New rider in Yorkshire

jimmies

Hi Guys and Gals,

My story is that after playing sports for most my life (rugby mostly) 4 years ago I had a knee reconstruction that kept me out of sport for a year. I went back to playing but was not able to play a full tilt and continued to lose fitness.....then my first child came along and all sport stopped (except golf.....but that doesn't work the heart !!). Now at 33 and a half......I've got my first road bike.

I bought a Btwin Triban 3 five days ago as it is a great price for a starter bike and it looks ok too - I was all set to buy a Specialized Secteur at £650....then read about the Triban and it seemed a much better route to start and if I'm honest there seems (at this point) to be little performance difference to warrant the extra £350. I also got a brooks saddle as a treat.

I have a little 3.2 mile loop I found near my house that I thought would be a good place to start. I only has one 'climb' of 100feet over 0.5 a mile (feels like a mountain) - I have completed this loop once a day for the last four days. The first time it took 16mins and this morning it took 12min 18sec.......I've taken 52 seconds just off the climb part from my first time of trying. My average speed has gone from around 12mph to 15.3mph.

I'm thinking that I should keep doing this loop from a couple of weeks to get myself a little fitter and then increase the distance and time in the saddle. Does this sound sensible????

I've read tons of posts but any advice would always be lovely

cheers

ricklilley

Well done on starting out. I don't know much about the Triban 3, but it does seem to be popular as a good starter bike.
If you've done the same loop for 4 days, you would certainly be able to start stretching out the distance. Just build it up steadily. Maybe aim for 5 miles, then do your current loop twice. You'll be surprised how quickly you can build up your mileage.
Mostly though enjoy it.

jimmies

......I'm also a heavy 96kg (211lbs) at 5' 11"....so getting this down over the next 3 or 4 months is one of my main aims

ricklilley

I'm 5'10", and around 200lbs. Its coming down slowly, but would probably be quicker if i rode more and ate/drank less.

wishitwasallflat

AFAIK the general rule of thumb for safe progress is no more than 5% increase at a time (either in speed or distance) but also take into account if you take in more hills - I am sure someone will be along to correct me soon if that's wrong though.

IMO - slow progress in little steps is best and listen to your body - most folks can tell the difference between muscles that ache or are stiff cause they are being worked and joint or other problems - the former is a good sign (within limits as the demand increase the musckles need to respond) the latter is a sign for concern.

Hope this helps and stick with it - I started very much like you four years ago and now do 100 miles plus a week with average rides length of 30 or so and max 50 - I am old a fat so my progress was slow but steady.

jimmies

I'm not expecting fast progress.....I know from rugby that gaining fitness is hard - and you lose it 3x faster than you gain it !! I guess I'm not going to measure myself for a couple of months as I think this is a good amount of time to see some difference

I took a ride out this afternoon on a 4.4 mile loop that is a little flatter - it did feel much easier than the 3.2 loop, I'm guessing mainly due to not having a half a mile steep (for me) climb to bust the lungs out.

I'm reading about heart rate zones.....the idea that slow is the new fast and all that. Should I find an easier but longer route and start my training this way?

jimmies

I found a nice 7.7 mile loop and tried it today.....kept my average at 14.2mph - It had been 15 on a 4.1 mile loop I have been doing the last couple of days.

I must say that I feel none the worse for it...it was'nt harder, it just took longer 33mins against 15:30 for the 4.1mile ride. I may do this longer loop once a day throught the weekend then maybe the extra bit to get to 10 miles and see how it goes

sagalout

Well done on makeing a good start:)

Assuming your knee is fine, you'll probably find you can push the mileage out a fair bit to be honest. Go out and do 15 miles - go slower and pick a flat route if you want to, but get time in the saddle (at least an hour). Then do 20 miles after a couple of weeks. If you keep that up cycle, say 4 times a week, within 6 or 7 weeks you'll be able to do 50 miles, which is a bit of a milestone and is where nutrition usually comes into it for most people.

jimmies

I've been very happy with the knee....absolutlely no pain at all. After two hours in the car it takes a couple of steps to get it happy again. So hopefully this will help as it will also strengthen the supporting muscles around the knee

JasonBrooke

Im in a similar position. Got my bike 10th Aug and went out for a quick ride, mainly to get used to the gears, pedals and shoes. Ended up doing a 13 mile loop in 1hr 5mins. Took it steady to be honest and was amazed how fast the bike is. Didnt ache at all but my arse hurt like hell.

So I lowered the seat and moved it forward a couple of inches and went out for another ride last night, did 16 miles in 1hr 17mins, would have gone further but I was running out of light.

I've kept away from really steep hills at the moment, but, living in Wakefield, I can venture out towards Huddersfield and there are plenty of tests in that direction.

Its so much easier than running and doesnt hurt anywhere near as much, as it hasn't been hurting my muscles I'm looking to push it further week by week.

My parents live in York which is 40m, I think that is going to be my first "landmark" ride. My motto is do what you can.....then do a little bit more. You really never know what you are capable of doing until you actually give it a go.

I can see this becoming a bit of an obsession lol.

ElliottG

I'm another new rider in Yorkshire and so far, being slim, light and quite fit, my leg strength rather than my CV fitness has limited my rides as I don't have time to do more than an hour. I did a 10mile with 3 decent hills today and that soon got round that and I feel like I've done a workout.

fatdaz

Hi Jimmies I have a similar story - had to give up proper rugby at 37, because knackered vertebrae and propping didn't mix, and I found after 3 years of 2nd and 3rd team rugby the fitness was slipping more and more. A mate signed me up for a 140-mile charity ride and I had 3 months to get ready for it so I had to JFDI. I'd echo sagalout - don't worry about your average speed, try and do a little further distance at the expense of average speed if necessary. The longer, slower rides will help more with weight loss and the extra time in the saddle will help get your body used to cycling. Once you are used to spending time on the bike and your cycling fitness improves you will naturally start to cover greater distances faster. Once you get a bit of cycling fitness set yourself little challenges - I'm guessing as a former rugby player you're competitive so look for particular challenges that are meaningful to you to keep driving yourself; local hills, fastest time for a specific bit of a course, ride to a mates or a relatives that is some distance away etc.

