2nd attempt was a success, 15 mile in 1 hour 13 minutes, 12.5 average - felt tough though and my neck hurt a fair bit after i sat down for a few ... after a nice hot shower the neck pain went away
i dont think ive ridden this distance on consecutive days before so i think that may be why it felt so tough ... im also planning the return leg in the morning so i think im gonna be a wreck at work tomorrow!
i wont have the luxury of a hot shower or any shower in the morning when i get to work so im hoping the neck pain will just go of its own accord or more preferable, it wont be there at all!
maybe i'll take a rest day mid week then and finish off with a thurs night home and fri morning way in ... as ive got my holiday at the end of august i dont think i'll manage to buld up to both ways until a few weeks after i come back off holiday but it'll be a good primer for a couple of weeks to get me used to it and iron out the discipline of what i need to take, etc, etc
well done......that neck pain should settle down once you get used to being in the saddle for longer....but if it doesn't you may need to play around with saddle/bars/setup to get comfortable (others in this group have far more knowledge on this than me so I'll keep quiet :-)
However, one simple thing that made a difference for my neck was making sure my helmet was tight enough....this stopped it slipping forward, which meant I was tilting my neck back......only realised this after I adjusted the helmet following a fellow triathletes comments ....and had my first neck-pain-free ride. Worth a look if you wear a helmet.
Cheers, Hedgehog
"doobrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
2nd attempt was a success, 15 mile in 1 hour 13 minutes, 12.5 average - felt tough though and my neck hurt a fair bit after i sat down for a few ... after a nice hot shower the neck pain went away
i dont think ive ridden this distance on consecutive days before so i think that may be why it felt so tough ... im also planning the return leg in the morning so i think im gonna be a wreck at work tomorrow!
i wont have the luxury of a hot shower or any shower in the morning when i get to work so im hoping the neck pain will just go of its own accord or more preferable, it wont be there at all!
maybe i'll take a rest day mid week then and finish off with a thurs night home and fri morning way in ... as ive got my holiday at the end of august i dont think i'll manage to buld up to both ways until a few weeks after i come back off holiday but it'll be a good primer for a couple of weeks to get me used to it and iron out the discipline of what i need to take, etc, etc
In "]news:[email hidden], doobrie <[email hidden]> typed:
Quoted message said:
i dont think ive ridden this distance on consecutive days before so i think that may be why it felt so tough ... im also planning the return leg in the morning so i think im gonna be a wreck at work tomorrow!
I would think about breaking in to daily cycling more gently. Overdoing it tends to put you off as it becomes a chore rather than a pleasure. Cycle a couple of days a week only and rest between building up over time to every day. Or alternate directions with the car - drive in, cycle home, cycle in, drive home etc.
Tony
-- "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not dying." Woody Allen
Hedgehog & Markarina must be edykated coz e writed:
Quoted message said:
well done......that neck pain should settle down once you get used to being in the saddle for longer....but if it doesn't you may need to play around with saddle/bars/setup to get comfortable (others in this group have far more knowledge on this than me so I'll keep quiet :-)
However, one simple thing that made a difference for my neck was making sure my helmet was tight enough....this stopped it slipping forward, which meant I was tilting my neck back......only realised this after I adjusted the helmet following a fellow triathletes comments ....and had my first neck-pain-free ride. Worth a look if you wear a helmet.
Cheers, Hedgehog
"doobrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
2nd attempt was a success, 15 mile in 1 hour 13 minutes, 12.5 average - felt tough though and my neck hurt a fair bit after i sat down for a few ... after a nice hot shower the neck pain went away
I would think about breaking in to daily cycling more gently. Overdoing
it
Quoted message said:
tends to put you off as it becomes a chore rather than a pleasure. Cycle
a
Quoted message said:
couple of days a week only and rest between building up over time to every day. Or alternate directions with the car - drive in, cycle home, cycle in, drive home etc.
Tony
thats what ive started doing, the drive in, cycle home, cycle in, drive home ... ive done 15 mile each day for the last 3 so i think i'll have me that rest day tomorrow and try for thurs/fri to finish the week off
at the moment im struggling but it'll get easier and i'll get quicker and the mountains will flatten out into the gentle rolling slopes they really are ... im sure! ... will they? 😉 !!
my main issue now is gearing, total idiot was I specifying a simple 6 gear bike when an 18, 21 or 27! would be good to get me up those hills ... well, im learning as i go and by the time i get my next bike i'll have a really good idea of what i want .... and if i dont get better fairly quickly over the next few months then that new bike purchase will be a lot sooner!
