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

[Stonechat]

Completed my first 50 miler on sunday and well chuffed, legs were quite saw after but recovered for work on monday, 6 of the last 10 miles were against the wind which was a right bitch as upto that time i was travelling pretty well. Things I've learned are take more snacks to keep up the energy and not to fight the wind. Since i started in mid july I've always found that after a long ride (by newbie standards) is to go out again 1 or 2 days after and that shows me how much the ride took out of me, so did that this evening and legs were a bit tight for the first 5 or 6 miles then felt pretty good, but if had the time wouldn't be able to complete 50 miles so soon afterwards.
Question to others is when your out on your own do you always think you should be going that extra bit quicker or is just a 41 year old thinking he is going to enter the tour de france once fit(lol) I do all my travels alone and without a computer only use strava on my iPhone. Would a computer make you pace yourselves or do you look at it and think your not going fast enough.
http://www.strava.com/activities/194400511

Nearly always think I could have gone faster. But you do need some easier time and rides in lower heart rate zones as well as the harder work

 

[Mark White]

New PB on a stretch I do most weekdays, but particularly pleasing today as a persistent cold that's kept me a few kmh slower for the last few weeks seems to be going at last. And the 18.2km course within this stretch has been done with an average speed of 30kmh for the first time ever so one of my longer-term goals has been hit. Though I missed the 'every km under 2 mins' goal on two kms by a few seconds so that'll have to keep for another day

http://www.mapmyride.com/workout/734895489

 

[Rustybucket]

http://www.strava.com/activities/195448540

My commute home yesterday - had a tail wind on the A315 & A30! Got a few PB's. I left work & it was warm and sunny, by the time I got home it was pitch black

 

[Stonechat]

http://www.strava.com/activities/195448540

My commute home yesterday - had a tail wind on the A315 & A30! Got a few PB's. I left work & it was warm and sunny, by the time I got home it was pitch black

I was about to say I have never commuted by bike, but I did as a teen a few times, Do not envy your ride from Central London though

 

[Stonechat]

@bash 73 I'm a 43 year old self employed gardener and often when I get home from work I'm shot, I struggle in the week for time and energy, I find I have my most enjoyable rides at the weekend when I haven't been to work. I'm hoping to do the ipswich cycle swarm 100 miler in early October so I'm going to need some energy for that one! Biggest ride to date has been 61 miles a couple of Sundays ago but it took me over 4 and half hours with a stop for a coffee, which is a struggle when your juggling family life kids clubs etc, the bigger rides take bigger time.

Needs time for the longer rides.
Yes I am booked on New Forest 100 soon, only done 78 or 9 to date
It's time. I am retired but in fairness to Mrs Stonechat do not want to be too long.
Also just this morning seem to have another cold. A plan for an 85-90 miler on Friday or Sunday will have to be postponed. Need to allow 7 hours really

 

[Trevor_P]

@bash 73 I use a garmin edge 810 with heart rate and cadence sensors. It gives me a better idea of how hard I'm working rather than how I'm feeling. Once you get used to it, you can pace yourself according to the conditions. Judging hills so you don't burn out before the top for example. Or keeping within specific heart rate zones.

Of course I listen to my body of it starts hurting rather than aching through tiredness.

I went from first ride to 100 miles in 84 days. Also dropped from 17st to 14st 7 since April. At 52 years in pleased with my progress so far. At the moment I only get out once a week, would like to do more. Every day is a bit much at this age, recovery between rides takes longer. Sometimes a couple of rest days are needed.

