I decided this winter that I’d try and keep training by driving out of the mountains to the more settled and hopefully warmer weather lower down.

It feels a bit odd driving to go for a ride when I have so much good stuff from the door.
75km to Casa de Campo, Madrid for a couple of hours riding was strange.

How far do you normally drive?
What is acceptable/unacceptable on a regular basis?

About 10k a year.

75km isnt that far, although I wouldnt fancy driving into Madrid.

Anything decent is about 2 hrs from me.

So I drive a lot.

All in the game.

Rule of thumb = if drive is longer than the ride, reconsider.

Exceptions to the above made for weekends away and holidays. My main MTB riding venue is 45 mins away which isn’t ideal but I try to do plenty of local riding on the road bikes to offset it.

7miles usually 🙂

All sorts. About half my rides are straight from my house. Others involve driving to different countries. 600 mile round trip to Machynlleth seemed reasonable enough. Riding is the only reason I own a car though.

1hr to Glentress, i try not to drive any further……

Usually ride from home.

Occasionally drive 10 miles to a nearish MTB area (for night rides) and do the odd Dartmoor mission – about 70 miles. No further than that yet.

You lot get on my tits with your perfect biking locations 😉

I’ve driven about 100 miles for 1000 miles of riding this year, 3/4 of that for 2 rides. Mostly I cycle straight from home, which is nice!

As little as possible cos it’s a right chore 😕

Fortunate enough to have some decent riding on the doorstep, and I have a high boredom threshold! I’d be surprised if i drove much more than 2-300 miles a year for biking

Mendips 0-25min
Quantocks 1h
Exmoor 1.5h
Cwmcarn 1.5h
Dartmoor 1.5-2h, once a year
Brecon Beacons 2h, once a year
Afan is a stretch at 2.5 hours, once a year but usually worth it.

Beyond that an overnight stop is needed.

Up to 2 hours, that would be for a “day ride”.

Most rides for me are from home.
Rest are between 15mins/45min minutes drive.
Plus a few trips a year to Scotland/Wales for weekends away, usually for races or events.

I’d be surprised if i drove much more than 2-300 miles a year for biking

Did that last weekend 😐

3 miles to Afan 🙂 🙂 🙂

Rule of thumb = if drive is longer than the ride, reconsider

I’m a fan of this logic. I also extend it to ‘if road ride to get there and back is longer than off-road ride, find more off-road to ride’

30 mins to local trails. 1 hr to 7 Stanes. 2 hrs to Ft bill -)

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs436.snc3/25115_1390871684268_1006382100_31153416_7050020_n.jpg

apols for gratuitious BMW piccy 😛

About 10 minutes drive to the Sandbanks ferry and the Purbecks 😛 or ride from home for more local heath stuff and country laned tarmac.

MrGreedy – Member
Rule of thumb = if drive is longer than the ride, reconsider.

That’s basically my rule too – e.g. Laggan is on the boundary of what is acceptable from Edinburgh.

Half an hour down to Sherwood, around an hour through Sheffield to the peaks, hour and a half up to Dalby. Any further than that would normally be part of a holiday away in a cottage somewhere. Nearest woods at the end of the street for local stuff, and easy enough to link woods and pit tips with short road hops.

I have to ride for twice as long as I have driven to get there and back.
Usually about 10 minutes!

Very seldom I drive to ride my bike, only time I do it is to go to an event. Kinda sticks in my throat that people drive places all the time to ride their bikes. I understand why they do it but for me it feels the wrong thing to do. Each to their own though.

Kinda sticks in my throat that people drive places all the time to ride their bikes.

Cry me a river.

In the past I’ve driven to Glentress and back in a day (about 2.5hrs each way) but that’d be for a specific ride with friends rather than “oh I fancy going there”.

I’m lucky in that I lived in Lancaster for 5 years so it was dead easy to get to the Lakes and there was other good riding nearby. Now I live right in the Peaks I hardly ever bother driving to ride, I just go from the house or get the train out to Hope/Edale/Sheffield. I won’t drive for more than about 90 minutes just to ride my bike. It’s a different matter if it’s a weekend away or I can combine it with visiting family/friends.

I know a couple who used to live near Bolton and every weekend they’d drive north up the M61 and M6 passing the Lakes, Howgills, the southern 7 Stanes at Dumfries and trawling all the way to Glentress. Every weekend. 😯

“Kinda sticks in my throat that people drive places all the time to ride their bikes”

True, but not everyone has worthwhile riding on their doorstep or can easily move somewhere nearer to good trails. I certainly think twice about driving for an hour or more to ride – I prefer to spend that time in bed!

Kinda sticks in my throat that people drive places all the time to ride their bikes.

That’s what mountainbiking is about. For most people riding from their house is called road riding. Which is a different thing entirely.

About 75% of my car milage is mountainbike related. About 5k/year. I am lucky enough that I and the other two guy I ride with can ride from our houses. But we live 15 miles apart, so 2/3rds of the time a drive is involved (plus races, trail centres, weekends etc).

why does it stick in your throat???

Cry me a river.

What’s your point caller?

Love the ‘that’s what mountain biking is about’ comment. It isn’t.

50mins minimum (one way). I really hate it because many years ago I used to live within a stones throw to good trails and outdoors suitable for other activities.

Unfortunately in the case of my gf and me, the job market is localised to certain areas of the country and because of the 9-5 grind, cost/practicability of commuting, cost of moving, or cost of owning or saving for a house it’s impractical to move to other areas.

If earning a crust wasn’t an issue, I’d move back to Yorkshire, or maybe even Wales or Scotland. IMO thinking badly of people who commute to mountain bike is odd. If they commuted less to mountain bike, they’d probably commute more for work.

I didn’t say I thought badly of anyone! It’s not for me, that’s all.

If they commuted less to mountain bike, they’d probably commute more for work. and that’s not really the point.

Zero miles, except a few times a year for races. And i agree with Gary_M.

Zero miles, except a few times a year for races.

So not zero miles then.

Rule of thumb = if drive is longer than the ride, reconsider

Who invented that rule then?
If you mean time-wise then fair enough, if you mean distance then it’s boll*x.
I ‘normally’ drive 50mins for a 2.5 – 5hr ride. Or 35-40 miles for a 20-30 mile ride (ish)

Kinda sticks in my throat that people drive places all the time to ride their bikes. I understand why they do it

Contradiction of terms.
If I didn’t drive to a ride I wouldn’t be much of an offroader. It’s fairly flat round here so I drive 40/50 mins to the Dales.
It’s like me & sea fishing, If I lived in, say Whitby, I wouldn’t need to drive from Boroughbridge would I?
‘Kinda sticks in my throat’ What a mad comment that was.

Bizarre how defensive some of you guys get.

1hr 20ish to either the south lakes or south dales. 30 mins to anything local which obviously pales in comparison.

I did indeed mean timewise. It’s my rule of thumb, although I’m sure others have said similar things when this topic has come up before. It’s just that though – a rule of thumb, not a commandment.

Thou shalt not journey more than an hour yet ride thine iron steed for but 59 minutes lest thou shalt be smoten with bombers and thine sandals shalt runneth over with wee