Cycling noob

Babbit

I'm the exact opposite of a fit person, I'm overweight and I smoke. Just to get that out of the way :pac:

Basically I'd like a few tips about cycling in the great outdoors. Recently became unemployed and have now put that to good use, am cycling nearly ever day a minimum of 10 kms, somedays 15kms. I live in drumlin country so I take it handy up the hills (IE, I jump off and walk up the bigger ones, cycle up the smaller ones) so overall it takes my roughly an hour and a half or two hours - though I tend to stop for 20 minutes/half an hour at some scenic location, like a hilltop or a lake before I turn back on the route home. I can't say I'm in it to get extremely fit - my main motivation is to lose a bit of weight, build some leg muscle and generally feel a bit better about myself and get out of the house for a couple of hours every day.

Every day I take a backpack with A) a 1.5 litre bottle of water, 2 banana's and C) a Towel. I'm looking to up the average to 30km's a day (please bear in mind that I cycle all around the county, keep off main roads, cycle up small mountains and drumlins (If your familiar with Bragan up in North Monaghan you'll know what I mean) Therefore I was wondering what I would need to increase my energy intake significantly (I'm sure there are better foods than banana's) since I do get quite tired near the end of my cycle and whether I should be drinking some sports drink as opposed to just water.

Also, any psychological tips for getting up hills would be a bonus. With me its a matter of persuading myself to cycle up a big hill rather than any athletic impediment.

Cheers!

DirkVoodoo

Babbit wrote: »

Imy main motivation is to lose a bit of weight, build some leg muscle and generally feel a bit better about myself and get out of the house for a couple of hours every day.

No better reason to start really.

Might want to ditch the backpack for longer spins. I take one mountain biking, mainly because dirt on water bottles is not fun. Get two bottle holders and some proper water bottles. Although you are only carrying ~2.5Kgs, a bag restricts your breathing and ventilation, making it harder. I find cycling with a bag on my commute I am noticeably less effective if I go for harder efforts.

Worldwidecycles blog mentioned some very useful cycling tips recently, one of which was that spins under 2 hours you shouldn't need to eat anything. Given that you are starting from a lower fitness base you might just want to keep bringing the banana or a nutrigrain, but you will find that eating a proper meal before and after will be more beneficial in the long run.

I'm not a nutrition expert and I only know what works for me, so take my "advice" with a pinch of salt (drum roll please!).

Hills I do know a bit better now. Basically, for short sharp hills (~1km) you want to go hell for leather. Longer hills it's handy to start out in a lower gear than you feel you need, so your legs are spinning pretty easily. Try and visualize the climb in your head as 3 distinct phases, ramping up your effort and gearing in each phase. Basically, you don't want to go too hard at the start or when you begin to fatigue, you will find it harder to recover on a hill than on the flat. A friend of mine gave me a good tip: when you find you are struggling on a climb, use a "power word" to distract your thoughts and focus on cranking out the revs. I unimaginatively chose "power" as my word, so if I struggle I get my head down and every revolution mutter "power" to myself. It may be a waste of energy to the number cruncher, but I have found when I am straining mentally on a climb, it works a treat.

Remember, everyone suffers!

Trojan

Not everyone's cup of tea but I like music for motivation - listen to something with a fast beat that gives you a bit of a lift.

Fair play, great that you're getting out. Have you a bike computer? You can get one here for dead cheap. It's good for motivating if you're any way competitive - set yourself targets, e.g. distance or average speed, and try improve it day by day.

If you do need extra energy (and you really shouldn't on those distances) then jelly sweets of some sort are good.

doctor evil

Stick with the bananas, they are packed with complec carbohydrates so energy is released slowly,raisins are good too.

Lumen

It doesn't matter how slow you go up hills, but never ever stop part way up, or get off and walk.

Repeat this until you have fully internalised it.

If necessary buy some clipless road pedals; then you won't be able to walk even if you want to.

kennyb3

Lumen wrote: »

It doesn't matter how slow you go up hills, but never ever stop part way up, or get off and walk.

Repeat this until you have fully internalised it.

If necessary buy some clipless road pedals; then you won't be able to walk even if you want to.

totally agree with this. im a noob myself but i make sure i never ever stop on a hill. just suffer, its worth it when you get to the top. plus i like to sweat cause you know your working your body!!

