I have a love-hate relationship with distance-based goals. Recently I have been trying to move away from distance goals and towards time-based goals instead. At the end of the day, distance is just one measurement we can use to gauge progress, and it is not always the best one.
Time on the other hand, is more absolute. Your legs don’t really know how far you’ve ridden, but they do know how long you’ve ridden for! Four hours is four hours, no matter if you cover 120km or 60km!
Looking at my statistics from 2023, I did not beat my best annual distance total. I did however exceed my best ever elevation gain total and log my biggest annual hours total. I think that was partly down to the gravel bike. For the same amount of time, the distance travelled on gravel can be far less than on the road.
Drafting A-grade NRS racers on Beach Road will rack up distance quicky!
A distance goal can push me towards taking the easy option. This isn’t the same for everyone, but sometimes having a particular distance target sways me towards choosing flatter routes. Avoiding the hills and riding a fast bike means I can rack up distance quicker!
For example, if I’ve got 60-ish kilometres left to hit a distance target, it’s all too easy to wheel out the aero bike and fly around a less-interesting flat route for two hours. Whereas if I’ve got two hours left to hit my target, I might grab the gravel bike and hit the backroads. My average power might be similar for both rides, but on the gravel I may only cover 40km or so. It’d certainly be a more interesting ride and arguably better for my fitness too, with more climbing and use of bike handling skills.
Spoiler: This is not the gravel bike…
I was reading a thread on an online forum (that never ends well) and one poster was saying he was behind on his annual distance goal, so he joined Zwift so he could sit on a Pace Partner and rack up distance at an artificially inflated rate. Rolling at “38km/hr” on the indoor trainer with 120 watts? That’s a desperate way to hit a distance goal.
Maybe this year I’ll think about a time goal, either weekly hours or an annual total. Or perhaps instead an elevation gain total? If you have Strava Premium you can set your weekly and annual targets for distance and time, but I am not sure if you can for elevation. A good start might be to beat my 2023 hourly total. I also like to have an event goal to target at some point in the year. I am yet to sign up for any rides or races, so will need to check out the events calendar!
How do you track your progress? And what are your targets for 2024?
Two Wheels with TC 
Bike handling skills Klem ???? 🙄🙄
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I handle a lot of bikes, does that count…? 😂
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I keep a rough log or time/distance/elevation more to compare one year to next than anything.
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I’ve always been time but I don’t have a target or goal, only I wish I could do 10hrs a week LOL. The only time I adopt distance based goals is when I want to ride a specific, pre-planned route like an event
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I’d love to be able to consistently hit 10 hours a week too! Happy New Year! 🙂
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I track my progress in BFUs (Big Fun Units). Since they are not measurable, I ride with the notion that one can never have too much fun on a bike. My New Year’s Day ride on an icy and rutted trail through crusted snow made me wonder if one can have too little fun. ;)
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Strava subscription allows annual and weekly time or distance goal setting.
I just go with my same old never to hit it annual distance goal. Time comes along for the ride.
My latest route works pretty well for me though I’ve only begun exploring the extensions of it that get it back to my old routes. Right now, I’m at about 2.5 to 3.0 hours per my usual route ride. It got longer when I added a long climb which didn’t add that much distance.
Since I’m not training to race, just to drop weight, work my fitness and balance, speed and as you mention; distance are less meaningful. Time is indeed the prime factor for me as well.
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I moved onto hours about 2 years ago. Chasing distance just means picking flat routes and I like doing the climbs.
I have settled for 300 hours over the year. Doesn’t sound much but 6 hours every week with at least 3 weeks holiday and maybe some sickness makes it more challenging.
Managed 288 hours last year and I was disappointed with that but in reality I enjoyed my cycling in 2024
Targeting 100K of metres climbed.
I like my targets to be SMART with the emphasis on achievable.
Have a good 2024
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Thanks! I think I’ll try and target the 100K of elevation, just for something different.
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OK you got me. I also sometimes do junk km’s to top up to my target, but then I did hit my target of 10,400 km for 2023, and I was away with out a bike for 8 weeks, plus at 69 years old flatter rides are becoming ever more attractive.
Interestingly GCN have just done a piece on this very subject:
https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/general/news/gcn-show-what-should-you-be-the-focus-of-your-2024-cycling-goals
PS 10th year of the 100k challenge this year and I’ve every intention of making it 10 out of 10!
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We’re all guilty of some speedy junk miles from time to time! 🫣 Great work on the 100km challenge too, and keeping up the tradition! I did complete it in 2023 also. It’s certainly a great motivator.
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Depends on what one is interested in I suppose – distance is helpful, so is elevation, time, even TSS if you’re into training – but they can never take real life into account. No right answers, as long as you have fun on the bike!
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Almost every year I set my distance goal at 10,000km. It’s not much. About half what I would hit in ten months back when I was racing a very long time ago. Being 70 and retired I have time to ride. I figure I can easily pull off an average of three rides per week. That works out to not that much per ride. My options are roads or roads to single track, or bike paths and roads. I mostly pick the roads and bike paths on the road bike and leave the flat pedaled old mountain bike to rot further in the shed. I do junk distance to stretch a ride from near 100km to get over the line. But, I was once within three miles of 100 miles and just rode home instead of doing a short out and back along the river bike way. It was hot and I was really beat and the hill back up to the house hits above 20%.
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With the advent of indoor trainers (half of my Strava friends are on these at the moment!), my feeling is that it’s time to move over to Time. I know one guy, for example, who has average speeds of 45kph on his trainer. He’s strong, but he’s not that strong!
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I’m late to this party but distance goal has been good and bad. If I said at the time given how much I’ve slept how long in years I don’t think it would be as meaningful as distance. Yes it’s work but also fun. Without a distance goal I probably slack off. And there’s an inverse relationship between work and recycling. This year I have to get to work. That said My overall 10 year goal should be met within 6 months although really we’ll take all year. After that I might just quit cycling. Is on the verge of dying so that may not be an option either. At some point I’m hoping that I won’t care about goals or Strava at all. But hard to quit.
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Sorry, some talk to text typos in there can’t seem to edit.
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