Need Help Setting Acheivable Goals

[humble_pie]

My first post on the forum...

I am 46 years old. I weigh 265 pound and am 6'3". I have a road bike and have been riding for one year. It is a Jamis Aurora steel frame that I bought on e-bay and built up myself. I have Dura-Ace Cranks, bar end shifters, and reasonable wheels. I do most of my own maintaince.

I ride 3-4 times a week. I am able to average around 18 mph on the flats without wind for at least an hour. I have ridden only 60 miles as far as distance goes. I often do 35-40 mile rides and am able to do them except for back pain after about the first hour on my bike. I find that I have to stop and stretch my back for just a few moments and then I am good to go again for awhile.

I am thinking of some new goals. I need to lose weight still. I would like to ride a century and average 15 mph. I have only lost about 12 pounds in the last year. I have done the 2 X 20 time trial type of test and have found my heart rate for training seems to be around 140.

I am not sure I would ever want to try a race. I do like to measure my own progress and try to improve. I am just feeling like it is slow going and I am not improving as much as I would like.

 

[dbackmtg]

My first goal was to get out and ride. Then it was to go 10 miles. Next 20 and then 30. I have now switched to hills. I pick out some of the steeper hills and accomplish them, (when I make it to the top and don't feel like falling over,) and then go on to the next. I'm currently doing two to three in a ride usually anywhere from 20 to 30 miles per ride. I'd much rather ride hills than flats. After I knew I liked biking, around the 20 mile rides, I made two seasonal goals. 1. to ride 1000 mi. this season, (I've already shattered that), It's now 2500 and 2. to ride to State College, have lunch with my wife and return, a 100 mile ride. I should be going in August. My small goals are just that, small. It may be just adding a small hill in on one of my routes or adding in that extra 5 mi. I never mark my time or aver. speed everyday. I tried doing this at the beginning and it frustrated me. Instead I time myself usually once a month or so. I haven't yet had a slower time than the previous. For instance my hour rides when I was starting now take about 45 min. I try to ride 5 days a week and at least get 20 mi. in per ride. I have a 2 month and 2 year old so this is hard. I don't get down on myself if I can't get out that much, I just look forward to the next ride. This attitude has really made biking fun for me. I am a beginner rider but I hope some of this helped.