 

[Stonechat]

Have decided that despite the cold I will ride today
LOnger ride to be Friday week or Sunday week
Body feels fine, cold in the head a bit

 

[BrianEvesham]

Out with Sue again this morning, it's cake time now!

http://www.strava.com/activities/195675080

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@matth411
There is not point in getting stressed over it - I know you are probably thinking what does she know about it, how can I not get stressed/angry over it... well its not going to change the situation or make your commute any easier, all you can do is look back at each situation and work out if you took the best approach - so for a long line of cars that you can't get passed, what about the other side of the road - overtake them as a motorbike would? In certain circumstances this works just fine (and is one I will be using shortly on my 22 mile commute). Just watch for right hand signals, junctions etc and be VERY careful at these areas - only do it with no oncoming vehicles and pull back over when vehicles start to move again. As for going up the inside - I don't unless the vehicles are stationary and clearly not going to be moving - so red traffic lights only. I just wait like a car would otherwise and I have found that drivers cut me much more slack for that approach. Take each commute as a learning experience and evaluate who you could have responded differently to make the situation better/easier. It does not matter who is at fault here - it is your response to the situation that counts and just let go of the stress and agro.

In my mind the only safe way.
I would never go up the inside of any vehicle, large vehicles due to observation issues, cars because so many are obviously blind to other road users, plus it has been known for passengers to get out at lights, possible without checking. its also a reason I believe so many cycle lanes are a waste of tax payers money.
Road use is always a learning curve and I total agree about self assessment from any situation that arises, as it helps build some form of intuition as to what others may do.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

C
Question to others is when your out on your own do you always think you should be going that extra bit quicker or is just a 41 year old thinking he is going to enter the tour de france once fit(lol) I do all my travels alone and without a computer only use strava on my iPhone. Would a computer make you pace yourselves or do you look at it and think your not going fast enough.
http://www.strava.com/activities/194400511

Well done on your first half century.

Me I just ride, just depends on the day. I generally watch cadence and HR zone ( though thats been up and down this year) I only look at the avg sp towards the end, if then as it really doesn't matter because every ride you do is different, the last ride I did the last 13 miles, 5 miles flat north in to a slight N.E. wind I was 2 1/2 mins behind my best time
http://www.strava.com/activities/189349747/segments/4445444661

but the last 7 miles with a gradual incline of 343ft over 7.5 miles (45ft/mile) I beat my previous best by over 2 mins.
http://www.strava.com/activities/189349747/segments/4445312309
Apart for p.b's on the rest of that bit I still managed a p.b. just 2 miles from home.
Which according to strava more detail info has a rise of 41ft over 0.5 mile or 82ft/mile.
http://www.strava.com/activities/189349747/segments/4445312275

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

In my mind the only safe way.
I would never go up the inside of any vehicle, large vehicles due to observation issues, cars because so many are obviously blind to other road users, plus it has been known for passengers to get out at lights, possible without checking. its also a reason I believe so many cycle lanes are a waste of tax payers money.
Road use is always a learning curve and I total agree about self assessment from any situation that arises, as it helps build some form of intuition as to what others may do.

Agreed - but the problem is that people don't think that way - I was lucky... I learnt to drive to advanced level from the word go (have never been a motorcyclist due to my wrist injury and paralysis). I passed both of my advanced level driving exams (IAM & RoSPA at Grade 1) when I was 18 and I know it has made all the difference to my cycling as well - I see so much more than my OH ever does driving or cycling.

I'll never ever stop alongside a vehicle, only ever between vehicles and I won't go down the inside unless they are stationary and staying that way and there is plenty of room. To my mind it is simply not worth the risk for a few seconds extra... As for cycle lanes - well round here they are hit & miss and usually miss so I rarely if ever use them. There are a couple of exceptions though - the one alongside a local dual carriageway and a couple of unofficial ones that are actually hard shoulders on a NSL bypass that is single lane... there the hard shoulder is better & safer... but in the 40mph section earlier before the lights where the limit changes, I stick to the road and don't use the hard shoulder (which is over 1m wide) because the grids in it are lethal!

