Newbie Question – Burning Legs



fraserhannah

New Member
Jul 25, 2005
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I haven’t been on a bike for years and decided recently to start cycling again as I live in the English Lake District and see it as a good way to lose weight and get in shape, I’m 6 ft and 180 lb. Got my bike the other day a Trek 7200 FX and have been for two short rides 5 miles and one of around 15 miles, I just potter along at whatever speed feels comfortable but I guess its very slow. The problem I have comes when there is a hill, big, small, long or short, my legs feel as though they are on fire, the pain is intense and I have to stop and rest before carrying on. I was on one hill yesterday and it was 2/4 mile long and rose around 100 ft I needed to stop every 50 yards or so as the pain was so bad.



I know that I am unfit, but need guidance as to how much to do, and how fast. I kept at it yesterday walking for spells when I could not take the pain, the ride ended with a mile walk as a warm down.



I guess the pain is lactic acid, am I being a wimp? Is there anything I can do to ease the pain? Riding on the flat is not an option as there are hills everywhere; I never remember it being like this when I was younger. Any help would be appreciated.



 
I'm pretty new to cyclig myself. In order to take on hills, I've found that I need to pick up as much momentum before the hill begins and, as i'm pedaling up the hill, I shift to a larger gear on the cassette before my legs start to feel too much resistance.
 
def make sure you aren't pushing too hard. shift down as much as you need to in order to use your lungs more than your legs in the beginning until you get your legs in shape.
 
I agree with you all... and it's a fine line between pain and fitness..DO NOT be afraid of the pain, although do not overtrain. You would be surprised how much the human body can withstand and how pain is mostly a mental thing. To put it bluntly, you can't get in better shape without braving some pain. I know when I started to just let the pain exist I started to realize it's just an emotion, and the more I ignored it the better shape I got into and the less pain I began to experience. Whatever you do don't back down because of fear, you will only disappoint yourself.
 
I just started cycling about a year ago. I went through pretty much the same thing as you with the burning legs. At first I could barely get out of my neighborhood before my legs were on fire. Within a week or so it took a couple of miles before they started burning. After a couple of weeks it was no longer an issue. Just stick with it. It is really amazing how fast the human body can adapt to external stress.
 
fraserhannah said:
I haven’t been on a bike for years and decided recently to start cycling again as I live in the English Lake District and see it as a good way to lose weight and get in shape, I’m 6 ft and 180 lb. Got my bike the other day a Trek 7200 FX and have been for two short rides 5 miles and one of around 15 miles, I just potter along at whatever speed feels comfortable but I guess its very slow. The problem I have comes when there is a hill, big, small, long or short, my legs feel as though they are on fire, the pain is intense and I have to stop and rest before carrying on. I was on one hill yesterday and it was 2/4 mile long and rose around 100 ft I needed to stop every 50 yards or so as the pain was so bad.



I know that I am unfit, but need guidance as to how much to do, and how fast. I kept at it yesterday walking for spells when I could not take the pain, the ride ended with a mile walk as a warm down.



I guess the pain is lactic acid, am I being a wimp? Is there anything I can do to ease the pain? Riding on the flat is not an option as there are hills everywhere; I never remember it being like this when I was younger. Any help would be appreciated.



Shift into your easiest gear at the bottom of the hill, and climb slowly and steadily. It will take a few months to build up the cardio-vascular network in your cycling muscles. As this happens, you'll notice the pain decreasing.

Just slow down and enjoy the scenery. After all, lots of people pay to tour through the beautiful countryside you live in. It just takes time and miles.
 
It's not that climbing hills is so hard, it's that cycling on the flat is so easy. The problem is that a gravity-drop pedaling stroke will deliver ~100w, which is enough to cruise along at a respectable ~15mph on the flat. That same 100w on a hill doesn't produce enough bike speed to keep moving. It takes ~200w to move the bike along at a reasonable speed on a hill. There's a huge difference between 100w and 200w. Riding hills will build your climbing endurance, but in the meantime you might want to learn to climb out of the saddle. You'll have to experiment with your gears to find the right gear, but the technique is to use your body weight alone on the downstroke. Tilt the bike about 15 degrees left of vertical on the right leg downstroke and vice versa with the left leg. You want a gear that gets your upstroke leg over the top from the opposite leg downstroke momentum alone (i.e., you don't want to have to push it over the top). Keep your back and upper body relaxed -- all the work is being done by gravity. You should be able to generate ~200w with this stroke and with less stress on your muscles if done correctly.
 
Yeah, like the others said, use lower-gears, spin faster and take it easy. By starting too fast too soon, you're risking injury and slow-development. The first month or two should never exceed more than 75% (some say less than 65%) of your maximum effort. Get a computer that measures pedal-cadence and keep the spin up at 90rpms or higher. This lowers the required force from the muscles to generate any given amount of power; it's a lot easier to create 200w at 150rpms than at 75rpms.

On the track, we typically gear the bike for 200rpms at maximum-speed of around 42-43mph. At that RPM, a human can actually generate around 1 HP.