Mind over estimated physical ability!

[CXRAndy]

Hi all,

New to the forum and wanted to talk to like minded people about cycling.

I wanted your opinion please :-)

I signed up Deliveroo but I enjoyed cycling when I was younger, just got a cycle to work scheme bike and gear, mrs wasn't impressed with all the cost.

I tried my first shift today and I could only do 2 miles / 4.8km and as there were alot of elavation, I had to stop on a number of occasions. Is this normal?, I feel exceptionally unfit.

I was planning everyday to go and cycle around 10km to get used to cycling and to let my legs get used to it for say two weeks before starting Deliveroo.

What is your opinion? Would you just do day on and day off? and push yourself to do 10km.

I am currently 6ft, 103.3kg / 16.2 stone, classed as Obese and when there was no lockdown did 1 hour cardio single day. At present since December's lockdown have not been doing any exercise. However, my diet is pretty clean and I have lost 7kgish in the last 2 months.

Thanks all

Damian

Cycling is a great activity. The first few weeks/ months are the most difficult. Start with riding to time. eg 5mins, then 10mins etc. steady but regular rides will gradually increase fitness. In a matter of a few weeks, you will be riding 30mins and more.

Have rest days when you feel like it, but be consistent with your riding. I started riding in my late 40s, I went from 1 mile to 100 mile sportives, to multi day mountain tours. Btw I have always been 95-110kg

 

[slowmotion]

Welcome @HumbleHubby. I went through this a while ago and felt like death warmed up during my first very gentle four mile ride. The next few rides were not much better, and I despaired but I decided to take it really slowly........not setting mileage, speed or time targets, just enjoying myself looking around, seeing new places on two wheels. Gradually, it became a pleasure to do and I spent more time in the saddle and became fitter. When you get to that stage, you may never win the TdF but you will probably stay in reasonable shape.
I think that part of your problem is that Deliveroo riding may put you under quite a bit of time pressure and stress before you are quite ready. The last thing you want is for cycling to become kind of painful chore.

Anyway, I hope it goes well, and Good Luck.

 

[ren531]

I and many on this forum offer up our collective encouragement to you and will be there in spirit at your back pushing you along, it will be a tough journey at times but never give up, the joy I've had from cycling is immeasurable and I for one have nothing but admiration for you, but NEVER give up, is the best advice I could give.

 

[Tigerbiten]

When I start a long tour I go through roughly 6 to 8 weeks of hell as I cycle myself to a new level of fitness.
The first week slowly gets worse as I drain my legs of any spare energy.
Weeks 2 and 3 are always the worst.
Then it slowly gets better as I cycle myself fitter and my energy reserves begin to build back up.
Around week 6 I begin to wonder what all the pain was about, by week 8 I'm beginning to wonder if I should up the mileage/speed and go through the cycle again and by week 12 I'm fully fit for that level of cycling.
Half the trick is trying to keep a balance between distance/speed and recovery while developing a mindset of "how little energy can I expend to get up the next hill".
Which comes down to an efficient use of your gears and keeping a good steady cadence at all times.
If/when I push to hard and get it wrong I've been know to go at about 6 mph flat out up a 1% slope into a 1 mph headwind .....
But it does get better so keep at it.

Luck ............

 

[Sharky]

2 miles / 4.8km

2 miles = 3.2km?

Another poster who joined one day, made one post and not returned?
But something doesn't quite gel.

A job with Deliveroo, I would imagine would expect upwards of 10 deliveries a day and mileage would easily mount up to 20 miles a day.
If the OP is currently struggling with a 2 mile journey, there is no way he could complete a full days work.

I agree with everybody else that fitness and endurance increases rapidly, but the OP needs to ride a bike for a couple of months to build up to the level needed, before taking on a job that requires it.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I wouldn't use any decent bike for Deliveroo either. The vast majority of their riders I see round my way ride absolute beaten-up wrecks of cheap hardtail MTB's. None of which look like they've seen an oil can in years. One or two have invested in expensive e-bikes, but the vast majority are on things not much above a BSO. Too much risk of theft or crash damage to run anything decent, and I doubt many of the riders are flush with cash otherwise they wouldn't be doing that for a living in the first place.