 

[Big_Dave]

I have a borrowed Carerra road bike. It's not great. The gears seem to not always go in when I change them
I had to stop a couple of times at the top of the hills as well. My furthest ride but I was gutted when I looked at the strava

I have a Carrera bike, I agree not the best bike in the world for a beginner with the gear ratios what's fitted to them, I altered the gearing to suit me and is fine now my regular route is 50 miles, I also met a guy doing a charity ride who was riding a Carrera Zelos 14 speed and was riding from the west midlands to Hull and over to Belgium in 3 days. Dunno if he or his group made it most of them looked like they had never cycled before (but then again I look like that too lol) and seamed to be really struggling with the exception of 3 of them.
Stick with it, fitness comes on in leaps and bounds and you'll soon be doing bigger mileage, I'm over 18 stone, ride a crap bike, take it easy on the rides and don't push yourself too hard, it's not a race, keep stopping for a minute every few miles, regular stops for only a minute or so will aid muscle recovery, as you get fitter you will need to stop less and less.
When I first got my bike 15yrs ago, I hadn't cycled for over 10 years, ate junk food all the time and smoked 40+ fags a day. I was barely able to ride 3 miles I kept at it, stopped smoking and my biggest ride was 86 miles, four years ago my wife took seriously ill and I stopped cycling to look after her, May last year I returned to cycling, my fitness had gone completely, my first ride out was 6 miles and I was beat, I couldn't believe all my fitness had gone, so basically I had to start all over again but in all fairness the fitness levels did come a lot quicker this time, within 6 weeks I was doing 20-25 miles on the mtb all off road. I bought my road bike back in april this year, moving from mtb gearing to road gearing was a real killer for me, I literally had to retrain myself for the road gearing starting off at 10 miles and now do 50+ miles rides.

 

[matth411]

So, yesterday I was awake for 32 hours which really is my fault for not wanting to miss my first day off. Had a good ride plan for today, but after being awake for that long and having 12 hours sleep my legs are feeling useless before I get out of bed. Got a banging head ache as well which is probably dehydration as I hardly drank anything yesterday. So today is not going to plan already. I will no doubt feel better tomorrow and have less stuff planned, so my ride is now tomorrow.

Regarding yesterday's posts and replies: I understand where everyone is coming from on the safety front. As @Nigelnaturist says road use is a learning curve, and I didn't expect that much traffic or idiocy from drivers. Lesson learnt there! I do have to get used to riding in a more primary position rather than being a few foot away from the kerb. As @SatNavSaysStraightOn says, I never stop to the side of a vehicle when waiting at lights or any other time traffic stops. And it seriously p**ses me off if I stop and car pulls up next to me, especially when I am in the ASL. I never filter through traffic, because I see myself as traffic and I sometimes wonder if other bike users (the ones I see around) think that way too with the amount of RLJing or not indicating that they are about to turn. Cycle lanes are rare around here too, even though we have wide enough roads the kerbside is always parked cars.

I am still learning how to properly use the road, and have used the driving test CD to improve my theory of road use. Which I actually passed first time on the CD's mock test, something my driving colleague couldn't do and he only passed his test 2 years ago.

 

[Hatevessel]

3rd day of my partial commute of 2.7 miles (each way) and I'm loving it! Even made it 3/4ths of the way up an absolutely brutal hill (for me, anyway) on my way home last night. 4.2% grade according to Strava, whatever that means relatively. Hoping to edge it to glory in the next week or so! According to the Strava app, I get 272ft elevation gain on the way back home, which is obviously much more challenging than getting to the station.

In some ways I wish it was reversed so it's harder to get to the station, as general fatigue from a long day at work means I'm not exactly in peak fitness to tackle it with verve in the evening. However, on the other side of the coin, the easy ride to the station in the morning ensures I actually do it. Takes about 8 minutes more getting back, as an example.

Amazing to see what others are capable of when looking at the strava segments, and heartening to see I'm not at the bottom of the list on them!

 

[dee.jay]

Me too - I'm amazed that whilst I am nowhere near the top, I'm not exactly straggling along at the bottom either.

What has amazed me is how quickly you seem to get better at cycling. I started at the beginning of September, think I managed 2 miles, then had to go home to bed. Yesterday I pulled a 18.1 mile ride. I don't even know how, I just kept on going.