Show us your.......newbie progress! [4 Sep 2012 - 4 Oct 2014]

[Goonerobes]

I did it too. A bit slower than you but I'm absolutely bloomin shattered now. Way more climbing than my usual rides and my longest ever ride. I was very thankful that the last 10 miles were over the relatively flat forest, although I've never found the little hill up from Beaulieu hard until today. Might have eaten my own body weight in flapjacks, oreos, jaffa cakes etc. Time for a curry now!
http://www.strava.com/activities/162466036
Oh and I managed to miss off 2 miles of hill after I stopped for a quick breather before going up it.

Nice one, I probably saw you somewhere along the route!! (same as with flapjacks etc! )

Strange how your Strava data is looking okay & yet mine added the 8 miles across the sea & speeded me up?!

 

[Phoenix Lincs]

Just some musings, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being average, it's where we new cyclists should aim to be. Don't look at who is top on strava if you are a newbie, these are all fit young men on bikes as light as air who are happy to spend £200 on new pedals if they save them 40g in weight. There is also nowt wrong with not wanting to ride a road bike built for lightness and speed. A touring bike or a mountain bike may be slower but the person riding them knows that and has a good reason to be riding them, speed isn't everything all the time, sometimes it's about the journey rather than how long it took and how far you went. That person going 20 mph may get their quicker than you but they missed out on seeing the baby bunnies and that pretty patch of wild flowers.

As with all things there are people who take cycling very very seriously and those who do it for pleasure, some of the serious people should stop being so uppity and the casual people should be the better person, don't rise to any obnoxious bell ringing and give way to them, unless the casual person is going for a stava segment as well in which case the person in £900 worth of lycra can sod off and wait till there is a safe place for them to overtake.

I think the crux of my rambling is, don't try and beat the people at the top on strava, try and beat the person just above you.

Actually, I just try to beat myself - I'm never going to beat the speed freaks, but I hope to beat my own times as I improve

 

[Phoenix Lincs]

I'm back from a fabulous Tour de France weekend away with some of the riders from my local Club. We camped and then cycled into Harrogate for Day 1, then went out to a rural road for Day 2. We had a wonderful time, and I got up all the hills we tackled without having to get off and walk . The atmosphere was incredible and there was no trouble at all. It was all good natured fun. Happy, happy Phoenix

 

[stevey]

What do you guys use to fuel yourself for a long ride? Pre ride I had porridge with raisins/sultanas thrown in, and then for the ride I only had Haribo. I need something with a bit more substance while riding I think.

Well i start every morning with 40 grams of porridge with a bananna,blueberrys,raisens and honey then depending on how far take some sorren malt loaf or sis bars or these ( half price as my mrs works there)

http://www.tropicanafitness.com/energy_bars/cnp_professional_pro_flapjack_24_-_bars.htm

 

[BrianEvesham]

Just a short ride with my son this morning

http://www.strava.com/activities/162550587

 

[Mandragora]

Hi - I'm hoping this is still an ok place to post about genuine 'newbie' rides.... these all look much more experienced at 'tough' stuff than I am. Been cycling all my life, and love it, but only got my first 'decent' bike last Sept, so this is the first summer with it really. I'm trying to motivate myself to do a 'round the block with the evil hill' in it (5.5 miles) each day, aiming for over 11 mph as an average on this circuit each time I do it, with longer or tougher rides thrown in at weekends. Today's was a 15 miles bigger block, with many more mountains in it than I'd ever noticed despite living round here for the last two decades - average speed was a miserable 10mph, but I was happy just to keep going and not have to push the bike at any stage

 

[welsh dragon]

Hi - I'm hoping this is still an ok place to post about genuine 'newbie' rides.... these all look much more experienced at 'tough' stuff than I am. Been cycling all my life, and love it, but only got my first 'decent' bike last Sept, so this is the first summer with it really. I'm trying to motivate myself to do a 'round the block with the evil hill' in it (5.5 miles) each day, aiming for over 11 mph, with longer or tougher rides thrown in at weekends. Today's was a 15 miles bigger block, with many more mountains in it than I'd ever noticed despite living round here for the last two decades - average speed was a miserable 10mph, but I was happy just to keep going and not have to push the bike at any stage

Welcome aboard. Dont look at me. I'm dead slow, and I don't go very far ! But its all about enjoying it.

