Endurance Cycling 101: A Beginner's Guide To Long-Distance Riding
These days, I consider myself to be a fairly accomplished endurance cyclist. I don’t blink at the thought of doing a 200-mile race. But when I started cycling, I struggled to ride longer than an hour. The first time I tried to ride 100 miles, my hands and butt hurt so much I had to take a week off the bike. I've bonked in the middle of the wilderness and had to hitchhike home more times than I'd like to admit.
Are you trying to ride your first metric century? Your first century? Something bigger? Long rides aren't to be taken lightly. After two decades of riding, training, and racing, and making plenty of mistakes along the way, I've unlocked the secrets to riding farther. These are my top tips for long-distance cycling, so hopefully, you don't have to make the same mistakes I did.
1. Increase Your Mileage Gradually
The most common mistake new cyclists make is trying to do too much, too soon. Your body needs A LOT of time to adapt to the demands of long-distance riding. Your aerobic system, your muscles, and critically, your butt, all need weeks, months, even years of consistent training to handle your ambitions.
Maybe some riders could just wake up one day and decide to ride 100 miles, but without an adequate foundation of fitness and conditioning, it’d be miserable. The chance of failure would be super high, too. So start with shorter rides, ride more regularly, and SLOWLY make your ride longer over time.
If a ride is so difficult that you’re forced to take multiple days off to recover, it was probably too hard! You will actually struggle to improve if you’re blowing yourself up constantly. Ramping things up gradually over time is the key to consistent improvement.
A good rule of thumb is the 10% rule: don't increase your weekly mileage by more than 10% from one week to the next. It will feel slow at first, but this steady buildup is what keeps you injury-free, motivated, happy, and progressing over the long haul.
2. Improve Your Comfort on the Bike
If riding your bike is painful, you won't want to do it for very long. Comfort is a complicated and nuanced topic, and there are a ton of factors that affect comfort on a bike, but let’s cover the two big-ticket items that will provide the most gains: bike fit and what I’ll call “butt fit.”
First off, does your bike fit you properly? It should. This is the number one thing any new cyclist should focus on when purchasing a bike. Riding the right frame size is the first step to getting comfortable on the bike. The most important benefit of riding the correct frame size is that the frame geometry will provide the best handling for your height, and the range of adjustment for touch points like your handlebars and saddle will allow you to achieve the most comfortable riding position. Size charts are useful, but talking to an expert can be even better. At Obed, we have a team of experts ready to help riders find the right fit via chat, email, or phone.
If you want to take your bike fit to the next level, a professional bike fit is one of the best investments a new cyclist can make. Bike fitters can help riders make small adjustments to things like saddle height, handlebar reach, and cleat position, which can make a dramatic difference in their comfort during long rides.
Beyond bike fit, the other area where many riders struggle is their backside. A LOT of new riders complain about butt pain. Unless you bike regularly, your backside won't be conditioned to spending time in the saddle. It’s the same reason you're sore after you start running or weightlifting. Generally, saddle soreness goes away as your backside gets more conditioned. Just like increasing mileage, the key is to increase your time in the saddle gradually until you can ride in it for hours without pain.
However, if you are riding a lot and still experiencing saddle discomfort, then you may want to try a different saddle shape. Saddle shape matters much more than cushioning, and getting the right shape (narrow vs. wide, curved vs. flat, etc.) is the key to comfort. In many cases, adding cushioning to a saddle causes more issues than it solves. If you want more cushioning, investing in high-quality cycling-specific shorts is the best option. A professional bike fitter can help with saddle selection, but for many, finding the perfect saddle and cycling shorts combo is a matter of experimentation and experience.
To learn more about how to make your bike more comfortable, check out my post about comfort upgrades worth adding to your bike:
3. Find the Right Pace
Going out too hard is the fastest way to cut a long ride short. For endurance cycling, the goal is to ride at a pace you can sustain for hours. This is often called “Zone 2.” There are many ways cyclists measure Zone 2 with power meters and heart rate monitors, but to keep things simple, you can think of Zone 2 as an effort level where you can hold a conversation without gasping for breath. If you’ve been increasing your mileage gradually, you should be able to maintain Zone 2 pace for an entire ride. Eventually, as you get into better shape, you’ll be able to maintain this sort of pace all day!
Many beginners also make the mistake of riding with faster cyclists and blowing up early, or simply underestimating how quickly fatigue accumulates over 3, 4, or 5 hours. Slow down more than you think you need to, especially on longer efforts. One tip I give a lot of riders tackling their first 100-mile (or longer) ride is to start their ride at a pace that feels almost too easy. By the end, it will likely feel just right. You can always finish strong, but you can't undo blowing up in the first hour.
