Where have you really come from...??

[teletext45]

Having being a cyclist for around 8 months now, two sportives down and an array of cuts and bruises(clip less pedal fun!) my enthusiasm and enjoyment for the sport is greatly increasing. Just over a month ago I went on a club run with a local racing club, this was a serious shock to the system and I lasted 10 miles before having to head off at my own pace. After feeling hugely disheartened I picked myself up and and trained towards my impending sportive; 'The Big G' with training and hard work I completed this 1 hour and 15 minutes quicker then my previous sportive, conquering the feature climb 'Nunburnholme' without stopping. It was this point I really realized how far I have come since my first 2 mile sheer pain cycle ride. I think its really easy to always look forward wishing you were better,feeling disheartened about your ability but now and again just reflect on where you were 6 months ago to really realize how much you really have progressed!

Andy

 

[gbb]

Unless you're seriously fit and a competetive cyclist Teletext, like 90% of us, you fall into two camps...
You realise you're still fitter than 90% of 'normal' people around you. You're a damn sight fitter than you were 8 months ago and (up to a point) you'll continue to get fitter..you can be happy for those thoughts.

Then some idiot comes sailing past you and you realise how much fitter the occasional cyclist is

I just be happy that all my non cycling friends think i'm fit as f... (which i'm not, i'm just fitter than them)

 

[GrumpyGregry]

apparently my new nickname at work is butchers, as in dog, as in fit as a.

I don't think I'm fit at all!

 

[martint235]

apparently my new nickname at work is butchers, as in dog, as in fit as a.

I don't think I'm fit at all!

*** Goes to get popcorn whilst waiting for 'Teef to turn up***

On a serious note though Greg, I think cycling from London to Bognor Regis in the middle of the night puts you in the "above average fitness" category.

 

[coffeejo]

Unless you're seriously fit and a competetive cyclist Teletext, like 90% of us, you fall into two camps...
You realise you're still fitter than 90% of 'normal' people around you. You're a damn sight fitter than you were 8 months ago and (up to a point) you'll continue to get fitter..you can be happy for those thoughts.

Then some idiot comes sailing past you and you realise how much fitter the occasional cyclist is

I just be happy that all my non cycling friends think i'm fit as f... (which i'm not, i'm just fitter than them)

+1

 

[Deleted member 1258]

From small acorns great oaks can grow.
I came back to cycling in the late 70's after a break of about 10 years. I worked in a factory stores and was based at the top of three flights of stairs on the top floor. I brought an ancient hand painted three speed bike for about £20 to ride the 3 mile to work and back. The first few weeks I got into work barely able to climb the stairs to where I worked, The first few months had me taking almost half an hour to do the 3 miles. A couple of years later I had a 5 speed and had chipped away at the time and had it down to about 15 minutes. 6 years later I joined my first cycle club. Now over 30 years later I'm still commuting, my present commute is about 6.5 miles each way and takes 25 minutes each way. I'm still in a club, I don't do many full club rides these days, I tend to ride on my own but often come back from the café with one of the groups.

 

[gaz]

I was recovering from an injury. And now I'm injured again

 

[nosherduke996]

I have come from not being on a bike for over thirty years, to currently riding two to three times a week for anything between 100 / 150 miles.
At 56 years young i ride with a local club and can average between 17/19 mph depending on conditions. Very happy with the way things have gone so far and also i still want to be cycling at the age of 100.
LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT !

 

[aberal]

1986 aged 27 - bought a bright green hi-ten steel Puch "racer" for £135 as a birthday present to myself and set off that evening for a great adventurous round trip of 3 miles. Legs aching after a couple of hundred yards and seeing stars at the turning point, which to be fair was 1.5 miles uphill, I managed to freewheel back downhill thinking I would never get used to this stupid cycling malarkey. But did the same the next night and the night after that.... Then bumped up the mileage to 5 miles, then 10 then 15, then discovered that there was a whole world of cycling out there which I knew nothing about. There were actually magazines out there devoted to cycling! People wrote books about cycling, about bicycle repairing (thanks Richard). Learnt that a hi-ten steel frame made for a really cheap bike but sent every ripple in the road straight into your bones. Learnt that Reynolds 531 was the DB and that Japanese folks called Shimano made decent gears and stuff. Learnt about cycling. Learnt about bikes. Round about that time Channel 4 started devoting a 1/2 hr slot to a thing called "the Tour de France" which opened up a few more of my eyes.

