Beginner 10 miles 815 ft Ascent

lowflying1357

Hi Everyone

New to the Bike world ,First time on a Bike in about 20 years details below :

Age :27
Weight :83 kg
High 5ft 7 ( give or take )
Inside leg :31 ( give or take )
Fitness level : non-existent
Experience : 3 days in
Bike: cinelli experience tiagra 2014
Size :51


So I went for it on Sunday and bought my first road bike and did my first 10 miles last night in 55 mins with Ascent 815 ft what times are people doing this kind of distance ?


Thanks

imposter2.0

I wouldn't even start thinking about comparing your times to anyone else's after one ride. The UK competition record for 10 miles is 16mins 35sec if that helps.

lowflying1357

Imposter wrote:

I wouldn't even start thinking about comparing your times to anyone else's after one ride. The UK competition record for 10 miles is 16mins 35sec if that helps.

Thanks, 16 mins wow , don't think i can drive that quick ha

slowbike

that was on the flat though.

fat daddy

this guy did it in 54 mins :-

viewtopic.php?f=40041&t=13079499

lowflying1357

fat daddy wrote:

this guy did it in 54 mins :-

viewtopic.php?f=40041&t=13079499

looks like I've got a long way to go , is there set miles /km that people work there times off ?

also whats does TT mean ?

thanks

lincolndave

lowflying1357 wrote:

also whats does TT mean ?

thanks

Time trial

imposter2.0

lowflying1357 wrote:

looks like I've got a long way to go , is there set miles /km that people work there times off ?

Just focus on riding your bike as often as you can/often as you like for the first few months. Time in the saddle is all that should matter to you at the moment, so put away the stopwatch and just enjoy getting out there.

Mad_Malx

For complete noob who's a bit out of condition your time is ok. The terrain makes a massive difference to times - its only about 1.6% gradient over the whole, but if it's all concentrated in one km you (and I) would probably be pushing.

Keep at it, and try to get 2h+ rides in when you can. Enjoy the rides and the time will drop rapidly as you get fitter.

NB Apart from 10 mile rides, most of us think in km (which sound better) and climb in metres (unless you are from the USA).

Mad_Malx

lowflying1357 wrote:

looks like I've got a long way to go , is there set miles /km that people work there times off ?

thanks

If you are looking for a target then a sustained 20km/h over rolling terrain is a reasonable target for now, you aren't that far off (you did about 17.5km/h).

lowflying1357

Mad_Malx wrote:

For complete noob who's a bit out of condition your time is ok. The terrain makes a massive difference to times - its only about 1.6% gradient over the whole, but if it's all concentrated in one km you (and I) would probably be pushing.

Keep at it, and try to get 2h+ rides in when you can. Enjoy the rides and the time will drop rapidly as you get fitter.

NB Apart from 10 mile rides, most of us think in km (which sound better) and climb in metres (unless you are from the USA).

Thanks for all the help , could you let me know how you worked out the Gradient ?

i will change to Km and meters

thanks

Tashman

Just ride. If you use Strava or similar you can compare yourself against your previous efforts if you want to. I find this is what motivates me. if I'm improving against myself then that's all that matters

Mad_Malx

^Gradient is one reason why metric is best.
You climbed about 250m over a total of 16km, so 0.25/16= 1.6%
If all the climbing were in 1km, then you are looking at 0.25/1 = 25%
On a good day I can do 25% for a few hundred metres but it hurts (a lot).

lowflying1357

Tashman wrote:

Just ride. If you use Strava or similar you can compare yourself against your previous efforts if you want to. I find this is what motivates me. if I'm improving against myself then that's all that matters

with regards to Strava can you compete against other people ?

thanks

Tashman

lowflying1357 wrote:

Tashman wrote:

Just ride. If you use Strava or similar you can compare yourself against your previous efforts if you want to. I find this is what motivates me. if I'm improving against myself then that's all that matters

with regards to Strava can you compete against other people ?

thanks

Yes, If you have friends on there you can see how you compare in your frind group, also you can see how you compare with everyone else over specific segments, but I just tend to concentrate on myself

keef66

Mad_Malx wrote:

NB Apart from 10 mile rides, most of us think in km (which sound better) and climb in metres (unless you are from the USA).

I don't. But I am quite old, and grew up measuring my rides on 1 inch to a mile OS maps with a bit of cotton.

My average speed around gently undulating Suffolk seems to be 13-14 mph, so that's about 20km/h.

imafatman

16km and 250 meters ascent in 55 minutes?
Congratulations you are below the fitness level of a 21 stone morbidly obese man. https://www.strava.com/activities/946064283

I'm joking of course. Your fitness will shoot up very quickly and you will no doubt be smashing your obesely slow time of 55 minutes once you've got a few rides under your belt.

