Best way to get back into cycling?

Riserva

Hello. Basically, I've not cycled for about a year due to personal reasons, and now I want to get back into it. I know the fairly obvious answer to the question is to cycle, but ideally I'd like to be able to ride a decent distance as soon as possible. My friend is doing a 60miler in a few weeks, it wont be fast or anything but it will have some hills, so I'm wondering if it's possible to get into that fitness by that time and what would be the best way to go about it? Just ride everyday, or maybe do some short quick riders? I also have a turbo trainer available so I can exercise when the weather is bad(It is England after all).

Thanks.

smidsy

You have bacically answered your own question - there is no substitute for time on the bike and a few weeks is no time at all to make any real in-roads into your existing level.

If you can ride 60 miles in 2 weeks time you can ride it now.

Main issue after a long lay off will be comfort (assuming your fitness is OK) and getting used to working the speciic muscles used.

If you used to cycle then you already know what to expect and what worked for you but it can do no harm to get out there and pedal :-)

ALaPlage

+1 to Smidsy. Just get out and cycle and see what feels comfortable. If you can get a couple of midweek rides in and at least one longer weekend ride then I can't see you not doing 60 miles within a few weeks if you have a generally good level of fitness to start with.

You have a 60 mile target so just build to it as quickly as feels right. Maybe start with a couple of 30 mile loops and see how you get on. The first may feel hard as you get back into the feel of the bike and moving the muscles. It should feel easier the second time out and give you confidence to build from there.

I got my work colleague into cycling. He had a tough but easy paced 20 miler to start with. Within 4 weeks of riding 2 or 3 times midweek and a Sunday ride he completed his first 61 miles, jumping up from 44 miles and felt he could have stretched on there and then to hit 75 miles. He was 16 stone when he first rode 3 months ago and now has just slipped under 15 stone. He is the first to admit he hasnt changed his diet which is full of beer and pizza! Average speed on a mixed terrain ride has gone from 12.5 mph on the first outing to 16.5 mph now. On the closed roads of the Manchester ride he did the 52 miler in 3h 6m averaging over 17 mph.

That's his story so may give you an idea what you can do when you put that aside your own build and fitness. Enjoy it and get out there.

TheEnglishman

Go and spend a silly amount of money on a bike. That way you will suddenly have a large amount of motivation, especially from her indoors to get off your backside and do something. It's the doing it that's hard. Once you get started its all downhill :-)

DAMHIK ;-)