Newbie Cycling Achievements

fizzyorange

No more achievements as of yet (except maybe that I managed to lower my saddle even more, after the lad at the bicycle shop said it couldn't be done I'd just have to get a new bike :cool: )

Just wanted to say fair play to everyone here! Reading through some of the comments and I'm amazed how far some of you have come in such short amounts of time! Keep it up lads.

mel.b

The Master. wrote: »

Its a wild hunger you get after a long spin. I remember after going Dublin to Belfast i tried to eat a snickers and the back of my throat was hurting from my stomach wanting it!!
This seems like the right thread to ask this in as the serious cyclists probably dont suffer with this but ive been doing 50-60k spins lately on the mountain bike and getting terrible sore arse. Is it better to have a rock hard saddle and your hole get used to it quicker or pad it out? My bike seat now is pretty wide with a quite a lot of give in it and i wouldnt mind swapping it out for something more roadish as i had a road bike before and cant remember feeling as sore as this!!
What are yous all using? Eg padded pants, gel covers razor blades!!

Def padded shorts and also try swapping the saddle.

Crow92

t'bear wrote: »

I thought I took leave of my senses yesterday. After a chill few hours in Tayto
Park with family I boarded my bike for a spin. Back of my mind was my 100k cherry to be popped. Forecast was a little dodgy but went on my way , almost 50k in , around balbriggan it started but bucket down, I was well drenched but not uncomfortable so kept motoring. I knew my way around on a map so headed home via walshestown not far from the naul (hillsville) but had to dismount on the way in. Hill just too steep. Kept going to rathbeale road and with 10k to go was well and truly miserable. Knackered, wet in every place possible,and Hungary and thirsty......just snailed my way home into a very hot and very long shower. Distance was 88k with a **** avg due to my walk up that hidden walshestown hill. Pb for distance but what a crap day to do it...better planning required next time out. Wife called off men in white coats she she saw me dragging my arse in the door. Strangely I want to go back out today but has decided this was a recovery day.

Fair play, nothing can demolise more than rain or a bit of wind in your face.
A recovery day is key I slept for 15 hours last night:cool:

STI V5

Some good stuff on here !! not officially a bike newbie just yet as i only ordered the new bike on thursday !! cube reaction sl .. cant wait its been 20yrs since i was on a decent mtb bike .. Il have to get the wife to follow me home from the bikeshop with a stretcher on the roof-rack and tank of oxygen in the boot !! HAHA !!! Any advice on any good tracks or spins to get started back on .. preferably dublin mountain area ! thanks

t'bear

The Master. wrote: »

Its a wild hunger you get after a long spin. I remember after going Dublin to Belfast i tried to eat a snickers and the back of my throat was hurting from my stomach wanting it!!
This seems like the right thread to ask this in as the serious cyclists probably dont suffer with this but ive been doing 50-60k spins lately on the mountain bike and getting terrible sore arse. Is it better to have a rock hard saddle and your hole get used to it quicker or pad it out? My bike seat now is pretty wide with a quite a lot of give in it and i wouldnt mind swapping it out for something more roadish as i had a road bike before and cant remember feeling as sore as this!!
What are yous all using? Eg padded pants, gel covers razor blades!!

I removed the bontranger off my road bike and replaced with a standard brooks b17' not a razor blade but pure leather which breaks it to the shape of your arse after a few hundred Km. how is it? Well on my longest spin yet on Saturday I was in o pain at all. I was too wet and miserable to notice. Haha.
Make sure your sit bones are getting full support from the large area on the saddle and stay off the nose of it. Takes a bit of getting used to as its very skippy and must be fitted horizontally. Bought mine in Fitzgerald cycles

monkeypants

Only been cycling since the end of January and managed to make it as far as Galway on Saturday from Swords. Was a great day until just before Athenry, when it started raining and combining that with the splash from the road and passing traffic took some of the joy out of it.

Back on the bike (different bike) this morning for the spin into work. Was feeling grand yesterday and today.

Kilkenny14

I managed to cycle 3 50km trips back to back over 3 days for the first time. I used my watch for timing but the average speed on all three trips was around 16km per hour.

