BEGINNER: Just set my baseline...opinions needed please



fishrising

New Member
Jun 20, 2006
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I would like some opinions to my questions that follow this blurb, please...

We'll, now that I finally have a road worthy bike, I set out and did my first 5+ mile ride in over 10 years. For some background, I am a 6'7" ex-college athlete (15 yrs ago), who is now 275 pounds and needs to lose weight and get back in shape. I smoked for a couple of years out of college, but haven't in years.

My intention is to ride 3 days a week during my lunch at work, plus some additional time outside of work hours.

So, today I think I set my baseline, on my first 5+ mile ride:

16.46 miles
1 hour and 8 minutes
30mph max speed
14.3mph average speed
101rpm max cadence
58rpm average cadence

What do you think are reasonable goals to get me going in the right direction? Assume that I have 1 hour to ride, 3 times a week. and don't forget I am new to cycling and way out of shape....

As a beginner, with a lot weight to move...

What average cadence should I be shooting for?
What average speed should I be shooting for?
What should I be shooting for, in total time, doing the same 16.46 mile route?
What should I eat from the cafeteria after riding for lunch?

Here is my bike:

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Speed doesn't matter, don't worry about it for now, you will get faster as you get in better shape.


I'd work on getting your cadenace up, in his book, Chris Carmichel talks about a beginner getting there cadenance up to a 95+ average. This will also save your knees the abuse of trying to push a hard gear.
 
Nice bike!

My advice would be to forget about maximum anything; those are pretty much irrelevant to just about anybody. The average speed you are shooting for may or may not be realistic, it all depends. Why don't you just do your run, and see how you have been doing, but only after you have finished the ride. Don't look at your computer at all during the ride, except maybe for cadence. I second what the poster above said about that topic: one of the most frequent mistakes of beginners is to have this idea of having to be able to push really high gears, which means they will crunch along at low cadence, and kill their muscles in no time flat. In order to get any good at biking at all, you need to move your muscles relatively fast, and at relatively low load. If 58 is all you can do right now, fine, but try to get your cadence up in the long run. Again, it depends on your physique to some degree, but I would tend to say that anything below a 70-ish cadence is too slow. Lance Armstrong is known for going up mountain passes at a 110 cadence. Not everybody is a Lance Armstrong, of course, but cadences in the 90s are pretty much normal for most competent riders.

Use lower gears; that's what you have all those gears for...
 
I basically fit your condition a few years ago. I have lost forty five pounds. Here is the most basic advice i can give you that i think will inspire you. Just try to get home one minute faster everytime you ride. The rest will follow. YOu will learn how to improve from there. Do not worry about speeds avg max or cadence so much. Those are cool when you get home and are tired to look at and say wow i really rode hard today. Just ride as fast as you think you can and as hard as you think you can. Stay away from the technical stuff for a year or so. Trust me you will fall in love with this sport and then you can get into the other stuff. Good luck
 
Quick update:

I'm only riding this same loop 2x sometimes 3x a week. But that should improve, I am just too busy at work at the moment. Or, maybe I become a 5AM rider. I am also getting a few miles in during the weekend towing my 2 year old daughter in her Trek GoBug behind my mtn bike around the neighborhood.

I am now riding my 16ish mile loop like this:
Time: 58-59 minutes
Avg Cadence: 77-81 rpm
Avg Speed: 16.4 mph

To me that is a nice improvement over my 1st couple of runs at it:
Time: 64-68 minutes
Avg Cadence: 58-63 rpm
Avg Speed: 14.3 mph

Can anyone list some pros and cons with towing my daughter behind my Trek 2100? I've been hesitant to swap out the rear skewer, and use it with her in tow. I feel like the Trek 2100 is my work out bike. And my Gary Fisher Montare is my, have fun around the neighborhood with the daughter in tow bike...thoughts?
 
Just to echo some comments, don't worry about your speed or anything.

I used to obsessively track speed, then I realized it didn't mean anything.

Imagine a beautiful day with the wind at your back vs an incredibly hot day with very strong headwinds. Your average speed might greatly differ. Does that mean you lost fitness? No, not at all. Average speed can only tell you something on the same route with the exact same conditions. And you can never have the exact same conditions.

Here is another situation. Imagine some days you ride in the morning, some days in the evening (this is what I have to do). There is more traffic in the evening, so I usually have to slow up at some points, thus giving me a lower average MPH.

As for cadence, whatever is most comfortable for you. It's entirely a personal preference. Jan Ullrich has a cadence of about 60-70. Lance Armstrong has about 120. They are two of the top riders in the world.