Help I can not get into gear

[Nigelnaturist]

Yeah don't measure your efforts to start. Go out, and just pedal a speed that suits you. Adding looking at time and distance will only add to Worries you have already mentioned. Even if it's only to pop to shops and back for a newspaper. All the best

I found the opposite to be true, i am a bit of a stats freak as some on here will tell you (@welsh dragon ) I find it at least interesting to see improvements or not and possible why (elevation cad Hr) but to start with a simple date time and distance which over time will improve and helps to encourage oneself if not also to give targets if you so wish i.e. total miles the first 10 miles 100 ect ether as a cumulative total or as a single ride, that way when you reach say 25 miles total having done no more than may 2-3 mile rides it might help to push on to 5 miles for a ride, just examples, everyone is different how they achieve targets if you indeed want a target.

 

[welsh dragon]

I found the opposite to be true, i am a bit of a stats freak as some on here will tell you (@welsh dragon ) I find it at least interesting to see improvements or not and possible why (elevation cad Hr) but to start with a simple date time and distance which over time will improve and helps to encourage oneself if not also to give targets if you so wish i.e. total miles the first 10 miles 100 ect ether as a cumulative total or as a single ride, that way when you reach say 25 miles total having done no more than may 2-3 mile rides it might help to push on to 5 miles for a ride, just examples, everyone is different how they achieve targets if you indeed want a target.

OMG. Don't get Nigel started on stats for goodness sake.

 

[Goggs]

Just a thought. Do you perhaps live somewhere uninspiring or somewhere you fear cycling is dangerous? Do you own a car? If so, put the bike in the car & go somewhere nice to have a more peaceful, more private, cycle.

 

[Julia9054]

Occasionally I like to look back through Facebook at the things I posted when I first got back into cycling about 6 years ago. I have never been overweight but I was astonishingly unfit after a lifetime of sport and exercise avoidance.
The first year, I stuck to cycle paths and quiet country roads. I boasted about feeling like a superhero the first time I cycled the 5 miles into town. I now do that twice a day as I cycle to work.
I can see the post a year later when I rode a charity ride of 60 miles. I went with a friend who dropped me for the last 20 miles because I was so astonishingly slow. It took about a week to recover but I was so proud of myself. A year later we did the same ride and I kept up all the way.
I look at some of the small hills near where I live and can pinpoint exactly where I had to stop half way up to get my breath back. I can manage those same hills easily now. I can point out the exact spot on one of those hills where I overtook another cyclist for the very first time - what a brilliant feeling that was!
I am now no longer improving, either in fitness levels nor average speed - in fact, I've probably got a little bit slower but if I think of where I have come from . . .

 

[montroseloon]

A lot of it is about self confidence and being comfortable with yourself. Start off doing a few mile loops or what you feel you can manage comfortably, lots of apps and websites with maps to plan this. Gradually you will feel more happy with what you are doing and want to go a wee bit further and maybe throw in a wee hill or two. As for worrying about how people see you, most decent folk will praise your effort. Don't worry I still look like a squashed sausage when dressed in lycra

 

[david k]

I look back at rides of 7 miles which I bragged about, that was a real effort to get to that stage
You'll be surprised how quickly you progress
Just cycle and enjoy, if it's a mile and it takes 30 minutes it's one mile more and 30 minutes of exercise more than being sat on the sofa

 

[Cp40Carl]

Good advice, especially the 'time not miles' bit.

Yes, I also agree with this advice. Cyclists often measure cycling proficiency or ability in miles although it is worth bearing in mind that a 2 miles route into a headwind / gradient can be far more challenging than a 10 mile route on the flat. Time on the bicycle is therefore a better way to approach things unless, of course, you want to measure progress along a fixed route (and in the same weather conditions).

Basically, just get out and ride. Once you get the bug, the rest will follow and you will really start to enjoy it. Some great advice from posters on this thread already I think. Enjoy yourself, that's the key.

 

[david k]

Good idea, measure time out and how often, consider miles and speed irrelevant. I have done this at times and actually enjoy the ride much more

 

[Sunny Portrush]

Stick at it Steve and you`ll be amazed how quickly you progress. Like a fair few on here, I cycled billions of miles in my younger days and then life got in the way. I returned to cycling about four years ago after a 25 year hiatus. I started by cycling round the route I took th dog on his walk - it was only about a mile and I would do two or three at a time. After a few months, I started doing more and remember bragging to a neighbour that I had just come back from a 12 mile ride and felt like Superman. 12 miles these days is a warm-up. You will get better and even tho we are entering the fag end of the year, don`t let the dark days get you down, plenty of light at the weekend!

 

[magictime]

I'm going to offer a bit of a different perspective here.

If you can stick with it and accept that you'll be doing very short distances for a while and then building up gradually, great. But if every ride is just going to make you feel crap about yourself, forget about riding for a while and focus on some achievable goals that will make you feel you're headed in the right direction in terms of losing some weight and improving your general fitness. Lose the first half stone, then the second. Walk a mile a day, then two miles. Give yourself opportunities to feel good about passing milestones, and come back to the bike when you're ready to approach it in the same spirit.

 

[Nebulous]

Your body doesn't want to be worked hard. Your brain will use any trick in the book to avoid it. I'm not a runner, but I remember reading an article about running where it said something like "The biggest step you will ever take is the one across your front door."

What you need to do is build exercise of some kind into your routine. It needs to become as much part of you as eating or going to the toilet. Along time ago I went to the gym 2-3 times a week. I had my ritual, packed my bag in advance, picked it up and just went. I didn't think about whether I wanted to or not. It invariably felt good afterwards though. I had a fortnight off over the Christmas period at one point and somehow never went back.

