So today I went on my first ride on my new bike (Carrera Zelos) and Jesus I'm unfit. I'm a 24 year old, slightly overweight, smoker, and I have seriously underestimated how unfit I have become. I cycled for around 40-45 minutes around my local roads and felt like I was gonna give up the ghost.
So to everyone out there, what is the best way to gradually build up fitness (give up the cigs, I know and this is a work in progress). Does anyone who's been in a similar situation have any additional tips that will help? Be it dietary or what not? What distances/time should I be starting off at?
Thanks for any help in advance
Spend £10k on a Pinarello F8, or whatever it is that's top of their range. You'll be able to win the tour de france without getting out of breath.
Kidding, no really what you need to do is buy lots of carbon bits for your Zelos, a £40 carbon bottle cage will do wonders! ;-)
But seriously. For a couple of years, I was stuck on 40 minute rides, around 11 miles. I found it hard work. Then my son and myself took our bikes to France on holiday this year. Cycling round a new area, and route finding,slowed me down, and I found I was able to ride further. Went from 15, to 30, to 45 miles, now very happy at 50 plus, and just signed up for the Ride London 100.
I think the key was understanding that cycling is, or should be, more akin to walking than running, sure you have the occasional bit where you work really hard, getting up a hill or something, but most of the time it's low intensity.
Saying all that it doesn't have to be slow. I've seen my average speed come up steadily, so I'm now happy at around 18 most of the time, either on my solo rides, which are shorter, 20-30, or longer group rides.
It may be worth getting some good advice on bike set up. First thing is to check saddle height, if you have the saddle set too low, it will be really hard work. Once you've got the basic bike setup correct, you want to make sure you're using the gears correctly. There are loads of videos online for both bike set up, and use of gears. Basically, don't grind away in high gears, come down to a gear where you can keep your cadence up (number or pedal rotations per minute).
Nobody can tell you what times or distances you should be starting at, since we don't know you, or your condition etc. But the main thing is to enjoy riding, and persevere, do it as often as you can, and push a little as and when you feel ready. You'll know when you're ready to go further, faster etc.
Finally, you could look into finding some local group rides, you'll find many that will be fine for you, and it's really good fun riding in a group, and a great source of advice and help.
Be very careful to watch for ice in shaded areas, coming across a sight like this is not what you want:
