Hello there, newbie here



new2biking

New Member
Apr 9, 2006
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Hi all, I am totally new to biking and am wanting to train for a bike ride that is coming up in my local area (new zealand) in october. I am fit, I go to the gym everyday so I have that on my side, but i dont know where to start or how to train. I would like to try for the 50km cycle ride.
So what would you recommend for training and how often for a person who is new to cycling?

Many thanks

Melanie:)
 
There are quite a few threads in this forum that address your question. For example, http://www.cyclingforums.com/t309712.html. You might want to use the search function and read some of them first. I'd suggest the advanced search function where you can select the forum and key words. Try "newbie" and "getting started" key words for starters. After you've done some reading, you might have more specific questions or concerns and I'm sure you'll get help.
 
I'm a bit of a newbie myself but the one bit of advice i'd give is "get on your bike love" :D Get out on the roads as much as possible (given work, weather restrictions etc), start off with an easy 20km, see how your feel then go further the next time and just keep building it up slowly. Make sure you enjoy it, try to head out with a mate, carry some food with you and try to choose nice routes. You should have a fairly decent fitness base after a few weeks of this, then depending on your goals (whether you want to compete or just finish) you could try throwing in some interval training, i.e going hard for say 10 mins, easy for 5 and do this 2/3 times. Like before you can then build this up slowly increasing the lenght of effort and number of repitions.

Theres loads of posts on here about exact power/heart rate zones etc but hopefully the above will give you a nice start into the whole cycling thing and when you become obsessed (which i'd say you will) you can then really get into the technical stuff

Easy riding