VERY weak beginner.

Hi,
The only advice i can give is ride ride ride ride, im just beggining too and it seems that the only way to get better at cycling is just to get out on your bike and ride.

Is there anywhere you could take your bike at weekends and do a 10-30 mile ride on a flat? Something like that at a steady pace would help build your fitness. Whatever you do dont give up, its a great sport and once you get a reasonable amount of fitness it becomes so enjoyable to just go off on your bike for a couple of hours and explore.

James, your thread shows that you are trying really hard. Your hard work will pay off, but it takes a while, so be patient.

Stop comparing yourself with others. Just ride, after a month or so the pain will go and be replaced with the pleasure of the ride. In 6 months look back and see how the new you compares with the old you.

wanna be better? ride more

I was in a similar position at the start of the year. a hard ride for me was 5-10km. But I just kept on riding, each weekend i'd get out on the bike in the afternoon and just ride till i felt puffed, stopped, took a breather and a drink, then ride home.

If you're starting out, try to avoid big hills - find a (majority) flat route to cycle on, to get some miles under your belt, to get used to cycling.

6 months later, im now up to 60km+ in a day, and find taking on (albeit) short hills fun (mind you, weekends only. Im working towards being able to ride more regularly). So stick with it!

Also, 25mph is bloody fast! I wouldnt worry about average speeds, just dont ride at a speed that will make your legs hurt after 10 minutes. Just take it easy. There's no set speed that you have to ride at as a beginner. Hell, I ride fairly slowly (average 20kmh on a ride, which is what, 13-14mph?) Do I compare with people who can ride at 25mph for sustained periods? not a chance. But in a few years, maybe I will.

At 210 pounds, you're going to find going up hills to be a challenge. Frankly, you are about 50-80 pounds overweight for your height and those pounds are essentially like a lead weight around your neck as you try to ride.

That said, *everybody* has to work harder going uphill. I can average over 20mph for 100 miles but during that ride there will be hills to climb where my average speed is only 10mph. In other words, average speed can be deceiving.

It sounds like you're trying to go too hard for a short distance rather than going nice and easy for long distances. Don't worry about speed. Try to go at a rate where you're breathing harder than normal but could still carry on a conversation. Make sure the lowest gear on your bike still allows you to do so even on a hill.

Keep at it. You'll see results.

--Steve

Good work my friend!! There's NOTHING easy about starting biking, especially if you live in a hilly area. I'm doing to post another thread here that maybe you should read, there's a couple of stories in there I think will make you feel better 😄 (one is mine).

Keep at it.. the speed (and climbing without stopping) will come.

cyclingforums.comt345208.htmlOpen ↗

John

I'm a little taller [& 50 yo] than you, so my comparable 101 kgs when I started put me in a bad power to weight ratio & a 1 km ride had me gasping. Soon I was up to 4 kms at 20 kph & the bike I had was an old 10 speed with knobbly tyres, still gasping with jelly legs as I tried to walk............that was my humble beginning. 6 months later my usual ride of 13 kms averaged at 26. So slow beginnings are probably the norm for most of us.

So 4 odd years later at 78 kg & doing 8500 ks this past 12 months I am content with where I am at. Keep it up as the health benefits are worth it.

To add to the other sound advice so far, have a couple of days off at least once every couple of weeks, & do not try to go faster & longer every time you ride. One hard day followed by an easier one. This can add to the enjoyment & lesson the likely hood of quitting. So put some $ away each week for that faster bike you will need when you out grow the current one🙂
By the way, my first "lesson" from a guy that had ridden for years was use lower gears so your legs go faster, its a bit like revs in a car, too slow & the motor starts to labour. This stopped my quads from burning so much.

Definitely keep at it. If you are getting out there at all that is a heck of a lot more than what most people are doing. Don't worry, it will get easier too. 😉

Thanks for the replys everyone, it really helped to keep me motivated. I will keep going and try to find some good flat ground. Last night I decided to go on a little ride down to the store and back, so I head down and it's another hill of course. It's about the same height as those two smaller hills I take when I ride home from work, but this is one long hill that is not nearly as steep.

Funnily enough, I ended up buying too much and my backpack musta weighed at least 20lbs plus I had more in a bag off the handle bars because I couldint get it all to fit in my backpack. Yeah, that was a fun ride up that hill.