In "]news:[email hidden], doobrie <[email hidden]> typed:
Quoted message said:
at the moment im struggling but it'll get easier and i'll get quicker and the mountains will flatten out into the gentle rolling slopes they really are ... im sure! ... will they? 😉 !!
I guess that's what I'm trying to say - it shouldn't become a struggle if you want to do this long term. Don't be too ambitious and start at a level which isn't a struggle and then slowly extend your targets, all the time making sure it remains enjoyable. That way you will find the hills become easier and you will still enjoy it. Otherwise if it becomes a struggle you will find you stopping looking forward to and eventually start to dread the upcoming journey - and that's when people stop or find excuses not to.
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my main issue now is gearing, total idiot was I specifying a simple 6 gear bike when an 18, 21 or 27! would be good to get me up those hills ... well, im learning as i go and by the time i get my next bike i'll have a really good idea of what i want .... and if i dont get better fairly quickly over the next few months then that new bike purchase will be a lot sooner!
More gears don't make the hills easier - they just mean you have more wrong gears to ride up in ;-)
I guess that's what I'm trying to say - it shouldn't become a struggle if you want to do this long term. Don't be too ambitious and start at a
level
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which isn't a struggle and then slowly extend your targets, all the time making sure it remains enjoyable. That way you will find the hills
become
Quoted message said:
easier and you will still enjoy it. Otherwise if it becomes a struggle
you
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will find you stopping looking forward to and eventually start to dread
the
Quoted message said:
upcoming journey - and that's when people stop or find excuses not to.
my test rides upto 20 miles have been fine ... my problem at the moment i think is not previously doing those milages on consecutive days and also the route not being flat at all ... its mostly up or down and being a heavy git im carrying an extra 100 pounds of weight that i dont need to be.
still, ive managed 3 rides of 15 mile each over the last 3 days and with a rest day tomorrow too thrown in i should be fine ... it may be tough but its my route to weight loss, fitness and a nice shiny new touring bike when ive lost all the weight - loadsa reasons to carry on 😉
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More gears don't make the hills easier - they just mean you have more
wrong
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gears to ride up in ;-)
Tony
so whats a right gear to ride up in? i go from my highest gears to my lowest fairly quickly on an ascent and have no other gears to go to so just push on with the lowest gear ... as i only have 6 gears, the lowest i dont think is anywhere near the low gears of mountain bikes ... but maybe it is 😉 and i just dont yet have the legs!
In "]news:[email hidden], doobrie <[email hidden]> typed:
Quoted message said:
my test rides upto 20 miles have been fine ... my problem at the moment i think is not previously doing those milages on consecutive days and also the route not being flat at all ... its mostly up or down and being a heavy git im carrying an extra 100 pounds of weight that i dont need to be.
still, ive managed 3 rides of 15 mile each over the last 3 days and with a rest day tomorrow too thrown in i should be fine ... it may be tough but its my route to weight loss, fitness and a nice shiny new touring bike when ive lost all the weight - loadsa reasons to carry on 😉
Getting started its first getting up to the overall trip distance, which you seem to be OK with, and then dealing with the cumulative build up of consecutive trips. Your body needs time to recover until it is used to the repeated cycling. From your position of starting with a 20 mile test ride I would have started with two trips at opposite ends of the week, filled in with a trip on Wednesday when ready then slowly filled in the interim journeys as and when I felt up to it. It may take you two or three months to work up to cycling every day but at the end you will have much more chance of sticking with it. I've seen lots of people start off gung ho with great intentions but they almost all last a relatively short time.
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so whats a right gear to ride up in?
The one that is lower than the lowest gear you have ;-)
still, ive managed 3 rides of 15 mile each over the last 3 days and with a rest day tomorrow too thrown in i should be fine ... it may be tough but its my route to weight loss, fitness and a nice shiny new touring bike when ive lost all the weight - loadsa reasons to carry on 😉
I suspect that it is now the case that despite it being tough, you're actually enjoying yourself? That's the best reason to be out on a bike IMHO.
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so whats a right gear to ride up in? i go from my highest gears to my lowest fairly quickly on an ascent and have no other gears to go to so just push on with the lowest gear ... as i only have 6 gears, the lowest i dont think is anywhere near the low gears of mountain bikes ... but maybe it is 😉 and i just dont yet have the legs!
