VERY weak beginner.

Don't feel bad at all. A huffy mtn bike on the road is going to be incredible slow compared to a decent road bike. Look into uprading to a beginners road bike.

This is a beautiful thing. Don't worry about anything but YOUR own progress. I always get a tingle when I see anyone out riding ANY bike. The speed will come. But more importantly, the fitness will come. Continue to ride. I started with commuting to work also. I had a backpack with a notebook, papers, a change of clothing and shoes. And I had to climb back up a 2.2 mile hill every day rain or shine.

That and watching the calories is how I went from 275 (they say it was muscle, but .. whatever) to 190 @ 6' 3".

Riding is a beautiful activity/hobby and you meet people who will inspire you to no end. I recently went riding with a guy getting ready for his 3rd hip replacement and one with just 1 lung, having lost one to cancer. So, no worries, you will get to whatever your goals end up being. Just stick with it and enjoy your rides!

Thanks again all for all the advice. Especially you, Fiend, with all the heart rate information, I kept seeing mentioned it here and there on the forums but no one would actually take the time to explain it so it's something I always kinda glazed over.

I have made great progress since I posted, I can get up those hills now without having to stop and rest my legs once, and I can go on 15 miles rides and wish I had gone farther before I turned around and got back.

Much of it is probably due to my bike, I upgraded that old Puch road bike to a old Schwinn which weighs like half as much and fits me a little better. I am actually kinda looking forward to hills now because I like the challenge they give. I even like the heat, give me lots of water and all the sweating makes me feel like im working out even harder 🙂

Keep it up and don't worry about the short rides to work there not even long enough to warm up your muscles.
It takes about 8wks of training for the body to open up the capillaries that the exercising muscles need to do their work the more you ride and the longer you ride the better (but step up gradually, you would go to a gym and push max weights every lift would you)
Hills never get easy your times just get faster.

James, it wasn't long ago that I was a raw beginner and I am a good deal older than you! Keep at it! I can ride 44km without feeling bad now!

Try doing some swimming or walking to build fitness, you will be amazed at the difference.

Keep your cadence between 85 and 95 kicking down a gear rather than loading up your legs too much. More effective in building fitness.

If you haven't got good slicks, invest in some!

2shoes said:

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)

DUDE! Here's how to stay in shape while you travel: walk. Go for a walk before your evening meal. A long walk. Buy a pedometer and try to increase your number of steps every week. A good friend of mine did this, and really likes it. If you add this to your biking, you will see improvements.

Just keep at it!!

I havent been on a bike for 10 years but i decided today after seeing how much my boyfriend loves cycling, seeing him get ready for a race, watching him compete, that i want to try myself.

Now i know for a fact that my fat bottom is going to cover most of the saddle and after 500m im going to die since i only quit smoking 4 months ago BUT if i dont get on it and keep getting on it im always going to die after 500m and im always going to have a fat bottom. I will never improve if i dont keep at it and thats what you have to do. I would say like the other guys though maybe pick a less challanging start, somewhere flat and maybe take someone with you to make the training more pleasent for you to start until you get fitter.

Good luck anyway im sure you dont need it you seem very determined

When I started riding I was heavier than you... 6'0, 260 pounds..

I found that it's much better if you concentrate on your cadence and less on your MPH. Work on keeping your legs in constant motion and the speed will come down the line, as your legs get conditioned and you shed some body fat. First I started with small 2-5 mile rides and gradually worked my way up to 60 mile flat rides on the weekend.

I came to cycling after spending the majority of my life (25 years) of playing sports that required short bursts of energy (American Football, Baseball). Cycling is a completely different sport requiring a different conditioning. Just take small steps and keep pedaling.

Also see if you can find any group rides in your area. You'll be amazed how much 'faster' you ride with others, and how much more you'll be enthused about the sport when you're around others that enjoy it.

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

Take up strength training as well as putting in more miles.

This has been a great thread to read.