Thank all for the advice, it's a huge help to me and I will keep going.

James

James,

I applaud you starting and continueing with your training. I myself am just starting out.
So here's the deal. I'm 5'8" and just topped out @ 256# :eek: . I know, I know. about 80-100# over for my build. I'm pretty sure the 2 different scales aren't lying (unless it's a conspiracy) I am sooo tired of being fat/ obese. I used to ride bikes 10 years ago, so I figured I'd get back into it. I just bought a mtn bike & a set of slicks to log miles. (I also bought a tri bike '01 trek hilo for a steal but am too affraid I'd 'taco' the rims :o until I shed some pounds) My question is how do people with traveling jobs maintain their fitness (or in my case a lack there of) while on the road? I travel anywhere from 1-3 days upto 3 months at a time. What would be a good startin point? Just ride for certain times and let the miles build up? Say 1 week 15-30 min a day, week 2 20-35 min a day? Granted I am away from home now, but when I get back, I need to have something mapped out before I get home or I will lose motivation, not weight. I also deserve a swift kick in the kiester too for getting to this point. Any help with food ideas on the road would be appreciated too.

Thanks in advance,

-Judson
(aka 2shoes)

The important thing, as a beginner, is not to worry too much about your "stats" relative to others, but to make sure you are having fun and incorporating bike riding into your normal schedule. Also, listen to your body, don't start out overdoing it, and make sure that you stretch those muscles (or your knees will be sore like mine were as a beginner).

Once you get to the point where it doesn't hurt to ride a "normal" ride, then perhaps you should get serious about training intensities, cadence, and the like. But focusing on these things early on might just discourage you if your improvement is slower than expected. Don't push yourself too hard too soon.

Also, there is a point in going on even if you _do_ turn out to be the slowest cyclist in a 100 mile radius. Cycling is fun, and it tends to make you much more healthy than you would be sitting in a car or on the couch. Worrying about how fast you are compared to other people is not the essence of cycling, at least not for most people. Seeing your body adapt to the loads put on it by riding, and feeling yourself get stronger is more rewarding than being able to say you are faster than the other guy.

When I started cycling I did 20 minutes 3 days a week, and then gradually increased this to about 1 hour five days a week over the course of a couple of months. I mixed in a few rides of longer duration, say 1 hour 30 minutes or 2 hours. The first few weeks hurt, but then it all starts to feel much better. I keep my HR usually between 130 and 150, with a few climbs or intervals at closer to 160-180 bpm. Mix this in with rides at slower pace, and if you are like me you will get stronger pretty quickly.

The important things I've learned are: don't be too hard on yourself, don't push heavy gears all the time or constantly train at high intensity without intervals, stretch, and allow yourself recovery rides and days off. As a completely unsophisticated recreational rider, these key points have helped me out a lot.

If you get into work in record time write it down then when you feel good try to beat it. I remember when I thought 10mph avg was pretty good I'd come in to get my keys huffing and puffing and everyone looked at me like I was nuts but I enjoyed the challenge. If comparing yourself to others is not motivating you stop doing it desire to improve is what matters do things that motivate you. Sounds like base endurance training should be your priority it's like money in the bank builds up to infinity and lasts longer than power training benefits do so always do a long ride one day a week at about 70% followed by a day of recovery then ride a medium distance followed by a day of recovery. Then maybe a few hills or intervals.

Sounds like getting in shape is discouraging you. Don't let it, consistency beats all else. 25 mins a day, 3 times a week will do you a lot more good than riding for an hour once every other month.

If you make a commitment to get on that bike three times a week, but only make it twice, you are still doing fine. My two cents is to shoot for the to-and-from work ride 2-3 times a week, and one other ride that is similar on a day you have more time. Stick with it, the work will pay off and you will enjoy it!

(as a side note, I ride no hills in the winter, and some modest ones in the summer. the first couple of weeks of hills is hell, the next couple are less painful, but no faster. after the 4th week, i start to feel better -- it takes a while but the improvement starts to come along. so, my personal guess is that it probably takes 6 weeks of consistent, not too demanding, riding to start seeing improved fitness.)