Babbit

Thats all well and good but what about very steep hills? I worry that my bike chain will snap!

Lumen

Babbit wrote: »

Thats all well and good but what about very steep hills? I worry that my bike chain will snap!

Your legs will snap before your chain.

Babbit

Lumen wrote: »

Your legs will snap before your chain.

LOL, in my case thats almost a certainty. I don't know your situation or where you cycle about but drumlin country is a tough cycle unless 'you take it handy'. Although I'm extremely unfit.

short circuit

Babbit wrote: »

Thats all well and good but what about very steep hills? I worry that my bike chain will snap!

Once you snap your chain .... apply for employment to a professional cycling team. I know of one which are a sprinter short for the TDF campaign ...

ednwireland

your chain wont snap (well it might but that will be down to it being old or poor maintenance) not the hill.
i'm overweight (17st there i said it ) i'm doing 40k spins twice a week after work at about 22kmh weekend spins are upto 80 - 90 km at the weekends wveragingin aroound 18 to 20kmh. and i'm in donegal. just keep at it. (i think i have an advantage that i cycled a lot in my 20's and raced mtbs but let all that slip when i moved to donegal too much travel and work). but its a determined effort this year.
hows your gearing for the hills i actually swapped my road bike to a triple cos the knees arent great
just keep at it

DePurpereWolf

Babbit wrote: »

Thats all well and good but what about very steep hills? I worry that my bike chain will snap!

And what happens then?
Your hands will automatically pull in the brakes and your legs will just slip off and stand on the ground. There is a slight possibility that you will hurt your ankles or something. That's it. Breaking the chain is the least of your worries. (with a broken chain you can at least still go off the mountain)

I've broken my chain (poor quality chain) and I didn't even notice it, although it was while driving off on flats. It was like Wile E coyote, peddling but not going anywhere.

lescol

What age group are you? How much overweight, how many cigarettes/day, when did you last subject your body to exercise? Nobody would like to see you keel over with a coronary or stroke.

Be careful with your nutrition, it's easy to "reward" yourself for the effort of exercise thus negating its effect. As already mentioned a ride of the duration you are doing would not really need extra energy. If you want to lose weight its got to be fewer calories in than are being used.

Good advice on the hills so far. I used the "I'll get to the next pole" trick when I started and soon enough was able to climb the whole hill. Then the pain really begins as you learn to race up the hill to beat your previous best effort.

Give up the fags.

Sports drinks are full of sugars, isotonic of course, so for the amount you ride stick with the water or add in a little flavour. I know I'm not the only one who finds sports drinks too sweet and sickly.

For motivation set youself a goal, weight loss of x by x date, to complete Wicklow 100 next year etc.

Enjoy cycling, once the fitness improves cycling just gets better and better.

kennyb3

Babbit wrote: »

Thats all well and good but what about very steep hills? I worry that my bike chain will snap!

dont have that sort of attitude. plus keep to what you can take on. its like running, no point sprinting 200m if you wanna get fit. your better off doing 5km at a slow pace. same applies here. do 30 to 40km on the flat rather than one hill and been shattered

alfalad

First thing i would advise is to take a trip to the doctor to get checked out. Make sure that everything is as it should be!!

Then as you are being advised slow and steady, there are some tips here to help you on the hills, the main key is to spin not grind your way up a hill. For the sort of times that you are cycling, if you have a good breakfast before you go out a banana is as much as you will need! As dirk said to bottles on the bike are easier to carry and i'm sure there are plenty of shops that you can get a free refill of tap water along the way.

As you are starting from a low base, don't push to hard to fast, gradually increase you speed and distance as you go along. You want to be pushing yourself but not killing yourself!!

lukester

Lumen wrote: »

If necessary buy some clipless road pedals; then you won't be able to walk even if you want to.

The folks walking up Slieve Maan on the W200 would beg to differ.

petethedrummer

lescol wrote: »

Sports drinks are full of sugars, isotonic of course, so for the amount you ride stick with the water or add in a little flavour. I know I'm not the only one who finds sports drinks too sweet and sickly.

Half water/half lucozade sport is grand.