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

[sheffgirl]

eyup guys

read first few pages so far, seeing people doing 10-20-30 miles and feel a bit daft, no way I could do anywhere near, well maybe 10 downhill

34 in a couple of weeks, got my bike a rockrider 5.2 last wednesday, not rode a bike for best part of 20 years and only owned a raleigh wildcat as a kid ( not sure I should have admitted that)
anyway done 3 rides so far, all same route, approx 4 miles, On the only possible route I thought round here would be mainly flat (In sheffield so its hill after hill) so far its taking me around 50 minutes inc 2/3 rests when I can feel my legs or feel out of breath I am on beta blockers for anxiety so have to be careful, anyway the route aint as flat as I thought, It looks flat, walks flat but get on a bike and its not flat anymore, no hills as such just a steady incline on way back which feels like everest to me
Not done any exercise since I left the gym about 6 years ago other than a fair amount of walking, so well out of shape (more than I thought) and need to lose a few stone, main reason for starting is to get fitter and I detest running plus have arthritus in my ankle

here is the route I am doing at moment http://app.strava.com/activities/43122596

Heres hoping I can be laughing at this post and doing 10-20 miles asap and also able to go up a hill with a bit of luck

I live in Sheffield too (North), so I know how hard it is to find a route round here without hills. I struggle with hills, but I am trying to push myself further each time. It will take a while for your fitness to improve but every ride is a step closer.
I remember when I first started, I used to have to rest sometimes because I would get out of breath and my heart would beat really fast. Now its more my legs that let me down, but I'm hoping they will get stronger

 

[boybiker]

eyup guys

read first few pages so far, seeing people doing 10-20-30 miles and feel a bit daft, no way I could do anywhere near, well maybe 10 downhill

34 in a couple of weeks, got my bike a rockrider 5.2 last wednesday, not rode a bike for best part of 20 years and only owned a raleigh wildcat as a kid ( not sure I should have admitted that)
anyway done 3 rides so far, all same route, approx 4 miles, On the only possible route I thought round here would be mainly flat (In sheffield so its hill after hill) so far its taking me around 50 minutes inc 2/3 rests when I can feel my legs or feel out of breath I am on beta blockers for anxiety so have to be careful, anyway the route aint as flat as I thought, It looks flat, walks flat but get on a bike and its not flat anymore, no hills as such just a steady incline on way back which feels like everest to me
Not done any exercise since I left the gym about 6 years ago other than a fair amount of walking, so well out of shape (more than I thought) and need to lose a few stone, main reason for starting is to get fitter and I detest running plus have arthritus in my ankle

here is the route I am doing at moment http://app.strava.com/activities/43122596

Heres hoping I can be laughing at this post and doing 10-20 miles asap and also able to go up a hill with a bit of luck

Just keep at it and your fitness will get better with time. I remember when I first started a certain (very small) "hill" getting the better of me, I made it up but had to stop at the top. Now I just breeze up it even at the end of my 20 mile ride this weekend! Using strava will help you see how much you progress over time too

 

[JayBear]

eyup guys

read first few pages so far, seeing people doing 10-20-30 miles and feel a bit daft, no way I could do anywhere near, well maybe 10 downhill

34 in a couple of weeks, got my bike a rockrider 5.2 last wednesday, not rode a bike for best part of 20 years and only owned a raleigh wildcat as a kid ( not sure I should have admitted that)
anyway done 3 rides so far, all same route, approx 4 miles, On the only possible route I thought round here would be mainly flat (In sheffield so its hill after hill) so far its taking me around 50 minutes inc 2/3 rests when I can feel my legs or feel out of breath I am on beta blockers for anxiety so have to be careful, anyway the route aint as flat as I thought, It looks flat, walks flat but get on a bike and its not flat anymore, no hills as such just a steady incline on way back which feels like everest to me
Not done any exercise since I left the gym about 6 years ago other than a fair amount of walking, so well out of shape (more than I thought) and need to lose a few stone, main reason for starting is to get fitter and I detest running plus have arthritus in my ankle

here is the route I am doing at moment http://app.strava.com/activities/43122596

Heres hoping I can be laughing at this post and doing 10-20 miles asap and also able to go up a hill with a bit of luck

Yes, I'm in the same position at the moment. I can manage about 7/8 miles at the moment but thats an effort. But only a few weeks ago a 5 miler was a hell of an effort, My current plan is a loop route that has a bitch of a hill (for me) in it. I cycle untill I would have to get off and walk then turn around. At the top of the hill is a really good veiw and a cracking desent back into town. But I'm not going to get the good bit untill I've managed the hill without getting off.

 

[SWSteve]

Mo, you need to join the cycle chat club on Strava, that way we can see how you are doing in the challenge . I noticed on mycyclinglog you got in 2 hours today

How do I do this?

 

[Supersuperleeds]

How do I do this?

Hopefully this is the right page

http://app.strava.com/clubs/cyclechat

 

[Typhon]

How to have fun with cars. No doubt first of many encounters.Car pulled out of a side road on to a one way system , I'm on the right hand side going round to the right they've pulled on from the left. Obviously totally oblivious to me with two light bright fluorescent jacket comes right across forcing me in to the kerb. Then to make matters worse proceeds to go left on the one way system. I did say hello (in not so many words) to let them know I was there.
To make matters worse I forgot to start recording my ride until 2 miles in. Other than that really happy with my recovery ride. https://www.strava.com/rides/43146651

Glad you're ok. A similar thing happened to me today when I was really going for it on the only flat bit of road on my ride, I was going about 22mph and some old dear pulled right out in front. Had to slam on the brakes and narrowly missed headbutting the back of her car (couldn't swerve, there was a car coming the other way).

