New beginner looking for advice.

[chewitt86]

Hi,

I've recently purchased a bike through the cycle 2 work scheme and took my first ride to work on friday. i have been a casual cycler in the past but that was about 3 years ago. The bike i have is the mountain bike Giant Talon 2.

Within 5 minutes of cycling on a flatish road (maybe a very slight incline) my upper quads/lower hip was aching. I wasn't out of breath, my calves felt fine and generally the rest of me felt fine but my quads were aching and felt like they were seizing up. The rest of the ride was up hill and I was incredibly slow.

I understand that I am newish to it but I do lots of exercise and i'm just very worried about the pain i'm getting after a very short bike ride!

If anyone can help i would be very greatful!

Many thanks

James

 

[Broadside]

I would say it is a fair bet that you have got the saddle too low which is putting undue stress on to your quads. Raising the saddle will allow the power stroke to be with the thigh already pointing down. If the saddle is too low you will have to put a lot of effort on the quads to go from horizontal to the start of the down stroke. A higher saddle position will prevent your thighs from reaching this difficult-to-overcome horizontal position.

There are lots of threads on this forum regarding correct saddle height, you should search for them and see what you find. Good luck.

 

[Muddyfox]

Some slick tyres will make life alot easier as well

Simon

 

[Debian]

Some slick tyres will make life alot easier as well

Simon

+1 as I recently discovered.

 

[Debian]

See HERE for Sheldons advice on saddle height. It worked well for me.

 

[HJ]

I would say it is a fair bet that you have got the saddle too low which is putting undue stress on to your quads. Raising the saddle will allow the power stroke to be with the thigh already pointing down. If the saddle is too low you will have to put a lot of effort on the quads to go from horizontal to the start of the down stroke. A higher saddle position will prevent your thighs from reaching this difficult-to-overcome horizontal position.

There are lots of threads on this forum regarding correct saddle height, you should search for them and see what you find. Good luck.

I agree, sounds like your saddle is too low. Adjust the saddle height so that when your heel is on the pedal, your leg is perfectly straight - this way, when the ball of your foot is centred on the pedal, you should have the right amount of bend in your leg. More advice here...

 

[accountantpete]

The problem is that you have the wrong bike - it probably weighs a ton,the front suspension is inefficient and as pointed out above the tyres will not roll very easily on tarmac.

Having said that it does take time to build up muscles for cycling - don't expect too much too soon.

 

[swee'pea99]

Agree with all the above. Basic guide to saddle height - bum on saddle, heel on pedal, your leg should *just* bend at the knee.

Other than that, take it easy. Even if you're fit, you're working muscles that aren't used to it. Be wary of 'slight inclines'...try to find somewhere you can pootle around on the flat for a bit. Don't push it. It'll come.

 

[chillyuk]

With regards saddle height, what has always worked for me is to START with the saddle at hip bone height, then it may just need a slight trim depending on bicycle geometry. I have the saddle horizontal then it is a matter of a couple of rides to sort out the fore and aft setting.

 

[Ivan Ardon]

The problem is that you have the wrong bike.

It may not be what you want to hear, but accountantpete's hit the nail on the head. It's a nice looking bike, but totally inappropriate for tarmac commuting.

It will get easier though, but make sure you've got the saddle at the right height and the tyres blown up to the maximum on the sidewall although some thinner road tyres are the way to go. The fork seems to have a lockout, so lock it out when you're on road.

 

[chewitt86]

thanks for the very quick and detailed responses guys.

I know i have the wrong bike for commuting but my end goal is to be doing more off-road cycling than on road cycling so I figured getting a mountain bike with lock-out front suspension was the way to go.

I have now increased the height of the saddle, the tyres are fully pumped and I'm getting ready to take the bike out for another spin.

I did figure that a lot of the problems stemmed from not being used to it and not having the muscles but I just needed to check i wasn't doing something completely wrong.

Anyway I'm off to test out the new settings.

 

[Norm]

The Talon 2 is a great bike off road, and perfectly fine on the tarmac, IMO. You times may be a few % longer but you'll have a smoother ride and, when the bike is set up, you won't notice the difference.

The saddle height sounds like the root cause of your quad problems but I'd also replace the Kenda Nevagals (which are excellent off road but I wore mine out in about 250 miles) with some tarmac tyres (26x2.0 Schwalbe Big Apples if you're asking ) and lock out the front forks when you are on the tarmac.