← Blog/May 16, 2026 · 2 min read
Seven Miles, Two Legs, No Bike
I spent over five hours on a trail this morning. No watts, no cadence, no bike. Just 7 miles and 1,700 feet of climbing on foot.
What I did
This morning was a hike. Not a ride. Seven miles, 1,713 feet of elevation, 183 minutes of moving time. Start to finish the whole thing took over five hours including stops.
Average speed: 2.3 mph. Which tells you it was not flat.
Why it counts
I've been pretty open about where my fitness sits right now. FTP at 216W, W/kg at 2.27. Both well below where I want to be by August 29th. So every aerobic hour I can log matters, and hiking is a legitimate way to build that base.
The cardiovascular stress from sustained uphill hiking is real. Your heart doesn't know you're not on a bike. Legs are loading differently, but the lungs and engine are doing similar work. On a climb like this, heart rate sits in the same zone I'd target on a long endurance ride.
It's also just good for the head. The 135-mile loop around the Bay is a long day. Mental endurance is part of the training. Spending five hours outside, moving through terrain, is practice for that.
What I'm watching
I'm not going to pretend a Friday morning hike replaces bike-specific work. It doesn't. Hip flexors, glutes, and calves got a workout that translates. The cycling muscles, the ones you use for sustained power through the pedal stroke, need saddle time to develop. This is supplemental.
But the aerobic base you build on your feet carries over. And right now I'm in base-building mode. Volume first. Intensity comes later.
The honest version
I had a five-hour window this morning. I chose to spend it moving outside rather than sitting at a desk. That's a training choice and a mental health choice, and sometimes those are the same thing.
If you're training for TheBayRide and you're not a daily cyclist, don't ignore what your legs can do off the bike. Long walks. Hikes. Stairs. All of it builds the engine. The 135-mile ride around the Bay will ask a lot of you. Any aerobic time you log between now and August 29th is a deposit.
I'll be back on the bike this weekend. The numbers will be there.
TheBayRide | August 29, 2026 | 135 miles around the Bay TheBayRide.com
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