Why so slow?

[HLaB]

On road if my memory serves me right my old steel frame bike was happy at around 13.5mph and my lighter sirrus sports which replaced it was happy around 14.5mph and when I was fit I could push it to 17.5mph keep at and you'll get there

 

[ColinJ]

If you can get both feet half on the ground then your saddle is WAY too low. I can't even get within 3 inches of touching the ground with my feet when sitting on the saddle. A good guess at the correct saddle position is to set it so you can just reach the pedal with your heel with that leg straight. That way, when you put the front of your foot on the pedal there will be a slight bend in your knee. That or a small variation either side of that saddle height should help a lot.

As suggested by someone above - make sure that your neither of your brakes is dragging. I've had that happen and it is very tiring!

You should be able to ride faster than 10 mph even with no training whatsoever. A power of less than 50 Watts should get you to 10 mph and that is a very low power requirement. I was riding at 13+ mph on my first adult ride when unfit and not having ridden a bike for 20 years. I'd therefore bet that the low saddle and/or a dragging brake and/or some other mechanical problem that stops your wheels spinning freely is the problem rather than a lack of fitness.

Oh, or as someone else suggested above - that you are way overgeared. (You may be at the hardest end of the gear range rather than the easiest?)

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Nothing wrong with 10mph stop worrying & enjoy

 

[Ticktockmy]

Remember that different sports use different muscles, you just need a little time to convert your body to a new sport, nothing unusual in your systoms. and 10 mph sound ok to me as a beginner, speed will come with milage, when you are in the gym spend time on the cycling machine, if it programable set it to some hilly programme and that will help. However, to end on a cheerful note:-) I would say book a visit to the doc and have a check up, you never know you might have a problem, after all many a super sportsmen have died on the sportsfield.

 

[numbnuts]

Bit off topic, but when I was in Aussie working as a Blacksmith I had a new guy that came to work with me as a striker (blacksmiths mate) it turned out he played Aussie rule football as a pro and very fit, but as for working he was unless and he said at the end of the day “I'm knackered how do you guys keep it up working so hard all day in this heat”.......horses for courses old boy ....I'm no good at Aussie rule

 

[Geoffers]

Definitely sounds like a bike issue to me. Here's my tuppence ...

I've been riding for just 4 months and I can average almost 15mph for 40-50 miles. A strong, fit & determined chap like you should not be burning out after a handful of miles at 10mph. As others have said, your saddle seems too low. The means that your knees bend more than they should at the top of the pedal stroke. It's like when your thighs go past parallel on a deep squat in the gym - it becomes harder to get up. And you're doing that on every pedal stroke.

Raise the saddle so that your leg is almost straight when you're at the bottom of the pedal stroke. If that means you can't get your feet on the ground at all from the saddle then so be it.

 

[nickyboy]

Definitely sounds like a bike issue to me. Here's my tuppence ...

I've been riding for just 4 months and I can average almost 15mph for 40-50 miles. A strong, fit & determined chap like you should not be burning out after a handful of miles at 10mph. As others have said, your saddle seems too low. The means that your knees bend more than they should at the top of the pedal stroke. It's like when your thighs go past parallel on a deep squat in the gym - it becomes harder to get up. And you're doing that on every pedal stroke.

Raise the saddle so that your leg is almost straight when you're at the bottom of the pedal stroke. If that means you can't get your feet on the ground at all from the saddle then so be it.

Correct, OPs been riding 2-3 months, obviously a fit and active sort. No way should 10 miles at 10mph even get him out of breath. Must be the set up or some mechanical issue with the bike. Can't be physiological unless the OP has some really unusual situation

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Correct, OPs been riding 2-3 months, obviously a fit and active sort. No way should 10 miles at 10mph even get him out of breath. Must be the set up or some mechanical issue with the bike. Can't be physiological unless the OP has some really unusual situation

OP is not getting out of breath, he clearly says he isn't

 

[nickyboy]

OP is not getting out of breath, he clearly says he isn't

I hadn't spotted that

Must be something like the saddle height being way off. Or the OP is trying to ride in a gear way too hard. Can't be something like the brakes rubbing as you quickly get knackered when that happens

 

[Gary E]

