Help me slow down!

citrus_

Hi!

Ive just bought my first road bike this week, and Ive only been on a few rides with it so far.

From my running I have a Garmin watch so I can record my time/distance etc but have no idea of cadence.

I have a problem though. Ive only been on short rides so far (less than 15km) and Id really like to build it up to say 50 or 60 mile rides. Thing is, when I get back from my short rides, Im absolutely knackered and wouldnt be able to continue.

My Garmin tells me Im averaging around 30km/h. Has anybody got any tips or advice to help me slow down to say 20 or less, to help me not burn myself out so quickly?

Or is it a case of just manning up :P

Ive only ever concentrated on running and rowing before, so Im quite fit, but only for 7 minutes tops

Cheers!

jim453

citrus wrote:

Hi!

Ive just bought my first road bike this week, and Ive only been on a few rides with it so far.

From my running I have a Garmin watch so I can record my time/distance etc but have no idea of cadence.

I have a problem though. Ive only been on short rides so far (less than 15km) and Id really like to build it up to say 50 or 60 mile rides. Thing is, when I get back from my short rides, Im absolutely knackered and wouldnt be able to continue.

My Garmin tells me Im averaging around 30km/h. Has anybody got any tips or advice to help me slow down to say 20 or less, to help me not burn myself out so quickly?

Or is it a case of just manning up :P

Ive only ever concentrated on running and rowing before, so Im quite fit, but only for 7 minutes tops

Cheers!

What?

lemoncurd

Are you serious, you don't know how to go slow?

Here are some ideas:

- Hold the brakes on as you pedal
- tie a dead pig to the back of your bike
- not slow enough? Try a dead cow
- only pedal with one leg
- fly a kite at the same time as cycling
- use a lower gear

Pseudonym

citrus wrote:

Hi!

Ive just bought my first road bike this week, and Ive only been on a few rides with it so far.

From my running I have a Garmin watch so I can record my time/distance etc but have no idea of cadence.

I have a problem though. Ive only been on short rides so far (less than 15km) and Id really like to build it up to say 50 or 60 mile rides. Thing is, when I get back from my short rides, Im absolutely knackered and wouldnt be able to continue.

My Garmin tells me Im averaging around 30km/h. Has anybody got any tips or advice to help me slow down to say 20 or less, to help me not burn myself out so quickly?

Or is it a case of just manning up :P

Ive only ever concentrated on running and rowing before, so Im quite fit, but only for 7 minutes tops

Cheers!

"help me - I'm too awesome.."

BoydD

- fly a kite at the same time as cycling

can you get these on wiggle?

furrag

If I cycled at 20kph, I'd sell the bike and find another sport.

Just go out and ride your bike for 2 hours ffs.

citrus_

Sorry this was actually a serious question. As in any tips on how to pace myself or anything. But whatever, thanks anyway.

lemoncurd

Pedal at a pace that allows you to still talk, this'll slow you down.

Or use a HRM/Cycle Computer...

RoadyForever

Start keeping an eye on your heartrate, then when it gets too high slow down, that will stop you going all out. It's an easy way of training. Try and keep up at a steady pace.

Another technique is to only breath through your nose. Or you can just do what you're doing and limp home on using your granny gear - your pace should even out!

shouldbeinbed

HRM or a generic computer with a cadence function is not massively costly. Tesco had one recently for around £20. it'd also tell you how fast you are going

or use your garmin to condition yourself to cycle at an even pace over a known distance in a set time to get used to whatever speed you want to go at

The low tec way is drop a gear or two and keep pedalling but don't spin out & coast at all.

or just MTFU of course

desweller

It depends a bit on what you mean by 'knackered'. 'Knackered' to me means that an out-of-the-saddle sprint might get me up to, ooh, 13 or 14mph on the flat, i.e. ruinously tired.

So if you actually just mean 'hot-and-bothered' then just stay on the bike and do more miles until you really are 'knackered'. Chances are you're not as tired as you think you are and you'll be able to do the extra distance at a lower intensity. Learning how to control your pace will come with practice.

pbt150

If you're coming to this from rowing, my best advice would be to buy a heart rate monitor and watch it closely. Otherwise you'll treat every ride like a 2k and never build any proper fitness. Think about long ergs vs racing for an idea of the difference in pace.