Hopefully I can improve on that time once my body gets used to it.

njburke

>t'bear: Did the same with that marvel of biomechanical engineering sold as the bontrager flex saddle,I swapped it out for a brooks b17. The bontrager seems to have been designed to deliver 'comfort' by turning bits of my anatomy numb, significant bits.

In keeping with the thread, I'll contribute a milestone rather than an achievement. I didn't buy my usual 20 litres of diesel last week and still got in to work in good time. I didn't cycle on Friday, mixture of the weather and un cooperative kids. I even did a spin to tesco and loaded the panniers. To be honest I still feel pretty pleased about that even though I didn't cycle for the full week, actually looking forward to the spin in tomorrow.

Seweryn

njburke wrote: »

>To be honest I still feel pretty pleased about that even though I didn't cycle for the full week, actually looking forward to the spin in tomorrow.

I feel a bit sorry I did not cycle for the last two days at all. I did not drive either, which balances things out . However, these two days break happened after using a bike for about two weeks day after day. I still feel guilty somehow and I am going on the bike today.

I cycled to work through the winter and I have to say that the weather is somehow disappointing these days. I would expect the summer to kicks in by this time, but there are days not much nicer or warmer than we had in January to be honest.

amcalester

Suffered my first fall yesterday, was aiming for my first 70k but fell at about 30k in crap weather and decided to head for home. Ended up doing 50k.

No major damage done just a little road rash and a slightly dead arm. Going to do the 70K this weekend instead.

ronanc15

Not much of an achievement but I picked up my first roadbike today. A Giant Defy 3. Always have been use to older mountain bikes. Never would have imagined there would be such a difference.

I opted for proper cycling shoes and pedals and Im delighted to say I got the hang of them immediately.

Took the bike out for a short spin and Im loving it! Well and truly bitten by the bug now! cant wait to start clocking up the KM

Wishbone Ash

Does anyone feel nauseous during a long spin? It usually happen me at approximately 70/80kms mark and lasts for about 10kms - then goes away again.

t'bear

I felt quite unwell on my last 90k spin, it wasn't the damp,by the time I was done it was 6 hours earlier that I ate last and for about an hour I felt I could not eat anything, so not sick as such, but kinda knotted feeling in the stomach, once it passed I ate like a horse. Never had it before and that was my longest spin out

Lumen

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Does anyone feel nauseous during a long spin? It usually happen me at approximately 70/80kms mark and lasts for about 10kms - then goes away again.

One of the riders in this weekend's Rás Dhun na nGall stage race puked over himself and another rider whilst going up a climb on the final stage.

He carried on going and finished in the bunch.

Mr Benevolent

monkeypants wrote: »

Only been cycling since the end of January and managed to make it as far as Galway on Saturday from Swords. Was a great day until just before Athenry, when it started raining and combining that with the splash from the road and passing traffic took some of the joy out of it.

Back on the bike (different bike) this morning for the spin into work. Was feeling grand yesterday and today.

I'm a complete newbie and that is amazing. How long did it take? And how did you get back?

monkeypants

Confab wrote: »

I'm a complete newbie and that is amazing. How long did it take? And how did you get back?

8 hours to get there. Could have been done faster, but I was trying to keep something in reserve as it was 60 miles further than I'd ever gone before. The missus came down later in the day, so I stuck the bike in the back of the car for the return journey. Gutted that the weather today was so good when yesterday was so ****e. Went for a quick spin up Howth Hill this evening. Set no records, even for myself, but it was a good evening out.

Loving the wee pic of the Galway trip on the Strava dashboard. Normally they look quite local, but this one has almost a full map of Ireland in it with a red journey line across it. :cool:

SerialComplaint

I tried out a new route up Three Rock Mountain today, trying some tracks to the south of the rifle range. Tough going, with streams of water pouring down the tracks following the last few days of rain. Some of these tracks weren't really meant for cycling - the horses were doing a lot better than me. I was very relieved to get back onto a gravel road!

Here's a little snippet of some of the conditions;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hhqtLd1I1E

mel.b

Big big (and long!) day for me today...I finally completed my first 100Km ride - in fact it was 120km:D:D

It was a perfect day for it out in midwest - blue sky and barely any wind at all. I set off from Tuamgraney and completed a Lap of Lough Derg (in anticlockwise direction, which I think is easier:P)

Moving time was 6hrs 11min for an average speed of just under 20km/hr and total time out was 9hrs:eek: During the first part of the cycle I stopped to take quite a few photos which I'll post up in the cycle photo thread later. I know I completed the last 80odd km in 4hrs 13hr moving with an extra 1hr 15min of stops on top of that.

