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

[Carolineg]

im a newbie only done three rides one ten mile ,one eleven point two and one eleven and a half . landed in a nettle patch on first ride and had a wheel wobble but still went out again ! AVERAGE SPEED 11.72 its fastest enough for me i enjoyed it

 

[Carolineg]

the hill i crawl up is an elevation of 301ft felt sick the first time but it aint going too beat me lost a couple of pounds already yippee

 

[Steady]

the hill i crawl up is an elevation of 301ft felt sick the first time but it aint going too beat me lost a couple of pounds already yippee

Some hills that I go up regulary make me feel sick, where as others that are (in my opinion!) worse don't produce that effect. I think it's a combination of the level of hydration vs sweat, but that's not a scientific theory, just something I think up in those moments!

 

[Carolineg]

i,m going to go out tommorow hopefully wont be as bad depends on the homemade curry and a few cheeky drinks tonight but i cant stop because of the risk of a clip moment up the hill

 

[bpsmith]

This is why I work on cadence (and also why I am still searching for the correct gear ratios), I can easily manage 90-100 on the flat, working on getting that better on the hills though its not far off 90. Now I wasn't working terribly hard so it seemed yesterday but I set 38 p.b.'s with 18 of them on new segments, I actually put it down to the lack of wind where I rode yesterday, because for me it was quite a hilly ride at 61ft/mile (strava) 56ft a mile (rwgps) an avg speed of 15.4 over the 42.58 miles.
http://app.strava.com/activities/176849488

Exactly why I also purchased the Cadence module for my 510. It's on the Defy presently, but not sure whether I will swap or buy another for the Bianchi yet.

I am far more in tune with my cadence and gear changes now, since monitoring my cadence. It's pretty natural these days and my natural smooth cadence is at 83-85 in whatever gear. I can sustain a lot higher, but I find at that level it feels very natural. Would rather up a gear than increase cadence at just above that point.

Will train for a higher cadence over the Winter I think. Gives something to aim for.

Averaged 110 on a long climb last month, as could feel cramp starting in my left calf and knew either slowing and/or a gear change would bring it on completely. My mate was both amazed and confused following behind. It was the fastest either of us had done the climb in. Lol.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I have opened a separate post in 'Beginners' re Garmin Connect to save clogging up the flow of great feats, strenuous efforts and mishaps on this thread!

Thunderstorms in The Lakes at the moment.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

not just the lakes... east Cheshire is getting hammered... just been sick in my parents car for. 10 mins outside their home unable to even good a conversation with them, then had to wade through flood water to get to their home. think my 22 miles commute home could be a touch damp this afternoon!

 

[Mo1959]

not just the lakes... east Cheshire is getting hammered... just been sick in my parents car for. 10 mins outside their home unable to even good a conversation with them, then had to wade through flood water to get to their home. think my 22 miles commute home could be a touch damp this afternoon!

Did you mean stuck? Hope so

Rain was forecast to arrive here at 3pm and it was spot on. Glad I walked the dog a bit earlier.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@bpsmith it just a matter of practise, back in April it was 82.5 for the month (avg of averages) this month so far 87.6.
Have you got the cadence set to none zero, this should be selected, as it doesn't record the coasting time, just the time you are peddling.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

I have opened a separate post in 'Beginners' re Garmin Connect to save clogging up the flow of great feats, strenuous efforts and mishaps on this thread!

Thunderstorms in The Lakes at the moment.

Ditto here, though only the odd rumble.

 

[bpsmith]

@bpsmith it just a matter of practise, back in April it was 82.5 for the month (avg of averages) this month so far 87.6.
Have you got the cadence set to none zero, this should be selected, as it doesn't record the coasting time, just the time you are peddling.

Yup. Doesn't record zero's on mine.

I have not looked at averages, but just looked at screen when it felt right in random scenarios and usually around 83. I guess I should get in habit of riding until comfy and then try and up by a few rpm's and stick to that. That's my plan for the Autumn/Winter.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Did you mean stuck? Hope so

Rain was forecast to arrive here at 3pm and it was spot on. Glad I walked the dog a bit earlier.

oh yep - though sometimes with my mothers driving what I ended up with could be accurate
I was on my smartphone with predictive typing! It can make life interesting to say the least...
Managed to get home between the storms. Looking bad westwards and northwards at the moment, and the wind direction has swung round and is a westerly and really blowing hard now... rain definitely coming back, but managed 2 dry commutes today by some miracle of timing!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Yup. Doesn't record zero's on mine.

I have not looked at averages, but just looked at screen when it felt right in random scenarios and usually around 83. I guess I should get in habit of riding until comfy and then try and up by a few rpm's and stick to that. That's my plan for the Autumn/Winter.

These are the last 3 Augusts data, you can see that whilst the cad didn't change much from 2012 to 2013 the avg gear inch did, but from the 6 days this month you can see my cadence has gone up quite a bit since last year, whilst the speed is much the same.

 

[Torvi]

any tips on how to sprint on drops? i usually sprint on my bar or with hands just in the middle and while doing so i really lean myself so im hanging out from bike pretty hard thus im bit afraid of how to sprint properly on drops. i managed to achieve 23 mph on very small uphill just after 12hrs of work but i want to go faster (point to take my fastest To work is 28mph and its downhill lol.) It takes me under 8 minutes to get to work and about the same from work (around 1,7 mile one way)


edit

I also got a question cuz i dunno if i do it properly cause everytime i do downhill and i know there is no turns ahead and uphill again then i do fullout and just go for big cog sit on my saddle lean my body really low and hands on drops, that way i find myself gaining about 2 to 5 mph average compared with standard riding position but it requires hell of a power from my thighs i wonder what would happen if i would do the standing downhill sprint (trip over?)

 

[RWright]

I went back out to check my bypass today. I went up the open section a ways to use the ramp rather than have to cut across the median and have to get off the bike and go over a small cable fence in the median. There happen to be a lot of traffic when I was exiting and I was riding in the far right thru some debris and got a puncture. I had just thrown together a few things in the saddlebag I put on my latest bike and found out I had only put in one tube, a patched one at that.
I got it changed but decided to go ahead and finish my ride without a spare tube, something I really don't like doing, especially heading away from home.

When I stopped to fix the flat I made the mistake of pausing my Garmin, about a mile later I noticed I had forgotten to start it back. I was wanting to get a good mileage reading of the new track. When I started my computer back it was acting kind of squirrely and I had a feeling I would get some strange readings when I finished the ride, and I did. One of those rides that everything seems to want to go wrong. I still had a good ride and I am guessing that I have five or six miles of fresh four lanes to ride traffic free. It is supposed to rain this weekend so I don't know if I will get back out there for a few days or not but I may take my camera out get few pictures of it. I saw no cars, no people or anything for about five or six miles. I did see one crane that took off when I rode up on him, was kind of cool watching him flying down the road in front of me. This place would be ideal for a beginner to learn to ride. I am hoping I will be getting a lot of laps in on my new track.

@Torvi check out youtube for "bicycle sprinting tips" I looked and there seem to be lots of good ones. It will probably be a little easier to understand with visual aids. See how the big boys do it. As far as standing to sprint downhill, I guess it would be ok until your cadence started to get too high. Try it, I have a feeling you will figure out pretty quickly when it is time to sit down.