Your cycling mindset!

[Doobiesis]

That is my avg over the whole ride. I need to practice getting my cadence up really.

 

[winjim]

 

[vickster]

I have no idea what mine is, even though I have a never fitted cadence monitor! My pedalling is governed by my knees ultimately, spinning faster is oddly more uncomfortable. The 100 I did in Oct 2013 (I think) was around 14mph average but no closed roads! And believe me I am not fit or really designed for cycling!

 

[Cyclist33]

Firstly enjoy riding. Climbing is a mental as a well as physical .just focus on a point up the road next telegraph pole tree etc get to that then focus on next point . if you have to spin in lowest gear so be it. With practice hills do get easier. After six months of riding I am now climbing hills in much higher gears than I used to and therefore bring quicket

I would love to bring quicket but I don't know what it means!

 

[mybike]

Only my other half but he doesn't go out much and won't do over 12 miles and he canes it round. Which we did today and I think that's what made me think I was too slow.

Seems to me that you're going about it the right way & your target is different from his.

 

[mjr]

If I really push myself, I can drink TWO pints of beer before the return at 10mph :-)

But then I don't really understand the attraction of riding in a circle far from home and not stopping to look around.

 

[Smurfy]

Meditate on the climbs, rather than looking far up the road ahead, and feeling defeated before you've begun. Just focus on pedalling, and glance up now and then to check you're not going to hit a pothole or parked car.

To meditate you can chant with each pedal stroke. My favourite is:
Pugh
Pugh
Barney Mc Grew
Cuthbert
Dibble
Grub


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6YE4PCRNwc

 

[Cyclist33]

It's:

Hugh
Pugh

Etc etc!

 

[winjim]

It's:

Hugh
Pugh

Etc etc!

Pugh and Pugh were brothers.

 

[Cyclist33]

Pugh and Pugh were brothers.

I stand corrected, sir.

 

[J1888]

As others have said, Strava has been good.

There are sections of my commute that I don't really care about so just ride as easy and safely as possible.

Then, there are hills and long stretches where it's a good feeling when you realise you've beaten your PB.

I don't worry about beating other people per se as on a £500 hybrid I'll never be the fastest, but sometimes it's nice when you realise you're in the top 1000 out of 6000 say.

 

[bpsmith]

It's nice to ride for the sake of it sometimes and then push yourself other times. The latter helps the former. Strava is a great tool for checking how you're doing. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Only my other half but he doesn't go out much and won't do over 12 miles and he canes it round. Which we did today and I think that's what made me think I was too slow.

And that seems to be where the problem lies. He's going for a quick all out work out, you need to build up the miles. And, if bringing your cadence up is a goal, you'd be best dropping down into spinning gears so the effort is faster and lighter and more steadily aerobic IMO. You might be surprised how you will find your average speed doesn't go down even though you'll feel as though you're not pushing as hard.