 

[PaulSB]

When I start a long tour I go through roughly 6 to 8 weeks of hell as I cycle myself to a new level of fitness.
The first week slowly gets worse as I drain my legs of any spare energy.
Weeks 2 and 3 are always the worst.
Then it slowly gets better as I cycle myself fitter and my energy reserves begin to build back up.
Around week 6 I begin to wonder what all the pain was about, by week 8 I'm beginning to wonder if I should up the mileage/speed and go through the cycle again and by week 12 I'm fully fit for that level of cycling.
Half the trick is trying to keep a balance between distance/speed and recovery while developing a mindset of "how little energy can I expend to get up the next hill".
Which comes down to an efficient use of your gears and keeping a good steady cadence at all times.
If/when I push to hard and get it wrong I've been know to go at about 6 mph flat out up a 1% slope into a 1 mph headwind .....
But it does get better so keep at it.

Luck ............

I hope you don't mind me asking this but I'd like to understand. Not a criticism but genuine interest.

If you know you're heading off on a long tour why let your fitness drop to a level which makes the first three weeks so difficult?

As a second point why not do a little riding in the weeks leading up to your tour to build some fitness?

 

[Tigerbiten]

I hope you don't mind me asking this but I'd like to understand. Not a criticism but genuine interest.

If you know you're heading off on a long tour why let your fitness drop to a level which makes the first three weeks so difficult?

As a second point why not do a little riding in the weeks leading up to your tour to build some fitness?

I start to get ready for a tour from around 1st Jan.
That gives me roughly 12 weeks to build up my base mileage before I start my tour around 1st April.
How well that works depends a lot on the weather.
Then I add all my camping gear while upping my weekly mileage at the start the tour.
The difference is just enough to make me suffer especially if I add in a lot of hills.
You can see how I get fit while on tour from ........
It normally takes me around 35 days for the first thousand miles covered, 30 days for the second thousand, 25 days for the third and settle down to roughly 20 day per thousand miles from then on.
Once I hit 20 days per thousand miles I tend not to/cannot go faster/longer due to low grade arthritic type damage in my knees.

Luck .........

 

[Dan77]

You'll be ok. I was really surprised when I started in May last year after 20 years of sedentary lifestyle.

First ride to work. Also obese. 2 miles with only 50m of elevation and I had to stop twice and then take 2 days off. Very quickly the 2 miles became easier and faster. Then I started going for longer rides at the weekend. Then I made the commute a lot further.

By September my longest ride was over 50 miles and I could have gone further if I'd had time.

I've been indoor training on Zwift over the winter and changed to a road bike so looking forward to seeing how much faster I am this year, although Covid and a knee injury have set me back. I have lost 13kg in weight without changing diet but most of that was within the first 4-5 months.

 

[Lovacott]

Says he did 1 hour of cardio everyday so maybe his expectations for the bike where higher and is just asking peoples thoughts and looking for advice, support, inspiration. Way to go to make someone feel welcome

There's a recurring theme in all fitness advertising and it uses the words "easy","fun" and "ten minutes" to perpetuate it.

Like you can undo 20 years of inactivity and bad diet in just a few minutes per day with this particular device (which is so much better than this other device on the shopping channel next door).

The reality is, if you want to get fit from an unfit base, you have to experience a fair bit of pain on your journey so most people buy a device, try it out, hurt afterwards and shove it under the bed. They then stick it on E'bay five years later when they are having a bit of a clear out.

For me, the only times I have ever been truly fit in my life have been when I have incorporated exercise into my daily routine and the only thing I've been able to do that with is my bike (cycle commuting).

The time when I was my fittest was when we decided to cut back to a single car with the missus needing the car every day for the school runs. No matter how much I wanted to drive, I had no option but to ride my bike.

It takes a certain mindset to get fit and most of us don't have that naturally. You have to be able to tell yourself to bust a gut, raise your heart rate
to bursting point, make your muscles burn and your lungs explode.

When all you really want to do is sit in a heated car listening to the breakfast show.

