Aren't Bicycles Great.

daivid

Some great photos shared, not at all jelous of your rides :whistle: must get my fitness up so I can venture a little further afield. Only doing 20mile rides round the denbigh moors at the moment, though there are far worse places to ride!

DKLS

Used to love cycling especially as a kid it was a symbol of freedom but once I got into obsessing about the weight of components and cadence rates etc I realised I was bored silly. So now have a couple of old beaters that I occasionally use to cycle to a nice pub on the canal for lunch and potter back.

Its a great feeling locking a bike up and not worrying about if its there or not when I come back.

Retrogamer

I want to get a lot fitter and try and lose weight at the same time through cycling. Just now i only have time on my days off from work, so 3 days a week.

I've got the hybrid that i use for tarmac cycling and the mountain bike for off road stuff.

Not sure if it's best fitness wise for me to be doing a 20 mile tarmac cycle which is mostly flat at a high pace or else a 12.5 mile off road cycle which is slower, but has some technical sections and lots of hills.

daivid

Hope this doesnt come accross as preachy but here are some of my thoughts:
12.5 miles off road should be more effort than a flat 20 on the road, and if it is technical and hilly there will be little opportunity to stop working - with downhills needing steering, shifts of body position and concentration. The main thing though is to get out and exercise. If this is 3 extra sessions of excersise a week you will see benefits provide you dont overcompensate with calories or cutting out some other exercise. Doing the one you enjoy most will help make it a healthy habit but a bit of a mix of the two may help keep up enthusasm and improvement may be easier to see on the road - fewer variables to affect your times.

For what its worth I found interval work much more effective to increase fitness than steady road miles alone. There are many interval programs but the one I've used is Tabata (sp?): once nicely warmed up 20s bursts of near max pedalling followed by 10s at an intensity that allows me to just get my breath back then repeat, doing 4 reps when I first started and building up to 7 or 8 adding one a time over a few weeks. Always follow with at least 10mins of gentle cycling to cool down, and if you have a gentle constant incline to work on that helps too.

Main point though: get out and enjoy yourself, make cycling an enjoyable habit and the benfits should follow. If you make it a chore (like running is for me) you may find it very hard to motivate your self - I'm writing this as I procrastinate over going for a 10k run...

Johnmcl7

Retrogamer wrote: »

I want to get a lot fitter and try and lose weight at the same time through cycling. Just now i only have time on my days off from work, so 3 days a week.

I've got the hybrid that i use for tarmac cycling and the mountain bike for off road stuff.

Not sure if it's best fitness wise for me to be doing a 20 mile tarmac cycle which is mostly flat at a high pace or else a 12.5 mile off road cycle which is slower, but has some technical sections and lots of hills.

To be honest I'd do whatever cycling you enjoy because then you'll keep on doing it regularly, so many people I know do exercises purely for fitness which they don't enjoy and end up not continuing with them which is clearly the worst case for fitness.

I do mountain biking and road cycling although my preference is very much towards mountain biking, I started it a year before the road cycling. I did wonder the same question about fitness as the MTB rides included big hill climbs, a slower, heavier bike and more work on the upper body controlling the bike while the road bike rides were flatter but at a constant, faster pace.

I checked my Garmin records and it estimated my calorie consumption to be far higher on the road bike rides (usually around 30 miles in 90 minutes) than the MTB rides (usually around 15 miles in two hours) and in some cases the road bike rides were double the calorie consumption. I initially thought these estimates were nonsense but then thought when I finished a road bike ride I felt more tired than most of my MTB rides. For the MTB rides each person takes sections at their own pace and there's quite a bit of stopping and free wheeling whereas on the road bike you're peddling fast almost the entire ride.

That said, I still much prefer the MTB rides as I enjoy the challenge of getting up a hill and through the technical sections and for the year I did MTB riding only I saw a huge improvement in my fitness. On the initial rides I was huffing and panting away on the big hill climbs crawling up on my very lowest gear and the hills just never seemed to end whereas within a few months I was seeing a huge improvement finding the same hills no problem. After my early rides I'd feel completely shattered but now despite being quicker I feel fine afterwards.

John

Avoriaz

Retrogamer wrote: »

Bought a track pump today and figured out why i've been struggling with my average speeds recently on the hybrid. Max pressure is 120psi on the tyres and i'd been running about with them both at 20psi. Oops.

I imagine my next cycle will be a lot easier.

You are lucky your inner tubes were not shredded to pieces.

You may also have knackered the tyres.

armyknife

Avoriaz wrote: »

You are lucky your inner tubes were not shredded to pieces.

You may also have knackered the tyres.

Maybe the pressure gauge is a bit out and they're not quite that bad?

If he bought it in a cycle shop, they'll be happy to check it with their probably more accurate digital/in-house one.

Chrisblue1962

calleyw wrote: »

Mine is to use my bike for leisure as not sure what is happening with work yet.

For nipping in to town to meet people for coffee or returning library books etc.

I might even be brave enough and cycle to my mums which is a about 3 miles away. But might do it along the canal tow path rather then road.

Yours

Calley

I am intending to do exactly the same in 2015 having sold my car (which failed it's MoT ) in January and I now travel to work by train as job now office-based. Not driving to work is cheaper and more enjoyable .

Intending to go out on bike this Sunday with OH for short leisure ride, really looking forward to it .

Johnmcl7

calleyw wrote: »

Mine is to use my bike for leisure as not sure what is happening with work yet.

For nipping in to town to meet people for coffee or returning library books etc.

I might even be brave enough and cycle to my mums which is a about 3 miles away. But might do it along the canal tow path rather then road.

Yours

Calley

That's a good use of the bike as that's how I started cycling, what surprised me when the bike was away three weeks for repair was how much I missed it when I wanted to quickly pop into town or across the river to go to the cinema.

John

byjimini

I've just started cycling and am liking it so far. It's a way to blow off some steam and stress after a day in the office.

So far I'm using a dead-end road that is a mile long to build myself up; a few times back and forth, usually 30 minutes, before I go and commit to using a proper road.

I've just discovered how much I need a cycling jacket, given my current waterproof & high vis vest combo is like being boiled in a bag. Trying desperately not to go buying all the gear after just a few days on the pedals.

We're having some major work done on the A1 up here and eventually will be left with a service road that will be a mere 10 minute drive to work from home, which should be a 30 minute bike ride. My aim is to bike to work and start saving the £100 a month fuel bill (and the 400 mile a month milage to the car).