How to figure average miles per day

[Nyimbo]

Quick question here.  Tentative plan is to do one rest day ever 7 to 10 days.

When people ask how far I travel each day, I am wondering if the common practice is to divide total miles travelled by the total days of the tour or divide by the total - on the bike - riding days?

Thanks 

[RonK]

Riding days - this is the number you use to plan your itinerary.

What you tell others is up to you.

[jamawani]

Lie - - lie outrageously.
For people who don't cycle there is no difference between 2 miles and 200.

[DaveB]

Do you want to have the information for yourself or to impress others?  For yourself divide the total distance by the number of total trip days.  For others divide the total distance by the number of riding days.  Also, emphasize the really long day(s) for best effect.

[Nyimbo]

Thanks guys,

I may round up -but lie...  No seriously I just wondered.  I regularly read folks comments about their mileage and wondered what the tradition among touring cyclist was.

[John Nelson]

When the question is general, I only include riding days. But I take very few days off. I rode the whole Northern Tier with no days off at all. I'd always rather see what's down the road.

[DaveB]

Joking aside, I think most tourists say what their typical riding day is and mention the occasional (or routine) day off as not in the calculation.

[RussSeaton]

I would guess most people give a number for miles ridden on riding days.  Exclude rest days, non riding days.  Long ago I rode around Europe for about 100 days.  Mid-end May to end August.  Total miles were low 4000s.  So I only averaged about 40 miles per day.  But in that whole trip there was only one day I recall riding less than 40 miles.  I left Pisa, Italy and rode about 25 miles to the next town north.  I remember thinking it was a wasted day because I rode so short.  I remember every riding day as being 60-70 miles or so.  Plenty of enjoyable non riding days on that trip.  When describing that trip to people I would say May to August.  Memorial Day to Labor Day roughly.  If someone inquired more and wanted to know how far I rode, I'd say 4000 miles or so.  If they wanted to do the math after that, let them.

[RonK]

Thanks guys,

I may round up -but lie...  No seriously I just wondered.  I regularly read folks comments about their mileage and wondered what the tradition among touring cyclist was.

Most of us (I think) would find no need to embellish.
The truth alone is impressive enough.

[canalligators]

For me, the main use of that information is for planning purposes.  I started out with a first estimate of fifty per day (quickly exceeded, I was younger).  Now I know what suites me, or us.  It depends on who is going and what the overall objective of the trip is.  If we're trying to squeeze in a last connection we may increase the distance.  If we're riding in a beautiful area to be savored, reduce the distance.

When others ask, they rarely ask about distance per day, in fact they seldom ask about total distance.  When they do, I practice modesty - I avoid the numbers or round down.  But I do agree, if you only told them ten miles per day, most will be overly impressed.

[indyfabz]

Mostly I am asked my origin, destination and how long (in days) it will take. If mileage comes up, it's usually total mileage for the trip.

[DaveB]

To some extent it depends on who is asking.  A few years ago another couple and my wife and I took a winter vacation in FL.   We were there for 10 days and the other guy and I rode about 300 miles in that time, just day rides for two or three hours in between other activities with our wives.  When we got back and were asked about our riding we got two types of responses.

The non-riders said something like; "WOW, 300 miles!  Did you do anything but ride???"
The riders said; "Only 300 miles huh?  I guess you didn't ride much."

[Westinghouse]

Let's say you do a 30 day tour. Of those thirty days you cycle 25 and rest 5. You average your miles by dividing 25 into the total. Some people may average their daily miles by dividing the total by the total number of days on tour.  I do not see the sense in that. I have never heard of anyone explaining their hourly wage by 168 hours in a week, only by the number of hours actually worked.

[staehpj1]

When people ask how far I travel each day, I am wondering if the common practice is to divide total miles travelled by the total days of the tour or divide by the total - on the bike - riding days?

Just me but I think of "average miles per day" and what I'd tell people I meet along the way who ask "how far I travel each day" as two different numbers.

For me average daily miles is total miles divided  by total days including rest days.  That is the number that matters for most practical purposes.  Since the number is used for planning arrival dates, trip duration, and so on, not counting rest days doesn't make sense to me.

If someone asks how far I go in a day I think they are probably more interested in how far I ride in a typical riding day.  So in that case I might not include rest days.

The bottom line for me is that it is usually moot because I typically don't take days off and if I do it is in the form of half days or short mileage days.

To avoid confusion I try to just specify when I answer by saying something like "70 miles per day including rest days"  (or "without" as the case may be).

[hbbra16]

I use mapmyride when i ride, so anyone who is interested can always take a peek on there. i give average miles ridden per ride day. at the end of the day, when riding say 1000 miles and you took from august 1st to 15th, the normal person is probably going to just say, ok 15 days 1000 miles is around 70 miles per day. even if you actually rode 120 but rested a few days.