Leg burn out!!

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by vamp467 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

First let me apologies for my lack of knowledge, I'm a newbie to the cycling world and before anyone else says or thinks it, it has nothing to do with the Olympics lol. Anyway to the problem I have, when cycling on my road bike any slight incline and my legs burn out very quickly and I mean seconds I can get to the top but very very slowly I'm not even out of breath it's just my bloody legs. Is this normal and if so how can I improve on this and how long are we talking before I can cycle up a hill normal. Cheers Ian.

As you get fitter, your body will cope better with the effort. The best way to get fitter is to hurt your legs more on the bike!

[FONT= arial]I’m new to cycling too, however have read loads recently on cycling.[/FONT]

[FONT= arial]If you’re not out of breath - try dropping down a couple of gears and standing up to climb.[/FONT]
[FONT= arial]It will work your cardio system a little harder, however your body weight will be pushing the pedals.[/FONT]

[FONT= arial]Give it a go...what can you lose ![/FONT]

Thanks for the posts, I will try that ambal hurting my legs but I will have to wait till I haven't got work the next day and find a big hill 😄 And thanks for the advise fredy will give it a go next time I'm out see how I do.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by vamp467 [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

... I will try that ambal hurting my legs...

Just make sure you 'hurt' them by riding more, riding faster at times, challenging yourself to ride longer when you have the time and riding at least every couple of days to keep the frequency up. But don't expect any short cuts by 'hurting' your legs via gut busting twenty second sprints or short make ya puke intervals if you haven't been putting in the basic miles and time on the bike first.

IOW, the key to getting faster on the bike starts with:

- Ride consistently (as in weeks, months and years not just a few days hard here and there)
- Ride frequently (four to five days a week is ideal even if some of those are short and easy but at least a few days per week if possible)
- Accumulate a lot of ride time (gently work your overall volume of hours miles, whatever you track, up and keep giving your body reasons to continue adapting to the increasing workload)
- Ride with some intensity on good days (again, challenge your body with higher paced efforts and your body will adapt, ideally these are mostly 'sustained' higher paced efforts as in roll a bit faster pace than comfortable for a nice twenty minute section of open road or climb a steady ten minute hill a bit faster than a previous attempt as opposed to sprint like hell over one short twenty second climb, feel like puking and then go really slow, racers eventually do short interval work but your best bang for the buck is to just roll extended sections a bit quicker on good days)

It all comes back to 'ride lots' and if you do that your legs will hurt less at the same pacing as your fitness improves.

Good luck,
-Dave

Thanks Dave much appreciated, I am slowly building mile per ride up just upto 33 miles not much by cycling standards I know but I will take on board what you said and get some short faster stints in and more frequently and see how I get on, cheers Ian.