How not to collapse as a newbie

[Crandoggler]

Especially when you start creeping up the rankings.

 

[thunderlips76]

stravas great, especially if you can get some mates involved

 

[RegG]

I've just read through the posts in this thread and, not being any sort of expert, I think you have been given some great advice. In my own case, I and my partner got back into cycling around April time on some old, heavy mountain bikes. We started off just doing 5 or 6 miles each ride but this gradually increased to 9 or 10. We then decided to buy some decent road bikes and haven't looked back since. We don't overdo it (I am in my early 60's and my partner late 50's) but we do try to keep up a steady pace each ride. I use Strava and find it does help to compare times/distances with previous rides on the same route although it can be very unaccurate when it comes to speed!

From a health point of view, cycling has resulted in my doctor taking me off medication for high blood pressure, so the exercise is good for you! Keep it up and enjoy it. Give up the fags and put the money towards more kit or even a better bike - not that the Carrera is a bad one for starting out.

 

[leedsmick]

Strava is my motivation. Im 3 weeks in and keeping to similar routes, and comparing how i'm improving. I also had 6 days off drinking last week and the rides were a lot easier!

 

[Col5632]

Some great advice from people on here already, keep at it and you won't look back

 

[Fab Foodie]

And cut way back on the booze.

 

[tyred]

Of course it hugely worth your while to stop smoking, improve diet etc but you can still improve your fitness and enjoy cycling. Just build it up gradually, don't overdo it but just slowly increase your time/distance.

As someone who fuelled my teens and twenties on cider, whiskey, pot noodles and fags, you still have time and work towards improving your health fitness, there is no quick fix, it takes time and small but sustainable changes one at a time worked best for me. I only stopped smoking last year but even on 30 strong rollies a day I still had built myself up to 5,000 miles per year in a hilly area. (Actually cycle less miles nowadays but that is for other reasons as I now have other hobbies too).

 

[Samilktray]

Thanks again for all the replies. Trying to ride 3 times a week for an hour each time, and already noticing little improvements, and absolutely loving it. Only wish I'd started sooner as I've missed the summer for the most part now

 

[slowmotion]

My first commute was a dead flat five and a half miles, six or seven years ago. I honestly thought that I was going to die. I was standing with my bike on a traffic island, gasping for breath when the driver of a white Transit stopped beside me and said "Blimey mate, are you OK?". God bless him. After that I just took it a bit more gently and, over a couple of months, gradually got slightly more fit. After three months I did a 20 mile charity ride with my wife and daughter. Two weeks later I rode a very slow sixty miles in Holland. My only advice is to take it really easy to begin with so that you associate riding with pleasure, not some kind of torture. When you see it as fun, you will do it more and more. BTW, I stopped smoking at a considerably older age than you are. I promised myself that I would put aside the cost of my ciggies every day and, when I reached £700, would splurge it on a nice new bike. I got to £500 alarmingly quickly and bought a £750 bike anyway.

Have fun!

 

[raleighnut]

Strava is my motivation. Im 3 weeks in and keeping to similar routes, and comparing how i'm improving. I also had 6 days off drinking last week and the rides were a lot easier!

Bugger that, I always find cycling a lot easier after a couple of beers. ...........................................and a pie or two

 

[Karlt]

It's that weird thing where you kill yourself on a segment to find it was 20 seconds worse than your own PB and you're there thinking "How the hell did I do that back in 2013?"

 

[tyred]

Bugger that, I always find cycling a lot easier after a couple of beers. ...........................................and a pie or two

There is a fish and chips shop about 25 miles away from me which I repeatedly heard good things about so a few months ago I made it my Sunday ride to ride there, sample their fish and chips and ride home again.

The fish chips were indeed delicious, and the portions were huge but it would appear some lowlife had filled the frame tubes of my bike up with molten lead whilst I was inside ( or so it would seem considering how slow and sluggish it felt on the way home in comparison to the outward journey )

 

[leedsmick]

If only Strava incorporated head winds when you do a slow time. That's always what I tell myself !

 

[MikeW-71]

Thanks again for all the replies. Trying to ride 3 times a week for an hour each time, and already noticing little improvements, and absolutely loving it. Only wish I'd started sooner as I've missed the summer for the most part now

If you can keep getting out during winter, you'll be flying by next summer

 

[tfg71]

make it fun - so easy to start something with good intentions , not enjoy it so give up .
dont over do it as plenty others have said build it up over time.
cigs are a difficult one - i only stopped when i had my heart attack in may this year. I have been using a vape to curb my urges and i feel a lot better
plus on the above i have more cash each month.
diet - eat sensibly so you feel satisfied and not eager to reach for snacks.
try and make a change to bad habits - one of mine was is sitting at back door in morning with my coffee and a cig - not doing that any more so i sit else where
get others involved - sometimes boredom kicks in - think back to when you were a kid and went everywhere on a bike - didnt think twice about distance speed etc back in the good old days.