I think that, as you shed some pounds, and build strength and conditioning, you'll find riding to become much easier and enjoyable. It sounds like you've already experienced some of that, just in the time since you first posted. You've improved already from "VERY weak beginner" to just a "normally weak beginner." 🙂

None of my friends even gives half a [censored] about riding a bike, except the friends I've made through internet cycling groups like this. So, you're in an elite group, in my opinion: people who choose cycling because they know it's better than any other form of transportation. It is much better to be a weak beginner than an awesome couch potato.

I just started riding again last fall. I'm 46 now and hadn't riden in 25 years, I was 5' 10" and 177 lbs. I started tracking my time once I was able to do a 5 mile ride. My average was 11.8 mph. Now I'm one year older, 7 pounds lighter and I averaged 14 mph on a 20 mile ride. Now I see improvement from week to week. I just got rid of the bike I was riding which was a 24 speed, 35 pound hybrid. and bought a 30 speed 22 pound road bike. spent 10 miles making seat adjustments, then did another 10 miles and saw a significant increace in speed. I know my speed will continue to increase as my weight decreases and my strength and endurance increases.

As for these so called beginers with a 19 mph ave. their 1st time out. I think is a little exagerated. (it's also nice to be going down hill all the time🙄 . Your terain make a big difference in your ave. speed. I live in New England and my 20 mile route has only 5 miles total of level road.

Good luck and stick with it. And track your progress. Use an Excel spreadsheet, or if you want to spend a little money for software try the following software. It has a 30 day full function trial period with no shareware [censored] attached.

cyclistats.comindex.htmOpen ↗

Just a update, I can see very noticable improvements now. The other night I rode to work and managed to average over 20mph the whole time. Of course a lot of that was down hill, but even on the flats I was able to maintain 20mph. By the time I got to work I wanted to just keep going because it felt so good to be able to actually get the bike going at that speed for more then a few seconds.

Also, a week ago I rode almost 27 miles in a little over 2 hours. That totally drained me though, I had to sleep quite a bit more then normal to get my normal energy levels back after that ride. I ate a good meal of pasta the night before and had a pretty good size breakfast and ate two energys bars while on the road. Plus I drank lots and lots of water too.

I am going to try for 30 miles today if I can get up the initiative to actually do it. Lately I have been feeling kinda depressed like "whats the point". Im sure I will come out of it though and go back to training with even more dedication then before. It would really help if I could find someone to ride with everyday, but having a hard time finding people around here.

Congratulations, thats a big improvement!!! Well yesterday i did my first bum wiggling for 12 years, i did 5 miles and nearly crashed twice and now im walkin like John Wayne. If it wasnt raining today id be out again (still fingers crossed it eases off and i can get out for a quick ride) the only way we get better is to keep at it 🙂 So keep at it man you will just get better and better

Don't get discouraged. You are doing awesome! And take the advice from an earlier post and find a local bike shop. I'm a beginner as well. Decided at age 45 that it was time to get back into shape so decided to sign up for a 90 mile ride over 2 days. Figured I'd ride my age in miles both days! I got serious about it about 2 wks ago and am up to being able to do about 25 miles at a time. Signed up for a 50k (31 miles) this Saturday. We'll see how that goes! I'm betting that the cold beer I have that evening will be AWESOME!

I found that ride via a link on a local bike shop website. They also had a full list of local clubs and rides, both fun and tough. Don't compete with others or yourself. Just track your progress and celebrate that ride that felt great and you weren't ready to turn around yet! And through the bike shop connections you'll find someone to ride with - count on it.

I did check my with local bike shop but apparently because there are so many students around here (BYU, UVSC) that every time someone starts up a club or something, most of the members end up leaving every year and the club just disenigrates. If I were to commute up to salt lake city im sure I could find a club, however the cost of gas would eat me alive. Im sure I can eventually hook up with someone if I head to the same place at the same time everyday till I start to see a familiar face.

travelgirl said:

Don't get discouraged. You are doing awesome! And take the advice from an earlier post and find a local bike shop. I'm a beginner as well. Decided at age 45 that it was time to get back into shape so decided to sign up for a 90 mile ride over 2 days. Figured I'd ride my age in miles both days! I got serious about it about 2 wks ago and am up to being able to do about 25 miles at a time. Signed up for a 50k (31 miles) this Saturday. We'll see how that goes! I'm betting that the cold beer I have that evening will be AWESOME!