I am feeling much better about this all after going on a longer ride which was mostly flat. I rode 14 miles total in a little over an hour. It didn't tire me out too bad, just this one little hill I had to go up on my way back, and it about killed me. It was probably the hottest spot too, the blacktop was just radiating heat. It looks like hills are my bane right now, but if I keep this up consistently then I should start shedding some pounds which will make everything even easier.

Thanks all for the advice, I am sticking with it.
James

oh man, i LOVE threads like this! instead of asking about the latest diet fat, worrying about carbs-counting, or contemplating stomach surgery you're just getting out and putting on the miles. that's seriously great. i wish more americans did that instead of ordering a box of fatnomore powder.

i'd say the only person you need to compare yourself to is....yourself. maybe keep a log of how many miles you're riding and how long it takes to get there. it will be a good source of encouragement when you look back on it in a month or so.

keep in mind many beginners here moved over from other sports and aren't starting off at the beginning like you are.

another thing i would do is just stop in your local bike shop and see if there are any charity rides coming up this fall. that way you could commit to riding 30-50 miles and you'll have a goal to train for.

jdraughn said:

I have just started cycling and I am having a ton of trouble even coming close to what so called beginners are doing on these forums, at least from what I have read.

At first I had a crappy Huffy mountain bike, huge and heavy, but it was a bike. I would ride to work and back, each way was 2.75 miles. On the way to work a good portion of the road is downhill, so I would basically just go all out the whole way and I would get to work in a little over 10 minutes. On the way back on the otherhand IS PURE HELL. The two main hills I have to climb are maybe half a block long and a block long each. At first I couldin't get up the first half block long hill (slightly steeper then the second hill by the way) without having to stop about 2/3rds of the way up and let the burn subside in my legs and let them regain strength, it would get to the point where I couldn't even push myself up the hill while on the bike anymore, whether it's physical or psycological I don't know, I am pretty sure it was physical 🙂

Second hill I could only go about halfway before having to stop and just stand there with the bike under me giving me legs a chance to rest.

I did that trip maybe 5 or 6x in a 3 or 4 week period. I had planned on doing it everyday but working graveyards and all I very rarely get a solid 8 hours worth of sleep and I am sometimes too exhausted to hop on a bike and ride to work. It never really seemed to get any easier though, I may have been able to go slightly further without having to stop and rest then when I started, but hell if I could tell.

Anyway, fast forward to today (from about 3 weeks ago). I bought a el-cheapo Puch road bike that weights a lot less then the Huffy mountain bike and bought a computer for it so I could see my speed. I have taken it to work and back once so far, and my times are the following:
Time to get to work: 10:34
Total Distance: 2.75 miles
Max speed: 33.8 MPH
AVG speed: 15.7 MPH

Time to get home from work (that same night): 16:14
Total Distance 2.779 miles (don't know why it's slighty different, could be because I coasted down my driveway on the way back while on the way to work I walked it up the driveway before mounting up)
Max speed: 18.5 MPH
Average speed: 10.3 MPH

Ok, I am going down hill most of the way and my times are HORRIBLE compared to all the beginners who I have seen post on these forums, who are going on flat ground. Not to mention the horrible average times I am getting.

By the time I got to work I was hunched over gasping for breath, could barely breathe and I had a horrible crick in my side, not to mention I could barely climb the one flights worth of stairs because my legs were so wasted.

I am 28 years old, 5'8" and weight about 210lbs.

I basically already feel like there is no point in going on. If I train real hard for two years I might get up to where all these other beginners are starting at. I hate quitting though and just need some help on how to improve. It's VERY disheartening to give it 100% and come up with some times that are are so bad.

Does anyone have any advice to give a beginner who is starting out with such poor performance? It seems impossible that someone could peddle 25MPH for more then 5 minutes at a time to me, I can only get going that fast if I am going down hill and giving it all I got and then I can only do it for a few seconds before I am out of breath and my legs can barely turn the crank anymore.

Thanks
James

I don't consider you weakier than me when I'd started riding. Just ride.
You're slow and your bike is very slow by itself. I was no faster (25 y.o., 5' 10", 205 lbs) seven years ago and 3 miles with small climbs were killing me.
Just don't give up and ride. It'll get easier and you'll be faster in a couple of months.

