# What is a good distance to cycle in 15 mins?



## Peter Leo (Aug 23, 2011)

What is a good distance to cycle in 15 mins?


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## joytron (Sep 5, 2010)

As far as you can go


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## bclagge (Aug 31, 2009)

joytron said:


> As far as you can go


Yeah really. It depends on so many factors. Road? Singletrack? Uphill, downhill, technical, sandy, personal fitness level, etc.

One of our local trails is four miles, technical but flat, some sand. My usual lap is 30 minutes.


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## AndrwSwitch (Nov 8, 2007)

Some places, I'd be lucky to get a mile.

On a flat road, working hard, I could go 6 miles.

On a road descent, traveling 11 miles would not be unheard of. If you could find a really steep 11 miles, anyway - seems a little unlikely to me.

I'm serious enough to track my training volume. (How did that happen to me??) I just use a stop watch, and don't stress about distance.


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## danguskhan (Aug 22, 2011)

A little farther than you did the previous 15 minutes


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## JonathanGennick (Sep 15, 2006)

Peter Leo said:


> What is a good distance to cycle in 15 mins?


There is a really steep hill (pavement no less, but steep) that I have to ride up from my house in order to hit the woods. On a good day, it's probably 15 minutes for me to go just the 0.4 miles to the top.

On the singletrack that I normally ride, there is a 10-mile loop that I hit often. I GPS'd the track earlier this year so that I can see it on an map. I just now looked, and that ride took me one hour and thirty-four minutes.

Really, there are so many variables to consider. No one can say what is a good distance for you. I would not even worry about it.


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## perttime (Aug 26, 2005)

15 minutes is pretty short, unless you are just getting used to being on a bike ... or it only takes 15 minutes to go where you want to go.


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## caad4rep (Sep 7, 2011)

Go as hard as you can for 15 miuntes and let us know. Then we'll try to beat it! An online 15min race


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## TwoTone (Jul 5, 2011)

I've been back into riding within the last 2 months. The loop I have close to home is 7.2 miles and it takes 45mins. It's singletrack, basically kind of rolling, short climbs with decent, the last part ends on a paved trail back the house and that takes the longest, end of the ride and about .75 uphill.


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## jaystekan (Sep 11, 2011)

15 minutes? Wouldn't that depend on the trail?


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## ecub (Sep 3, 2011)

A few factors...depends on the trail, your speed, your bike, and you. I excercise my dog with my mtb. As I ride, she follows behind me. 15 minutes only takes me about 2 blocks away. 15 minutes on my road bike on the road, will take me about 3-4 miles away. 15 minutes on my mtb on a trail takes me about 2 miles. I'm 5'6, 173 lbs, and I'm not a very athletic guy.


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## joytron (Sep 5, 2010)

ecub said:


> A few factors...depends on the trail, your speed, your bike, and you. I excercise my dog with my mtb. As I ride, she follows behind me. 15 minutes only takes me about 2 blocks away. 15 minutes on my road bike on the road, will take me about 12-15 miles away. 15 minutes on my mtb on a trail takes me about 2 miles. I'm 5'6, 173 lbs, and I'm not a very athletic guy.


because on your road bike you can ride 60 MPH

.....:skep:


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## jeffj (Jan 13, 2004)

Maybe he's tucked in on a long really, really steep straight road 

That would be challenging (but super fun) to find one that is 15 miles long though.

As for the OP's question, there are so many variables that it's impossible for anyone that doesn't know everything about you, your bike, and the trails/conditions you ride, to answer with any accuracy.

As others have stated, it could be anywhere from .5 miles to. . . . . . . 15 miles 

Just look at it this way; for you to ride 5 miles in 15 minutes, it would require you to average 20mph for the entire 15 minutes. Very few trails will afford that opportunity. Where I live, I would be doing good to average around half that fast, maybe a little faster. I usually average around 5mph+/- on the climbs and about 20-22mph on the descents, but on a given ride I spend 3/4 of the ride climbing and 1/4 of it descending, so. . . .

If a train leaves Seattle at 8:00 a.m. and travels at an average of 62mph. . . . .


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## ecub (Sep 3, 2011)

joytron said:


> because on your road bike you can ride 60 MPH
> 
> .....:skep:


Oops. My bad. I was looking at the wrong stats on RunKeeper. I was looking at MPH not distance. Yes, I corrected it.

Boy, do I wish I can ride even close to 60. LOL


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## cassava (Sep 14, 2011)

It's about 2 km for me. I ride about 10 to 12 km every morning and it takes time about 30 to 40 minutes.


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## jeffscott (May 10, 2006)

Peter Leo said:


> What is a good distance to cycle in 15 mins?


I climb at about 1500 vertical feet per hour so

375 vertical feet


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