Give it time. I did the opposite to you a few years ago. I'd reached to point where I could easily cycle 100 miles a day for multiple days in a row (this had taken some time by the way and been done in stages). I was invited to join in a fun run for charity of about 4 miles. Now I knew that different muscle groups were involved but I was daft/cocky enough to think that my bike-fitness would transfer to running (at least for the short distance required). Oh how wrong I was! After only a mile I was in pieces and the best I could manage for the remaining 3 miles was a very slow jog with my legs feeling like they were on fire!!
My advice to you would be to rule out any setup/mechanical issues with the bike by going to a local bike shop or asking someone with experience (bike club near you or even a CC member?) and then to just give it time. If all you can do comfortably is 10 miles at 10 mph then do that (and no more) until it's more comfortable, then add a bit more distance.
In my experience speed has come as a byproduct of time spent on the bike and increased distance and from reading your posts, as impressive as your stats are, they're not necessarily going to give you a head start when cycling (I imagine Arnold Swaggerer in his prime would have been rubbish on a bike )

 

[BeardyAndyM]

Hi,
As the post title says I’m a bit disheartened and confused as to why I’m currently so slow on the bike.

Some background information, I’m 34 years old in good shape, not overweight,although I’m fairly stocky and muscular which may not be ideal for cycling. most of my life has been spent doing sports, I used to play rugby until age 20 and was then a semi pro MMA fighter for 5 years since stopping that I attend the gym 3-4 times a week to do weights/circuit training and also run 2-3 times a week to a reasonable standard- 5k in 22 minutes.

I fancied taking up a new sporting hobby and so decided to to get a bike, have only been cycling for around 2 months 3 times a week, now regardless of my athletic background I know I’m new to cycling so don’t expect to be super fast and and prepared to put the work in. However at the minute I cycle around 10 mph and about half a mile in my legs will be starting to burn and this continues throughout the whole distance I have to keep slowing down to a crawl just to rest my legs I am only cycling around 10 miles per ride but even that at 10mph is a huge effort on my legs and they are burning, but I’m not even breathing heavy during the ride, I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong or is this normal for a reasonably fit beginner? Thanks.

Knock it down a couple of gears and get your cadence up.

 

[MichaelW2]

Lactic acid suggests that you are working your leg muscles much harder than your cardio system. You can use your gearing* to reduce your pedaling force and increase your pedaling speed, This will shift the work from your legs to your heart and lungs. You wont necessarily go faster, the work you put in control the speed you go. You just distribute the work around your body. Pedaling rapidly with lighter strokes takes practice. Pedal in circles, not up and down. Adjust your saadle so your heel contacts the pedal when sitting but dont pedal like this. You should contact the pedals with the ball of your foot.

To shift your gearing down, move the chain to a larger cog at the rear. On uphills, once you are in the biggest cog, shift the chain to a smaller chainring at the front for a big jump down.

 

[nickAKA]

All sound advice on mechanical checks, saddle height & gearing as a starting point - but bear in mind that it does hurt, especially when you're new to cycling.

So, assuming you've ruled out mechanical issues and got your saddle height sorted...

It took me the thick end of 12 months to 'get over' the burning pain of the first couple of miles of each ride, but once over it, it's all jam. As mentioned elsewhere, get your cadence (pedal RPM) up by using a lower gear, avoid grinding in a high gear at 60 RPM. Aim for something like 80-90 RPM, you can roughly count this in your head as you're pedalling.
As regards your actual measured speed, how are you measuring it? GPS data on your phone using Strava? Bike computer?

 

[Spoons47]

IMO Deffo saddle too low, have to start with that, go round the block see how it feels. Millimetres can make a difference.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Rather than just taking a guess at whether the saddle height is way off, do some proper measurements. The first one is finding out your inside leg length accurately in socks with no footwear on. Then apply one or other (or the average of both) recognised formula for determining optimum saddle height. One is Bottom Bracket centre to top edge of saddle = inside leg measurement x 0.882. The second one is pedal spindle at lowest point parallel to seat tube to top edge of saddle = inside leg measurement x 1.09. Each formula will give a slightly different number, but usually within about 1/4" of each other. Being able to put feet on the ground whilst on the saddle is NOT a good indicator of saddle adjustment, because some bikes have a higher BB position than others according to the bike's intended purpose and it's designers own preferences. If the saddle is set correctly your legs should be almost straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke Most casual cyclists have their saddle too low, some massively so.