Keep pushing yourself, feel the burn in your lungs and in your legs. Do some interval sessions, sprints, it's not just about going long distances but intensity also.

maryka

Just to be clear, Strava is not really "competition", it's a bit of fun but the times are so skewed by weather, group rides, aero equipment, etc. that it's hardly any kind of real measure. However it is useful to compare yourself against yourself over time, if you use the same training loops or ride the same hills over and over. It's also a really good logbook, tracking how much and where you've ridden over time.

For true competition against others, you need to race. Which you may indeed do once you get fitter and really bitten by the cycling bug. But as others said, just get out there and ride as much as you can, enjoy the fitness build-up and the associated positive benefits to it. You've got at least 2 years to see large and steady improvements, something that most of us will never see again! So enjoy it.

Mad_Malx

keef66 wrote:

I don't. But I am quite old, and grew up measuring my rides on 1 inch to a mile OS maps with a bit of cotton.

So did I - I've still got a few red cover OS 1" maps.
But now imperial is only suitable for cooking and drinking.

lowflying1357

imafatman wrote:

16km and 250 meters ascent in 55 minutes?
Congratulations you are below the fitness level of a 21 stone morbidly obese man. https://www.strava.com/activities/946064283

I'm joking of course. Your fitness will shoot up very quickly and you will no doubt be smashing your obesely slow time of 55 minutes once you've got a few rides under your belt.

Keep pushing yourself, feel the burn in your lungs and in your legs. Do some interval sessions, sprints, it's not just about going long distances but intensity also.

Good god , that's really bad isn't it ,..... the quest to break 30 mins starts today , ill re do the ride Friday using my km and meters .

itboffin

keef66 wrote:

Mad_Malx wrote:

NB Apart from 10 mile rides, most of us think in km (which sound better) and climb in metres (unless you are from the USA).

I don't. But I am quite old, and grew up measuring my rides on 1 inch to a mile OS maps with a bit of cotton.

My average speed around gently undulating Suffolk seems to be 13-14 mph, so that's about 20km/h.

neither do i nor are any of the road signs, car speedometers etc etc :roll:

lowflying1357

when i have been looking there is a lot of talk about the sis drinks, do these actually help with performance

drlodge

At your level I wouldn't worry about drinks, just take a bottle with water or squash with you. On longer rides then having a drink with energy (read sugar) will help and above 40 miles then you'll probably want something to eat. I'm still using squash at this time of year, when it gets hotter I'll use an Isotonic drink which has a combination of energy/sugar and electrolytes for replacing lost salts through sweat.

Just ride and enjoy it. My rides are typically 40-80 miles and other than evening rides, always entail a mid way stop at a café for coffee and cake.

Coffee and cake - that's my reason for cycling.

keef66

Don't be in a hurry to waste your money on that kind of thing hoping it will give you a performance boost, all you need now is time on the bike. The only times I've used energy drinks or gels were when they came as freebies with internet shopping, or occasionally when refilling bottles during an organised ride or sportive. Can't say I felt them beneficial, and I suspect one of the energy drinks was responsible for a theatrical bout of flatulence. The gels in particular were vile. I'd concede that the electrolyte tablets are handy for a long ride in hot weather when you may need to refill bottles en route though.

In my bottles I usually have just plain water, or dilute squash / fruit juice, in summer with a pinch of salt. And in a back pocket a few fig rolls and jelly babies to snack on during a 2 or 3 hour ride. If longer I'll take proper food and / or plan a cafe stop.

imafatman

keef66 wrote:

Don't be in a hurry to waste your money on that kind of thing

It's just easy to digest carbs..... I don't think it's any more of a waste of money than fig rolls. My stomach doesn't like too much solid food when I'm riding so I use carb drinks instead.

lowflying1357 wrote:

when i have been looking there is a lot of talk about the sis drinks, do these actually help with performance

They don't improve performance, what they do is stop your performance dropping off because you are low on carbs. As others have pointed out, you can try things like fig rolls or other sweet carby things which will do the same thing.

The best thing to do is experiment. For most people, 60-90 minutes of intense cycling is likely to leave them low on energy.

The slower you ride the less you need. The best thing to do is listen to your body rather than just eating, everyone is different.

svetty

Counting your cycling in Kms and metres is not de-rigeur btw. Some might say it is an affectation......

Mad_Malx

Pretentious? Moi?

lowflying1357

Hi guys th ask for all help , just been out again as did 10 miles /16 km with 250 meters climb took 41 mins this time around my breaks seem to be very weak I've looked at the break pads and they are down to the large rubber will any old break pads do ? They are miche breaks ? Thanks

cooldad

Brakes.

lowflying1357

cooldad wrote:

Brakes.

brilliant spelling there

Mad_Malx

There is definitely differences between blocks, but depends a lot on your rims and conditions.

Usual recommendation is Swisstop or Kool Stop.
I use Swisstop Green on alloy rims. Lot more expensive than ordinaries but come in packs of 4 (ie two sets).
I'm sure there are cheaper that work well too but, having found ones that work, I'm not experimenting.