I found that ride via a link on a local bike shop website. They also had a full list of local clubs and rides, both fun and tough. Don't compete with others or yourself. Just track your progress and celebrate that ride that felt great and you weren't ready to turn around yet! And through the bike shop connections you'll find someone to ride with - count on it.

Going to comment on several things I just read (scanned the whole post from the beginning....)

First off, awesome job so far! keep it up James! 🙂

I'm in a similar situation as you, at least physcially. I'm a tad over 5'8 at 220 pounds. Personally, I don't give a rats ass what my weight is, its purely subjective.

If you would like another measuring stick to guage yourself on, go to see a personal trainer or someone with calipers to get your body fat measured. DON'T use those step-on ones (or the ones you grab) that run an electrical current through you to measure resistance, they're rarely accurate because your diet and water/sodium makeup can vastly skew the results, and make sure you go get re measured every 4-6 weeks.

The reason I recommend this is because if you're keeping up with your riding, its another way to keep tabs on your fitness progress other than just average speeds etc.

And anyone who tells you that 5'8 and 220 is overweight can go do tender things to themselves.. I've dropped 10% body fat and actually gained a couple of pounds in the process (I'm under 20% now and dropping 🙂 )

Someone asked about riding while travelling? do some research beforehand. I'm actually travelling right now for work in Central Cali and I just found a bunch of stores that rent out road bikes on a daily basis, which is a nice option for anyone who doesn't want to package up and ship their bike around.

Oh, and your ride to work really isn't enough to guage yourself overall, keep up what you've been doing with the longer rides, you will really start to see the differences in the longer hauls 🙂

Cheers! and keep it going! we're all rooting for you!

Even though it may not feel right but a lot of endurance will help a great deal,together with technique practice and a little hard riding.

Have fun.🙂

I hadint been riding very much lately, had a lot of personal stuff going on, but I did ride home from work up those two hills, and you know what? They were a joke. Now it's not a matter of getting up the hills, but seeing how fast I can do it. I was amazed at how easily I was able to power up them. I can't wait till things around here cool down so I can start cycling regularly everyday.

Lance1965 said:

Even though it may not feel right but a lot of endurance will help a great deal,together with technique practice and a little hard riding.

Have fun.🙂

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

Here is what I know...

- I have never been known for my endurance. I was more a weight lifter guy.
I used to do "circuit weight training" in my basement with a weight set that
I purchased from a "muscle and fitness" magazine. I was 30 yrs old at the
time.

- got an xmart type of "road bike" for my birthday and decided to take up cycling. Was able to go 10 miles the first time on it in about 30 minutes.
nothing fantastic but I was happy with it. I was eventually going about 20 miles in about 1hr 12 minutes around 3-4 times a week.

- found that I had to cut way back on the weight training to about once a week on leg press, leg curl, and calf raise, (you could also add in other body parts if you want but that would either have to be cycled on that one day
ie week 1 (do lower body) week 2 (do upper body), etc. and for the rest of the week do cycling workouts, where you increase mileage by 10% each time.
I personally found it better to do a cycling workout, day off, cycling workout... etc but others have found having an "easy" day is better than a day off. You will have to figure out which you feel is better for you.

- with the weight training. you want to 1 set of 12 reps for each exercise.
pick a reasonable weight (one that you can do with out really forcing it)
and each time increase it based on your last session.

WOW! It seems like you have made a TON of progress, James! That is AWESOME!!

I, too, was greatly out of shape when I finally got back on my bike. Everything (hills, flats) killed me -- but I was determined to get in shape and kick some booty. It sounds like you are as well.

Like everyone has said - just keep on riding. Riding when you feel like it, riding when you don't feel like it. It is the consistency & patience over time that brings great results.

Glad to hear your story & look forward to more of your updates!