How long before improvements kick in? How long before I feel like a proper cyclist rather than a pretender?
I'm not giving up cos I actually enjoy it (despite the pain), I'm just feeling a bit deflated that I can't manage 4 miles with pain.
Felt sick as a dog when I'd finished mind which shows how out of shape I am!!
Your second 'update' post answers your initial sentiment from the first post; a sentiment which, incidently, I personaly feel is inverted and is an all too common feeling from guys just starting out.
That 'Sick as a dog' feeling is your badge. You are a 'proper' cyclist from the first instant you swing your leg over the saddle and buy into that urge to peddle that bit harder. You become a 'pretender' when you stop the 'harder' part.
Bare witness to Sir Bradley of the Muttons. I haven't watched the actual thing but on the advert for his latest documentary theres a bit where he is talking about being at altitude, the lungs being on fire and fighting the urge to give up.
That right there is the naked essence of it all from one of the best in the world.
If you get into actual comparisons, Im sure Mr Wiggo would look at my 'meagre' achievements of a fairly regular diet of 50 milers beefed up with the very occassional century with a mild disdain. His frame of reference compared to mine is completely different. Do I consider myself a non-cyclist because I cant pull 250k in under 6 hours? Do I heck.
Cycling, to me, is all about the challange and the improvment. Whether its distance, speed, frequency of rides, whatever, its the raw desire to turn the cranks which makes you a cyclist. Where you are on the path is completely irrelevant.
Im not saying you need to feel sick as a dog every time you finish a ride, or that you need to set your lungs on fire or destroy your legs for every second you are in the saddle; I'm guessing you're not realistically setting your sights on a Tour De France victory or going Pro.
Its when you 'give up' the hunt; you lose that hunger and desire and become satisfied with what you can do and seek no more, you ride the exact same route the same number of times each day, each week, each month, and are happy with the same time every time so that cycling has now become a simple motion. Thats when you become the pretender.
Just my opinion like.
I wish I could get out more! My riding is confined to weekends at the moment as I still don't have a front light worth a fig. I promised myself one this month, but as always, there's too much month left at the end of the money! I pray for reasonable weather each weekend just to get my fix.
