>>127690I'm not exactly a trainer, but I can tell you my basic training strategy.
Start by riding your bike. Find out how far you can ride before you get tired, and ride a bit further than that. Slowly increase the distances you cover over time. I remember feeling like death after riding 14 miles on a mountain bike 3.5 years ago. Now, 14 miles is a joke.
I enjoy doing so more when I'm riding to something, rather than just riding. I like going to the parks and neighboring towns around Corvallis. In Portland, you could ride along the Columbia or the Willamette to see some new sights without much climbing.
As your ability to cover distance grows, you can put more effort into speed and climbing. Speed is never a priority for me, but when I go for training rides without gear, I try to throw in a few ~1 minute sprints (high cadence, pushing hard). I'm right next to the Coast Range, so there are plenty of hills along training rides if I want to ride on them.
Riding up and down Mary's Peak is really good training - if you can get to some decent ascents, just approach them the same way as flat training. Ride as far up as you can, and push yourself a little harder each time.
Once I felt comfortable with ~30 mile rides and ~1000' climbs, I was capable of making it to my first touring destination, Alsea Falls. Again, I worked my way up from there, taking a weekend every now and then to ride out to camp for a night or two.
The main factor limiting your training will probably be time. If you only have time for 10 miles a day then it will be hard to work up to 500 mile touring weeks. Assuming you're employed full time, going on one long ride every weekend and one easy one is probably the best you can do.
TL;DR:
Go on lots of bike rides. Make them longer and harder over time.
