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

[madferret]

Coming out of lurking mode , read a

 

[madferret]

Bah, seems not to like posting the full thing, will try again at some point.

 

[BrianEvesham]

It's a good feeling to "come out" so I'm told!

Welcome.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Another lovely day here. One of the advantages of working nights/lates is the chance to ride out on lovely sunny days like today. Went exploring for more cicuit routes and found a nice 14 mile loop taking in Pebworth, mickleton and Honeybourne. Avg 15.6 today.
I consider myself lucky to live round these parts so many quiet lanes.
I had to stop and answer the phone here on the way back.
This is the main road near my house.

 

[Mo1959]

Another lovely day here. One of the advantages of working nights/lates is the chance to ride out on lovely sunny days like today. Went exploring for more cicuit routes and found a nice 14 mile loop taking in Pebworth, mickleton and Honeybourne. Avg 15.6 today.
I consider myself lucky to live round these parts. I had to stop and answer the phone here on the way back.
This is my Main road near my house.

Looks like a gorgeous day down there too. I'm almost tempted to go back out it's so nice, but better not since my legs have been feeling tired this week as it is.

It's fun exploring new routes and it's amazing what you can find even in your own area. Little road I did this morning for the first time too and I'm sure there are plenty others I haven't been on. Mind you, most of the smaller ones can be a bit narrow, twisty, rough, etc but they are at least nice and quiet.

 

[BrianEvesham]

It's fun exploring new routes and it's amazing what you can find even in your own area. Little road I did this morning for the first time too and I'm sure there are plenty others I haven't been on. Mind you, most of the smaller ones can be a bit narrow, twisty, rough, etc but they are at least nice and quiet.

Except for horses!
I was dropping down a narrow twisty road out of Pebworth and on the last bend I rounded there were two large horses in the middle of the road, apparently they were avoiding the metal manhole covers as they slip on them.
I can confirm there is nothing wrong with my brakes!

 

[Ciar]

Another lovely day here. One of the advantages of working nights/lates is the chance to ride out on lovely sunny days like today. Went exploring for more cicuit routes and found a nice 14 mile loop taking in Pebworth, mickleton and Honeybourne. Avg 15.6 today.
I consider myself lucky to live round these parts so many quiet lanes.
I had to stop and answer the phone here on the way back.
This is the main road near my house.

Jelous closest i get to that is popping out to Epping on the weekend, then it's only a 5 miler before i am back on the edge of the stink that is London, would love to get out and do some proper country riding, nothing heavy duty just chilling.

 

[madferret]

Try again, read a lot of this thread and it inspired me. Got back on the bike last week and first day managed a very puffed out 4 miles.....which wasn't great, but then I read on here the progress folks have made and realised that my technique was wrong, that I was unfit and that slowly slowly catchy monkey........

Since that humbling first ride, have built up, a 15 miler, then 26, then 30......... Wondering where today will take me, once my dinner settles..

I also need to stop avoiding hills, but for now just happy to be out there and doing something, its amazing how quickly it becomes easier.

Need to work off last nights beer!

 

[Nomadski]

Well done on getting out. I think active recovery sometimes seems to work better than total rest but maybe that's just me.

As for the looking over the shoulder thing, I am absolutely terrible. If I don't really concentrate I am inclined to end up on the wrong side of the road

I thought I was the only one with trouble doing that! If I properly look behind me, I'm going left, no matter what. A glance is the best I can manage!

@BrianEvesham I could take pics of my local roads, but if you just google "London Traffic Jam" google images has all the stock pics you need.

 

[Mo1959]

Try again, read a lot of this thread and it inspired me. Got back on the bike last week and first day managed a very puffed out 4 miles.....which wasn't great, but then I read on here the progress folks have made and realised that my technique was wrong, that I was unfit and that slowly slowly catchy monkey........

Since that humbling first ride, have built up, a 15 miler, then 26, then 30......... Wondering where today will take me, once my dinner settles..

I also need to stop avoiding hills, but for now just happy to be out there and doing something, its amazing how quickly it becomes easier.

Need to work off last nights beer!

If you've gone from 4 miles to 30 within a week, I don't think you've got any worries about making progress. You have already done more than most in their first week. Well done.

 

[Nomadski]

@madferret

 

[BrianEvesham]

I think you should all come up and ride the Shakespeare100 it's all lanes like the one pictured and a few decent hills to get you working hard.
http://www.shakespeare100.org.uk/
I can't make this september but will be doing the April one again.

Yes I do appreciate where I live.

 

[BrianEvesham]

@madferret you are doing fine. Just take it easy and don't try to rush the big rides, most importantly, enjoy.

 

[sleaver]

After my speed question the other day, I thought if I can average 23kph over 53k, I should be able to go quicker over a shorted distance and so I came up with this:

http://app.strava.com/activities/62805250

An average of 25.5kph and although only slighter longer by about 100 meters, it was 10 minutes quicker than the same route last week. Although I thought I gave it the beans on one uphill segment but only ended up with a PB by 1 second I did also overtake three people, admittedly they were a mum and two kids but we've all got to start somewhere. Although a cyclist did pull out of a junction about 50 meters ahead of me and I was catching him in places until we went different ways.

As I got a free trial of Strava, I put in my max heart rate (220 - age) and I apparently spent 69% of the time at threshold, 26% at tempo and 6% at anaerobic leaving 1% at moderate. Considering my max HR (192bpm) was apparently higher than the calculated version, can that be right?

 

[Leescfc79]

Jelous closest i get to that is popping out to Epping on the weekend, then it's only a 5 miler before i am back on the edge of the stink that is London, would love to get out and do some proper country riding, nothing heavy duty just chilling.

Not sure where in East London you are but I've been out with a friend from Ilford a couple of times and there are some lovely quiet lanes around Abridge/Ongar, all not a million miles from Epping.