new beginner

hi people.....

to get to the point ive taken up biking to increase fitness.

im 18 and have become incredibly unfit.

lately ive been exercising reguarly and have taken to cycling.

today i achieved 10.4 miles which i felt like passing out..

can anyone give me some general tips about fitness and biking??

ps how come my ass hurts after each ride lol what can i do to stop it??????????? thanx

Congratulations on getting started in cycling.

Let's deal with the pain first! You'll need to get the bike set up properly for you to achieve a good riding position. Your local bike shop or licensed bike coach can help you with this. I just posted the basics for setting up a road bike in another thread on this site titled "bike fit question" if you want to try it yourself. Setting up a mountain or hybrid bike is different. Good, well-padded bike shorts are really important too!

Then you just need to ride for a while. Don't worry about formalising training for the first few weeks; just get out on the bike and enjoy the rides. Aim to increase your distance gently after a couple of weeks. Get comfortable with your bike's handling and ride characteristics.

Take at least one day off the bike each week.

After a month or so you should be ready to get into a more formal training program. I highly recommend the Chris Carmichael / Lance Armstrong Performance Program book which is really good reading and offers great general advice and some sample programs too.

Good luck!

I also recommend the Carmiachael/Armstrong book. Many people complain the first couple of weeks in the program is too easy. There's a reason for that - it's to build a good base for the last three weeks which are much harder. So it's important to stick with it even if it does seem a doddle for a while.

I wish I were starting out at 18. I remember those days when I could burn off a pound of fat in a couple of hours. I am 41 and haven't had a bike since my homeade BMX 2-speed kick back Schwinn was stolen from me the summer after 6th grade. I loved that bike and the fact that I bought it, stripped it, had it custom painted and put on the moto X handle bars and knobby tires made it real painful to lose... Anyway, fast forward 28 summers and I got the bug real bad. I just bought a used road bike and I feel like a little kid getting his first bike. Remember what that was like getting your first bike? When I was 12 I would ride all over Las Vegas on those hot summer days picking up odd jobs to keep plenty of Slurpee's in supply. Well, I've been riding for about 6 weeks with remarkable results. I am going through a huge learning curve, but the more I ride the better I get. Got the Carmichael book and have found that even at my age the sky is the limit. No Slurpees, though.

thanx guys an gals for all ur replies