document updated 15 years ago, on Jun 30, 2008

	trip distance	trip average	sustained speed	distance per week
1	just increase a little every time
2	10 miles (regardless of how slow or how many breaks)
3	10 miles		13mph for 10 minutes
4		10mph for 1hr			(at this point,I can ride with people who do regular cardio workouts)
5			16mph for 10 minutes
6	30 miles
7				50 miles
8			18mph for 10 minutes
9		15mph for ≥1hr			(at this point, I have some hope of keeping up with groups who ride regularly)
10	50 miles
11				125 miles

Take these items with me: cell phone (with number of a local taxi), $40 (eg. enough for a taxi ride in case of breakdown, rain, whatever), hex wrenches, iPod, and pen/paper. If you have extra storage (e.g. Camelbak), take tire kit, consisting of: mini-pump, tire levers, and spare tube or patch kit. Nice-to-haves include: Bug spray, sunscreen, and a small lock (though hopefully you can remember to put sunscreen/bugspray on before the ride). Two options for storing these:
- unless you're touring, or it's a utility bike, KEEP WEIGHT DOWN. This includes leaving spare parts at home.
I sweat more than most (even if I was a normal weight, I still would, but the weight doesn't help)
- WEAR A WICKING JERSEY. For >75F days, it helps a lot.
- water consumption:
  - ride a shorter route, but do it multiple times (e.g. an 8 mile circuit, done 5 times, is 40 miles, but you're never more than 4 miles from the car, which is good protection for flats, as well as water refills)
  - get a Camelbak
  - there are extra water bottle holders (handlebar, behind saddle), but they DO NOT WORK AT ALL for offroad, they're not nearly sturdy enough.
an iPod keeps exercising from being boring. Options for holding the iPod:
- a t-shirt with a pocket... pretty rare, but I found one at Old Navy
- one of those arm-band things
- a bicycle jersey has pockets in the back