hello and HELP....!

Phebe said:

Hello everyone! I am a beginner. My University need us to take Human Performance class, and I chose bike cycling, because I was to train myself to be more" durable" . I did keep riding, for short( really) short distance sometimes, and I decided to ride more.I had a bad spring of my left ankle last April and did not get really well until august.....

And today is my first ride, which I feared and both excited for a long time. We ride for 2 miles, and I am the last one to follow up. I don't really feel my muscle getting tired, but just feel the heart pumping too fast and cannot breath well....I am sad....I do not know what to do to improve.....next week the class will start riding 7 miles and continue up to 10 miles ( well maybe don't really seem much to you....)

What can I do? my bike is a boy 24 size mountain bike, i am a girl, though....I push each step really hard to get it keep the speed. If I let it go, it will simply slow down too much or stop. I am looking other people riding the road bike, simply fast......I don't want to blame the bike......but....

What can I do???

Please give me some suggestion...thank you soooooooo much!!!!!!!!!!!

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Actually, it is partly the fault of the bike.
If you are only riding on roads, then ideally you should have a road bike. However, you can make your mountain bike a little more "road friendly" by replacing the tyres with road tyres designed for use on mountain bikes, usually referred to as "slicks". Also, if the bike has locking front suspension, then you should lock it off as this will also make it easier to ride on the roads.

The other thing to do is ride more, your fitness, strength and endurance will improve the more riding you do. As an example, when I first started riding, I only managed to ride 6 miles on my road bike and I felt like I was going to die. I ride a lot further now.

I agree, slicks, as skinny and as smooth as you can find. Where are you, I could make some suggstions?

Also, how you are pedaling will have a big influence on your endurance. Use all the gears, try light leg loads and a constant high cadence, you will go much further.

I agree with the previous posts. You need either a road bike or modify your present bike to be more like a road bike, skinny tires with no treads (very smooth).

Also you need to ride more. For hills, run in a lower gear to keep your pedal revolutions high. And don't push so hard. Save a little energy for after you make the top of the hill. Also I recently found that as you near the top of the hill (about a third of the way from the top) you can gain a lot of speed if you upshift 1 or 2 gears (yes into a harder gear) and STAND and pedal. It makes better use of your energy. In the higher gear (and standing) you are using you weight to push yourself up the hill. And while one leg is doing all the work, the other is getting a rest.
After the top of the hill, try your best to increase your speed to something you can maintain for the terain ahead.

Like if the half mile ahead of you that is flat, and you can do say. 15 mph on the flat, accelerate to that speed quickly, even if it means standing for a few pedal strokes. You will have alot better time than if you spend a quarter of that mile slowly accelerating to that same 15 mph.

Also search the other threads in this forum. do a search on "hills" or "training". And try each of the tips you find and keep the ones that "work for YOU". Everyone is different. Also read the threads about setting up the "fit" of your bike. Check on having the proper seat height. If it's too low you won't be as fast as you could be, and if it's too high it could also make you slower by wating your power. Also the seat angle and how far forward or back it is will also make a difference.

Also don't get dissapointed. I had stopped riding for a very long time (30 years). I started up again a year ago. Back then I did a 5 mile ride (which took a half an hour) and was sore for a week. Now I do 30 miles in less that 2 hours. I did it by riding as much as I could and reading all the tips I could find in this forum and I am still improving.

Also keep track of your progress, this way you can set the goals of improving your time over the last ride. Remember the only person you have to beat is the person you were last week.

Remember to have a good time while your riding, you'll find that everyone here loves riding.