Novice needs some advice

[efreeti]

Okay, I have spent the last 8 months pootling around Manchester on a Brompton. Longest trip has probably only been a few files at a leisurely pace. Over the last 14 months I have been on a weight loss kick and dropped from just under 20 stone. to around 14 stone. Most of this weight loss happened between January and August 2009 so in the last 6 months or so I have really just been maintaining my current weight and trying to get fitter.

I to the gym 3 times a week and do around 90 minutes. This includes 40 to 60 minutes of mixed cardio and then about 1/2 hour on weight machines and free weights. All the machines at the gyrm are the same make and I have traditionally used the calorie counter to measure how much I am doing, not very accurate I know but it has worked ok so far. I started off doing about 250 calories over about 1/2 hour and can now do around 500 calories in about 40 minutes or so spread across bike, treadmill, elliptical, rower and stair machine. So I know I am generally increasing my fitness.

I signed up for the Manchester Blackpool ride and bought a hybrid to start training on. Went out on it the first time yesterday and set off intending to do about 10 miles. I live on the Pennines and I knew the route I was taking was a long fairly gentle incline but thought this was a good idea. Turns out after 3 miles of constant peddling up this incline I was knackered and decided it was time to go back. I only managed 6 miles and was quite dis heartened by the whole affair.

I'm not used to gears and it is the first time I had ridden the bike so that may have been part of it, it was pretty windy and after a brief argument with my partner before setting off I didn't really warm up properly and was in a bad mood!

Thing is the road I live on slopes up gently in one direction for 5 miles then hits steep hills, the other way is gently sloping downwards for 3 or 4 miles and then hits steep hills. I wasn't prepared for just how tiring I found it constantly going up hill with no opportunity to stop coast.

I'm thinking I should start using the gym a bit more effectively as well, I clearly need to spend more time on the bike. Does anybody have any simple routines to start following that will get me ready for early July?

 

[Crackle]

I'll start the ball rolling for you and then others can add some good advice too.

First off, I'd say you ought to be aiming at making yourself a programme. You probably need to aim to ride three times a week, two midweek, one weekend. Exactly what mileage you do will depend upon your fitness and your ride aim (Manchester - Blackpool). It's important to keep your goals realisitic, so if you can't manage this hill yet, put the bike in the car/train and go somewhere flat. The end of your programme should reflect the distance you're training for and would probably see you riding four or five times a week.

The general rules are: Increase your weekly mileage by 10% and make no one ride longer than your total weekly mileage, normally your weekend ride. So if you realistically assess what you can do now and create a program based on that to your big ride then you have a training program. Of course it's not that simple, you may find you can manage more after a few weeks or you'll have good weeks, bad weeks but that's the idea.

 

[lukesdad]

Youll need to warm up before you hit that slope even if it is a gentle incline. Or gently spin up it in a low gear to warm up. Sruggling up it straight off will put you on the rivet for the rest of the ride...,not good.

 

[Trek Trauma Chris]

Mix it up a bit when you are in the gym. Intervals on the stationary bike, warm up, 30 secs flat out (high rpm med/high intensity level) 1-2 Min's easy, then flat out again try doing 4 reps at first, then 6 and so on as fitness improves. Join a spinning class if they have one, skipping (yes! great for hands and wrists, toes, ankles, calf, quads and glutes all the cycling muscles).

 

[Globalti]

Are you sure the bike is set up right and more importantly your position on the bike? There's a lot of fine-tuning possible and each little change will make your hill climb less painful.

 

[jay clock]

Lots of rides. Little and often. Warm up gently. If 6 miles was tough do 2-3 miles every day for a week. Have a day off if you fancy. The next week do 3-4 miles as often as you can. Once up to about 10 miles make every other ride say 12-14 miles, then keep the others around the 3-8 mile point. Keep the longer rides increasing by 3-4 miles per week. You will soon be doing 25-30 miles. At that point you could throw in a 40 miler. Take food and drink on the longer rides. Make some of your rides a bit hilly. Use the gears so you are spinning your legs rather than grinding away

Enjoy it

 

[Trek Trauma Chris]

Enjoy it

That is the "secret" to all activities, THE! most important thing to remember.

 

[accountantpete]

Dragging 14 stone up a hill into a headwind is not easy - it needs practice.

Personally I'd practice over a mile and do two runs. Go up in a small gear(bigger cog) with high cadence(pedal revs per min) coast down and then go up in a big gear(smaller cog) with lower cadence. You should find one approach more comfortable than the other.

 

[jimboalee]

Dragging 14 stone up a hill into a headwind is not easy - it needs practice.

Personally I'd practice over a mile and do two runs. Go up in a small gear(bigger cog) with high cadence(pedal revs per min) coast down and then go up in a big gear(smaller cog) with lower cadence. You should find one approach more comfortable than the other.

That is a very simplistic way of describing a training session from years ago.
The first climb is in the lowest gear. The second climb of the same hill is in the next gear. Third climb - third gear, and so on.
Continue repeating the climb until the gear is too high and you can't move forward.

 

[accountantpete]

That is a very simplistic way of describing a training session from years ago.
The first climb is in the lowest gear. The second climb of the same hill is in the next gear. Third climb - third gear, and so on.
Continue repeating the climb until the gear is too high and you can't move forward.

It wasn't a training regime but a fact finding exercise - some people find it easier to push a big gear with low cadence uphill others prefer a smaller gear and high cadence.

You find out which way works best for you and then practice on getting it better.

 

[efreeti]

Thanks for the advice guys. The 14 stone part probably isn't going to change significantly (might push for 13 and a half) so I guess I will just keep experimenting and build up slowly.

I realised yesterday if I set off the other way (down hill) I can get to the canal path which runs fairly flat for quite a distance. I can probably get some longer rides in on that route rather than trying to slog up hill every time I get on the bike, which I think will kill me mentally as much as anything else.

I'm away for easter and got a lot of prep work to do before I go so I probably won't even get to the gym this week, let alone get out on the bike. I guess Wednesday next week will be the official start to my training, just need to try and keep away from Easter Eggs and lardy holiday food between now and then!

Regarding riding position - is there anything I should be experiment with on a hybrid? Is there a diagram or similar online anywhere?