Is my bike too big for me?

[alicat]

The only zones my bikes and I get to experience are zones 1-6 on the London Underground. Happy to keep it that way!

 

[philipgonzales3]

I have been thinking along similar lines to @SpokeyDokey and I suspect others. The message from several posters is clear, back off a little, take it easy and build stamina.

The exercise you're planning and undertaking is great. You've recognised a problem and taken up a great sport to help you improve. However the stops you describe negatively impact, well reduce, the health benefits you're after. You stopped four times in a 30 mile ride. With the length of your stops you effectively had four short rides. This isn't "mixing it up."

In the heat you describe a few minutes rest in the shade is probably a good thing. I don't know, these are temperatures i dream of! Hydrate properly. I would say 750ml pre-ride, 1500 during the ride and 750ml post ride. Ditch the jerky and Snickers, these are useless calories. A banana, sultanas, 20-30g, and dried apricots, 20-30g, would be more valuable.

I think you're reading too much and trying to add ideas, routines etc. into your riding far too early. Target 30 miles, 12mph avg, with +/- 15 minutes stopped time to hydrate properly, snack and have a few moments in the shade. This really will build your stamina, fitness, hopefully reduce the HR, and give a good base for the future.

My buddies and I are aged 66-70. Over 30 miles we might stop once to pee. Our social rides are 40+ without a stop, often 50 when we rest for coffee, cake and chat for 30-40 minutes leaving perhaps 15+ miles to ride home.

You seem to be taking the advice and opinions in good spirit. This is how everyone intends them. I truly applaud your effort and determination and believe you'll be successful. When I look around our streets I see tens of thousands who should follow your example. 👏👏

Thank you for the wise and kind words. And yeah, I get what your saying but it was only one ride out of many. The one I did today was 2 hours/25 miles, no stops, no fuel other than a few cough drops (throat is always sore due to vaping lol) and water. It wasn't as hot and I was solo, so my pace, my route, etc.

I think the speed drop off is mostly due to my route. I am most comfortable, feel most safe in the neighborhood during the week as there is virtually no traffic.

I'll definitely look into healthier fueling options, if even needed. Again maybe on my harder rides but we'll see what happens.

 

[philipgonzales3]

There's some fabulous advice here from the good ship CycleChat members.
@philipgonzales3 I think a lot of members here have been in the same situation as you. Picked up a nice bike and have all the enthusiasm to go faster and for longer. Which is all quite natural. It's very easy to get ahead of oneself sometimes to the detriment of enjoyment. It certainly happened to me when I got back on the bike after an extended layoff. It took a while to realise that the tortoise and the hare approach is the way to go.

As the late great Freddy Mercury sang. "JUST GET ON YOUR BIKE AND RIDE"

Did he really say that? LOL

And yeah I am always saying (on my facebook mostly) that slow and steady wins the race! That's mostly because I am pretty slow in general but all good!

 

[philipgonzales3]

@philipgonzales3 I think I'll add one more comment and then leave it alone. I feel you should explain to your buddy "push hard and then take a good break" isn't mixing it up unless one stays on the bike. Stopping to rest shouldn't be in the plan. In fact I'd argue it achieves nothing. If you want to push hard I'll offer the approach my buddies and I take. We have a route which generally gives the results below:

Distance: 44.5 miles
Elevation: 1300 feet
Ride time +/- 3:05
Average: =/-14.5mph

This ride includes a 3.6 mile pan flat stretch, no turns. This starts at mile 17, ends at 20.6. As soon as we make the turn on to this road the hammer goes down and we crank up the pace, depending on weather conditions the pace will hit 22-25. The guys who measure power output will aim to ride at threshold. This section takes 10:30 - 12.00 minutes. Speaking is impossible! We then sit up, back off and chat again. The route also includes a 2 mile climb which starts at mile 38. On good days we hammer this as well. Usually this takes 12-14 minutes at threshold.

In my opinion the above is mixing it up. Nice easy ride with a couple of threshold efforts and plenty of on bike recovery.

Yeah, in my limited experience it isn't worth trying to convince others how to train. In person I mean. Obviously someone seeking advice like me is open to different opinions. My buddy has done marathons before and is generally in better shape, a lot skinnier than me, etc. He is also like 25 years older than me. I've actually told him about Zone 2 training but he says he only likes to go fast.

Very impressive ride. Hopefully one day I can do this. Most of my rides are relatively flat but even the ~500 feet of elevation I did today feels an awfully lot like climbing, but certainly not as much as when I first started. I'm happy with my 2 hour ride today, with no stops. As time goes on I have no doubt I will get better at having some rides similar to the one you have mentioned above! It will take time, but I will get there eventually 🤞

 

[philipgonzales3]

The only zones my bikes and I get to experience are zones 1-6 on the London Underground. Happy to keep it that way!

