Please help a newbie

Anyone?? 😕

Climbontario said:

Hi all, I'm just getting back into the sport after more than 10 years away. I just purchased a brand new 2004 Trek 2100, and I have joined a club to do some club rides and get used to running with a crowd again. I just have a few questions that I'm hoping some of you can give me some advice on to help me get back to racing. Assuming that there is no wind, and level ground......
1. What gear should I be riding in?
2. How far should my daily training rides be?
3. What should I be aiming for as an average speed?
4. What would an average race speed be?

I hope these are not stupid questions, I just need some help to get started, and any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!😎

I thought of replying to your thread yesterday, but I smelled a troll. Please do not be offended, but your questions seemed, oh' so basic. If you were in the sport 10 years ago, I'd hope you have some idea how to answer your inquiries.

Anyhoooo, I'll do my best, in chronological order,

1) When starting out use whatever gear keeps your rpm's between 80-100. Later you can learn how to spin faster, as well as mash gears at times.

2) How far are you riding now? I would say ride as much as you can, as long as you are recovering day to day. Beginners usually try for 3-4 days a week at 1-2 hours a pop. Then go from there.

3) Never ever aim for average speed. It is a useless piece of info. Fun to look at after a fast ride, but too many variables are involved to make it really mean anything.

4) Average race for who? What kind of race? How long is the race? Once again, avg speed means jack when it comes to racing. I've been in a Pro-am that avg'd 29 mph for 100 miles, but felt easy. Another time I did a 100 mile Pro-am that did 20 mph for the first 40 miles on flat roads before we started really racing, averaging 31 mph for the last 60. Ouch!

Now get out there and ride😉

Thanks for the info. It's been so long that I really didn't have any idea where to focus. I will focus on the cadence. What do you mean by mash gears?? That is a term im not familiar with.😎

Climbontario said:

Thanks for the info. It's been so long that I really didn't have any idea where to focus. I will focus on the cadence. What do you mean by mash gears?? That is a term im not familiar with.😎

To mash simply means to work it with lower rpm's at a high tension.

examples:

Riding 40kph (25mph) in a 53x13 at about 75 rpms would be mashing for a beginner.

Riding 40kph on a 42x16 at about 120 rpms in a paceline would be spinning.

If I saw you riding up a hill and working it hard on a heavy (feeling) gear, we'd call that mashing.
😉

Thanks YMCA for your help. I went out and bought a computer with cadence to help me focus on it. I've pretty much ignored speed on my recent rides. I learned quickly that I was killing myself in huge gears. I'm now turning smaller gears at around 85 rpm and working to improve on that. I feel like I used to ride with powerless effort, and now ride with effortless power. I've also seen my average speed (which im looking at after my rides) increase greatly. Your advice has been a great help and is much appreciated. Now I just have to find a way to set up my seat so my ass doesn't hurt so bad:eek:

I'm thinking about entering my first TT. It's a 30k reasonably flat run. My local club is running a 3 stage race beginning with the 30k TT on a thursday, and then two 40K stages on the saturday. I feel confident that I won't embarass myself on the TT, but I'm a little nervous about riding in a crowd. I'm considering running the TT as hard as I can, and then sitting at the back of the pack on the other 2 stages to gain some experience. Any advice? Is it a bad idea to participate?
Thanks again for your help...
😎