really really really warmed up

Not sure if you saw those pro riders preparing for their TT stage during the TdF. But you can see them sweating like pigs on the trainer for a good period of time (up to an hour). You'd almost think that they are wasting their energy before their TT ride. So I'd say that you are quite normal.

monkeymagic said:

Hi everyone, just wondering if I'm a freak or is this normal 🙂

Basically I've noticed on 50km plus bike rides it takes me a good 20k's to get really settled in terms of heart rate and comfort.

At about the 20k point my heart rate drops to a much more comfortable level, my legs feel great and I feel I can ride hundreds of k's. But for some reason, it is the start which hurts real bad.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance! 🙂

Nope, you're not a freak. I usually feel pretty tired when I just begin to ride. After a few miles, though, once I get my HR up and I break a sweat I usually feel great. Keeping this in mind, I usually warm up for at least 30-40 mins prior to my MTB races, doing several hard intervals. I'm a lot faster off of the line, and believe it or not, a lot of people don't warm up, so they're dust.

I don't know about you, but I don't like feeling like [censored] while I'm actually on the road, so I get on the trainer until I warm up.

Ahh yer I kind of figured they were warming up for the TdF but I thought it was for mere microseconds of advantage.

The trainer is a great idea but due to the fact that "serious" riding is a LOT more expensive than I first thought I have no money left to buy one yet - guess I will endure the pain knowing that it will ease 🙂

In retrospect it's funny how when you first start riding you would have been warmed up, buggered, and warmed down all in 10k's - now you're not even warmed up in that time! :S

monkeymagic said:

The trainer is a great idea but due to the fact that "serious" riding is a LOT more expensive than I first thought I have no money left to buy one yet - guess I will endure the pain knowing that it will ease 🙂

I ride on a trainer from 1964 that I found in my grandmother's basement. A Schwinn Typhoon was hooked up to it. Primitive as it may be, it still makes me sweat like a pig.

monkeymagic said:

Hi everyone, just wondering if I'm a freak or is this normal 🙂

Basically I've noticed on 50km plus bike rides it takes me a good 20k's to get really settled in terms of heart rate and comfort.

At about the 20k point my heart rate drops to a much more comfortable level, my legs feel great and I feel I can ride hundreds of k's. But for some reason, it is the start which hurts real bad.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance! 🙂

My ride diary is full of comments saying that while I felt ordinary when starting out on a training ride, after 40-45 minutes I "came good" and was cranking it out. It's not an unusual sensation.

Since I train so early (usually), I can't eat anything until just before I ride (rather than up to 2 hrs before), maybe that is one reason it happens to me. I'm used to it and it doesn't affect my racing since that is mostly later in the day and I can plan eating better.

monkeymagic said:

Hi everyone, just wondering if I'm a freak or is this normal 🙂

Basically I've noticed on 50km plus bike rides it takes me a good 20k's to get really settled in terms of heart rate and comfort.

At about the 20k point my heart rate drops to a much more comfortable level, my legs feel great and I feel I can ride hundreds of k's. But for some reason, it is the start which hurts real bad.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance! 🙂

That's about the same distance I need to warm up. If not, I've already burned out. If you can't buy a trainer yet, a lot of folks on this forum have suggested spinning in a low gear quickly on the bike for your warm up period. It works for me, plus, I'm outside!🙂

rwinthenorth said:

That's about the same distance I need to warm up. If not, I've already burned out. If you can't buy a trainer yet, a lot of folks on this forum have suggested spinning in a low gear quickly on the bike for your warm up period. It works for me, plus, I'm outside!🙂

I think I will take the plunge and buy a trainer and cancel my gym membership so it balances out. At the end of the day I only really used the gym for the bikes when the weather was crappy outside 🙂

monkeymagic said:

I think I will take the plunge and buy a trainer and cancel my gym membership so it balances out. At the end of the day I only really used the gym for the bikes when the weather was crappy outside 🙂

You can get a decent trainer for about 100 bucks. It's a good investment.

This summer I started one race without prior warmup, and blew up after some first miles...

I started too quickly, blew up and that`s it - everybody needs a good warmup before a race. But for a training session - usually you incorporate it into this session, and I don`t see any reason why to sweat like a pig at home on trainer if the same time you could go out and have a ride plus warm up at once..