Should I consider cycling?

[HLaB]

I've lived in both and bike has mainly been my daily transport wherever I was.

For transport/leisure I definitely prefer the real world but with the ever increasing numbers of malicious and ignorant numptees out there, combined with trainers getting more realistic a large number of people are turning to them and TBH I don't blame them

 

[Boopop]

Hi guys, how are you?

I'm a chronically injured runner who has recently taken up cycling as a form of cross-training. I've found myself really enjoying cycling and am considering pursuing it further. I just wondered how the stats I put out compare as I have very little perspective on watts etc.

This morning I did a three hour ride @ 210 Watts (49.3 Kg, 20 Y/O Male).

Is it worth giving cycling a proper go? If so, how would I go about starting?

I really appreciate any advice!

@injuredrunner - the stats are immaterial. The text I've highlighted in bold is all that matters.

 

[Oldhippy]

I always thought the fear of riding outside is greater than the real thing myself.

 

[HLaB]

I always thought the fear of riding outside is greater than the real thing myself.

Perceived danger has been well researched and its a definite thing, but try telling someone its only perceived as things are getting worse (often over hyped by the media) and indoor setups are getting better

 

[ColinJ]

I always thought the fear of riding outside is greater than the real thing myself.

The fear is greater (worse) than actually being mutilated or killed?

I'm sure that you meant that the fear was out of proportion to the risk, but the fact is that a lot of people are suffering serious injury or death. I know people who have been knocked off their bikes several times, and I have had some very scary experiences too...

I have had people make it pretty clear that they are getting past me one way or another...

I had an oncoming 4x4 driver aim straight at me on a singletrack road on the Isle of Mull. I thought that I would negotiate safe passage by slowing down as I rode towards him in the middle of the road, intending to pull over and squeeze past when he slowed to walking pace. He thought otherwise and accelerated. It was a game of chicken that I'm sure would have killed me if I hadn't 'blinked' first. I waited for a sign that he was slowing down but he just kept going faster. I just managed to get out of his way in time and he went by with inches to spare.

I was on the road between Newlyn and Penzance once. The road was narrowed by roadworks and I had a green light. White Van Man at the far end of the roadworks obviously spotted the fact there was only a cyclist in his way and jumped the red light. He drove straight at me too. I gesticulated towards the traffic light but he just laughed, 'gave me the finger', and accelerated. Again, I wasn't willing to die to prove my point. I had to swerve out of his way and stop.

Biggest psycho prize probably goes to the idiot who drove up behind me on a singletrack descent. I was doing about 40 mph when I heard a noise behind me. I quickly glanced over my shoulder and found a car a few inches from my back wheel, with a cackling moron at the wheel.

Never underestimate the idiocy/psychopathy of some drivers!

Fear hasn't stopped me cycling yet, but I could see it happening one day...

 

[Oldhippy]

In 40 plus years I have never felt so worried that I stopped riding and have never resorted to hat and dayglo. Sorry for being off topic, initially wondered why people found indoor cycle better than outdoor.

 

[Rocky]

In 40 plus years I have never felt so worried that I stopped riding and have never resorted to hat and dayglo. Sorry for being off topic, initially wondered why people found indoor cycle better than outdoor.

No 2 son, is an A&E doctor on the Sunshine Coast. He’s cycling indoors at the moment because it’s the magpie season. His colleague currently has a plaster cast on his broken arm - he was attacked and knocked off his bike by an aggressive flock of magpies.

In this case it is probably safer to cycle inside.

 

[Sittingduck]

In 40 plus years I have never felt so worried that I stopped riding and have never resorted to hat and dayglo. Sorry for being off topic, initially wondered why people found indoor cycle better than outdoor.

It’s definitely not better but often may be more convenient or practical. For a whole load of reasons. Time constraint, recovering from injury, recovering confidence etc.

 

[Lovacott]

Hi guys, how are you?

I'm a chronically injured runner who has recently taken up cycling as a form of cross-training. I've found myself really enjoying cycling and am considering pursuing it further. I just wondered how the stats I put out compare as I have very little perspective on watts etc.

This morning I did a three hour ride @ 210 Watts (49.3 Kg, 20 Y/O Male).

Is it worth giving cycling a proper go? If so, how would I go about starting?

