What qualifies as a LONG ride?

John Childs wrote: "...So far my longest Coker ride has been a metric
century... But long rides aren't my thing...."

Steve wrote back: "Um, JC, I think most people consider 60+ miles a
fairly long ride, even on a bike, hell, even in a car!"

So here is my question: What makes a LONG ride? Obviously this is
subjective, so let's weigh in and find out if there is any consensus.
Include factors like your age and how long you've been riding, in case
those contribute to the answer.

Age: 40
Years riding: 27
Opinion: 45 miles is still in the medium range, where I could hop on a
Coker or Schlumpf and just do it right now. I guess LONG to me means
that I might be sore afterwards and will possibly be suffering in some
other ways, like urination pain. I think that 60 qualifies as lengthy
in those regards. Having ridden 89 and 102 miles in a day, I guess we
may need some new definitions. Perhaps those were 'ultra-long' rides?
So here is my personal range:
Tiny: Under 10
Short: 10-20
Medium: 20-50
Long: 50-70
Ultra: 70+


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I would consider 2 miles would be far to long for me(that is on a 20"
trials unicycle). I get saddle soreness very quickly and find that
riding is can be difficult. I tend to fall off whilst riding even
though I have been riding for over a year!

My definition is very different to yours.

Mike

[EDIT]
Age: 17
Years riding: just over 1
Opinion: Stated above
Tiny: Just out of my drive
Short: 0.25 miles
Medium: 1-2 miles
Long: 4-6 miles
Ultra: 6+ miles

I might even say all of those were too long...


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swarbrim

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A long ride is any ride that is significantly further than you've ridden
before, and where the distance is part of the achievement.

Anything more "defined" than that smacks of elitism. I have done a
couple of 50+ mile rides, butnever more than 60 miles. They each took
most of a day and required all the determination I could muster. A few
years ago, a 10 mile ride was a major achievement for me. And before
that, once round the lake without a UPD was a major thing.

You know if you've done a long ride: your legs hurt, and you feel
you've done something special.

If you compare yourself to someone else, then you will make one of the
two of you feel inadequate. At lease two of the regulars in this forum
have done 100 miles (160 km) in 10 hours. Aspenmike rides further to
collect his morning mail than I have ever ridden in my life - and, just
for a laugh, he does it over high passes in the Colorado mountains.

But I refuse to accept that I have never done a long ride. Most people
in the world never even try to ride a unicycle. Most who try fail, and
most who succeed never get beyond a few yards. Most of those who
succeed never get beyond a couple of miles, and most of those who do
never get beyond ten miles. We are all in the elite - but riding a
one wheeled bike is no achievement at all to anyone else but the rider
and a few friends.

If I were to attempt to define a "long ride" in numbers, I would do it
in hours of saddle time - because it matters what terrain you're on,
and what size wheel and cranks you have.


--
Mikefule

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that most people don't.
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swarbrim wrote:
I would consider 2 miles would be far to long for me(that is on a 20"
trials unicycle). I get saddle soreness very quickly and find that
riding is can be difficult. I tend to fall off whilst riding even
though I have been riding for over a year!

My definition is very different to yours.

Mike

[EDIT]
Age: 17
Years riding: just over 1
Opinion: Stated above
Tiny: Just out of my drive
Short: 0.25 miles
Medium: 1-2 miles
Long: 4-6 miles
Ultra: 6+ miles

I might even say all of those were too long...



You just perfectly described me. Thanks.


--
monkeyman

~Alex Brown
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I have a question sort of related to long rides. Do the long distance
riders do the ride in one "sitting" or do they stop periodically to
rest. I can only ride about 20 to 30 minutes before I have to stop for
a minute to rest my "seat" and let the blood circulate again.

To me, a long ride is about 3 continuous miles on my 29er with no
stopping. I don't see how people do the 20+ mile rides. I don't want to
deal with the seat pain that they must endure.

I have been riding for almost 4 years.


