Show us your.......newbie progress! [4 Sep 2012 - 4 Oct 2014]

[DaveyM]

Although the weather was truly awful, I still went out. Had a ride down into Newcastle then did a social ride with a group of nice folk. The ride home was into a real nasty cold head wind with a good splash of rain.
Still enjoyed it though

Some good results from you all again

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Cheers Nigel, long way behind you though.

It's all relative, as i said before I dont have a young family.
I just had a ticking off today because of the amount of time I ride, but it's only about 2hrs and a bit on avg. 2out of 3 days.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Although the weather was truly awful, I still went out. Had a ride down into Newcastle then did a social ride with a group of nice folk. The ride home was into a real nasty cold head wind with a good splash of rain.
Still enjoyed it though

Some good results from you all again

This is what a lot don't understand, the more adverse the conditions are the more you enjoy it when you finish, knowing how hard it was, it does become easier, the key is to stay warm, and fuelled.

 

[Stonechat]

Hi everyone
Been cycling now about 6 weeks and loving every minute ' Sad I hear you say'
I currently riding a giant defy 2 but saving for a carbon already
Been doing 17 mile round trip commute in roughly 65 mins
Done a few longer rides , 31 ,33, 42 miles strangely all at 15 mph
Not sure if this is good or bad for a newbie but either way will be plodding on
Goal for 2013 is a 50 mile run then goal for 2014 is the penine Etape Durham roughly 80 miles , would be gratefull for any feedback good or bad

You're doing well. I ride at 12 mph up to about 30 miles. Shorter rides can be up to 14 mph. OK i am 61 and have a hybrid but you're doing well

 

[Mo1959]

You're doing well. I ride at 12 mph up to about 30 miles. Shorter rides can be up to 14 mph. OK i am 61 and have a hybrid but you're doing well

Yep. Speed definitely isn't everything. I felt I had been overdoing things lately so had a day off yesterday, then this morning I took the hybrid and did 30 miles at 13.3mph, slowest for ages and, do you know what, I really enjoyed it Well, apart from the fact that it was barely above freezing and I never got warmed up for the entire ride. I was putting in so little effort that I was barely breathing any faster than I do at rest for virtually the whole ride and felt like I could have gone on for ever at that pace. Definitely something I need to do more of.

 

[BrianEvesham]

Hammering down here, has been all morning and forecast all day.

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Mo1959 the point I think is that you are now at a level where cycling at a lower pace than you can isn't an effort, it is enjoyable because nothing is really dourting any more, so the ride is more about the ride, as you have been mentioning in previous posts, I went out for a short spin last night (went and got some spoke reflectors, not really convinced about them) I did 947ft in 14.2 miles, (66.64ft/mile about as much as you can do round here) I have a formula which gives an idea of work rate, the bottom end being about 240 and the upper being about 300, last night it was about 260 enough to work and also be enjoyable even in the rain and wind (though that had abated a little).
The formula if your interested is Avg HR x total time= total HB, Total HB/Calories from the unit= work effort, then muliply that by a number to get a usable figure otherwise it is between 0.068 and 0.86. I used 3500. Again just one of the things in the spreadsheet done automatically.

 

[Mo1959]

@Nigelnaturist Sorry, but I will leave you to your figures......as long as my heart is still beating and I am not stressing it out by doing too much every day I am quite happy I want to get away from facts and figures for a while and really start to enjoy my riding instead of worrying about speeds, distances, etc. Today's run showed me just how much fun riding can be if I just back off a bit. I am sure it will be tough enough just to keep things ticking over during the winter.

 

[Steven bates]

Just a short run today after yesterday's 30+ miler , felt a little bit leg sore when I first started but soon wore off , had head wind nearly all way , horrible managed to do 11 mile in 42 mins avg speed 16 mph so was quite happy with that especially with conditions

 

[stevey]

Hammering down here, has been all morning and forecast all day.

Likewise

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Mo1959 I will be after this year, I need to simplify the spreadsheet, from the New Year I will only be using data from the unit and not correcting elevation, so I can do it even with no internet connection, if need be.

 

[Andy Jeffery]

Cycled to work and back yesterday morning. 44 miles in total and the longest I have done to date in the three weeks I have been cycling. 1.39 hrs there and 1.45 hrs back with 2hrs of work in between. Left home at 6am in the dark saw things in the countryside I would not have seen in my car and realised how beautiful our country really is!
Don't think I ate enough even though I am trying to lose weight. Just had a bowl of porridge before leaving and a banana before the run journey. They last four miles were a real struggle!

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Cycled to work and back yesterday morning. 44 miles in total and the longest I have done to date in the three weeks I have been cycling. 1.39 hrs there and 1.45 hrs back with 2hrs of work in between. Left home at 6am in the dark saw things in the countryside I would not have seen in my car and realised how beautiful our country really is!
Don't think I ate enough even though I am trying to lose weight. Just had a bowl of porridge before leaving and a banana before the run journey. They last four miles were a real struggle!

Well done, a good distance in such a short time.
It might also be just a fitness thing, you haven't been cycling long so your body is still adjusting (I dont think it ever stops), a bowl of cereal and a banana would usually do me 40+miles, it will also depend what you ate last night as well. I usually have something with me just in case, a flapjack fig rolls, jelly babies (got it right this time)

 

[SpokeyDokey]

@Nigelnaturist Sorry, but I will leave you to your figures......as long as my heart is still beating and I am not stressing it out by doing too much every day I am quite happy I want to get away from facts and figures for a while and really start to enjoy my riding instead of worrying about speeds, distances, etc. Today's run showed me just how much fun riding can be if I just back off a bit. I am sure it will be tough enough just to keep things ticking over during the winter.

Good move Mo. Everyone is different though but I am broadly in line with you - I track some minimal stuff just to see progress (or not!).

I had this very discussion with my mate last week as we came off a very dismal Helvellyn .

We used to track all our mountain mileage, linear speed, ascent speed etc etc and decided we were missing the point - we don't bother now exept for our 4-yearly version of the Three Peaks Challenge.

However, my mate is an avid golfer (4-5 times a week through the Comp' season) and he has got all sorts of stat's and graphs and has declared himself to be fed up with what he has gotten into.

During our conversation he resolved to back track and go simple again - I'll se how he gets on with it as time goes by!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Hammering down here, has been all morning and forecast all day.

Dry here for a change Brian but very cold, windy and just plain uninviting.

I went out yesterday and it was horrible. I thought it would inspire me to go out today but, sadly, the reverse is true. Knowing how horrible it is has undermined my enthusiasm to the extent that I am off for a short walk instead and will return to a lovely log fire and will (with the even more lovely Mrs SD) sit there reading our Kindles and enjoying a glass or two of Rum & Black which we find particularly nice on these grottier Winter (I don't believe in Autumn) days!