New Bike New Start advice.

Dazza @>@'

I've been riding over the course of a year on a cheap bike (sub £350), next week I take ownership of a new £1200 Trek. My latest and biggest ride to date Strava recorded:
64.5km Distance 540m Elevation 02:43:24 Moving Time Avg Speed 23.7km/h
I stopped a few times to rest up as I was knackered. My rides are averaged out over the year between 23-33km a few over. My thighs go into "shut up legs mode" quickly I get frustrated with myself being ex-military and always want to push on.

A number of Q's

Should I look to keep up the pace over shorter rides or slow up and concentrate on distance?

How far should I be using on the ride as warming up or is it a time spent warming up?

I "bonk" on hills is that because I attack them and quickly ride up the gears click by click?

For rides over an hour I mix Lucozade sport with water in a 750ml bottle or should I keep them separate?

kajjal

You should find once you get used to your new bike things will be a lot better. Cheaper bikes tend to be heavier and not as smooth. The key with a road bike unless you are doing intensive interval training is to keep things smooth and to listen to your body to learn the balance between pushing hard and over doing it. It is similar with hills on some you can accelerate into them and push over them. Others are too long and steep so you have to ride at an intensity you can maintain. Going up the same hills a few times is alot easier as you gain confidence and experience.

diamonddog

Kajjal wrote:

You should find once you get used to your new bike things will be a lot better. Cheaper bikes tend to be heavier and not as smooth. The key with a road bike unless you are doing intensive interval training is to keep things smooth and to listen to your body to learn the balance between pushing hard and over doing it. It is similar with hills on some you can accelerate into them and push over them. Others are too long and steep so you have to ride at an intensity you can maintain. Going up the same hills a few times is alot easier as you gain confidence and experience.

+1 for this.
I recently did a hill that I had never done before at 1.75km long with gradients between 7.5 and 9.6%, I started off fine but attacked it too hard early on and really slowed towards the end but I learned something and will do it differently next time.

kajjal

diamonddog wrote:

Kajjal wrote:

You should find once you get used to your new bike things will be a lot better. Cheaper bikes tend to be heavier and not as smooth. The key with a road bike unless you are doing intensive interval training is to keep things smooth and to listen to your body to learn the balance between pushing hard and over doing it. It is similar with hills on some you can accelerate into them and push over them. Others are too long and steep so you have to ride at an intensity you can maintain. Going up the same hills a few times is alot easier as you gain confidence and experience.

+1 for this.
I recently did a hill that I had never done before at 1.75km long with gradients between 7.5 and 9.6%, I started off fine but attacked it too hard early on and really slowed towards the end but I learned something and will do it differently next time.

I learnt that the hard way years ago when we first went off road near Edale mountain biking. We saw the hill and tried to power over it. It was steep, rocky and went on for ever