niall.riches
New Member
Afternoon all,
I'm sure you probably have loads of posts like this on a daily basis but any help and advice is much appreciated!
I'm a fairly out of shape 22 year old male who has only really ever ridden a bike around the block when I was about 8.
Me and a tight knit group of friends lost one of our mates a couple of months back to a rare form of bowel cancer, and he was a really active chappy, so there's a plan for a charity 900 mile bike tour from Austria to Beccles, Suffolk for next June (2018).
It's something I really want to do but I understand it's going to be VERY tricky to train from a complete newbie to 70-miles-a-day in the space of 12 months.
I've inherited quite an old bike from one of my friends just to get my balance back and start doing some short journeys - I can manage about 5 miles at the moment at around 11mph before I start to fatigue, but I seem to have got my balance back (no injuries yet!)
My query can be split into multiple open questions which I'll list as follows:
1.) Is it possible?
2.) Should I invest in a road bike ASAP or continue on an old bike for the time being?
3.) Should I be going for shorter trips at a faster speed or longer trips at a comfortable speed?
4.) Is it best to push myself during training or could that do more harm that good?
5.) Literally any other tips regarding gear changes, equipment, links to training programmes, mental and physical health, nutrition, warming up / down etc.?
I understand this is a bit of an essay, but I really want to get the best start to training for the year ahead that I possibly can.
Thanks in advance!
Niall
P.S If anyone in the East Anglian region sees an unfit male in a bright pink waterproof riding around in the next year, give me a nice wide birth!!
I'm sure you probably have loads of posts like this on a daily basis but any help and advice is much appreciated!
I'm a fairly out of shape 22 year old male who has only really ever ridden a bike around the block when I was about 8.
Me and a tight knit group of friends lost one of our mates a couple of months back to a rare form of bowel cancer, and he was a really active chappy, so there's a plan for a charity 900 mile bike tour from Austria to Beccles, Suffolk for next June (2018).
It's something I really want to do but I understand it's going to be VERY tricky to train from a complete newbie to 70-miles-a-day in the space of 12 months.
I've inherited quite an old bike from one of my friends just to get my balance back and start doing some short journeys - I can manage about 5 miles at the moment at around 11mph before I start to fatigue, but I seem to have got my balance back (no injuries yet!)
My query can be split into multiple open questions which I'll list as follows:
1.) Is it possible?
2.) Should I invest in a road bike ASAP or continue on an old bike for the time being?
3.) Should I be going for shorter trips at a faster speed or longer trips at a comfortable speed?
4.) Is it best to push myself during training or could that do more harm that good?
5.) Literally any other tips regarding gear changes, equipment, links to training programmes, mental and physical health, nutrition, warming up / down etc.?
I understand this is a bit of an essay, but I really want to get the best start to training for the year ahead that I possibly can.
Thanks in advance!
Niall
P.S If anyone in the East Anglian region sees an unfit male in a bright pink waterproof riding around in the next year, give me a nice wide birth!!