Absolute beginner

pearman

dont laugh at me, got a new bike last week and not been on a bike for about 25 + yrs
i live in south yorkshire so some of you will know what the hills are like, or am i just being
a wus !!
i have done 3 ride outs so far 1st one was just to try the bike less than 1/2 mile but about 60 metres high that was hard :shock:
2nd ride i try going the other way still a hill and done about 6 miles fell off bike trying to start off but was still hard on the hills.
so today i got my other half to some where flattish but was still hills, it was 4 miles from
home and took just under 15 min. sorry if im going on
i also dont want to over do it, if i do that 4 miles every day for the next week and then the week after say do 30 mins a day.
what do you think i should do ?
as a beginner/new to this

craker

Are you training for anything in particular? (If not sign up for a 50 mile sportive - it's something to aim for and that will get you out riding).

If I'm training for something I'll try to set myself a weekly target of one short fast ride, one medium ride and one long ride.

Also, once you've got all you're kit on, bike out of the shed, had a powersnack you might as well stay out for an hour or so at least. Certainly as far as your muscles and cardiovascular system are concerned think about 45 mins + to start building up endurance.

Take it easy and enjoy it.

brownbosh

Hi, i would definately just make sure you ride your bike little and often. If you are out of shape (which frankly it sounds like you are) you need to keep making small incremental increases in saddle time until you can ride for 90 mins without stopping. I would say every other day and push a bit longer would be better than 30 mins every day. Dont compare yourself to others just keep riding your bike until you start to see fitnesss/speed/technique gains which should really start to show after 4-6 weeks. When you have moved your base line you can start to worry about cycle specific fitness and performance work but for now you need do just one thing - RIDE!

kingrollo

brownbosh wrote:

Hi, i would definately just make sure you ride your bike little and often. If you are out of shape (which frankly it sounds like you are) you need to keep making small incremental increases in saddle time until you can ride for 90 mins without stopping. I would say every other day and push a bit longer would be better than 30 mins every day. Dont compare yourself to others just keep riding your bike until you start to see fitnesss/speed/technique gains which should really start to show after 4-6 weeks. When you have moved your base line you can start to worry about cycle specific fitness and performance work but for now you need do just one thing - RIDE!

+1

I still find the first mile is the worst !- take really easy when starting off, I know you can't choose where the hills come - but take it easy for at least 15 minutes. If you go for a hill straight off, you go into oxygen debt, or something like that - just pedall easy and you will be suprised how quickly you can do 25 miles - without feeling dreadfull.

vorsprung

We understand that at the moment your limit on the bike is less than 10 miles and half an hour

What is your goal? How "good" do you want to be by, for instance, next spring?

ride_whenever

kingrollo wrote:

brownbosh wrote:

Hi, i would definately just make sure you ride your bike little and often. If you are out of shape (which frankly it sounds like you are) you need to keep making small incremental increases in saddle time until you can ride for 90 mins without stopping. I would say every other day and push a bit longer would be better than 30 mins every day. Dont compare yourself to others just keep riding your bike until you start to see fitnesss/speed/technique gains which should really start to show after 4-6 weeks. When you have moved your base line you can start to worry about cycle specific fitness and performance work but for now you need do just one thing - RIDE!

+1

I still find the first mile is the worst !- take really easy when starting off, I know you can't choose where the hills come - but take it easy for at least 15 minutes. If you go for a hill straight off, you go into oxygen debt, or something like that - just pedall easy and you will be suprised how quickly you can do 25 miles - without feeling dreadfull.

+2

first 20mins is slow! Keep it slow and steady to start to build your base fitness. Try using a heartrate monitor to help you guage your efforts

fnegroni

pearman wrote:

so today i got my other half to some where flattish but was still hills, it was 4 miles from
home and took just under 15 min. sorry if im going on

16mph average over 4 miles is not that bad if you are just starting.