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

[BrianEvesham]

That's a good average DaveyM.

 

[Reece]

34 miles in just less than 2 hrs 30mins today, so pleased with myself.

Nice one!

 

[cliff-p]

Just done my first fifteen miler today, felt great, no aching knees, legs and a**e all ok, I could have gone on for another few miles but time wasn't on my side.

Anybody know if there is a cycle club in St Helens ? nothing pro mind! just for fifteen-twenty mile rides .

 

[Andy Smith]

Went for a ride this morning and straight away it was tough. My legs felt really really heavy and I just couldn't get into any sort of rhythm. I pushed on and did 32.5 miles at what ended up as 16.1 mph average so not too bad but I think that on the route I used this should have been better. Anyone know why this happens? I did the same as every other ride before starting but maybe went out a bit hard a bit early??
http://app.strava.com/rides/24865158

 

[jclivingston]

did my first 20 miler this afternoon with 2000ft of climbing - pretty tired and very pleased - it's only a few weeks since I first went out and did a 4mile loop from home

Need to work on the missus to buy a road bike - my Marin mountain bike just feels slow and heavy after about 10 miles - or maybe I'm just worn out after 10 miles

 

[RWright]

I did my first 30 miler today. 30.62 in 2:32. Was mostly all country roads I had never ridden a bike on before. A few of the hills worked on me some. I think it was because I did not know what was coming up next and was trying to save energy. I had half a dark chocolate bar all day before I left and did not take any water. I didn't get really thirsty or anything but the chocolate had me wishing I had some water.

I made the mistake of stopping for a few minutes, it took me out of my rhythm. I was pretty far out in the sticks, only had to stop once when some guy in a truck waved me over and told me he was lost and I gave him directions. I made up a lot of that time when two dogs started chasing me. I was lucky I was on a flat where I could outrun them. It was the first time I realized that clipless leaves me more defenseless because I couldn't kick the dog in the head easily. He got really close but I finally pulled away, his side kick never got really close to me.

It was a nice ride, I found a lot of other good country roads in that area with very little traffic and some had some of the really nice smooth type asphalt, but a couple had that type they put down the tar, put the gravel on it, and run over it with a steam roller. I have never looked to see the advantage of that type asphalt (I am going to guess it cost less) but I hate it.

I will get some pepper spray and start riding this area a lot more. I passed maybe one car every 15 minutes if that and it is remote and very peaceful...except for the dogs. Oh yeah, my butt got sore, after about 26 miles I was climbing all over that bike trying to stay comfortable. I have more riding to do before I even consider a century.

 

[MaccyD]

Getting on the bike for the first time in 8 years (16 to 24 so a pretty significant 8 years) and in 4 weeks have gone from 2.5k in 20 mins, to doing 20k in about an hour and a half (with some lunch in the middle that Im definately not counting). I will admit my times increased when I realised that squeaking noise was my brake being stuck on.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Went for a ride this morning and straight away it was tough. My legs felt really really heavy and I just couldn't get into any sort of rhythm. I pushed on and did 32.5 miles at what ended up as 16.1 mph average so not too bad but I think that on the route I used this should have been better. Anyone know why this happens? I did the same as every other ride before starting but maybe went out a bit hard a bit early??
http://app.strava.com/rides/24865158

Thats a nasty dip in the middle there.

This is what I did today, though the gps recorder, and other maps say a different elevation gained.
strava, for instance ridewithgps

 

[DaveyM]

That's a good average DaveyM.

Thanks.
It works out at about 13.5 mph which is a little faster than I had planned

A few good results on here, good to see everyone making such good gains.

keep up the good work

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Today I bought my first ever slim-fit tee shirt.

 

[Typhon]

Just did my second sky ride - http://app.strava.com/rides/24978844

This one was slightly less hilly - but still 1500ft in 25 miles with some big climbs! Didn't think I could climb 500 feet in one go without stopping so I'm quite pleased with myself.

The downhill parts were fun. I was gently squeezing the brakes on all of them in order to not hit the person in front of me but I still hit 35mph+ multiple times and hit 42.3 mph once.

 

[DaveyM]

Just did my second sky ride - http://app.strava.com/rides/24978844

This one was slightly less hilly - but still 1500ft in 25 miles with some big climbs! Didn't think I could climb 500 feet in one go without stopping so I'm quite pleased with myself.

The downhill parts were fun. I was gently squeezing the brakes on all of them in order to not hit the person in front of me but I still hit 35mph+ multiple times and hit 42.3 mph once.

Good stuff, that looks like quite a route.

 

[Reece]

Just broke the 50mile barrier earlier. 52.6 miles and I'm happy. now for the metric century lol!

http://app.strava.com/activities/24993283

This ride was made of 2 club runs, the early ride (14-16mph avg) and was the 1st time they've done this route and had some big hills. Never got off the bike on them and actually pushed myself to get up them in decent time with a few others. We made our way back for the start to meet others for the social ride (10-12mph avg) and had a cafe stop on that one 13miles in. Not worried about my avg speed etc as the social ride brought it down anyway. Really can't believe the extra motivation I get from riding in a club/group.

All in all I don't feel like I've done 52miles today and still felt as if had more in me when got home. Not bad for 5 or 6 weeks in of riding properly.

 

[Typhon]

Wow, 52 miles! Well done Reece, that's excellent.

 

[Reece]

Wow, 52 miles! Well done Reece, that's excellent.

Thanks mate. Think going to do a few weeks of this ride (they alternate between North & South routes) every week and then try a slower Saturday group (14-17mph) ride plus a few extra miles on my own to get the metric century.

Really am pleased with my progress. When I started riding seriously 6 weeks ago my target was to be able to ride the Leicester to Skegness charity ride next June. It's an 85mile ride so should hopefully breeze this goal all going well.