I really appreciate any advice!

The trick with cycling is not to treat it as a form of exercise. I did two hours this morning along the North Devon Coast. It was both spectacular and exhilarating and although I did end up sweating buckets and puffing like mad, at no stage did I consider any part of my ride as being exercise.

Buy yourself a bike you like and go riding in really nice places and you'll never do another workout again.

 

[Lovacott]

No 2 son, is an A&E doctor on the Sunshine Coast. He’s cycling indoors at the moment because it’s the magpie season. His colleague currently has a plaster cast on his broken arm - he was attacked and knocked off his bike by an aggressive flock of magpies.

I love the Australian Magpie. The warble, the song.

When I was in W.A. a few years ago, I fed a pair who came to my back yard every morning.

They are very sociable birds but they are also very defensive of their territory during the nesting season.

All you need to do when being attacked by a magpie is put a raised fist above your head. That always sees them off.

 

[gzoom]

I fail completely to understand the whole indoor cycle thing.

Time is the main issue for me. Prior to lockdown between work, school run, home chores, entertain family there was little time for cycling. Which meant what free time I had for cycling left me feeling unfit and slow, because I was.

Lockdown gave me loads of time back, and last summer I got back some half decent levels of fitness, but since the start of this year all that lockdown time has gone again.

I do commute to work on the bike, but that is a commuting ride where the aim is to get to work not dripping in sweat.

The indoor bike means I can smash out a ride at 10pm, 6am, even in between work meetings. No faffing with gear, just get on with it. With now virtual training and certainly programs Peloton have, am now doing more riding than ever.

The end result means when I do get time to go out on the roadbike, it's actually an enjoyable experience rather than me wishing I was fitter!

I was very skeptical of modern indoor cycling but it certainly work well for me .

 

[Milzy]

I fail completely to understand the whole indoor cycle thing.

I’m not going to bother enlightening you but my friends dad is a keen fell runner & did very remote long distance races. He hated running after work in the winter with cold wet nights so had a good tread mill in the garage. He could train while watching a touch of frost & watch films. Come spring summer he could go outside & was in amazing top shape. Cycling indoors is a lot more realistic than running indoors with today’s tech if you spend a k on a top turbo & use the best software & maybe even a rocker plate underneath.
It’s not needs must anymore it’s enjoyable fitness gains now.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

a practical do it all bike and you will stay fit naturally no lycra, bizarre crash hats or two hundred quid wrap round glasses required.

Absolutely. Cycling doesn't need to be complicated or expensive. You just need any working bike and the inclination to go out for a ride on it.
Before the incoming rain put the kybosh on it, I spent the best part of three hours earlier today trundling around on a 30 year old Raleigh MTB that cost me twenty quid secondhand. No special gadgets or clothing needed or wanted.

 

[kayakerles]

Yes but don't get hung up on all the spend a gazillion quid to improve rubbish. Put the car keys in a drawer a practical do it all bike and you will stay fit naturally no lycra, bizarre crash hats or two hundred quid wrap round glasses required. Decent panniers for shopping a must though.

I feel like I have't been on this forum long enough to say something like that, without ruffling the feathers of hundreds of others, but I must say that sums it up for me too. My only tracking gadget is the SportsTracker app, which is free. It only gives me max & avg speed, distance, dist/speed avg, and that’s about it, and saving little maps of route, and tells me when I have a best time on a route I ride often. Plenty good for free. I don't “think” I get to compare myself to others. But that's okay, I don't require, want or have the need to compete with others in the socially connected internet world. I’m also tired of every single service wanting to suck a handful of dollars out of me for the rest of my life on a monthly basis. I do that now with 2 music services, feeling that “advert-free” is good for my sanity. For others it might be ride statistics, I get it, but that's not me. I also don’t need to know the best power bar to keep me going, or to wear head to toe biking clothes with names all over them, what butt pads to wear, etc.

Just give me a bike (okay, 3, i know, more than I need) and life is good.

Two wheels, and life is good.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I enjoy both cycling on the road and training on the turbo. Two very different things.

I don't feel the need to justify doing either. Nor do I expect other people to do exactly what I do, or to justify their preferences. That would be a bit unnecessary and uninteresting.