OK it's off topic but how many of you posters here bike at all?

I bike 3-4 times per week. There is only one reason - I'm old and can't run 100 miles a week anymore. It does nothing for my ability to run faster. Nothing.

If you want to run fast, go run. More.

I'm serious.

I do a lot of biking, but it was/is because I'm on a cycling team. I'm backing out of that this year to get back to mostly running. I'm signed up for the Chicago Marathon this fall.

I plan to continue cycling to supplement running as my legs are still complaining about the pounding every time I run. The plan is to transition to around 50 mpw of running with 30-50 mpw of cycling by late-July through the peak of my training.

I'm currently at 25 mpw running and 50-120 mpw of cycling.

I wasn't referring to running faster, just asking about the biking for biking's sake.

With $4/gal for gas on the horizon I will be researching bicycles within the month for practical purposes.

Within 1 to 2 years I might be able to get a more local job, in which case the bike will double as work transport.

Sorry...in that case. I ride to work (12 miles) 2-3 days per week. But I also ride for a bike team. I don't like it as much as running because average guys can sit in the pack all day long and never do any work. It's not like running for me at all.

I run 30-50 miles per week and bike 100 per week.

You might want to look into a recombinant bike if you are thinking about using it as a means of transportation.

I bike because my wife hates running and it allows us to spend some time outside together. I look at it as a way to loosen up my legs in the afternoon after a quality morning run. Helps warm me up so I can get in some good stretching. I also seem to feel better the day after a long afternoon bike ride.

I bike to work as often as the weather permits (living in WI, winters are usually out of the question). It's only 8 miles round trip, so it's not all the bad. I also try to bike when running small errands or heading to the bars or whatever. So I probably get about 32 to 50 miles a week depending on weather. Biking is fun!

Only Gays Bike.

In the last two weeks, I just got back on a bike for the first time in more than 10 years. (I had to borrow my teenage daugher's for the occasion.) Long story, the short version of which is that my new romantic partner is an avid cyclist, and having rashly agreed to join him for a 42-mile ride this coming weekend, I realized I'd better get some "training" in.

What I'm finding is that cycling is a lot of fun...I'm remembering why I used to like it so much in my pre-running days. So I'm very much in the "sheer, randy heck of it" group. (I'm a little worried that it's going to mess up my running, but maybe it'll be good for me to relax a little. Who really cares about first place female master honors at the annual Dandelion Dash, after all?)

Now It Starts wrote:

I wasn't referring to running faster, just asking about the biking for biking's sake.

With $4/gal for gas on the horizon I will be researching bicycles within the month for practical purposes.

Within 1 to 2 years I might be able to get a more local job, in which case the bike will double as work transport.

Oh, in that case...

I commute to work 1-2 days per week (36 miles round trip). I'd like to do it more, but I'm getting over a torn calf. My therapist only allows biking on the days I don't run.

Even after I fully recover from the injury though, I'll probably still max out at 2 days commuting per week.

Sorry to hear you're insecure in your masculinity.

I just got a new bike recently. It is the first real road bike I have ever gotten. I use it for training rides to supplement my running (since I am coming back from a very drawn out running injury). I have gotten to enjoy it more and more. Since I did a lot of swimming during my off time, I am going to spend this summer doing some triathlons. But I plan to return to running as soon as I feel 100% on my feet again. Hopefully this fall. But I really do love cycling. I have gotten up to a 90 mile ride, and save for the last 15 miles, I absolutely loved it.

As for the practical bicyle usage. I commute around the town in which I live on my singlespeed. I work in a town that is thirty miles away a few times per week, and it is impractical for me to commute there. But hopefully that will end soon. I look forward to the day that I ween myself off of my car.

So, sometimes I ride for training, sometimes I ride to commute and sometimes I ride for the randy heck of it.

I fit into the bike to work a couple times a week, run errands, and do the occasional tour category. I generally do bike to work days in place of recovery runs, just because I like to spend some time on the bike. Unless you're maxed out on the running mileage you can tolerate or you are recovering from an injury, biking isn't going to directly benefit your running ability. As a runner, it's best to concentrate on easy to moderate effort on the bike and spinning at a high (running-like) cadence.

grif wrote:

You might want to look into a recombinant bike if you are thinking about using it as a means of transportation.

i disagree with this. recombinants are too low to the ground to be visable in traffic. okay for the trail but a bad idea on the roads.

grif wrote:

You might want to look into a recombinant bike if you are thinking about using it as a means of transportation.

notalent wrote:

i disagree with this. recombinants are too low to the ground to be visable in traffic. okay for the trail but a bad idea on the roads.

I think you both mean "recumbent", not "recombinant". Unless you were talking about DNA