Demoralising

[Falloverpete]

How many cyclists have been behind you and unable to overtake you? You don't see those. Try entering a hilly sportive. You will soon see lots of riders overtake you and you in turn will overtake other riders too. Youll never be the best neither the worst and you can always improve on what you have.
To get better keep practising climbing hills.
Good luck
FP

 

[sparty69]

It's not that I care what other people think, it's more about my own personal measure of how I'm progressing. I am entered into my first Sportive in March so maybe that will be a better guide as to how I'm getting on. I'm not going to let it bother me as I love my cycling too much to ever think about stopping. I'll just keep climbing them thar hills and I will improve.

 

[ruggtomcat]

Rule 71

 

[sparty69]

Rule 71

I like that . I think rule 5 is also applicable in my case.

 

[ruggtomcat]

It applies to most things!

 

[fossyant]

Sparty,

Chunal is a very good hill to practice on, and you get a blistering descent on the way back. Snake is OK, but it's a drag and timing yourself may not prove too much as the climb is affected by winds.

Chunal is a rock steady 1 in 10 so takes some climbing, but you can easily time yourself, and see how you progress. Oh and when ready, have a potter over to Charlesworth and have a go at Chapel Brow which takes you to the top of Chunal - it's 'orrible.

Best thing is practice. There are tonnes of back lanes round past Charlesworth, Hayfield area.

 

[PpPete]

Get enough riders together and there will always be someone slower than you....even if you are old and unfit and a lousy climber like me.

I was on a long ride the other day...empahtically not a race, or indeed with any competitive element to it.... riding my 30 year old steel tourer (admittedly somewhat modernised) with most of the other riders well ahead of me after some 9 hours on the road ... but I have to tell you my deep joy when I came out of the last cafe stop and realised the guy who had tried and repeatedly failed to hold on to my wheel on earlier uphill sections, was riding a full carbon Trek Madone with Dura Ace wheels.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not laughing at him (well not much anyway) but it gave me "lift" that lasted a good 20 km.

 

[sparty69]

Sparty,

Chunal is a very good hill to practice on, and you get a blistering descent on the way back. Snake is OK, but it's a drag and timing yourself may not prove too much as the climb is affected by winds.

Chunal is a rock steady 1 in 10 so takes some climbing, but you can easily time yourself, and see how you progress. Oh and when ready, have a potter over to Charlesworth and have a go at Chapel Brow which takes you to the top of Chunal - it's 'orrible.

Best thing is practice. There are tonnes of back lanes round past Charlesworth, Hayfield area.

Yes. I know Chapel Brow and it is 'orrible. I do a lot of cycling around Hayfield, New Mills, Marple, Charlesworth etc. I have a really good 21 mile route that I do regularly around that area.

 

[Canardly]

Now yesterday, while climbing up Chunal Hill out of Glossop towards Hayfield, a spriteley young thing dressed all in team SKY gear flew past me and disappeared into the distance!!. Why can't I climb like that??!! .

You do realise that you have a cycling pro who lives in Charlesworth oops Broadbottom who regularly trains up in them there hills?

 

[atbman]

Sparty, the key point in your post is the fact that you started last year (presumably after a long gap?).

When you start any physical activity, the improvement curve is steep to start off with and then it begins gradually to level out. So further incremental improvements come in smaller bites. As for comparing yourself with people sailing past you on hills, you should bear in mind that they will/may have been riding for years - there are blokes in their 60s who can still get under the hour for a 25 mile time trial.

There are all kinds of things you can do to improve, but getting the miles in is necessary for all of them. As for joining a club, your previous experience was clearly with an old school one. Many of these no longer exist, since they have recruitment difficulties for some reason. Ask around, maybe at a local bike shop to see if there are any newbie friendly clubs around or even contact the local branch of the CTC as there runs tend to be pretty friendly

 

[donkey]

Cycling seems to be an easy sport to get down about ones performance as i seem to be at the moment but just keep doing the miles as i keep being told and it will all come good eventually.