I began to cycle much later and thought I had learned some lessons from that gym experience. I kept it going for 3-4 years then had a combination of things that rocked me, including being hit by a car. I kept some of it up, including a very short daily commute, but this summer I've begun to build up again and have had to be honest with myself about how much my fitness had slipped from a peak 3 years ago.

There are still things that help. Packing my gym bag the night before definitely increases my chance of going early the next morning. I'm more of a fair weather cyclist than I was. I'm on a very flexible work pattern and a couple of times recentlty we've had very nice days. I've packed up early, gone home and got out on my bike. That has brought a huge sense of exhilaration. The whole routine has been part of it. Looking out of the window, seeing the sun, telling my colleagues I'm leaving early to go out on my bike, switching off my computer, have all led inevitably to that bike ride being very pleasurable because of the build up as well as the bike.

Don't just think about cycling. I walk dog, go to the gym (where I sit on an exercise bike) and mostly cycle in dry conditions now. Have a target for exercise which is a little ahead of where you are. I used to take my car about 800 metres to buy a sandwich at work. Stopping that and deciding to walk every day was a significant change at the time. It was quickly overtaken by other changes but it was a key part in getting me started.

Good luck - let us know how you are getting on!

 

[Daveboy36]

ive brought the bike ridden it once it crippled me I'm 24 stone and desperate to lose weight I look at the bike daily but have the confidence to ride it!! Thinking I'm to overweight I need the focus guys any good advice

My mate needed to lose weight but he thought weight watchers was just for women but he went last year and lost 6 stone and recommends it to anyone wanting to lose weight

 

[Brand X]

A word of warning about losing weight: No amount of exercise will actually cause you to lose a significant amount of fat, at least not in the long term. I'm not saying don't ride, I think it's great idea and it will do wonders for your health and fitness, but it won't directly help you with weight loss. It may make it easier for you to lose weight because you'll have a more natural balance - you'll be closer to the caveman hunter-gatherer way of burning and consuming calories - but if you find you are not losing weight despite making a lot of effort, it won't be because you are doing something wrong.

Also, don't make the mistake of trying to eat less, BIG mistake. I don't mean to sound preachy but I know this for a fact. Do cut down on sugar as much as you can, and also avoid processed foods as much as practically possible - anything wrapped in pastry is your enemy. God I love pastry. But don't try to diet, your body knows what it needs and you can't trick it into wanting less and you'll end up going through cycles of losing weight and feeling great about it, but then piling the pounds back on and starting the cycle all over again and you'll be hungry and irritable. Just try to cut out the crap food and replace it with fresh natural foods; ie, eat a steak not a burger.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

A word of warning about losing weight: No amount of exercise will actually cause you to lose a significant amount of fat, at least not in the long term. I'm not saying don't ride, I think it's great idea and it will do wonders for your health and fitness, but it won't directly help you with weight loss. It may make it easier for you to lose weight because you'll have a more natural balance - you'll be closer to the caveman hunter-gatherer way of burning and consuming calories - but if you find you are not losing weight despite making a lot of effort, it won't be because you are doing something wrong.

Also, don't make the mistake of trying to eat less, BIG mistake. I don't mean to sound preachy but I know this for a fact. Do cut down on sugar as much as you can, and also avoid processed foods as much as practically possible - anything wrapped in pastry is your enemy. God I love pastry. But don't try to diet, your body knows what it needs and you can't trick it into wanting less and you'll end up going through cycles of losing weight and feeling great about it, but then piling the pounds back on and starting the cycle all over again and you'll be hungry and irritable. Just try to cut out the crap food and replace it with fresh natural foods; ie, eat a steak not a burger.

Twaddle less cals in more cals out = weight loss, doesn't matter what it is. eat the same burn more cals you lose weight, however many eat more cals than they burn, I rode 28 days last month with an average estimated 525cals a day or a tad over 22,000 for the month (from the gps unit which I know reads high so 2/3rds of it to give approx 40cals a mile), this would give a fat weight lose of (approx 25% of cals used) 5,500 cals or 1 1/2lb of fat which would be about right I guess, but as you say its nothing great, but so long as you keep an eye on the cals in over a year this would easily be 1 to 1 1/2 st, by the way it equates to about 350 miles, which is why many starting out don't seem to see the benefit from cycling regarding weight lose as many new cycliost will not be doing that sort of distance in a short time last month I did 557 miles so you can deduce 1.5lb of fat /557miles = 1/25th of an oz every mile, no real scientific bases as figures are a bit subjective but does hold up to some degree from my weights and observations.

 

[bikeman66]

Is there a shop or somewhere you go fairly regularly that is close enough to cycle to, that maybe you would normally drive to? Perhaps resolve to cycle to that place rather than use the car. I used to drive to my local rowing club, where I coach people, until I just thought how ridiculous the situation was one day. Always cycle there now. No problems finding a parking space, almost as quick, keeps me fitter, and the amount of fuel I'm saving is a bonus. Just little differences you can make to your lifestyle can all have a considerable cumulative effect. Pretty soon you won't think twice about getting on the bike to go to the paper shop, and then you'll be going to the paper shop via a scenic route and taking in another couple of miles etc etc.

Good luck with your weight loss and fitness drive, and please check in on this forum to let us know how things are going. the important thing is don't get disheartened. It may take a while to reach some of your goals, but if you try to set reasonable targets you'll be more encouraged by your progress as you reach them. It becomes self perpetuating in the end.

There are probably loads of plans you could follow, but in my opinion, some of those on the British Cycling website are pretty good. Although you shouldn't be a slave to it, I believe that having at least some structured training plan in place (no matter how basic to start with) makes it easier to plan and motivate yourself to go out on your bike.

We're all behind you matey.