As someone across the pond, I have no idea what that means! haha

 

[alicat]

They're the payment zones for our underground railway known as the Tube or the Underground. Zone 1 is in the middle and the most expensive. There be dragons in zone 6.

 

[philipgonzales3]

Have I mentioned that I run on Kudos and that I tend to overshare! Haha apologies for the incoming picture spam!

Despite all my issues, gripes, complaints, worries, vomiting, etc. lol, I think I am doing fairly well. 2 hour, mostly Zone 2 effort today felt great. I do feel I am mostly doing things correctly. Of course I want to push longer, faster, harder, but it's only natural. If I didn't have some ambition to get better I probably wouldn't keep it up.

Speaking of which, I just crossed 1K miles of cycling for the year (in basically 4 months, with 2 months being on a road bike. I'm of course rounding a bit). 1K miles more than I did last year (and all the years prior!). Pretty happy with that. May not be much to some but for a noob like me that is a ton! Also my effort seems to be pretty much within range of what my watch tells me it should be based on my average or what not. I think Strava and my watch do a pretty good job of keeping me honest as far as effort goes. My watch even tells me how long I need to recover for. Usually less than 24 hours, but sometimes a day or two depending on training load, etc.

Anyway, thanks for all the tips and hopefully my cycling career is just beginning! At 35 (or is it 34 I forget? lol) I feel like I have plenty more years to hone my skills and improve. 🤞

 

[EckyH]

I just crossed 1K miles of cycling for the year (in basically 4 months, with 2 months being on a road bike.

That's a lot: 400km average per month, but because you probably started with less, it's even more in the last two months. My average kilometre age for the last months was just over 500km per month - and that's because I usually commute to work twice a week (just over 24km one way) and do a longer ride at the weekend. But: I'm training for a complete year now. That's why I'm concerned about your training - I think it's relatively likely that you overdo it at the moment. Perhaps because you want to see some progress on Strava preferably on a daily base. But that isn't the way how training works. Even highest level cyclists don't improve ever and ever and every day. They want to achieve a few goals and they do what's necessary for that. And that's similar to us mere mortals: we have to know our goals so that we can decide what's the best way for us to achieve it.
My concern is based on my own experiences and the fact that I've got some education in cycling as a trainer. Despite that was 35 years ago and many of that knowledge has been refined in those years - some practises are still good practises at least at the beginner level: don't overdo it, listen to your body, take care of your diet and avoid stuff which isn't good for your health.

In other posts you wrote about your issues with numb fingers. Had that problem, too. Today I was able to ride 04:40h without numb hands.
What did I change? I consciously loosened my grip on the handlebar, switched hand positions frequently, tried to do more static effort with the core muscles and did some stretching for shoulders and neck every 12-15km. And I lost some weight in the last months. To progress I have to strengthen my core muscles. Let's face it: road cycling is mostly a sport where we sit. Trained core muscles have other advantages as well, not only on the bike. We don't have to go to the gym or buy some expensive equipment to do something. Exercises with the own body weight are there for ages.
Regarding to the weight loss: most of it probably came from my changed diet and the smaller part from cycling. Avoiding ultra processed food, chew for longer (that eases the work of the stomach), smaller portions, a carrot when I like to chew something between the meals. Simple food like salads or homemade dishes also helps me to find the culprit if I cant stomach something. For the drinks it is similar: mostly tap water and now and then a nonalcoholic beer. At least here in Germany that kind of diet can be a tad cheaper than the processed stuff. My spouse usually likes my quick dishes more than the convenience food. Win-win.

You wrote about throat sores from vaping and that you have to take something to minimise the sores. From my perspective your body tells you that he doesn't like at least one effect of vaping. It could be a good idea to listen to your body here too and reduce vaping or just stop it. It's easier said than done, but I know that it can be done.

Good luck!

E.

 

[cyberknight]

Yeah, in my limited experience it isn't worth trying to convince others how to train. In person I mean. Obviously someone seeking advice like me is open to different opinions. My buddy has done marathons before and is generally in better shape, a lot skinnier than me, etc. He is also like 25 years older than me. I've actually told him about Zone 2 training but he says he only likes to go fast.

Very impressive ride. Hopefully one day I can do this. Most of my rides are relatively flat but even the ~500 feet of elevation I did today feels an awfully lot like climbing, but certainly not as much as when I first started. I'm happy with my 2 hour ride today, with no stops. As time goes on I have no doubt I will get better at having some rides similar to the one you have mentioned above! It will take time, but I will get there eventually 🤞

ask your ride mate if he used to run marathons as a sprint