 

[Mo1959]

Hi - I'm hoping this is still an ok place to post about genuine 'newbie' rides.... these all look much more experienced at 'tough' stuff than I am. Been cycling all my life, and love it, but only got my first 'decent' bike last Sept, so this is the first summer with it really. I'm trying to motivate myself to do a 'round the block with the evil hill' in it (5.5 miles) each day, aiming for over 11 mph as an average on this circuit each time I do it, with longer or tougher rides thrown in at weekends. Today's was a 15 miles bigger block, with many more mountains in it than I'd ever noticed despite living round here for the last two decades - average speed was a miserable 10mph, but I was happy just to keep going and not have to push the bike at any stage

We were all genuine newbies. Lol. Once I recover from my injury I will be back to being a newbie all over again so I will keep you company It's a great thread that many of us have just carried on posting in even although we are maybe not quite so new any more. The company and banter is very good and we all still need some encouragement from time to time.

 

[stevey]

Hi - I'm hoping this is still an ok place to post about genuine 'newbie' rides.... these all look much more experienced at 'tough' stuff than I am. Been cycling all my life, and love it, but only got my first 'decent' bike last Sept, so this is the first summer with it really. I'm trying to motivate myself to do a 'round the block with the evil hill' in it (5.5 miles) each day, aiming for over 11 mph as an average on this circuit each time I do it, with longer or tougher rides thrown in at weekends. Today's was a 15 miles bigger block, with many more mountains in it than I'd ever noticed despite living round here for the last two decades - average speed was a miserable 10mph, but I was happy just to keep going and not have to push the bike at any stage

It's not how fast our how far you go it's getting out on your bike and enjoying it.
Irrespective of how slow you consider your pace to be it's still quicker than most of the population who dare I say it "get no exercise at all"

 

[Nomadski]

Hi - I'm hoping this is still an ok place to post about genuine 'newbie' rides.... these all look much more experienced at 'tough' stuff than I am. Been cycling all my life, and love it, but only got my first 'decent' bike last Sept, so this is the first summer with it really. I'm trying to motivate myself to do a 'round the block with the evil hill' in it (5.5 miles) each day, aiming for over 11 mph as an average on this circuit each time I do it, with longer or tougher rides thrown in at weekends. Today's was a 15 miles bigger block, with many more mountains in it than I'd ever noticed despite living round here for the last two decades - average speed was a miserable 10mph, but I was happy just to keep going and not have to push the bike at any stage

Aha! New blood.

This thread is addictive, that's all. We were all posting 5-10 miles at one point or another, dont let the longer mileage posts put you off, feed off them and use them as proof that cycling works, in whatever way you want it to work for you.

@Phoenix Lincs watched it on telly, amazing crowds all round the circuit, must have been great fun. I hope your hubby left the Borat suit at home though... Which hills did you climb? Some looked pretty evil, and feeling some sympathy for our Yorkie posters on here, I wonder if @Nigelnaturist ventures out to that sort of terain??

 

[Eribiste]

Hi - I'm hoping this is still an ok place to post about genuine 'newbie' rides.... these all look much more experienced at 'tough' stuff than I am. Been cycling all my life, and love it, but only got my first 'decent' bike last Sept, so this is the first summer with it really. I'm trying to motivate myself to do a 'round the block with the evil hill' in it (5.5 miles) each day, aiming for over 11 mph as an average on this circuit each time I do it, with longer or tougher rides thrown in at weekends. Today's was a 15 miles bigger block, with many more mountains in it than I'd ever noticed despite living round here for the last two decades - average speed was a miserable 10mph, but I was happy just to keep going and not have to push the bike at any stage

This is definitely the right place for 'genuine' newbie rides. As Mo says, we all started out feeling pleased with a 5 mile trip. I know there's now a whole bunch of us getting a bit crusty, well capable of laying a metric century down, but it's a really good thread and we can't leave it alone. I wonder if Typhon, the O.P. had any idea what he was starting when he first asked his original question?

