How much cycling progress did you make since you first started cycling?

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silva

Über Member
Location
Belgium
I never bothered with looong rides, the max distances (continuous) I got maybe for 10 times ever were 80 km and a single time 110. I do average 60 km daily, lately with little variation, with some interrupts (shop visits etc).
Bikes singlespeed later on fixed, now a travelbike weighting 18 kg bare and 28 kg due to a variety extensions, spare parts, tools, backpack/frame, bags, water, tying material, etc.

I consider a distance target a demotivating one. When I leave I always have some location targets related to goodies/hobbies/work. I visit those, buy or pick up what people dumped and I can use, then back home. When enough food avail, I can ride all day long, the times of feeling it in the legs are long gone. I'm also out of food sooner. Such an all day hopping around (usually in vacation periods) I do some hundreds km. The next morning is then just another. This year was a zero on that kinda days, due to the government-forced cancellations / closures of all of my interest targets. It's just so boring/useless to ride 'round all day without any goal.
On the way I eat the same as at home: bread and cheese and some bottles water. Everytime I start to feel tired or temp lose sight (black) when heading up, I eat one and some minutes later it's over.

Combination of sport and interests, is my driver. Mileage is aside result.
 

Hocus

New Member
I have never been into cycling, but Covid has changed things. My first trip out I went 20miles a week later 35miles. I want to do a 60 mile plus trip this weekend but know the second hand facebook bike I have can not do that. 35 miles almost killed me lol. Hoping to make this regular so I'll keep you posted and scouring through all your advice and guidance.
 

Colin Grigson

Bass guitarist - Bad News
Location
Slovakia
I did my first 100km ride today exactly 3 months after getting back in the saddle after a 38 year break. I remember struggling to complete 30km not so long ago so it’s worth sticking at it ... the more you ride the easier it becomes for sure. Time was 3 hours and 31 mins for anyone interested. A day or two rest is in order now - well goosed but well chuffed :becool:
 
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OP
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Anonymous1502

Well-Known Member
I did my first 100km ride today exactly 3 months after getting back in the saddle after a 38 year break. I remember struggling to complete 30km not so long ago so it’s worth sticking at it ... the more you ride the easier it becomes for sure. Time was 3 hours and 31 mins for anyone interested. A day or two rest is in order now - well goosed but well chuffed :becool:
You are a very fast cyclist l, did the place you cycled in have good roads? Was it mostly flat road?
 

Colin Grigson

Bass guitarist - Bad News
Location
Slovakia
You are a very fast cyclist l, did the place you cycled in have good roads? Was it mostly flat road?
Yes, the road runs next to the Danube River so is pretty much entirely flat and in good condition - still practically killed me though ^_^. The only issue there usually is the almost constant wind which can make things more challenging than they would be ordinarily.
 
Interesting read this.

Like many, I've returned to cycling due to Covid. I live in Horsham, West Susssex, and found a 10-mile loop that at most would result in a 45-minute walk home if the need arose. I started doing this on a single-speed I bought about 8 years back with the intention of cycling to the station every day (it never happened). This is mostly residential roads.

At the start of lockdown I was quite slow, 11-12 mph average but have now got that up to 15. There's plenty of slowing for traffic etc, so I don't think that too bad. Having got a taste I dug out a Raleigh restoration from my shed and have started to venture further out of town and have got up to 25 miles - typically on a Sunday. I did this by heading out into the country a bit more and then adding on some extra loops of the town a the end.

The limiting factor for me (aside from being on blood pressure medication for half my life, which I might be using as an excuse) is the A roads around me, and my lack of confidence in fixing punctures quickly (I can do it, it just takes me time and I have a problem with the dexterity in my hands). My aim was to up my mileage to 30 to 35 miles and see how comfortable, or otherwise, it is.

From cycling as a teenager, where I'd disappear up the South downs without so much as a spare inner-tube or phone, for four hours or so I've been dogged by the the "what ifs". I now carry some spare tubes and some basic tools, so I'm hoping to up the mileage bit by bit. I'd like to do the London to Brighton in a year or two when things return to some level of normality.
 
Location
London
when I took cycling back up again after a 12 year break. I thought I was going to die cycling 3 miles to the station. A lot of cycling work and lifestyle change later and 6 months down the line I cracked my first imperial ton.
Distances now? 200 miles plus in a day.
and then told me I was too slow for my own ride :smile:
 
I cycled a lot through my teens and very early twenties then stopped for 40 years. I started again at the age of 63 and, despite what I would like to think, I know I was slower than I was when young.

I think I improved for 6/7 years after starting again, although I don't record rides or times, but I must admit that the graph has peaked and I'm on the downward slope (and even going slower downhill!).

I've had a couple of hospital visits, operations and extended periods off the bike as a result of falls and recovery has been harder after each one.
 

AndyRM

XOXO
Location
North Shields
Not very far and not very fast. My first attempt was with one of these halfords specials

View attachment 543587

I think it weighed 14-16kg. chain always slipping on the rear cassette. I rode it for a few months then I left it to the spiders in the shed to have their fun with it.

cycling at walking pace alone for 10-15mins had me in a sweat. i wasnt that fit either for that matter. Im quite a few stones lighter now than i was back then and even though i still have it in the shed - thats where it will stay unless someone wants it.

Dunwich Dynamo still hurts though. The first 60-80miles is always easy but the last 20-30 is a right pain.

I had one of those. Absolutely hateful to ride. I experienced the chain slipping too, and more worryingly a steering failure travelling at speed down a busy road, which nearly pitched me under a bus. I never trusted it again after that.
 
Location
London
Well...hope to see you in November for the Old Crocks
is it happening? - i kind of backed away from it the last few/many years and left it to its own devices. Not even sure the actual car thing is happening this god-cursed year. Strangely, the ride with the cars ride came up in nattering on @rb58 's wonderful ride on sunday.
 
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