Cycling Newbie HELP ME!!!

Breatnac

Hey,

I have just started cycling after agreeing to do the London to Brighton cycle in June and also London to Cambridge in July.

As I have started the feat of getting fit and being able to cycle that type of distance, I have started a blog to chart my successes and failures in this venture, the address of my blog is http://breatnac.blogspot.com/ if you have any tips or tricks on the training that I need to know, please let me know.

I am learning at the moment by reading other peoples blogs and making my own mistakes. I would prefer to learn by other people's experiences rather than making the same mistakes. If you can give me any advice, please reply or view my blog to understand more about my challenge.

Thanks

Breatnac

kdelong

You really need to ride much longer distances than you are at the moment. 14 miles one week and 40 miles the next isn't going to get you in shape for what you are intending to do! 20 - 25 mile rides three times a week and a long 40 or 50 mile ride on the weekend is what you need to shoot for. It will probably take you a couple of months to build up your endurance enough to ride these distances. Once you are confidant that you can make these distances, push yourself further. On all of your rides, you should try to maintain a cadence of 90 - 100 RPM. If you cannot maintain this cadence, drop down a gear or two until you can maintain it. As your strength and endurance builds, this will become easy.

Don't try tackling big hills right away. Build up your endurance first. Once you can ride a long distance easily, find a nice medium sized hill and ride up the hill at as fast a pace as you can maintain. When you get to the top, coast back down and ride up again as many times as you can. Insert this little exercize into your riding about twice a week.

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Breatnac

Hi Kdelong,

Thanks for your reply, as I have not ridden a bike since school (nearly 20 years), I need to build up my stamina and distances. the 14 miles then 40 miles were only my first two weeks, I am going to cycle to work as much as possible to build up my riding ability 6.5 miles each way, I have also been looking up cycling routes which I will do every weekend.

I am trying to get as much advice as possible as I do not just want to take part in the London to Brighton and London to Cambridge but I want to be fit enough to enjoy doing them as well, and not have an embarassing time i.e. 7 hours.

I will take your advice and add it into my schedule so that within a month or so I will be cycling at least the weekly milage that you recommend, and try to keep building it up until June.

Unfortunately I live in Cambridgeshire which is the flattest place on earth, so I will have to go on day trips to find some decent hills.

Do you know any sites that have good cycling routes in the cambrideshire area. all the ones that I have seen offer an a to b approach rather than saying this route is 25 miles and it has nice scenery?

Many thanks for you help

Breatnac

kdelong

I am only one ocean away from the UK, so I haven't really looked for sites that deal with bicycling routes for Cambridgeshire. Often a local bicycle shop will have good information on the best places to ride in a particular area. You might also inquire about a bicycling club in your area and see what group rides they might have.

One way to train for hills in a flat area is to use a variable resistance trainer. Warm up for about 15 minutes using light resistance. You adjust the resistance up until it is approximately what your last hill felt like. Ride it hard for 10 minutes and then reduce the resistance for 10 minutes. Repeat this cycle about 4 or 5 times for a good workout. Be sure to warm down for about 15 minutes at the end of the workout. Even though this will give you a good workout, nothing will work as good as a real hill.

Good luck with your training. Let me know how you are getting along with it!

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Bro Deal

It would help if you told us the distances...

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates