A quick hi and a quick q?

Beastwooduk

Hi, from a newbie been riding for about 2 months, had a crash and all but still loving it..got much info off this site and kinda addicted to the extent im trawling ebay on a reg basis for a second hand upgrade to my carrerra bike! As hat seems to be the way to go..my question is im riding distances of about 10-20 miles every other day or so at a slowish average spped eg.14-17 mph and it seems to be my inner thighs near the knees which run out of steam,i thought i was reasonably fit playing tennis etc, but the burn lactic acid seems to be not getting much better, possible seat height adjustment? Ive tried various heights follwing the guides ive found..or is it just a case of pounding out the milege?
Feel free to shout at me if its a daft question!
Tia dave

Mikey41

Welcome

If your legs are burning then you may be pedalling at too low a cadence and trying to push a big gear along. Use a lower gear and spin the pedals faster, you will find a cadence where you are moving the bike along almost effortlessly, that's what you are aiming for. Obviously you can't always maintain that when you encounter big hills, but spin faster and you will go further. Your speed won't be any slower either.

Beastwooduk

Hi
Thanks will try that to see if that helps. Ive started using the bigger front cog last couple of days to see if that helps my keep with smaller one
Rgds
D

unixnerd

Get a computer with a cadence feature such as the Cateye Strada double wireless. A low cadence is a very common problem with new cyclists, myself included. Managed to raise mine over the years but not as much as I'd like.

Cleat Eastwood

instead of doing it every other day, have a few days off - give your body time to adapt. And like th others have said have a look at your cadence - you may be doing the same route but no 2 rides are the same - even a slight headwind can mean exxtra effort - you may not notice it immediately but your legs will remind you of it later.

greentea

Same thing happened with me when i first started, as other have suggested, try going a couple of gears easier and peddling a bit quicker. Its very easy for the old 'ego' to get the better of you at first and you think you are fitter than you actually are, so you think you have to bomb it everywhere in the fastest gear but it doesnt work like that.

To give you an example, i read an article about Team Sky training and one of the things they do is to raise cadence and spin faster. When you do this you dont strain quite as much and hence, you go further. Instead of burning the gears for 15miles at 20mph like a nutter, then getting leg/knee injuries, try spinning the legs easier at 17mph for 20 miles without putting stress on yourself.

I would say the 'ego' is the thing that screws you up more than anything, dont try and stick with a rider who goes by you on a hill twice as fast, he may have been riding for years, even if he looks twice your size! Find your comfort level, then slowly raise it as the weeks go by, you'll be much better doing 2-3 rides a week doing 15 miles, than trying to do 4 rides of 20 and then getting an injury that forces you to rest for 2 weeks.

simon_masterson

I have to say that seatpost height was the first thing I thought of.

How high do you have it? There are 'precise' measurements that use your inseam and the like, but simply having it high enough for slight knee flex at the bottom of the stroke is good enough for me; it has to be the most common way, and it's good enough for Lizzie Armitstead... (who happened to recommend this method in some interview I read a while ago)...

Beastwooduk

Cheers all for advice,much appreciated, have put on cadence comp so will start trying to spin quicker and up my mileage and have more breaks, i set my seat with the heel on the bottom pedal thing and knee over the pedal when its at the front..my legs are aching today after a 20 mile run on sat and 5 miles each way to tennis yesterday after an hour of singles! Must admit coming over the bridge nr where i live some older guy went flying past me on his old bike wearing wellies haha..i am loving it tho..even the lycra! Thx agin all