Took up the new fangled mountain biking thing for around 10 years, which was brilliant, but gravitated back to the road and in 2002/3 cycle toured 4000 miles across Australia. Work took over for a good few years but have been getting back into it again for the last couple of years and despite cycling many, many miles have never really cycled more than 60 in a day. So this year am aiming to do my first ever ton.

It's been a long time since I got on my Puch to cycle 3 miles but I've never forgotten those early days/weeks. For that reason, when people post here that they've done 5 miles or 10 miles or are aiming for 15 - I'm delighted for them. I know where it can lead.

 

[Durian]

1986 aged 27 - bought a bright green hi-ten steel Puch "racer" for £135 as a birthday present to myself and set off that evening for a great adventurous round trip of 3 miles. Legs aching after a couple of hundred yards and seeing stars at the turning point, which to be fair was 1.5 miles uphill, I managed to freewheel back downhill thinking I would never get used to this stupid cycling malarkey. But did the same the next night and the night after that.... Then bumped up the mileage to 5 miles, then 10 then 15, then discovered that there was a whole world of cycling out there which I knew nothing about. There were actually magazines out there devoted to cycling! People wrote books about cycling, about bicycle repairing (thanks Richard). Learnt that a hi-ten steel frame made for a really cheap bike but sent every ripple in the road straight into your bones. Learnt that Reynolds 531 was the DB and that Japanese folks called Shimano made decent gears and stuff. Learnt about cycling. Learnt about bikes. Round about that time Channel 4 started devoting a 1/2 hr slot to a thing called "the Tour de France" which opened up a few more of my eyes.

Took up the new fangled mountain biking thing for around 10 years, which was brilliant, but gravitated back to the road and in 2002/3 cycle toured 4000 miles across Australia. Work took over for a good few years but have been getting back into it again for the last couple of years and despite cycling many, many miles have never really cycled more than 60 in a day. So this year am aiming to do my first ever ton.

It's been a long time since I got on my Puch to cycle 3 miles but I've never forgotten those early days/weeks. For that reason, when people post here that they've done 5 miles or 10 miles or are aiming for 15 - I'm delighted for them. I know where it can lead.

Well said. I especially like the last sentence.

 

[twobiker]

Took up cycling again to lose the beer belly/middle aged spread, at first could not even make it up the hill outside my house, now can do 100 miler and in a good week did 202 PB, sat to sat, not fast but doing it for the freedom, daughter says i am the fittest dad amongst all her friends.now if i can just stop getting knocked off,Car and Dog,things can only get better.also must try falling on right side for a change.

 

[Melonfish]

I was recovering from an injury. And now I'm injured again

wait you've injured yourself on top of the collarbone?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

*** Goes to get popcorn whilst waiting for 'Teef to turn up***

On a serious note though Greg, I think cycling from London to Bognor Regis in the middle of the night puts you in the "above average fitness" category.

"above average insanity" category surely?

The thing is, fitness, is relative and subjective, and pretty specific to an activity. Now I know I'm objectively fitter than I was say when I was 35 when I stopped playing rugby. But if I go riding with our club intermediates the pace they ride at guarantees I get dropped after 30 miles or so. But many of them really struggle with any distance around or beyond 100km. Tortoise vs Hare sort of thing.

There are plenty on an FNRttC I struggle to keep up with when trying to get to the front after waymarking. That I may be some tens of years older should be some sort of compensation but, somehow, it isn't.

Its a funny thing, fitness.

 

[primalgeek]

After not being on a bike for roughly 20 years, I started cycle commuting April 2010 as a way to get fit. It took me an hour and a half to do the 15 mile commute to work (and I had to stop half way there to have a fag!). Pretty soon my reason for cycle commuting changed from to get me fit to it's a far more enjoyable way to get to work.

Fast forward to this year and I'm doing a lot more fun / recreation rides. I completed my first 100km ride in April and have upped the ante and aim to do my first proper ton this weekend (emphasis as I'm getting really quite apprehensive about it). I'm not aiming for a time for the ton, it's going to be the distance and climbing that are the challenges for me.

So this year am aiming to do my first ever ton.

So have you changed your mind and are doing the Ken Laidlaw red route?

 

[aberal]

So have you changed your mind and are doing the Ken Laidlaw red route?

Yes. For a variety of reasons - mostly rain and work related, I'm not up to it yet. Now aiming to get the ton done by late September or early October if I can get the miles back in between then and now.