Cycling is absolutely amazing in so many ways, but even with all of its history and technology one aspect remains more important than all the rest: riding.
Therein lies the beauty of cycling; none of the other stuff really matters. Any rider can have the latest, greatest bike or wheels or kit, but if that fancy gear hasn't been used regularly on the tarmac, or on singletrack, it's all for nothing.
It's one thing to know the history of gear, or the races, or the stories behind the legendary cycling superstars, but when your feet hit the pedals none of that makes a bit of difference. Cycling's all about riding.
For myself, I typically count the number of days per week I ride and then tally up the total for the year.
During the summer, if I'm not travelling I generally get out on the bike five or six days a week. Other parts of the year see three to five rides a week depending on weather, work, family, etc. All told, I've averaged about 220 or so days a year of riding for about 15 years.
How many miles or hours is that? I honestly have no idea. I wasn't brought up as a cyclist with the number-crunching mentality. And I've never embraced it as I know it's in my nature to go disappear down that rabbit hole and forget why I'm on a bike in the first place.
So how about you… how often do you ride? Do you ride for a set number of hours on the bike? Or aim to notch up a certain number of days in the saddle per week? Does it all come down to mileage? Is an astronomical number of feet / metres climbed your preferred metric? Or do you just ride when and how you want with no predetermined goal in mind? Whatever it is let us know in the comments below.