Another Newbie

b4beezer
b4beezer Posts: 12
edited August 2010 in Road beginners
Hi all,

Hope you are well. Got my first road bike in 20 years yesterday. Specialized Allez Sport Double. Lovely nimble little thing. Took it out for it's maiden voyage this morning is very high winds. Found out to my horror that I am more unfit than originally though. Only lasted around 20 minutes before nausea kicked in.

Going to aim for 25 minutes tomorrow. Walk before you can run ehh.

Later

Comments

  • masterchef
    masterchef Posts: 202
    hey:), nice started bike u got there mate:), i got my first bike a trek 1,1 on wednesday, awesome bike, if ur training to become fitter, then make a route aroud where u live, do it eveery night you can get a gd time say for a 20mile couse aim for 50mins and try abit harder each time to beat it:)
    best bike: raleigh avanti U6 carbon comp
    10m tt pb:23:42.
    25m tt pb: 1h 2min( only done 2)
  • Rich Hcp
    Rich Hcp Posts: 1,355
    That's it, you'll soon be out for long runs before you know it
    Richard

    Giving it Large
  • b4beezer
    b4beezer Posts: 12
    Hi all,

    2 weeks in. Lov'in it. Try to get out 2-3 times a week. Up to an hour now. The aim of my bike was always to keep myself active and lose some weight (around a stone to go). I've been using my iPhone with a cycling app to measure speed \ distance etc. I have also been looking to products from Garmin / Polar etc with a view to monitoring my progress in real time. Techy things like this also keep me motivated. Question I have though, are products like these to much to soon? I havn't even got clipless pedals yet. But I do love my gadgets!!

    Masterchef, I think it will be a while before I'm doing 20 miles in 50 minutes! Averaging about 13mph at the moment.

    Thanks in advance
  • Cleat Eastwood
    Cleat Eastwood Posts: 7,508
    Its never too early to any helpin cycling, and it does make it fun.

    You can pick up a garmin 205 for 60-70 squid these days. It has a virtual partner on it. You ride a route, say a one hour fave ride, then you can store it as a course that you and your virtual buddy can then race.On screen you can see a little graphic of your progress.

    Good cheap fun and you get loads of data back to please the scientist in us all. :D
    The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns
    momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself.
  • skyd0g
    skyd0g Posts: 2,540
    The gadgets and stats are fine - especially at the moment, as you'll beat PB times/distances with virtually every ride. :D
    ...there will come a time however, where you start to plateau - that's when the real hard work kicks-in! Don't get too hung-up on it though, as there will then be slow(er) improvement.

    I'd spend on clipless pedals and shoes before a Garmin though - your iPhone will give you most of what the Garmin offers.
    Cycling weakly
  • softlad
    softlad Posts: 3,513
    masterchef wrote:
    you can get a gd time say for a 20mile couse aim for 50mins and try abit harder each time to beat it:)

    20 miles at 24mph..?? That would put you close to national championship level....
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    softlad wrote:
    masterchef wrote:
    you can get a gd time say for a 20mile couse aim for 50mins and try abit harder each time to beat it:)

    20 miles at 24mph..?? That would put you close to national championship level....

    That's what I was thinking!
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • b4beezer
    b4beezer Posts: 12
    Hi all,

    Hope you are well. So far so good. Introduced my bike to some hills the other day. Very interesting. Found a problem using the lower gears (they would jump around a bit). Video on the web sorted this out. Also got a pair of Shimano M520 clipless pedals. No problems the first day. Second day however a car braked unnecessarily at a T junction, before I know it I was on my arse. Good laugh all round for the drivers.

    One thing I have noticed is that I am having problems with the palm of my hands when I cycle for around an hr. I won't call it pain, just very uncomfortable. I am wearing a pair of mitts. Do I need to distribute my weight around the bike more? If so, how best do I do this. Or will it just take time to get used to holding onto the bars for longer periods of time?

    Cheers
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    b4beezer wrote:
    Hi all,

    Hope you are well. So far so good. Introduced my bike to some hills the other day. Very interesting. Found a problem using the lower gears (they would jump around a bit). Video on the web sorted this out. Also got a pair of Shimano M520 clipless pedals. No problems the first day. Second day however a car braked unnecessarily at a T junction, before I know it I was on my ars*. Good laugh all round for the drivers.

    One thing I have noticed is that I am having problems with the palm of my hands when I cycle for around an hr. I won't call it pain, just very uncomfortable. I am wearing a pair of mitts. Do I need to distribute my weight around the bike more? If so, how best do I do this. Or will it just take time to get used to holding onto the bars for longer periods of time?

    Cheers

    If your bike is set up so that a fair amount of weight is over your hands yuo can either drop the seat or raise the bars, or buy better mitts - Specialized BG gloves for example. I used to get tingling and numbness in my little and ring fingers on both sides but now I wear BG gloves and that seems to have helped. Also, try altering where you grip the bars as you ride. The beauty of drop/road bike bars is that they offer a lot of choice of grip, they're far better in that respect than flat bars
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.

Categories