 

[Eribiste]

Following on, take yesterday for instance. I tried out my self devised 'Cotswold Climber' route of about 40 miles. This takes me up hills that would have been fantasy riding for me a couple of years ago, but are now taken in my stride, if a little slowly. I guess this makes me somewhat experienced, certainly far more than a 'proper' newbie would probably manage. Even with all this experience though, and snapping at the heels of my 60th birthday, I can still be stupid. Yesterday was the third time that I encountered a ford, the third time I attempted to ride through, and the third time that I fell off halfway across. I wonder if there's a lesson in there somewhere.

Good thing about falling over in fords though is that the water seems a bit more forgiving than gravel and tarmac, and it's a very refreshing dip on a hot day. A bit of a scuff mark on the handlebar tape is the only physical evidence, and the mobile phone seems to have survived its impromptu wash.

 

[Phoenix Lincs]

Aha! New blood.

This thread is addictive, that's all. We were all posting 5-10 miles at one point or another, dont let the longer mileage posts put you off, feed off them and use them as proof that cycling works, in whatever way you want it to work for you.

@Phoenix Lincs watched it on telly, amazing crowds all round the circuit, must have been great fun. I hope your hubby left the Borat suit at home though... Which hills did you climb? Some looked pretty evil, and feeling some sympathy for our Yorkie posters on here, I wonder if @Nigelnaturist ventures out to that sort of terain??

I need to find some 'watch again' to see some of the race on telly. It was amazing but they went so fast they were just a blurr. I managed to get a bit of video footage on my camera as there was no way I'd capture any photos on that or my phone. I've just about managed to post it to facebook, so will see if I can get it on here.

Of course the lovely hubby was very well behaved, and we really enjoyed our whole weekend. With a fab bunch of friendly mainly 'slowbies' (with some speedsters among us) it made for an amazing experience. I loaded my routes to strava last night, although I've not really had time to study the data, but those hills certainly made their existence felt in my legs and lungs I'm not sure they will look as impressive on screen. Yesterday though, we rode on one of the roads the pro's went on after they'd gone through. It was a fab experience, including being cheered on by the crowds who were well into the atmosphere. Personally I didn't see any drunkenness or rowdy behaviour, it seemed genuinely wholesome fun

@Mandragora, welcome to the fab world of newbie progress. They are a really supportive lot around here, and I'm so pleased we don't get chucked off when we become not-so-newbies as I'd miss some of these guys if we did. We all started on short and slow rides, and still consider we could do better, which makes the 'progress'.

Have a fab week folks, back to work for me today, after the next load of washing is finished and hung on the line (rock 'n' roll lifestyle that I lead )

 

[Phoenix Lincs]

Hmmmm, can only find my video in Windows MediaPlayer and it's only playing the sound not the picture. Realplayer worked to post to FB, but not sure how to get it on here.
Anyhow, it was fast!

 

[matth411]

Over the past few weeks I have seen a lot of progress. Done distances that I could only dream of after seeing people post them on here. Never thought I would do my first 100km, but I did it a few weeks ago. Every time I have had days off for the past 5/6 weeks I have tried to do a big distance, started with just under 40 then built up to the 62 miler. Thanks to the guys on here, I have pushed myself to try a bit further each time. @Mandragora this is what this thread gives you. A platform that will inspire you, motivate you and will cheer you on, and the support that non cycling friends cannot give you. It is really down to these guys that I even attempted to change from the commuter to WANTING to ride a big distance.

Anyway, back to me. I am having a few days off. My legs have felt empty for a few days after headwinds in every direction. (Also learned to listen to my body more from this forum, haha) Happy cycling folks.