 

[Tripster]

There's a recurring theme in all fitness advertising and it uses the words "easy","fun" and "ten minutes" to perpetuate it.

Like you can undo 20 years of inactivity and bad diet in just a few minutes per day with this particular device (which is so much better than this other device on the shopping channel next door).

The reality is, if you want to get fit from an unfit base, you have to experience a fair bit of pain on your journey so most people buy a device, try it out, hurt afterwards and shove it under the bed. They then stick it on E'bay five years later when they are having a bit of a clear out.

For me, the only times I have ever been truly fit in my life have been when I have incorporated exercise into my daily routine and the only thing I've been able to do that with is my bike (cycle commuting).

The time when I was my fittest was when we decided to cut back to a single car with the missus needing the car every day for the school runs. No matter how much I wanted to drive, I had no option but to ride my bike.

It takes a certain mindset to get fit and most of us don't have that naturally. You have to be able to tell yourself to bust a gut, raise your heart rate
to bursting point, make your muscles burn and your lungs explode.

When all you really want to do is sit in a heated car listening to the breakfast show.img

Children run around all day if they get chance, think nothing of playing football for local team in a morning and bike ride or long walk in the afternoon followed by more playing in the garden. They are naturally fit and healthy and they have no idea they are doing it because it’s fun. If it’s fun or it’s a sport you love and enjoy then it’s easy, like been kids again, if it’s made to be hard or punishing and a chore then we give up. Pick something you enjoy and chances are you will keep doing it.

 

[Lovacott]

I have lost 13kg in weight without changing diet but most of that was within the first 4-5 months.

My weight loss was pretty rapid in the first few months but as I got fitter, I started to gain weight by putting on muscle. My appetite also increased with every mile I cycled. I now weigh pretty much the same as I did when I started but I look a lot slimmer (especially in the face).

Cycling is not usually associated with muscle gain, but I do a lot of hills on my commute and my calves and thighs now look like they belong on a premiership rugby lock. I haven't been doing sit ups but my belly is flat, I haven't done any upper body stuff but my arms are stronger?

The danger though (as with all exercise) is that you use the activity as an excuse to eat more (I can have that triple stack cheese burger because I just did an hour on my bike). It's the reason a lot of ex professional sports people turn into bloated pigs.

 

[RoubaixCube]

I would honestly factor in some jump rope. It's as great exercise for burning fat, general fitness and bone density. Even 15mins a day would get results if you keep it up. Ideally you'd want to aim for 30mins a day if possible.

 

[Tripster]

My weight loss was pretty rapid in the first few months but as I got fitter, I started to gain weight by putting on muscle. My appetite also increased with every mile I cycled. I now weigh pretty much the same as I did when I started but I look a lot slimmer (especially in the face).

Cycling is not usually associated with muscle gain, but I do a lot of hills on my commute and my calves and thighs now look like they belong on a premiership rugby lock. I haven't been doing sit ups but my belly is flat, I haven't done any upper body stuff but my arms are stronger?

The danger though (as with all exercise) is that you use the activity as an excuse to eat more (I can have that triple stack cheese burger because I just did an hour on my bike). It's the reason a lot of ex professional sports people turn into bloated pigs.

I had two bikes in mind end of last year and almost, well had it ordered to a local shop for collection, purchased a Trek Emonda Sl6. The reason I ended up going for a different bike was that the Emonda is a race/climbing bike and I would forever feel that I needed to push myself, ride quicker, arrive at my destination quicker than last time, climb Kirkstone pass faster blah blah blah... looking at my times, fitness and that would just have spoiled the ride and become more like a fitness regime than just about enjoying the ride and the benefits are a bonus. I still opted for a light, Italian made steel bike but an endurance bike made for long days rather than a speed machine. I want to keep it fun so I always enjoy doing it.
I still fancy an Emonda though

 

[Tripster]

I would honestly factor in some jump rope. It's as great exercise for burning fat, general fitness and bone density. Even 15mins a day would get results if you keep it up. Ideally you'd want to aim for 30mins a day if possible.

I carry a skipping rope in my bag when working overseas. Find a park or so place, even grounds of hotels and do a fair bit of skipping. Certainly lifts the heart rate of a morning