It's nearly 2 years since I signed up for that first charity ride and I now do a 40 - 70 mile ride most weekends and 1or 2 20-40 mile rides in the week. As an added bonus I have also persuaded 6 guys from the rugby club to join in so we have a real social circle going. And the good news for you - without noticeably changing my diet (I eat reasonably healthily but specifically I still drink like a rugby player) I have dropped nearly 2 stone.

Snailpace-Bob

Following the trend with the other posts, I too got into road cycling at the beginning of June and stuck to a short 6 mile loop for a few weeks. When i did start to up the mileage I was surprised at how easy it was. I now regularly ride a couple of routes, some flat some with pretty steep hills at around 30 miles and I feel great. I recommend you go out for a 15 - 20 mile ride on a relatively flat circuit and you'll see that its not as daunting as you think.

JasonBrooke

So where we all from, I'm in Ossett.

jimmies

Harrogate

t.m.h.n.e.t

ElliottG wrote:

I'm another new rider in Yorkshire and so far, being slim, light and quite fit, my leg strength rather than my CV fitness has limited my rides as I don't have time to do more than an hour. I did a 10mile with 3 decent hills today and that soon got round that and I feel like I've done a workout.

Leg strength is not a limiting factor. CV is

nutter_bed

I'm in Ilkley

Reane_Machine

I'm in Sheffield, Hillsborough to be precise.

I began cycling to work in a bid to save some money, and as luck would have it have become something of an addict.

I recently bought a road bike and will never look back. Although my commute is only a 10 mile round trip I go out as often as I can. It's lifestyle-changing!

The furthest I have gone is a 12 mile loop, but I really want to gradually increase this and go further afield. Does anyone else use mapmyride.com to plan routes? I don't have a GPS and i find this is the best way to do it.

nutter_bed

Reane_Machine wrote:

Does anyone else use mapmyride.com to plan routes? I don't have a GPS and i find this is the best way to do it.

I use Mapometer but it is essentially the same thing.
Trouble is, if I've not been there before, I can forget where to turn off, but that does increase the miles

Reane_Machine

nutter_bed wrote:

Reane_Machine wrote:

Does anyone else use mapmyride.com to plan routes? I don't have a GPS and i find this is the best way to do it.

I use Mapometer but it is essentially the same thing.
Trouble is, if I've not been there before, I can forget where to turn off, but that does increase the miles

Yeah, I usually couple it with Google street view so I have a visual aid. Nothing wrong with getting lost though! Adds to the fun

ricklilley

Earby, right on the N Yorks/Lancs border about 7 miles from Skipton.

lambpie

Similar story for me - a few years of inactivity, having a child and not wanting to be the dad who can't run about pushed me into doing something. Bought a road bike and BANG! Obsession is how my wife would describe it. In about 16 months i've gone from 13 mile loops fairly slow to doing 100 mile hilly sportive's in a decent time. Like most people have said, keep upping the mileage and time spent in the saddle and ignore the speed for the time being. Once you start getting some base fitness, start adding in some more hills and a bit more intensity and before you know it you'll be doing long rides and you'll be a lot slimmer - i lost 10kg without changing what was already a reasonable diet.

I live near Harrogate and there are loads of great roads - head out towards Wetherby/York for flat rides, more towards Ripon for rolling hills and when you get fitter go out to Pateley Bridge and up into the Dales national park where you not only get some challenging rides, but the reward of incredible scenery, which trust me, makes the effort all worthwhile.

Snailpace-Bob

JasonBrooke wrote:

So where we all from, I'm in Ossett.

Im near Pontefract.
Im in a great position where I can turn right at the bottom of the street and its out towards Selby and flat for miles n miles. Or turn left towards Wakefield or Leeds to find some pretty reasonable climbs.
I can identify with the obsession bit, I have a relatively stressfull job and my bike is the escape.

jimmies

Well I completed my first 10 mile (well it ended up being 9.5 due to a map error) in 38.20 with and ave of 14.8mph....there are three good climbs one that was 153ft over 0.6 mile .......(i'm guessing this is a gentle slope for some!!)..the other two are around 165ft over 1 mile

must admit it felt no harder than the 3 mile loop I first tried

GATES

I am also a newbie from Yorkshire I come from a competitive strongman back ground I was 20 stone decided I wanted to get fit though do borrowed a mates bike he took me on 32mile bike ride to Bolton abbey I was hooked.

I been riding 5 weeks now down to 109kg an just done a 60 mile ride today with 4445foot of climbing. I prob pushed abit much too soon though but that's how I got fit in the first place when I was in the army. Any way just wante to say hi and I am from kirkstall

madtam

Bloody hell this place is full of new riders !! No wonder there seem to be a lot more bikes on the road over the last month or two.
Not exactly a new rider as I have possesed a bike over 40 years (since I was about 5-6). However I have just this year started back towards more road cycling after having MTB's for over 25 years. Since getting the bike in April I have just about hit the 1000 miles mark and recently spent over 3 hours in the saddle whilst on holiday.

Around the Holmfirth area so plenty of hills to play with - smile and wave if you if you are going the other way

jimmies

I think Yorkshire is really well placed for cycling...so great routes and not as many cars as down south......I'm a midlander (Northampton) and have lived in Harrogate for 8 years and I think it would be very hard to leave Yorkshire for lots of reasons. The place just feels right