporting goods store and ask for cheap basic models, you don’t need the ones that have alarms, zones, calories, or bike computer functions (yet).

In order to keep your HR in the right zone, use your gears wisely. If you see your HR getting to high, shift to an easier gear, and avoid steep or long hills.

On the weekends, try a longer ride, say 60 to 90 minutes. but don’t let your heart rate get above the 70% mark. Remember, you’re trying to build endurance, not power.

After about a month of this – or at least 20 hours of total bike time, you can start to mix things up. Three nights a week go for one hour rides at the 70% HR pace, the other two go for 30 to 45 minutes, but do a few hard efforts that push your heart rate up to 85 to 90%, but not for more than a few mintues at a time.
Try to get 3-4 hours total in on the weekends, again keeping your heart rate not much more than 70%. At this time you should also bee looking for riding parters, ask about biking clubs in your area. You’re much more likely to stick with it if you’re amoung friends.

Don’t ride if you feel excessively tired or are sick. Don’t try to ‘make up the time’ – if you miss a day, or two, just stick with the schedule. Catching up on riding is like catching up on sleep, it doesn’t work.

If you follow a plan similar to the above, you’ll be able to do your 56 miler by the end of the summer unless you’re in the ‘obese’ category or you have other health problems. If so, don’t do anything until you consult a doctor.

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