building up the miles

sloweey

first time out on a bike in a very very long time only done 4 miles and i felt it how long did it take for people to build up the miles and how did they do it ...just wondering lol

tazmon

Tell us more about those miles - hilly? How long did it take you? How fit or unfit are you, any weight to lose?

sloweey

16 stone unhealthy truck driver lol was out 25 min 4.8 miles 377ft overall climb

tazmon

That's relatively lumpy, just try extending your ride by 5 mins each time you go out perhaps building up to an hour and see how you go. After a few weeks you'll be surprised how much you've progressed. Losing weight will help massively with those hills too - best of luck!

tazmon

Try and get out 3 or 4 times a week too if you can.

slowmart

Make sure you make your ride enjoyable and fun as you'll find smiles per mile the best enabler for frequency and duration. Don't get too focused on the amount of miles during your introduction to cycling, just get out and enjoy it.

Try and limit your food intake rather than use the cycling as an excuse to eat and you'll appreciate hauling less weight up hills.

sloweey

cheers all the only problem ive got where i live its all uphill coming back home i live at the peak lol

N0bodyOfTheGoat

My bid to get fit again started with https://www.strava.com/activities/822000755 on my Wazoo, after not riding at all for ~7 weeks due to a heavy cold, with intermittent bike commutes spring to autumn since my Xmas 2013 RTA.

Over the next few months, I began linking up the hills very close to home, chasing my PBs. Gradually increasing the distance and/or time length of rides. I then started extending my commute home sometimes, sometimes covering up to ~15 miles and ~900 feet of climbing.
https://www.strava.com/activities/874499195

Then one day, while doing local riding, I randomly decided to head to Marwell Zoo and back. Going there was great, discovering that I could hold a much faster average pace away from junctions and traffic lights in the countryside. But my legs died horribly on the home leg!
https://www.strava.com/activities/934264869
https://www.strava.com/activities/934486649

Since that day, most of my non-commute miles have been close to on even on the South Downs. I treated myself to the Cube in early May and continued to gradually increase mileage and/or average speed.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1015930050

My latest quest is trying to conquer cat4 hills up on the South Downs, I've done the same ~47 mile route three times since last Sunday... Way beyond what I thought I would be doing back in January!
https://www.strava.com/activities/1050017806

Push your boundaries, don't let a setback stop you from trying again, give yourself rest days to recover from ground-breaking rides.

tazmon

Slowmart wrote:

Make sure you make your ride enjoyable and fun as you'll find smiles per mile the best enabler for frequency and duration. Don't get too focused on the amount of miles during your introduction to cycling, just get out and enjoy it.

Try and limit your food intake rather than use the cycling as an excuse to eat and you'll appreciate hauling less weight up hills.

This is very important advise which I am struggling to follow and it's costing me. I've ridden over 3000 miles this year and lost no weight as I've not sorted my diet!