Help and info needed.......

Mr Loverman

Right I am relativly new to cycling i.e. a few months. Today I went on my first chain gang and was dropped half way around the first lap of 4 on a 22 mile ride. I am currently using the wheels that come with my bike which is a 2010 allez sport 18, I know the wheels are not great but are they bad enough to have caused me to cycle so slow that I was left behind or is that more to do with me just not being used to the pace of chain gangs or could it be a combination of the two? I am also not using cycling shoes just trainers with toe clips so will this also be a contributing factor to my poor performance? I felt really disheartened today after the ride as I really done badly but will the speed and stamina to keep a high speed come with time? I am 31 years old now does that mean I am over the hill and starting cycling to late in life and will therefore never be able to achieve a decent speed for long periods of time or will it still come given enough time and effort? Any help would be appreciated as my confidence has taken a bit of a beating today.

skyd0g

Keep at it Your speed and stamina will increase as you put the miles in. You can't "buy" your way out... ...although the occasional bit of retail therapy gives you a boost.

teagar

Clipless pedals will probably yield the biggest gain at this stage, but other than that, the difference between a £100 set of wheels and £500 pair of wheel is probably still smaller than an hour extra training on the bike a week.

Just riiide.

Ruari

I wouldn't be disheartened in the least. Chain gangs are notorious for dropping newbies and part of the 'passage of life' or whatever you want to call it. It serves as either motivation to get quicker or disheartens to the point of not continuing.

DON'T GET DISHEARTENED AND QUIT!

All you need to do is get out more and work it harder. Being 31 is in no way too old. A good bike fitting done at a good bike shop will help you get the best performance and comfort on the bike, and clipless pedals and shoes will probably help more at the outset than an expensive pair of wheels.
Don't give up! Just think, in 6 months or less you could be a crusty in the chain gang thinking 'Gawd, if only this noob wasn't so slow... Let's drop him and see how he fares!'
Or whatever you want to think.

Keep at it.

Mr Loverman

Thanks for the info chaps I was thinking that shoes and clips would be better as I was looking at £1000 wheels and they only saved you 1 minute over £25 miles.

Anonymous

Get fitter mate, pedals and shoes will help a lot but its down to fitness at the end of the day. Get some good miles in and intervals.

Mr Loverman

dmclite wrote:

Get fitter mate, pedals and shoes will help a lot but its down to fitness at the end of the day. Get some good miles in and intervals.

Whatr type of trining should I be doing, should I do long distance at a good speed or short distance at fast speeds or should I mix it up and do a mixture of the two?

teagar

Mr Loverman wrote:

dmclite wrote:

Get fitter mate, pedals and shoes will help a lot but its down to fitness at the end of the day. Get some good miles in and intervals.

Whatr type of trining should I be doing, should I do long distance at a good speed or short distance at fast speeds or should I mix it up and do a mixture of the two?

Mixing it up is always good.

Just do whatever you fancy though. You're not doing it as a job!

skinson

31 to old!!! I'm 51 and have just started cycling properly. I already do 2 50 milers a week averaging 17mph on my own. I have a friend who only started cycling at 59, and is now 69 he has just clocked 50,000 miles in those 10 years....31 to old...get a grip lad
Dave

le_grimpeur

Best equipment purchase I found to improve speed was a decent pair of tyres. I'd say that it increased my top speed by 5kph. Should you have bought clipless pedals, try cycling using different parts of the pedal stroke, as in start pulling on the upstroke. Thus you'll be using different muscles, which also has the benefit of resting the usual muscles employed on the downstroke. In terms of actual cycling fitness, which will obviously bring the greatest benefit, you could try using your rides to improve your fitness rather than riding. I use somehting I read in an interview with Greg Lemond, which is to cycle hard for 20 seconds, rest and repeat. Do this for as long as you feel like.