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Wheel Rider

A man can fail many times but he isn't a failure until he begins to
blame someone else. - Waite Phillips
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Not entirely suprisingly (at least to me), I kind of agree with
Mikefule. But since my parameters changed last week after riding 21 and
23 miles, I'm going to put mine. (With the realisation that before last
week 20 miles would definately have been an ultra ride).

Age - 41
Years riding - 2
Tiny - The usual distance that I'll go on days of Extreme Weather/when
it's dark - 2-4 miles.
Short - The usual run I do if the weather is OK - 6 miles
Medium - Either 8 miles (up hill/off road) or 10-12 miles along the
prom. Done as often as possible when I have the time.
Long - 15-25 - just possible and have done.
Ultra - anything over 25 miles. Something to aim for.


--
cathwood

Cathy
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I'd have to say that it's difficult to define a long ride in terms of
mileage alone. Things like your fitness level, wheel size, previous
rides, terrain and weather all help to mix things up a bit. Instead,
I'd probably define a long ride as 'a ride that you set aside a fair
proportion of the day for where the purpose was just the ride itslef
and the distance at least half of your personal best'

That way, rides like the 8 miles each way to work and back that I don't
consider signifcant now would have fallen in to the Long Ride category
a couple of years ago when say 6 miles was a challenge.

For me at the moment, anything over 30 miles would be considered a Long
Ride, but under that, I'm probably just trying to get somewhere.

STM


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semach.the.monkey
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... As if a long walk, or a long bike rides are absolutes for the rest
of the population. It is more realistically a measurement in relation
to your own fitness, experience, and of course, equipment. If your
biggest unicycle is a 24", a long ride should have a different meaning
than someone who owns two Cokers, or a Coker and a 45", like me.

I guess a simple definition, for me, would be that a "long" ride is one
that hurts, either in the crotch or legs. But some days are better than
others in that regard.

The longest rides I've done recently are the San Francisco Coker tours,
at around 42 miles, and the Marathon at Unicon last summer, at 36
miles. I also did about half of the ride around Lake Tahoe in June, at
around 35 hilly miles with lots of road camber. Years back, when I
lived in New York, I did the 5-Boro Bike Tour several times, at 36
miles. Those were always fun, but always painful in the second half.

The longest rides I've done were the March of Dimes Superrides I did in
the early 80s, at 75 kilometers. The first time I did that was on a
Schwinn Giraffe with a big sprocket up top. Ouch, hard to freemount,
and much harder to ride than a Schlumpf in high gear!

But I will ride farther in the future, as I intend to participate in
the Ride The Lobster race, if I can qualify.


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johnfoss

John Foss
"jfoss" at "unicycling.com" -- www.unicycling.com
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I'm with Mikefule on the whole a long ride being better than what you
have done before.

The most I have done is 80 km or 50 miles, I could easily do more if I
ate a dinner but so far thats my longest ride done with only a coffee
and a couple timbits in me.

This summer when it warms up more I plan on doing a 160 km trip to my
cottage. I still don't know if I want to do it in a day or two as it
gets pretty hilly and rough near the end (you need four wheel drive to
get through some of the hills without getting stuck).

So without further ado:
Age: 18
Years riding: 1.5
Opinion: Stated above
Tiny: under 10 km
Short: 10-20 km
Medium: 20-40 km
Long: 40-80 km
Ultra: 80km plus


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ntappin

'how to build a strong comfy saddle from junk.'
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Wheel Rider wrote:
I have a question sort of related to long rides. Do the long distance
riders do the ride in one "sitting" or do they stop periodically to
rest.



When I was at my peak a few years ago, I regularly (more than once a
week) did an hour (12 - 13 miles) without a dismount. A couple of
times I did 2 hours with out a dismount - around 22 miles.

For long distance rides, rather than to prove a point, a dismount every
20 minutes or half an hour is probably wise. You learn to pace
yourself.


--
Mikefule

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that most people don't.
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