Newbee

Blue Flames said:

Hi I'm new here. My name is Joe and I live in SC. I am also new to cycling. I have bought a Trek 1000 and up graded the wheels to a set of mavic cosmics. I have ridden 3 times this week. 10 miles, 11, and 12. on my last 12 mile ride I averaged 17.4 mph. but boy was I beat afterwards. I know absolutly nothing about cycling. anyone have any tips for me. How to get faster and increase distance? thanks

Joe

welcome to the boards!
To go farther you should try to make sure you are well rested and motivated to get to a certain milage point..like some days i wanna do 30...and some days 50 and i dont stop till i get there
Once you have a goal make sure you bring plenty of water and some gels.
If you aren'nt using clipless pedals you should def switch to them (esp speedplay) so you get a full rotation out of your pedal stroke.
That avg seems pretty good, next time you go riding go for 20 or so and keep the avg above 15
and try to bike everyday and do almost 100 a week.
You'll be doing 100 miles rides in no time

Ideally you should do 10 miles of hard sprinting/intervals and then the next day a nice ride for 20 miles..

izzodesh said:

welcome to the boards!
To go farther you should try to make sure you are well rested and motivated to get to a certain milage point..like some days i wanna do 30...and some days 50 and i dont stop till i get there
Once you have a goal make sure you bring plenty of water and some gels.
If you aren'nt using clipless pedals you should def switch to them (esp speedplay) so you get a full rotation out of your pedal stroke.
That avg seems pretty good, next time you go riding go for 20 or so and keep the avg above 15
and try to bike everyday and do almost 100 a week.
You'll be doing 100 miles rides in no time

Ideally you should do 10 miles of hard sprinting/intervals and then the next day a nice ride for 20 miles..

Why speed play? So I should do 10 miles one day as hard as I can then have a nice slow ride of 20 miles the next?

Blue Flames said:

Why speed play? So I should do 10 miles one day as hard as I can then have a nice slow ride of 20 miles the next?

types of clipless are a preference...but clipless in general will help. I use Shimano SPD-L myself.

Shoot- for I newbie I would say get a computer with cadence...and learn the art of going far and fast without beating the [censored] out of yourself. Ever wonder how Lance looks so good the last 400M?? Because he understands cadence better then anyone.

Anyway, here it is simplified, the greater the spin, the less the resistance to spinning. Some folks will say that it is best to run at super high cadence...but I have read papers indicating that cadence, the goal of which is defined as maximum work for minimum energy, is dependant on so many factors (bike set up- crank length- seating position- types of muscle tissue and in what ratios etc.), that I would suggest trying to find something that works for you, and then try to match it every time you ride. For my it is in the 70-80 range, for my wife it is around 60...but we are different, The most common recomendation is 80-100...but you may not get there. Cadence is the key to distance, and you will find that if you select gears correctly you will feel less fatigue at the end of a ride...It is more about consistency then it is about how many times you can make the crank turn.
Pedals are a great idea as well- after twenty years I just got my first set of pedals and my first pair of those funny shorts...and there is a lot of applicable science there as well. Wife be damned for making fun of me, I doubled my distances in the first week just by having the right gear.
I never worry too much about what speed I am going. Wanna go fast- climb a hill and roll down the backside...anyway- If you get your cadence way up your going to go as fast as your gearing will let you. I have a 65 Falcon Sprint that runs in the 11's on the quarter mile...who need to go fast on a bike?
Hope that helps- these are just things I wish I had known about years ago which have improved my riding lately as I re-enter the world of big-ass hills and empty water bottles
Cheers