Beginner hitting 'reality' :)

[drivin_me_nuts]

So there was me.. bimbling along the seafront in my my normal 'it's a marathon not a sprint' kinda way yesterday afternoon when I happened to be overtaken by a group of more committed riders.

What the heck, I've been doing this for a while now so I thought i'd tag along and see how long I could last for.

20+mph for about 8 minutes was my lot into a headwind. I have no idea if they were being at all serious, but they were grinding and I was spinning and at the end I ran out of lungs.

I'm not sure which side of me wins at the moment: the bit that says '8 feckin minutes is that all you could do', or the bit that says 'this time next year you'll be stronger and you'll be able to keep up longer.'


It's not so much that reality bites, it's more that it spins the lungs out of you.

Mind you, it has motivated me to find a group of novice rides to go our with. Can anyone recommend a group around Brighton who won't point and laugh at the wheezy old almost 50 something trying to keep up at the back

Cheers,

DMN

[SHutchinson]

A few weeks ago I ended up turning onto a long straight road at the same time as a fellow cyclist that had approached from the opposite direction. As it was one of my first times out on my new carbon bicycle I thought it would be reasonably interesting to see my performance relative to this unknown cyclist. He pulled away pretty quickly and kept pulling away until ultimately I couldn't see him any longer. He looked like he knew what he was doing, had all of the kit and everything. I resigned myself to the knowledge that a much better cyclist on a set of fresh legs (as surely he'd only just left the house) would reasonably be expected to outperform a inexperienced newbie such as myself.

I got home and looked at Strava flyby. He'd cycled 106 miles at the point we approached each other and was heading back to his house that was about a mile past mine. Presumably he was just coasting at that point.

Ah well, I don't like cycling that much anyway! I let him win, and all that!!

[Hackney]

In your situation I wouldn't have been spinning. A lot of people will tell you spinning's best but you have to do what feels right in any given situation.

[WinstonWolf]

Were you drafting them or trying to keep up from a short distance? Huge difference in the amount of effort required if you're not in the peleton

[JuniorD]

DMN the only difference between you and those lads is a year's training.

[deeen]

20 mph is not necessary unless you want to go racing... how about going out at 15 mph and enjoying yourself?

I found a club (Crawley Wheelers) that have a range of different groups that go out at different speeds and levels, there are a number of keen racers in the club so someone could work their way up through the groups to the fastest level if they wanted to. Maybe there is a similar club in / near Brighton?

It's about enjoying the ride, for me, with the hills as the challenges.

[richardxjr]

WinstonWolf said:

Were you drafting them or trying to keep up from a short distance? Huge difference in the amount of effort required if you're not in the peleton

This.


I don't like riding in groups (of more than a few mates anyway). Intermediate club runs often involve far too much faffing from what I've heard/seen - and the fast group is too full on for me.

[okgo]

deeen said:

20 mph is not necessary unless you want to go racing... how about going out at 15 mph and enjoying yourself?

I found a club (Crawley Wheelers) that have a range of different groups that go out at different speeds and levels, there are a number of keen racers in the club so someone could work their way up through the groups to the fastest level if they wanted to. Maybe there is a similar club in / near Brighton?

It's about enjoying the ride, for me, with the hills as the challenges.

What about if you want to get fitter? 20 mph on the flat is not slow, but equally its not reserved for racers.

OP - Brighton Mitre are a fairly big club.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Never underestimate drafting!

Ive been trying to catch up with my club who were all hugging each others wheels after a piss stop and it once took me 2 miles, when I caught them and latched on the last guy they felt like they were hardly moving and it was really easy!

Joining a club really helped with the mundane longer rides that I used to get bored stless on my own

[scubadude]

SHutchinson said:

I resigned myself to the knowledge that a much better cyclist on a set of fresh legs (as surely he'd only just left the house) would reasonably be expected to outperform a inexperienced newbie such as myself.

I got home and looked at Strava flyby. He'd cycled 106 miles at the point we approached each other and was heading back to his house that was about a mile past mine. Presumably he was just coasting at that point.

FWIW I find I'm fastest in the 2-4hr window of a long ride, the first hour is just warm up :-)

I did a century in the summer to around and from the rain soaked RideLondon, the 15miles back to the hotel at the end of the day with a slight tailwind running from the thunder storm where the fastest, 25mph average through east London trying to avoid getting wet :-)

Strava flyby/activity checker thing is great but can be alittle depressing. I went out specifically to get under an hour from my town to the next as its a long and rarely done segment. Did it by a good margin and knew I would be top 3. Rode home and checked, turned out that about 2miles behind me the whole time was a group on a 125mile ride who all got there 30seconds quicker than me and pushed me to 11th! Bugger.

[Craikeybaby]

I was expecting this thread to be more like my experience at the weekend on my first MTB ride from home, I got rained on, stung/scratched by the undergrowth and picked up a pucture - can't wait to do it again though!