beginner wanting to ease into cycling

[jacervelo]

I recently got all set up to begin my new hobby of road cycling, i was pretty excited about going on my first ride and really wanted to push myself. I realized soon after that i probablly should have gone in a little bit slower. I did about 75km in 3hrs in 10 celsius which probablly dropped to 5 celsius for the last hour of my ride. When i got home i was exhausted and my chest, lungs, throat (everything to do with breathing) were burning and continued to bother me for the next couple days. Its 3 days later and i am feeling a bit better, i cant wait to get back out there, however i want to progress without hurting myself. I guess my question is: how do I establish challanging goals for myself without seriously hurting myself.

 

[swampy1970]

The only way to seriously hurt yourself on a bike normally requires a very quick and violent action to occur. Pushing yourself very hard will nearly always result in you being sore for a day or two unless you do something really silly and go out when conditions are extremely hot or cold and you're not dressed appropriately and/or you don't drink enough on hot days.

Carry on the good efforts. If it stops becoming fun because you're always sore then you're going too hard. Keep it fun. Do the long rides a tad slower and have some shorter rides that are faster.