If you want to push yourself a bit harder at a higher pace, join a club and see how you do. Riding with other people will stop you wanting to quit after half an hour.

And check your bike fits you properly to make sure that it's not discomfort forcing you to stop.

Hope this helps - I started cycling from rowing and the endurance fitness aspect is very different, unless you've rowed to a seriously high level.

ride_whenever

pbt150 wrote:

If you're coming to this from rowing, my best advice would be to buy a heart rate monitor and watch it closely. Otherwise you'll treat every ride like a 2k and never build any proper fitness. Think about long ergs vs racing for an idea of the difference in pace.

If you want to push yourself a bit harder at a higher pace, join a club and see how you do. Riding with other people will stop you wanting to quit after half an hour.

And check your bike fits you properly to make sure that it's not discomfort forcing you to stop.

Hope this helps - I started cycling from rowing and the endurance fitness aspect is very different, unless you've rowed to a seriously high level.

^^ Listen to this man... good rower and fairly handy cyclist.

From the sounds of things you're not pacing yourself well so get a HRM and keep your hr constant. You're used to a power/endurance sport at a fairly low rep speed (although it never feels that way in boat ) and you're moving to a pure endurance sport at a far higher rate. Try to spin the cranks along at 80 rpm or so with your heartrate staying a lot lower.

Alternatively, plan a longer route, say 25-30km, and get round it as fast as you can. You'll need to approach it like a long erg in that you need to find a pace that you can maintain for the distance rather than hammering it initially then limping back.

jgsi

If you are fidget, cycling is not for you
Seriously, you have to get the basic road miles in so that you become accustomed to an even sustainable pace for much longer periods than you would do running or rowing where as you say you have been doing 7 minute blocks of work.
You have only just started out, getting better at a new hobby sport takes time... do more research / reading on how things in cycling tick.

I may be being unkind but your post could really echo the "I want it all right now" way of thinking but you redeem yourself by wanting to 'slow down'
Keep at it.

sloppyschleckonds

Try adding a couple of thousand feet of climbing to your rides

sagalout

To be fair to the OP, it can take a while to get used to an endurance sport. When I first returned to cycling I'd become used to the gym / short 30 min runs etc, where its short bursts of high effort. First few months I rode everywhere at well above threshold and wondered why I had no endurance. When you spend a lot of time at that HR you get used to it and it doesn't feel so hard, and anything less feels ridiclously easy.....so you keep training at that effort and can go a bit further each time, right up to the point where you utterly blow up, which for me was about 50 miles / 3 hours.

After having a VO2 fitness test and a program put in place it all became clearer and a year or so later I now have a very good endurance base (compared to before anyway) and can happily put in 100 milers.

Really the best bet is, as mentioned, to get a cheap HR monitor and try and ride for a couple of hours at an an endurance level. This will seem very slow and very easy at first, but after a while you'll be going a bit faster for the same effort, and threshold and above efforts will seem a lot harder than they do at the moment (which is normal)

citrus_

Thank you for the serious responses! I didnt realise it was a particularly stupid question or anything.

I will wear a HR monitor next time I go out and see what happens. Any starters on where I should aim for my HR to be for say a 2 hour ride? My resting heart rate is about 39 with a max of about 193.

Thanks!

StefanP

About 160 is doable for several hours in my opinion. Just go on feel. If you can breath through your nose then chances are you can do that pace for a while.

Lycra Man

One easy way to pace yourself is to get a friend to take you and your bike to a place 40 or 50 miles from home. Then you will be motivated to pace yourself.

If you want to ride 50 to 60 miles you need to build up endurance.

Good luck.

Lycra Man

Chip \'oyler

citrus wrote:

Thank you for the serious responses! I didnt realise it was a particularly stupid question or anything.

I will wear a HR monitor next time I go out and see what happens. Any starters on where I should aim for my HR to be for say a 2 hour ride? My resting heart rate is about 39 with a max of about 193.

Thanks!

Your max is close to mine so you could try 1-2 hours tempo rides at 147-160bpm (that's about Zone 3) or a longer 3hour + ride at 137-147bpm (Zone 2).

This article is a good read

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/fitness/a ... sics-28838

MountainMonster

I go riding for 120km or so, and usually end up with 29-35kmh average speed depending on how many mountains we tackle. If you that knackered, you just need to train more until that becomes not so deadly then add extra distance on.

