I pretty much suck on my bike

[cdaleguy]

I have been riding (not consistently) for 8 months and still suck pretty bad. I struggle keeping up with riders that have been riding the same amount of time. I am not grossly overweight (10-15 lbs max) and consider myself to be in average health. I have no reason to not be able to keep up with the other riders, but simply can't. It sucks! The roads we are on are pretty flat and I just can't ride as fast as they do....and we're talkin about 18mph here. I am more comfortable riding around 16.5 mph. What do I do? Will I ever, NOT SUCK?

 

[ritcho]

I have been riding (not consistently) for 8 months and still suck pretty bad. I struggle keeping up with riders that have been riding the same amount of time. I am not grossly overweight (10-15 lbs max) and consider myself to be in average health. I have no reason to not be able to keep up with the other riders, but simply can't. It sucks! The roads we are on are pretty flat and I just can't ride as fast as they do....and we're talkin about 18mph here. I am more comfortable riding around 16.5 mph. What do I do? Will I ever, NOT SUCK?

Don't worry about what others do, worry about what you do. How much faster are you now than before? Are you eating right? Is the bike fitted properly to you?

If you insist on comparing yourself to others, get a health/fitness check with your doctor or at a lab that specialises in testing. At least you'll find out whether you're comparing apples with apples.

Ritch

 

[Doctor Morbius]

I have been riding (not consistently) for 8 months and still suck pretty bad. I struggle keeping up with riders that have been riding the same amount of time. I am not grossly overweight (10-15 lbs max) and consider myself to be in average health. I have no reason to not be able to keep up with the other riders, but simply can't. It sucks! The roads we are on are pretty flat and I just can't ride as fast as they do....and we're talkin about 18mph here. I am more comfortable riding around 16.5 mph. What do I do? Will I ever, NOT SUCK?

Scott, I feel your pain. My Cousin can ride 18 MPH for 2 - 3 hours on a fat knobby tired MTB while I struggle to maintain 16 MPH on a 700x23 road bike for that length of time. True he's 13 years younger than I am but when I was his age I had twice his physical strength. The difference is genetic. Even with more physical strength, I could never keep up with him while doing pushups. His muscle composition is red twitch. Mine is white twitch, which is much better suited toward burst sports, i.e. power lifting, sprints, shot put. There's a former competitive bodybuilder that posts on this forum and he says he's doing good to hang in around 13 MPH. However, he can do something like 800 lbs on the leg press for lots of reps. Ouch!

18 MPH sounds pretty good to me on the flats. I'll trade you.

 

[dhk]

Averaging 18 mph isn't something most first year riders do, unless they're coming from a strong aerobic sport like running or skating. Not sure what kind of results you think you should have from 8 months of "not consistent" effort, but sounds like you're doing fine to me.

Ask yourself how many miles you've ridden in those 8 months. If it's not at least 1500, then your goal should be more consistent riding and mileage in 05. Try to get a steady 50 miles a week going, and then build from there. If you put in the miles, it will show.

Your goals should be to enjoy your rides while improving your distance and comfort on the bike. The speed will increase naturally with the miles you put in. Track your own progress, like Ritch said above. If you worry about who can beat you, you'll never be happy...there will always be someone faster out there.

 

[jhuskey]

I have been riding (not consistently) for 8 months and still suck pretty bad. I struggle keeping up with riders that have been riding the same amount of time. I am not grossly overweight (10-15 lbs max) and consider myself to be in average health. I have no reason to not be able to keep up with the other riders, but simply can't. It sucks! The roads we are on are pretty flat and I just can't ride as fast as they do....and we're talkin about 18mph here. I am more comfortable riding around 16.5 mph. What do I do? Will I ever, NOT SUCK?

If possible try climbing more. The worst that can happen is that you improve your strength. Climbing forces you the exert yourself more.
I have little choice here considering the terrain but I am glad for it. It make me a better rider.
Who know it could be your forte.

 

[cdaleguy]

Thanks. Makes me feel better. I have put in a total of about 1000 miles in the past 8 months, between 2 different bikes, with the majority of the miles being on a bike that I don't ride anymore. It is frustrating to compare to others but this is who I ride with. I'll just go in to hiding for a few months, train a bunch, then watch THEM struggle to keep up.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

Thanks. Makes me feel better. I have put in a total of about 1000 miles in the past 8 months, between 2 different bikes, with the majority of the miles being on a bike that I don't ride anymore. It is frustrating to compare to others but this is who I ride with. I'll just go in to hiding for a few months, train a bunch, then watch THEM struggle to keep up.

1000 miles? Well that may be your problem. 1000 in 8 months ain't jack. That's only 125 per month, which is not very much at all. Start piling on the miles Scott.

 

[grampy bone]

Can you stay on his tire? Try riding directly behind him and see if you can keep up that way. You won't get as good a workout as he does, but you should be able to hang on with him leading the whole way (especially in windy conditions). Also, its good practice because you can work on your handling skills and how to hold your line.