Mr Loverman

I have no problem going long distances of 120 miles which take in the mountains of North Wales and include the Horseshoe pass just before we head home, my problem seems to be cycling fast over long periods of time. My tyres are proper racing tyres with no tread and are very easy to get a puncture. I have noticed the problem with my wheels is when we are going downhill and other riders with expensive carbon wheels fly down the hills while I have to pedal to try to keep up with them but they leave me even when they free wheel down hill. I think the bearings in my wheels are not up to much and there is a lot of spokes which will increase wind resistance. I have been told that when you use clip in shoes with the pedals you get more energy out of your pedal stroke, I have also been told that learning to corner at speed is beneficial as you dont then lose momentum which causes you to lose speed which you have to gain again. With regards to my age as I said earlier I put in between 200 - 300 miles per week, but I was questioning my ability to be able to keep up with chain gangs when they train for competitions, that was what I meant by questioning my age. I have also been informed that with chain gangs you have to just keep at it and eventually you build up the strength and stanima to keep up all the way, so I hope this is ture.

le_grimpeur

I mentioned the tyre thing as my first tyres were good value race tyres, but the big difference when switching to Schalbe Ultremo tyres was massive. Yes, better wheels will make a difference, but others have already mentioned the cost/benefit ratio.

Yes, you do get greater energy out of using pedals

Yes, learning to corner better downhill does result in less lossed momentum. But so does other things, such as accelerating over the crest of a hill with continued acceleration on the other side. A couple of other things I have found useful. When attempting to accelerate, drop down a gear and 'spin' for a few revolutions, then go back up. Would your fellow chain gain cohorts mind if you slipstreamed them for a bit?

In terms of age, I got into cycling 8 years ago, and found it hard to do 20km. Last year I managed the Etape. My average (on a set 50km course) 2 years ago was 24. Last year it was 25, this year I broke 26, last week 26.3. I am now 45.

You may question if you'll ever be up to the standard of the chain gang. It seems to me that as the chain gang is already established, there's not much room for improvement, but with you, there is ample scope for improvement.

Saying keep at it will result in improvement, but you'd be better off targetting where you want to improve. For example, there are stretches on my 50km route that I can focus on, such as trying to maintain 50kph on a long downhill, or 30 on a gradual incline.

Also, do you take energy drinks with you?

Mettan

Mr Loverman wrote:

I am 31 years old now does that mean I am over the hill and starting cycling to late in life and will therefore never be able to achieve a decent speed for long periods of time or will it still come given enough time and effort? Any help would be appreciated as my confidence has taken a bit of a beating today.

31 is not too old to train to compete at a decent level - regards chain gangs, and possibly riding at 20-23 mph over bigger distances, this might only come after 2 years of regular hard commited training - very few new riders can just jump in and do 25 miles at a 20 mph avg (for example) - this kind of performance might take 2 years of hard riding - so, don't despair - it's all training.

Infamous

Where are you based and what club was it?

Mr Loverman

I am not currently taking energy drinks out with me but I do believe I should be taking them when I do the chain gangs. The chain gang is a well establised one and the run I went on yesterday was and 'easier' one which does loops of a circuit which they say is idea for noobies as if you lose the pace you can hold back and when they come aroudn again you can join on, but they have another one which is very fast and goes uphills and out into the coutnryside where if you get dropped then you stay dropped. I think my main question has been answered though and thank you very much everyone for your info, and you have confirmed to me that my age is not going to stop me from eventualy be able to keep up with the chain gang and then competing but it will take a while for me to build my speed and more importantly stanima up so as I can comepete, and also that just buying expensive equipment is not the way to move forward just exercising more and harder is the way to go. so once agin thanks for the info,.

Mr Loverman

Infamous wrote:

Where are you based and what club was it?

I am in Liverpool and the club is the Liverpool Century.

Anonymous

le_grimpeur wrote:

Best equipment purchase I found to improve speed was a decent pair of tyres. I'd say that it increased my top speed by 5kph. Should you have bought clipless pedals, try cycling using different parts of the pedal stroke, as in start pulling on the upstroke. Thus you'll be using different muscles, which also has the benefit of resting the usual muscles employed on the downstroke. In terms of actual cycling fitness, which will obviously bring the greatest benefit, you could try using your rides to improve your fitness rather than riding. I use somehting I read in an interview with Greg Lemond, which is to cycle hard for 20 seconds, rest and repeat. Do this for as long as you feel like.

+1

Leond also described doing powerful pedalstrokes for 20 seconds where you imagine scraping the bottom of your shoe to get rid of mud, push down hard and forcefully through the bottom and back of the stroke. Excellent for intervals and getting back on a group, it is a killer though.