One of the most common questions new cyclists ask is: how far should I be riding? It sounds simple, but the answer catches most beginners off-guard. Because the honest answer isn't measured in miles or kilometres — it's measured in minutes.
Distance is a terrible metric for beginners. It depends on the route (flat or hilly?), your fitness, the weather, your bike, and a dozen other variables. Two riders doing "10 miles" could have completely different experiences. One might cruise it in 35 minutes; another might be exhausted after 50. Time is a much more honest unit of effort.
What distance should I aim for in my first few rides?
For your very first rides, aim for 20 to 40 minutes. That's it. If you're on a flat path and feeling good, that might work out to 6–10 miles. If you're tackling a few gentle hills or just getting used to the feel of your bike, it could be half that. Both are fine. Both count.
The goal of your first ride isn't to cover distance — it's to get comfortable on the bike. You're learning how to start and stop smoothly, how the gears feel, how your body sits on the saddle, and how to judge your effort. None of that requires distance. It requires time in the saddle.
Think of your first rides as "exploration sessions" rather than training rides. You're getting comfortable on the bike — not proving anything to anyone.
How far in the first month?
A sensible first month might look like this:
- Week 1: Two or three rides of 20–30 minutes each. Focus on comfort.
- Week 2: Two or three rides of 30–40 minutes. Notice how you recover between sessions.
- Week 3: Two or three rides of 35–50 minutes. Try your first gentle hill or slightly longer loop.
- Week 4: One slightly longer ride of 60 minutes. Celebrate what you've built.
By the end of month one, you might be covering 10–20 miles per session — but that's a side effect of riding regularly, not a target you need to chase.
The 10% rule (and why beginners can ignore it)
You might have heard that you should never increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% each week. This is good advice for experienced cyclists managing a heavy training load. For beginners, it's less relevant — because your early rides are so short that the 10% jump is almost nothing.
What matters more for beginners is listening to your body. If you feel tired two days after a ride, you might need more recovery time. If you feel fresh, go again. Your fitness and recovery will be quite individual in the first few weeks, and no formula can account for that.
There is no shame in short rides
Somewhere in cycling culture, there's a quiet snobbery about distance. "Only" doing 5 miles. "Just" a 20-minute spin. This is nonsense, and it's worth saying clearly: every ride counts. A 15-minute ride builds habit, gets you outside, and keeps your legs moving. That is genuinely valuable.
If you're someone who's been out of exercise for a while, or you're managing health conditions, or you're fitting rides around a busy life with children and work — your rides don't need to be long. They need to be consistent.
When should I ride longer?
Gradually extending one ride per week is a great way to build distance in a sustainable way. Once you're comfortable with 45–60 minute rides, you might try a 90-minute weekend ride every couple of weeks. This is where you start to get into genuinely new territory — longer rides require more thought about hydration and food.
But even that can wait. In your first month, the goal is simply to ride. Length comes later.
What if I can only ride on weekends?
That's completely fine. Two rides a week is enough to make progress, especially if you're consistent week to week. A Saturday and Sunday ride of 45–60 minutes each will build fitness and habit. You might just find that progress is a little slower than someone riding three or four times a week — and that's absolutely okay.
A quick reality check on apps and tracking
If you're tracking your rides with an app, it can be tempting to compare your data to other people's. Don't. Strava especially is full of experienced cyclists who've been riding for years and have very different bodies, schedules, and bikes. Their metrics mean nothing for your journey. Filter by yourself only, track your own progress week to week, and focus on how your rides feel rather than the numbers they produce.
When you start riding with a plan — structured sessions with specific purposes — even that changes. Your plan tells you what to do; you don't need to benchmark yourself against anyone else.