First Ride today....Gawd im unfit !!

[montydruitt]

I had 6 days off from cycling last week and have really benefitted from it. It's like my body need a few days to recover (been cycling for just over a month and was out 5 out of 7 days). My last two rides have been pretty good and my average speed, despite tackling more inclines, is increasing.

 

[Marko62]

It will all come as many have said.

In my case i'm a bloke aged 47 5'10, 157 lb. Had a kidney transplant in June 2005 and was repeatedly told that I need to get some form of exercise so after a few false starts due to my body being unable to take the stress of anything other than a moderate walk, I settled on cycling.

Feb 2008 bought a heavy £200 hybrid (didn't know owt about bikes at the time). First time out and around a couple of blocks I was knackered and was seriously regretting buying a bike but nevertheless I rode on as they say.

March 2008 I bought a Focus road bike, the bug had bit.

Over the next few weeks I slowly built up my mileage riding flatish 6mile then 10 then 20 mile rides. Any hills killed me so I avoided them. Over the summer I continued to slowly up my mileage until I managed a very knackering 50 miles, a great milestone for me.

End of 2008 I set myself a few goals and that was the participate in a couple of sportives over 2009, so entered a localish sportive, the Cheshire Cat.

March 2009 rode the 66 mile Cheshire cat. Managed the distance but not the hills. Walked up every one of them. I swore many many times during the Cat that I would never ever ride anything like this again. After the CC I sought out all the hills in my area and improved because just a couple of days after saying NEVER AGAIN I promised to myself that I would conquer the 'Cat'...... one day.....

July 2009 re-rode the CC with a pal and completed all the rides bar the last few yards of Macc forrest. Well chuffed but next year I AM NOT going to walk up any of the hills.

Since then I've riden the 85 miles of the Liverpool Chester Liverpool sportive and last week rode my first 100 miles in the Manchester 100 in 5hrs 51min.

I am only saying this to show by example that even the most unfit person who has major health problems can participate in activities that at one point seemed impossible..

 

[Bayerd]

I may have missed this, but what are you riding? Reason I ask is that you can find some testing routes with shorter and far less intimidating hills that the A62 out west.

I am currently riding what I believe to be a cheap mtb that was donated by my bro-in-law.

As my current aim is to build fitness and lose weight I don't suppose it really matters what I'm riding as long as I'm knackered at the end of the ride.

Today I managed to go as far as the Carriage House and then went back down Mount Road. For those that don't know the area that's a steady climb of 500ft over 2.2 miles. That may not seem like much to many of you, however I have now been riding for a month after 20 years off and I've got to say I'm pretty pleased with myself .

Next goal Huddersfield n back in the morning...

 

[Backache]

I've being cycling intermittently for around five or six years now. I really enjoy it but with my power to weight ratio heavily balanced towards the latter still find myself walking the hills.

 

[scots_lass]

I am only saying this to show by example that even the most unfit person who has major health problems can participate in activities that at one point seemed impossible..

Well done Marko! Slow and steady wins the race. Onwards and upwards now (literally!).

 

[sooperb]

I've bought the bike, now I have to work out how to manage the gears! As a young thing I had a bike with a whole 3 gears. Last year I bought a folding bike that had six. The folding bike has not been a success and has spent most of its time folded, not a good start.

This week I bought a hybrid and it is proudly installed in my garage. Now the fun starts, it has lots of gears and I have no idea how or when to change up/down etc. I have searched via google and read up on how the gearing works (I sort of think I understand the principle!) but picture if you will, there I am on the bike, I start off, lever on the left says 1 as does lever on the right. It's very slack and I know I need to shift up (see, learning the lingo already lol) err, what next? Do I shift up with the right, if so, how high can I go with the left still on one?

My plan is to ride to the gym ho ho, roughly 7 miles. I'm taking bets, will I be too knackered for yoga by the time I get there, will I get there (I don't think there are any hills along the way but there are sure to be inclines that you just don't notice in the car). Then of course I have to cycle home afterwards. Unrealistic? Almost certainly, I usually bite off more than I can chew lol.

 

[sooperb]

I have googled, there is lots of information out there

Funny though, I came across a link to a site I found last year, the guy was a real cycle buff and came across as a really nice chap. I spent the best part of an afternoon reading archives and exploring his site. When I tried to find the latest entry, I was gutted to discover that he had died earlier in the year. His name was Sheldon "Shifty" Brown, I don't know if I am allowed to post a link but here goes: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/home.html

I really admired him, his ethics and the fact that he was a real family man too. I felt a real sense of loss, surprising as I had only just found his site. He really he knew his stuff, the site is still there with all the links, advice, technical stuff and photo gallery, really worth a look.

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

I have googled, there is lots of information out there

Funny though, I came across a link to a site I found last year, the guy was a real cycle buff and came across as a really nice chap. I spent the best part of an afternoon reading archives and exploring his site. When I tried to find the latest entry, I was gutted to discover that he had died earlier in the year. His name was Sheldon "Shifty" Brown, I don't know if I am allowed to post a link but here goes: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/home.html

I really admired him, his ethics and the fact that he was a real family man too. I felt a real sense of loss, surprising as I had only just found his site. He really he knew his stuff, the site is still there with all the links, advice, technical stuff and photo gallery, really worth a look.

Hi Sooperb, glad to see you found and enjoyed Sheldon. He is generally very highly revered round these parts, and is often quoted as a source of wisdom.

For what it's worth, with your gearing question, I'll explain how I generally work it. I'm on a mountain bike with 24 gears (3 front x 8 back) so my situation might not directly match yours (the ratios are bound to be different in any case) but it might give you a bit of help.

So I will usually start off with the left hand on 2, right hand on 3 or 4. Those are comfortable starting gears for me and enable me to get to a reasonable speed before I feel the need to shift. For most normal flattish riding, I tend to leave the left on 2, and run between 3 and 6 on the right.

If 2-6 feels too light (normally if I'm going slightly downhill or have a tailwind) I'll either go to 2-7 (if I can see it won't be for long) or shift up onto 3 on the left hand: big ring at the front, and then use 6, 7 and 8 at the back.

For hills, or if 2-3 is too much of a "grind", I'll drop the left hand down to 1 (small ring at the front), and then use 1-4 at the back.

One thing you'll notice is that I tend to use a limited range on the right hand, depending on what I'm using on the left; so with 1 on the left, I run 1-4 at the right, 2 on the left gives me 3-7 at the right and 3 on the left I limit myself to 6-8 at the right.

This is to avoid "cross chaining": having the chain going too far across the blocks of gears puts extra stress on it and can wear it out quicker.

There's no real right or wrong way to do it - so long as you avoid cross chaining - but the idea is to use the gears to keep your legs going round at a speed that's comfortable for you. Turning the pedals fast in a low(er) gear is often called "spinning", pushing a high, heavy gear is known as "grinding". The former is, I think, good for working out your heart and lungs, the latter is good for strengthening your legs. You're generally recommended to be running at about 80-100 rpm at the pedals, but some are more comfortable outside that range. I tend to naturally work at about 90-95 rpm.