Do base miles mean first base? Home base?

For different cyclists, base mileage can mean different things, I suppose. For the cyclist who has an annual period of frequent races, it means the time of building  endurance again following the post-race season period of rest and recovery. This sets the foundation needed for more intense training as the current race season advances.

To me, base mileage means my total mileage from day one, as I don\’t often take several weeks away from the bicycle. After almost nine years, that\’s considerable distance. In fact, 42,000+ and counting!

There comes a point, though, when miles per se don\’t matter as much as what you do with those miles. If you want to get faster, for example, riding X miles per day at Y miles per hour results in stagnation; or even regression.

Yes, if you\’re a rank beginner, speed takes care of itself up to a certain point; or so it was with me. When I started riding the tricycle, for several months I did gradually get faster. After a few more months,  I noticed that there had been no further increase in my pace. That\’s when I realized that I would have to make deliberate efforts at riding faster if I wanted to get faster.

That was several years before Get Fast! came my way. This book is quite useful; and discusses things more than speed itself, such as core-strengthening exercises.

Getting back to base miles, I\’ll keep working away at making my base bigger.