How not to collapse as a newbie

[steveindenmark]

Well reading these posts you will have already gathered that unless you finish the work in progress (cigs), you are pretty much screwed.

The other thing to remember is that you are not a Pro cyclist. Dont feel the need to go everywhere fast.

A good cycling saying " to go fast you have to slow down"

 

[Katherine]

Some good advice above. Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

 

[Elswick Cotterpin]

Diet, probably, sensible eating, no one needs a lecture on this it's the actual doing it that's hard!

Ride as often as you can, doesn't have to be enormous distances or against the clock; find your own pace, something that doesn't knacker you out by the first corner.

Make sure the bike is set up right for you, as others have mentioned.

Ride where, when, whatever type of bike, you can, wearing whatever clothes you feel comfortable in and do it for yourself.

As far as smoking goes, you can still make fitness gains while you smoke, not the best advice maybe, but it's true; I smoked until four weeks ago and I felt fitter from regular cycling in spite of the cigarettes. Got to say, it's even better without them, but it's like dieting; who needs a lecture?

Have fun, take it steady, and enjoy yourself!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Just get out and ride short rides, little and often but more importantly try to enjoy it. If you are not enjoying it, you are riding too far, too hard and/or too soon. It should be fun. Keep it that way and you won't noticed your lack of fitness and it will improve in very quickly.

 

[Dave 123]

Be realistic. How long have you been perfecting the art of screwing your body up?

So it's going to take a fair bit of time to get it back to where you'd like it, but that's fine, give it a year. We have autumn coming up, that's 1/4 of the year, winter will be the hardest- join a gym, get decent lights for your bike or put your coat on and go for an hours walk. If you can keep at it through this period then once the days start to lengthen you'll be well on form and be able to make the most of it. By summer you'll have a modelling contract and you'll not want to associate with the likes of us any more!

Oh, and surround yourself with like minded people. Stop playing out with the smoking, drinking crowd.

 

[MiK1138]

Csnt argue with any of the above, I started commuting a year and a half ago on a Zelos, first week I thought the hill up to work was gonna kill me, now i fly up it like it isnt there, just keep riding

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Give up fags. Give up booze. Retain sex. Cycle regularly.

 

[Dayvo]

The more you cycle, the more cake you can eat. A win-win situation.

 

[Crandoggler]

I'm an ex smoker and I'd like to tell you a little story about me.

Recently, about the time I took up cycling, I managed to damage my lungs through smoke inhalation. Not cigarette induced may I add.

I spent nearly 3 months coughing, day and night until I nearly fainted, or my airways shut due to hypersensitivity. I coughed up blood, brown phlegm, green phlegm and gallons of clear stringy mucus. I coughed until I couldn't stand up, I coughed until I was quite literally gasping for air, causing my daughter to cry as she watched her dad wretch and 'whoop' when trying to breathe and my wife to panic and watch her husband fall to the floor trying to breathe.

I wouldn't wish anyone to go through what I went through. I still can't laugh properly, because I cough and sometimes cough when I yawn.

This was 1 day's damage from breathing smoke in and is remarkably similar to the symptoms of lung cancer, except they're worse.

My biggest advice to you is to remove cigarettes from your life. Never ever do I want my lungs to feel like they did, and I will do my all to prevent lung(or any) kind of cancer. fark smoking to promote that fate.

Anyway, I've been cycling ever since and am much fitter for it. I feel your pain! I've watched friends dart up hills whilst I've coughed and spluttered like a mess all the way up. It will come. But ditch the farking fags.

 

[thunderlips76]

well done on the zelos i've just upgraded to a boardman but the zelos is pretty cool. I'd say my motivation was defo getting people to ride with......and strava.....god bless strava. get it downloaded as soon as posssible. annd yeah get rid of the fags but diet wise i'm still a fat knacker. love my pizzas

 

[Samilktray]

Thanks for the tips everyone, all have them have been well and truly noted and will be used in some way. And just for the record despite smoking I very rarely drink haha unless a Lachouffe is available, I'll make an exception then.

What is this Strava anyway?

 

[Lilliburlero]

What is this Strava anyway?

Strava is a free app you can get on your phone, it tracks your ride via GPS. It will show you your average speed, top speed, distance and so on.

 

[13 rider]

Thanks for the tips everyone, all have them have been well and truly noted and will be used in some way. And just for the record despite smoking I very rarely drink haha unless a Lachouffe is available, I'll make an exception then.

What is this Strava anyway?

As above . Strava also records all your rides so you can compare times when you repeat routes and compare with other people . So useful for watching improvement

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Strava are like cigarettes. Exceptionally addictive, very hard to give up and ends up costing you a fortune (in new kit, bikes, clothes...). There are other 'makes' available like garmin, ridewithgps, Google fitbit... To name a few

 

[Colin_P]

Strava is fantastic and really keeps me interested. I am dog slow so only race myself but comparing your own efforts on various 'segments' is compulsive stuff.