Probably both! The only way to get good at hills is ride up lots of hills, so you're doing what's necessary to get the legs. But the lowest gears on an MTB are *very* low: we're talking walking pace when you're spinning at quite a high cadence! "The right gear" for a hill is dependent on context to some degree. For a racer it's the one s/he can get up the hill fastest in, for a trundly tourer like me it's usually net comfort rather than net speed. But if you're not in a hurry then a rule of thumb sort of guide is something you can spin without having to push really hard on individual pedal strokes and without having to stand up, assuming you have something right for that. But it does get easier the more your legs are used to it, whatever gears you've got.
Pete. -- Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden] dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗
The one that is lower than the lowest gear you have ;-)
Though often the case, it's not *necessarily* lower. But it is almost certainly one you don't have. There are two gears on most bikes[1]: higher than you want, and lower than you want ;-/
Pete.
[1] not the case on serious racing kit, which has very close spaces between gears to solve this very problem. From my POV these machines only have 1 gear, which is higher than I want...
-- Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden] dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗
"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
[1] not the case on serious racing kit, which has very close spaces between gears to solve this very problem. From my POV these machines only have 1 gear, which is higher than I want...
Take one normal touring bike, with a triple. Fit close ratio racing-type block (I've got 12-19 in 7 currently - 12-21 in 8 would be reasonable too). Voila - not only do you have the close spacing, but also the ability to climb hills. (although not fully loaded, I'll admit - but with 9sp rather than 7sp it would be closer). You can also do the exercise in reverse, fitting a normal road bike with a triple. I've got 26t rather than the normal road triple 30t though.
Getting started its first getting up to the overall trip distance, which
you
Quoted message said:
seem to be OK with, and then dealing with the cumulative build up of consecutive trips. Your body needs time to recover until it is used to
the
Quoted message said:
repeated cycling. From your position of starting with a 20 mile test ride
I
Quoted message said:
would have started with two trips at opposite ends of the week, filled in with a trip on Wednesday when ready then slowly filled in the interim journeys as and when I felt up to it. It may take you two or three months to work up to cycling every day but at the end you will have much more chance of sticking with it. I've seen lots of people start off gung ho
with
Quoted message said:
great intentions but they almost all last a relatively short time.
ive been slowly working upto it, several rides over the last few weeks of 10 - 12 miles and a few before that of between 3-8 miles - i'll have me a rest tomorrow although i might go for a swim instead ... but out of all the exercises ive started over the last 3/4 months cycling has been the one i enjoyed the most. getting my my commute off the groun is my way of getting out on the bike often enough for it to help with my weight loss endevour and to build me up to much longer rides in the future - its tough now but enjoying it lots
Quoted message said:
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so whats a right gear to ride up in?
Quoted message said:
The one that is lower than the lowest gear you have ;-) Tony
hehe - sure is ... im building up a few rules as a go ... so far if im going over 20mph i dont pedal and just coast until under 20mph .... also if i get below 5mph on a hill then i walk
In "]news:[email hidden], doobrie <[email hidden]> typed:
Quoted message said:
hehe - sure is ... im building up a few rules as a go ... so far if im going over 20mph i dont pedal and just coast until under 20mph .... also if i get below 5mph on a hill then i walk
On hills slowest speed is a matter of balance - I can go up hills at less than 2mph now if needed - and the slower you go the easier it is although it lasts proportionately longer!
One useful trick I was taught, especially when you have an up following a down, is to find out what is a comfortable pedalling road speed in each gear (with six its easy). When you zoom down the hill, put it in the gear for the up at the bottom, watch your speedo until you reach the "comfortable speed" for that gear and then start pedalling. Saves all that scrunching round the gears to find its either too low or your legs are spinning like crazy as you shift from coasting to pedalling up the hill.
"Peter Clinch" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:
[1] not the case on serious racing kit, which has very close spaces between gears to solve this very problem. From my POV these machines only have 1 gear, which is higher than I want...
Take one normal touring bike, with a triple. Fit close ratio racing-type block (I've got 12-19 in 7 currently - 12-21 in 8 would be reasonable too). Voila - not only do you have the close spacing, but also the ability to climb hills.
Not for me, I like low gears even when I'm not that heavily loaded, and of course it also depends on the hill as well.
thats what ive started doing, the drive in, cycle home, cycle in, drive home ... ive done 15 mile each day for the last 3 so i think i'll have me that rest day tomorrow and try for thurs/fri to finish the week off
at the moment im struggling but it'll get easier and i'll get quicker and the mountains will flatten out into the gentle rolling slopes they really are ... im sure! ... will they? 😉 !!
I am sure they will - the next week the strong headwinds will start. :-)
-- Andy Leighton => [email hidden] "The Lord is my shepherd, but we still lost the sheep dog trials" - Robert Rankin, _They Came And Ate Us_