DorsetKnob

A resting heart rate of 39!? Thats nearly dead, I think you need to see your Doc.

citrus_

Thanks again everybody, Ill be sure to try and take this on.

PS. Im sorry I cant keep up with somebody with the handle "Mountain Monster"

Chip \'oyler

DorsetKnob wrote:

A resting heart rate of 39!? Thats nearly dead, I think you need to see your Doc.

No it shows he's fit. Miguel Indurain had a lower resting heart rate than that. Equivelent to an elephants I think.

I think you'll find quite a few riders on here with low resting heart rates - for instance mine's 44.

oldwelshman

DorsetKnob wrote:

A resting heart rate of 39!? Thats nearly dead, I think you need to see your Doc.

Nothing wrong with that HR, mine is generally 42 and even lower when waking up.
Cant believe number of people advising to buy a HR .
All the OP needs to do is increase his milage week by week. There is certainly no need to reduce intensity of rides and I would be very surprised if it is fatigue causing him to quit rides at that pace as he claims to be fit so it is just a matter of incresing length of his rides gradually.

ALaPlage

Chip \'oyler wrote:

citrus wrote:

Thank you for the serious responses! I didnt realise it was a particularly stupid question or anything.

I will wear a HR monitor next time I go out and see what happens. Any starters on where I should aim for my HR to be for say a 2 hour ride? My resting heart rate is about 39 with a max of about 193.

Thanks!

Your max is close to mine so you could try 1-2 hours tempo rides at 147-160bpm (that's about Zone 3) or a longer 3hour + ride at 137-147bpm (Zone 2).

This article is a good read

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/fitness/a ... sics-28838

+1

on the road

citrus wrote:

Hi!

Ive just bought my first road bike this week, and Ive only been on a few rides with it so far.

From my running I have a Garmin watch so I can record my time/distance etc but have no idea of cadence.

I have a problem though. Ive only been on short rides so far (less than 15km) and Id really like to build it up to say 50 or 60 mile rides. Thing is, when I get back from my short rides, Im absolutely knackered and wouldnt be able to continue.

My Garmin tells me Im averaging around 30km/h. Has anybody got any tips or advice to help me slow down to say 20 or less, to help me not burn myself out so quickly?

Or is it a case of just manning up :P

Ive only ever concentrated on running and rowing before, so Im quite fit, but only for 7 minutes tops

Cheers!

Pedal slower :roll:

meanredspider

oldwelshman wrote:

DorsetKnob wrote:

A resting heart rate of 39!? Thats nearly dead, I think you need to see your Doc.

Nothing wrong with that HR, mine is generally 42 and even lower when waking up.
Cant believe number of people advising to buy a HR .
All the OP needs to do is increase his milage week by week. There is certainly no need to reduce intensity of rides and I would be very surprised if it is fatigue causing him to quit rides at that pace as he claims to be fit so it is just a matter of incresing length of his rides gradually.

So - just to understand - your advice is to ride "fast" until he's knackered and just keep trying to increase the distance a little bit? It's not an approach I've ever heard.

citrus_

Have to thank you guys.

Just got back from a 45km ride, averaged about 25 per hour.

Used my HRM, I was at 170 average. I guess Ill have to try and get it down another 10 or so to be able to go much further.

Thanks again (even for all the sarcastic comments, they encouraged me to man up )

bails1310

Completely understand the issue, its not a statement of beleiveing your too quick but in-experience in pace [please dont think that is condesending like other peoples remarks], I was commuting for 2 years, 6 miles each way and usually tried to make it worth my while [I.e hell for leather]

On a road bike now, it was hard to shake that mentality in the beginning, but you do over time, if you plan for a long ride, just time yourself not to push yourself more than 60% for the first 20mins. Its just what your used to.

G.Zero

Chip \'oyler wrote:

DorsetKnob wrote:

A resting heart rate of 39!? Thats nearly dead, I think you need to see your Doc.

No it shows he's fit. Miguel Indurain had a lower resting heart rate than that. Equivelent to an elephants I think.

I think you'll find quite a few riders on here with low resting heart rates - for instance mine's 44.

This makes me feel like I have a ridiculous heart rate mine resting is 80+ and quite often at the gym or out cycling it can get up to just below 200 (seen it just above 200 once while at the gym)