 

[eortiz]

Thanks. Makes me feel better. I have put in a total of about 1000 miles in the past 8 months, between 2 different bikes, with the majority of the miles being on a bike that I don't ride anymore. It is frustrating to compare to others but this is who I ride with. I'll just go in to hiding for a few months, train a bunch, then watch THEM struggle to keep up.

One of the best advice I know of is to ride with riders stronger than you. Yes, you will get dropped but that forces you to ride harder to keep up and therefore make you stronger. This will also give you the motivation to try to keep up with the group or eventually lead the group on your next ride

On another note, try to be efficient on your bike. Use all the gears you have on them. I've seen riders pusing big gears to keep up and eventually loose steam in the end and they drop big time. Keep pedaling.

 

[Felt_Rider]

There's a former competitive bodybuilder that posts on this forum and he says he's doing good to hang in around 13 MPH. However, he can do something like 800 lbs on the leg press for lots of reps. Ouch!

18 MPH sounds pretty good to me on the flats. I'll trade you.

You talking bout me?

I have started to improve on the bike with some adjustments.
Now on my 4 month of road cycling, but I am seeing some improvements.

Things are also changing at the gym.
I am having a harder time lifting that heavier weight, but there has been an improvement on the bike.

Since I am new to this acitivity and don't own some of the nice things like Power Tap or even a trainer for my bike I have been doing what I can at the gym by using the gym equipment. I will get the trainer later this year.

Here is what I am doing in the gym after weight training:
I do these 3 things in this sequence mon,tue, thurs & fri
I only ride on the bike on Saturday's because of time constraints.

• I am using a StairMaster Stepmill which is a revolving staircase and doing interval training and really pushing my heart rate up to 80% or better.

• Recumbent stationary bike interval training. Spin at 100+ rpm's for 3 minutes and then 70's for 3 minutes and keep repeating.

• Treadmill set at a level 10 incline and a medium pace to burn fat.

The results:

Last weekend my cycling buddy and I did a 50 mile ride. On some of the inclines where I had been dropping down to about 13 mph I was now keeping it above 16 mph. At 45th mile two guys passed us at about a 20 mph pace and my buddy said, "let's catch them." I thought there would be no chance, but I kicked it the pace on up around 24 mph and caught up with the two guys and even passed my buddy whom I rarely can keep up with. I drafted on those two guys almost to the end. I have to admit my legs were absolutely burning up, but I was very happy so see things improve.

cdaleguy, I have felt like your comments at times, but I like what some of these guys have posted. I try to remember to only look at my improvements and not base it on others that are riding. I have to remember to be patient and let time and training do it's thing.

Best wishes

 

[Cyclist14]

Averaging 18 mph isn't something most first year riders do, unless they're coming from a strong aerobic sport like running or skating. Not sure what kind of results you think you should have from 8 months of "not consistent" effort, but sounds like you're doing fine to me.

Ask yourself how many miles you've ridden in those 8 months. If it's not at least 1500, then your goal should be more consistent riding and mileage in 05. Try to get a steady 50 miles a week going, and then build from there. If you put in the miles, it will show.

Your goals should be to enjoy your rides while improving your distance and comfort on the bike. The speed will increase naturally with the miles you put in. Track your own progress, like Ritch said above. If you worry about who can beat you, you'll never be happy...there will always be someone faster out there.

Hi, I ran Cross-Country for three years ( and got MVP for two of those years) before I started Cycling. I have been riding for about 6-7 months and can maintain 20-23 MPH for about an hour in a relatively flat area.

 

[cdaleguy]

Great info. Keep it coming.

 

[closesupport]

I have been riding (not consistently) for 8 months and still suck pretty bad. I struggle keeping up with riders that have been riding the same amount of time. I am not grossly overweight (10-15 lbs max) and consider myself to be in average health. I have no reason to not be able to keep up with the other riders, but simply can't. It sucks! The roads we are on are pretty flat and I just can't ride as fast as they do....and we're talkin about 18mph here. I am more comfortable riding around 16.5 mph. What do I do? Will I ever, NOT SUCK?

Do you own a anything that will monitor your Cadence. the only thing i could possibly suggest is ride once a day over a set distance, monitor you cadence and try to remain 85-95rpm more if you can stick it, start off on the small chain ring maintaining 90-100rpm becomes easy in that gear move on to the next gear and so on, don't concern yourself yet with speed, try and concentrate on your cadence monitoring my cadence and gradually increasing the gear sizes for 7 days so far has helped me to add some 8mph back onto my 15mph avg over 10miles, now i'm back up to 23mph and still increasing in speed i have 4 gears yet that i have to master 100rpm on and hopefully within the next 5wks i'll be back upto 30mph with 3/400watts average.

When you have been doing it for a while you will feel that your legs can get the oxygen that they require, when they can then you'll find the next gear easier but you'll still have to put the work in, don't try to jump to many gears or you'll find you struggle with 80-90rpm given time effort and practise you been spinning out 5-600watts on flats and exceeding 33mph and your friend will be asking you to slow down and wait.



over the last 7 days i have put in 200+ miles