What does it take to ride a bike 50 miles? Lets start with the bike and look at the you portion in a bit.

Ideally you want a multi-speed bike and a comfortable position, so a mountain bike is good. Tuned up will save lots of energy.

Teacher

What terrain will you be riding on?

Is this an urban, GP, or off-road BOK (Bug-Out biKe)?

You could ride a single speed "cruiser-style" for 50 miles if need be. Someone could pretty much ride anything for 50 miles without much more than enough clothes to disguise your birthday suit.

Need more parameters defined before the discussion can continue. 50 miles is too generic.

50 miles is not a big deal, unless you are climbing mountains with a load.

On my road, go-fast bike (no baggage), I could do 50 miles in 2-3 hours, assuming flat or small hills and not much headwind.

On my loaded touring bike, it would probably take me 4+ hours, but I can carry 50+ lbs of gear.

Off pavement, you will probably average 10 mph or less (unless it's all downhill).

As said before, it depends on terrain, road surface, headwinds, but if you are trying to get an idea of whether a bike is a feasible bug out vehicle, then yes, it absolutely can be.

Greg

Agree with Greg, 50 miles is no big. I did 30 miles in <3 hours on my mountain bike with fat tires, the terrain was a relatively flat bike path. I stopped halfway through for some water but otherwise did it non-stop. Need more details.

Ditto the environ. I've got a friend that did a weekly 100 miler. Rolling hills (some gravel roads), usually about half that paved. I think she still used a road bike, but with a little thicker tires.

And, no bags, backpack, etc.

When I bought my Mt Bike a few years back I had not ridden in quite a few years, I hopped right on and did 53 miles on a paved trail along the river then cross country all on paved roads back to the truck, some of it was up hill but not a lot. I got up the next day feeling fine, I was 48 when I did that and I have a bad back. Dirt trail is harder on your body, and your going to want to buy yourself a quality bike, learn to use the gears in your favor.

Hmmm. I'm thinking what does a person new to biking need to do 50 miles in one day, carrying some gear. Figure mostly paved roads/ trails and some dirt.

I'd vote for a good seat. After 50 miles your butt's probably gonna be sore.

A granny gear, i.e. three chain rings, one that is rather small. Some training would also help.

Absolutely!!

Look into the gloves with the padded palms. I found when I did riding the pressure on the hands was causing some nerve/tingling issues.

Ditto the gear range. I really easy gear is more important than one that will allow you to go fast. Think steep gravely hills and plan accordingly. I'm sure you are not interested in trying to set land speed records.