As you say they don't look out for cyclists and if they do they expect you to be doing about 5mph.

Your still faster than me James. However I too have seen and increase in speed this last week or so and a reduction in H.R. also a dramatic increase in gear length from 54" in Dec 57", 59", and so far this month 64" which is like a 51x21 gearing (the last two rides have been 67" ) though its only from three days data, and not really difficult rides. Though today was above avg for the year (just)

You're definitely getting quicker. You're only generally about 1mph slower than me with a 20-25 heartbeat less per minute average so I'd say we are fairly even. I reckon by the summer you'll be up at 17 or 18mph. With the amount you cycle there's only one way your fitness can go.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

I am extremely doubtful if I can manage it. Feeling leg weary and saddle sore and weather is going to take a turn for the worse from Wednesday afternoon. Supposed to be back to wet and windy I've got 6 hours in at the moment.

It doesn't matter if you don't do it, also you aren't the only one who is saddle sore. 6 hours is bang on target, only another 13 days of pain to go!

 

[Typhon]

It's funny how the weather is often the same for us all. It's only a small country I suppose but still, Mo is a long way away from me and the forecast here is the same. Relentless rain from Wednesday onwards, it's forecast for the 7 days after that too and only stops because the forecast only goes up to 10 days.

We've had it pretty good lately with the dry weather I suppose. Oh well.

 

[Typhon]

And don't worry Jaybear and Greeny, it does get easier. Just gotta keep at it.

I've just joined the cyclechat strava group. I'm not doing the challenge though - I won't even get close. I wish there were some slightly more realistic (i.e. easy ) challenges on strava. Like ride 100 miles in a week or something, not ride 100 miles in one go! There seems to be a lot less cycling ones than running too which is annoying.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

And don't worry Jaybear and Greeny, it does get easier. Just gotta keep at it.

I've just joined the cyclechat strava group. I'm not doing the challenge though - I won't even get close. I wish there were some slightly more realistic (i.e. easy ) challenges on strava. Like ride 100 miles in a week or something, not ride 100 miles in one go! There seems to be a lot less cycling ones than running too which is annoying.

Last weeks was easy

 

[Typhon]

Last weeks was easy

100 miles in one ride? I can only dream of such things.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

It doesn't matter if you don't do it, also you aren't the only one who is saddle sore. 6 hours is bang on target, only another 13 days of pain to go!

I ended up 2nd behind you Chris of the people I follow on strava, and 6th in the cyclechat club. I might have done that with a bit more effort.

As you say they don't look out for cyclists and if they do they expect you to be doing about 5mph.

You're definitely getting quicker. You're only generally about 1mph slower than me with a 20-25 heartbeat less per minute average so I'd say we are fairly even. I reckon by the summer you'll be up at 17 or 18mph. With the amount you cycle there's only one way your fitness can go.

Agree with that, seems they just have no awareness of how much space you need as a cyclist at speed, especially when they over take you coming up to a junction and pull into your braking space, I try and position myself so they cant but the idiots still do it.
Well i have done quite some mods to the bike this last week, I don't go out with the bag with drop down panniers unless i need to, ( I got a saddle bag finally), i still keep the rack on most of the time as it's a hassle taking it off and on, and it's not that heavy, greased the rear hub (speaking of which the rear wheel was lose today, Q.R, maybe I didn't do it up right liast time it was off), change the rear gears from 13-26 to 11-24 and put the sora mech back on new rear gear cable, gear changes are much better, so I dont know if the acera or cable were to blame for the mech not changing smoothly, changed the saddle put the original back on to see if I fitted the bike better, guess what, the bike seems to have grown 2", so I got the new saddle today, but to be honest I can't see much difference though I will need to tweak it over time I guess.
But what has really surprised me is wk 6 my avg sp was 13.14mph with a gain of 51.67ft/mile today I did 14.41 with a gain of 54ft/mile ok it was only a short ride but only by 5 miles short of the avg that wk, mind the winds avg 6.8mph as opposed to the 2.8 mph today, and apart from that wk, the wk before and last wk and so far this one I am above 14mph but today was a good jump from 14.19mph to 14.41mph.

 

[Andy Smith]

Hey Guys, great to read all the positive stuff. I went out for a nice ride yesterday morning ttp://app.strava.com/activities/42928072
on part of a route that's developing nicely with a few little hills (well for round here) plus the ability to extend up to about 50 miles if and when I want. I'm finding can average a reasonable speed when on my own but when I take the lads out they aren't quite up to speed as yet and they slow me down. Mind they are still both very new and young so i'm sure if they want to they will blast past me in very short time when they've done a bit more! Sad thing is after I got off the bike I somehow managed to over stretch and have pulled my groin! I used to do it regularly when playing football so know it'll get better pretty quickly if rested, shame I went on the turbo tonight for a quick blast! Hurt like hell though, what a div!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

100 miles in one ride? I can only dream of such things.

Sometime this year maybe.

 

[Scotty1991]

Hey Guys, great to read all the positive stuff. I went out for a nice ride yesterday morning ttp://app.strava.com/activities/42928072
on part of a route that's developing nicely with a few little hills (well for round here) plus the ability to extend up to about 50 miles if and when I want. I'm finding can average a reasonable speed when on my own but when I take the lads out they aren't quite up to speed as yet and they slow me down. Mind they are still both very new and young so i'm sure if they want to they will blast past me in very short time when they've done a bit more! Sad thing is after I got off the bike I somehow managed to over stretch and have pulled my groin! I used to do it regularly when playing football so know it'll get better pretty quickly if rested, shame I went on the turbo tonight for a quick blast! Hurt like hell though, what a div!

Looks a nice route.

Been Clacton on holiday few times so iv been on those roads. Good stuff!