How long does it take to notice the benefits of cycling?

GSDog

Hi all.

I have started cycling again recently after a 6 year break. I am recovering from a nasty long term illness where I spent 95% of my time housebound, doing very little exercise, for roughly 6 years...
It's great to be outside again and I really enjoy cycling but I am incredibly unfit. I don't look unfit despite being ill for this long but just a few minutes of cycling would have me breathless and my legs are weak.

I've only been cycling for about 2 weeks now and I think I am already seeing some improvements.
I can't wait to start cycling further distances and to be able to go through my local woods, etc.

I was just wondering how long it took you to see a significant improvement in fitness when you started cycling.

Many thanks.

supersonic

I have suffered with repeated bouts of glandular fever and M.E. for the past 7 years, and can sympathise with the staying in bit! I have to take things slowly now, do what I can but not overdo it, with plenty of rest. I find that small improvements are made of a fair period of time, months rather than weeks.

GSDog

supersonic wrote:

I have suffered with repeated bouts of glandular fever and M.E. for the past 7 years, and can sympathise with the staying in bit! I have to take things slowly now, do what I can but not overdo it, with plenty of rest. I find that small improvements are made of a fair period of time, months rather than weeks.

Thanks. I was also diagnosed with M.E at one point but the diagnosis turned out to be wrong. I had Lyme disease which I caught from a tick bite and because I was misdiagnosed with M.E for so long it had become extremely difficult to treat.
I am much better now after long term antibiotics but still not 100%.

Bikers definitely need to watch out for ticks and be aware of the symptoms of Lyme disease. It's a very nasty disease, especially if it's left without treatment.

supersonic

Glad to hear you are getting better. One of the contributors to the WMB magazine had Lyme disease and has told me how it affected him: he is doing well now though!

I think the same advice applies though, listen to your body, rest well, and gradually build up.

supertouring

I started mountain biking again after many many years away from it, but the benefits have been fantastic.

I started properly again on Boxing Day, where I struggled to do 5 miles and at one point found that my heart was trying to escape though my chest wall at the top of one climb.

I have subseqently tried to ride on a regular basis, and since loosing my job at the end of jan, have been riding 3/4 times per week. I have built up the riding distance gradually, resulting in a challenging 30 mile ride that I did today. Although my legs were a little weary, I felt fantastic at the end of it.

I have also gone down a size in jeans (good excuse to buy some new ones) and no long feel lathargic and knackered after doing nothing all day.

The hard bit will be when I get back to work, but I am sure I can put that idea off for a while yet.

Daz555

I returned to 'proper' cycling after a long break and although I was still in shape due to running and football I still found my first few rides totally destroyed my legs, and as for the pain in my backside....blimey.

All fine now though but it was a few months before I really felt strong on the bike.

funkymrmagic

I'm just a week back into biking after about 3 years out... I saw some photo's of myself at a recent party and noticed just how fat I was getting!

I've ridden bikes in anger since I was a teenager (I'm past 30 now) and drifted in and out of it ever since. I'm a large-ish bloke - 6'2" and 17stone, but I've got some underlying fitness still - I'm doing gentle rides between 8 and 15 miles at the minute. I've ridden into work for the first time today (12 miles), which feels good.

The most important thing, I've found, is planning - Don't stick to the same route; don't stick to the same pace and don't forget your rest days. I'm feeling better after just a week in the saddle, though I'm sure a lot of it's psychological as much as anything else.

trem

I started cycling to work on January 5th after my wife bought me a mountain bike. I reckon 1 month of daily cycling (~7 miles/day) is the exact amount to really feel the benefits.
I've always ran, but never consistently. Cycling to work has made me do consistent exercise.

I think that routine is key, make cycling a part of your day to day activity (which may not be easy)

Hope your well on the way to full recovery

dave_hill

Its amazing how quickly your fitness builds up if can ride to work - I try to do two days a week minimum if I can (it's 7 miles each way, so that's 14 miles a day, twice a week) although given that I don't always work in the office it isn't always possible!

That said, it gives a reasonable level of fitness that lets me do a decent run at weekends without killing myself.

Northwind

Yeah, I was amazed how fast I improved... Particularily because my right leg's basically a wreck, broken hip followed 6 months after by damaged knee, and 8 months out of that year on crutches! But I went from being basically dead after 10 minutes, to being able to ride all day with my mates and blast my commute at a dead sprint, in just a few months. I'm still needing to get better, my recovery times are awful- I just can't ride 2 days in a row, at all- but it's getting there. And the best bit is it just happens without you really trying while you ride!

But the off-bike benefits come along too... I ran for the bus for ages the other day without even thinking about it, and caught the thing for once, and I wasn't even out of breath... a year ago I could barely run 10 steps.

mongoosed

I started to cycle again in January,and my general fitness has greatly improved,i really noticed it today i had 3hrs round my local CP and was biking quite hard but no pain in legs plus i've changed my diet etc all good.

REMF

i started riding a month ago after a 15 year break, already i can do 25 km trails whereas when i started i was wrecked after 6 km.

so a month of hard riding will work wonders.