4. Stay on Top of Fueling and Hydration
Maybe you’ve heard of “bonking,” a sudden feeling of exhaustion when your glycogen stores run out. It’s hitting a wall. When it happens, it’s often a ride ender, and it happens to many cyclists, both new and experienced, when they underfuel during long or tough rides.
The good news is that bonking is almost entirely preventable. Start eating early in your ride, BEFORE you feel hungry. Rather than calories, cyclists should pay attention to the amount of carbs they’re eating. Most beginners will find they ride better and last longer if they aim to eat around 30–60 grams of carbohydrates per hour, depending on intensity. As you get more experienced (your gut requires training too!), you can gradually push those numbers up. Most well-trained athletes can handle 80-120 grams per hour!
Energy bars, gels, gummies, bananas, rice cakes, and even candy all work well. On the hydration side, aim for one standard water bottle (500–750ml) per hour, more in hot weather. To keep it simple, the tip I always give is to drink to thirst. I learned this from Dr. Allen Lim of Skratch Labs, who explained that thirst is actually an extremely good indicator of how much fluid your body needs. And don't neglect electrolytes. I like to mix electrolytes into at least one bottle. Sometimes I mix it into all my water on hot days. Replacing sodium and other minerals lost through sweat helps prevent cramping and keeps you feeling sharp.
5. Be Prepared for Mechanicals
Flat tires happen. Chains can break. Derailleurs might get finicky at the worst possible moments. Before heading out on any long ride, make sure you're carrying a small repair kit in a saddle bag, in a pocket, or somewhere on your body or bike (the Obed MMR has a handy storage bay and tool roll kit!).
I suggest having at least one spare inner tube, a mini pump or CO2 inflator, a tire lever (or two), a multi-tool, and if you use tubeless tires, a tire plug kit in your repair kit. Just as importantly, know how to use these tools! Practice changing a flat at home before you're stuck doing it roadside in the rain. A little preparation goes a long way toward turning a potential disaster into a minor inconvenience.
6. Break Long Rides Into Sections
A 100-mile ride sounds daunting all at once. But if you break it into thirds, three ~33-mile segments, it suddenly feels much more manageable. Many experienced endurance cyclists mentally chunk their rides around landmarks, aid stations, gas stations, markets, cafes, or towns where they can stop, refuel, and reset. This approach keeps your morale high and makes the distance feel less overwhelming.
When things get tough, I break things down even smaller: 10-mile chunks, 5-mile chunks, to the top of the next hill, to that next tree. I also use a mental trick I learned from ex-pro racer Amber Pierce, called “Happy Halfway.” I look forward to and celebrate every halfway point, no matter how arbitrary. At 50 miles? Yay, we’re halfway! At 25 miles? Yay, we’re halfway to halfway! This next hill is an hour long? At 30 minutes, I go, yay, we’re halfway! 15 minutes, yay, halfway to halfway! It’s silly, but it helps break big things down into more manageable chunks. The key is to focus on getting to the next checkpoint, not the finish line.
7. Find Riding Partners
Cycling with others will make long miles and long days fly by. A good riding partner keeps you accountable, pushes you on the days you'd rather quit early, and makes hard efforts feel a little less hard. If you don’t have a network of riding partners, look for local cycling clubs, group rides at your nearest bike shop, or online communities for road and gravel cyclists in your area. I hunt for group rides and clubs using Strava, and have met countless people who are now regular partners for my long rides.
Ideally, try to find riders at a similar level, but riding with a group that's a touch faster than you is great for motivation and can actually help you finish a long ride if you’re able to stay sheltered in their draft for most of the day. A group that leaves you in the dust every ride or forces you to pace harder than you can comfortably ride, however, will do more harm than good.
8. Focus on Post-Ride Recovery
What you do AFTER a long ride matters just as much as the ride itself. If you ignore recovery, then you jeopardize your ability to accomplish tip number one: increasing your mileage gradually. By recovering properly, you set yourself up to keep riding, to continue improving, so long rides get easier. Best of all, you’ll feel happier, healthier, and more motivated if you’re well recovered.
Within 30–60 minutes of finishing a long or tough ride, aim to take in a mix of carbohydrates and protein to kick-start muscle repair. This could be through a recovery shake, chocolate milk, or a solid meal. Prioritize sleep, stay hydrated through the rest of the day, and if needed, consider a gentle stretch or foam rolling session for tight spots. Recovery is where your body actually gets stronger, so treat it as part of your training, not an afterthought.
Final Thoughts
Long-distance cycling is one of the most rewarding things you can do on two wheels, but it takes patience, preparation, and a willingness to learn. Follow these tips, respect the miles, listen to your body, prepare your mind, and don’t be afraid to experiment. Even with these tips, there might be some struggle and some failure along the way, but when things do finally click into place, you'll be amazed at how far you can go.