2shoes said:

I'm 5'8" and just topped out @ 256# :eek: . I know, I know. about 80-100# over for my build. I'm pretty sure the 2 different scales aren't lying (unless it's a conspiracy) I am sooo tired of being fat/ obese.

A lot of people around here seem to like fitday.comfitday.comOpen ↗ whether it be for losing weight or simply tracking caloric intake vs burn. If you decide to go that route then don't get too hung up on being entirely accurate as to wether the stock food lists match what you're eating, but do try to be honest and over-estimate your serving sizes.

My advice:
Eat less than you've burned (I think I've heard that a caloric deficit of 500 calories is about the line at which your performance won't suffer too much as a result of being under-fueled).
Try to sweat every day, even if just for 10 minutes.
Try to eat foods with QUALITY calories rather than just blindly tracking your calories and not paying attention to protein, carbs, and excesses of fats/sodium, etc. I tracked my consumption fairly religiously for a week and found that although I was bang on my Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for calories, I was falling below in carbs and protein, seeing slight overages in fat, and consuming almost triple my RDI in sodium.

Using the bike to drop weight will result in natural increases in cycling ability and get you to a point where you can consider specific cycling training exercises.

As a fellow new cyclist (about three weeks now) I've found it motivating to do the above and found great worth in logging the data from my cycle computer to see the improvements that have happened already.

This might be excessive info at this stage but I'll include it because I think it's valid for beginners who want to try hard all the time.

I am friends with several very talented cyclists and they all seem to put stock in doing smart training rather than killing yourself ever day. My current goal is simply logging base miles and keeping things at a fairly comfortable level despite the temptation to get out there and do L6 Intervals at 120% FT (not entirely sure what that means).

If you have access to a heart rate monitor then this may be valid info:

Calculate your Max Heart Rate:

HRmax = 217 − (0.85 * Age)

Some prefer to subtract a further 5 beats to account for the difference between cycling and running.

Calculate your Resting Heart Rate. You need to do this in the morning right when you wake up and take an average over three or four consecutive mornings. This is a royal pain in the ass to remember and do. Put a stop watch or something with a second hand on your bedside table and spend the minute counting your pulse.

Now use the following to find the Target Heart Rate you want to shoot for:

THR = ((HRmax – HRrest) × %Intensity) + HRrest

The hard part, if you are aerobically weak like me, is to try to stay BELOW a THR of 65 or 70% of your HRmax during most of your early workouts. A common theory (although argued against by some) is that you want to put in quality fat-burning time until you drop weight or feel you really need to step it up to see improvement. Pushing hard and killing yourself on each ride can actually do more harm than good and will cause you to feel like you're never seeing any improvement.

So in my case, I'm 27, have a resting heart rate of about 67 want to find my target heart rate at 65% intensity:

HRmax = 217 − (0.85 * 27)
  HRmax = 194bpm (- 5bpm for cycling = 189)
  
  THR = ((189 – 67) × 65%) + 67
  THR = 146

When riding I want to try to keep my heart rate down below 146bpm unless forced over by a hill or strong headwind.

Sorry about the excess of advice but these are some things that are really helping me to get fit/stronger while not crushing my spirit like a tiny little bug. My first weekend on the bike involved having to stop on a local hill while a 9 year old girl motored up it on her pink bike complete with basket and training wheels. Talk about demoralizing, but after only a few weeks of 'smart' riding, I'm already cruising up a lot of hills that gave me trouble in my first week.

jdraughn said:

I have just started cycling and I am having a ton of trouble even coming close to what so called beginners are doing on these forums, at least from what I have read.

....

James, I want to congratulate you for putting in the effort to do something to get healthy. I can only assure you as the rest have posted that it will only get easier.

When I started cycling, 10km was like a major effort, I had to rest the whole weekend after just 10km. FWIW hills used to discourage me from riding, the only way is keep going at it. It will become easier as you start to get fit, and shed some weight, this is far cheaper and easier than buying the latest and greatest 6kg bike.

I have to commend you on cycling to work, this is an excellent way to put in the excercise.

Just be careful to excercise safely, and avoid pushing too hard and then getting an injury. That happened to me as I was brought up with "no pain no gain" mentality, in the end, I strained my groin and was out of action for about 3 mths, and had to start all over again after that.

Join a cycling group to get some encouragement.

Ride safely,
Thomas