Friday, February 02, 2007

Junk debunked.

I picked up a new term from spending too much time to the lycra brigade* - "junk miles". I hadn't heard the term before. It refers to miles on the bike that aren't quality training, that aren't making you faster and fitter or the like. I suspect that by that definition, most of the miles I do are junk miles. It's a funny way of looking at things.

The idea has been bouncing around in my head for days, niggling me. Perhaps I should have a more structured training program, perhaps I should have a coach. A coach!

Riding home yesterday, on a seemingly endless gentle incline with the wind at my back and the sun shining, the obvious occurred to me: if you're enjoying yourself simply riding your bike, there's no such thing as junk miles. And if you're not enjoying yourself, why ride?

* road racers.

811km so far this year.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never got the junk miles thing either. I figure it's what you make it.

Chris L said...

I think the "junk miles" thing is bunk. Take a commuter whose only riding is to and from work, that's it. They never do any hill rides, they never pay attention to their speed (beyond glancing at their watch to make sure they get to work on time).

Virtually all of this person's miles would be "junk miles", and yet, compare their fitness to that of a couch potato and look at the results. That kind of speaks for itself.