I had mapped it on ridewithgps and it gave total elevation of around 1000m, however when I put it into runkeeper it is just 658m, so I'm a little dissapointed with that:(

Been off the bike now for an hour and a half and I've still got a numb index finger on my left hand so I'm going to have to look at the fit. I think i am compensating in some way for the reduced range of movement in my left elbow after breaking it.

But yay!

Pembily

Did 60km today on a (my opinion -really) hilly route. Timing wasn't great, 15/16kph but it's my longest cycle and the hills were constant.

Also had my first proper fall onto the road, but I unclipped and the guy I was with gave me a gel and got me on sorted out. Grazed knee but that's all.

zing

Also did my first 60k today. Fairly flat route though. Not entirely sure why but I found it hard at the start - probably a combination of the bit wind at the time (which I was of course heading into) and I was finding it hard to get warm - but I settled into it soon enough and enjoyed it. Strange feeling when you realise you're arms are half asleep from being in the one position for so long and you need to hit the breaks suddenly. Avg speed was only 23.5kph which isn't great but it's now the target to beat on that route

bitemybanger

Broke the 100km with a bang today, ended up 126km in a little over 5 hrs.
Belfast city up along the Antrim coast to Carnlohugh and back to Belfast.
Beautiful cycle, sun was in and out and the rain held off all day, even got a bit of colour:D bit windy tho.
It was a fund raiser for my mates brother.
Signed up for the 100km leg of the Meath heritage cycle so looking forward to that.

ronanc15

Much less of a milestone for me but I set out on just my second cycle to date. Still getting used to the style of a road bike so did a nice handy 18km route locally. Only 24km/h but I had plenty left in the tank.

Gears slipping a bit so need to tighten and tune everything up, then its onwards to break some barriers

sav1980

I did my longest cycle to date today - 70km in 2hrs 54mins, wasn't pushing too hard, wanted to build up distance rather than concentrate on speed. Feel good after it.

Cee-Jay-Cee

1st spin today. Havent been on a bike since 1997 and even that was only a 4km commute to work in dublin on a mainly level route. Anyway being totally unfit i picked a turn around point and stuck to it. so:

Distance 13.2km. Time:35min. Av Speed: 22.6km.

Plenty of room for improvement but its a start.

Bigus

CJC999 wrote: »

1st spin today. Havent been on a bike since 1997 and even that was only a 4km commute to work in dublin on a mainly level route. Anyway being totally unfit i picked a turn around point and stuck to it. so:

Distance 13.2km. Time:35min. Av Speed: 22.6km.

Plenty of room for improvement but its a start.

I thinkmyou're missing the point !

Did you ever go for a cycle without figures and just take in what's goin on around you. .?

cr17

Hey all. Newbie here too. Back on a road bike for first time in years and very much enjoying getting out as much as i can to explore and also to set new distance and time goals. Been at it 3 weeks now and got my longest spin of 50 km done yesterday morning. Going to try add 10k every week. Have a goal of doing a sportive (e.g 120k ) at end of summer.
Took my first good tumble yesterday too. No exactly sure what happened, was taking a sip of water on a quiet stretch of road (slightly uphill so wasn't moving too fast) and the next thing i was flying over the bars and on to the grass to my left rather than the road which was nice. Sore elbow and shoulder but was up straight away to check my new bike was ok. Helmet took a knock too so very glad of it and recommend all newbies to wear one, whatever the scenario. Also don't forget the spare tube, pump and levers. The crash left me with a puncture too or was possibly cause of crash but delighted to have the gear with me to fix it although it took a bit longer to do as i left the levers at home and was using all sorts of stuff that i found roadside to to the job, keys, twigs etc

But will be back out this evening for a spin. Love it.

macnab

I started cycling in October 2010 with the goal of commuting to work (Summerhill in Meath to Ringsend in Dublin) in less than 90 mins each way.
The trip is over 44km each way. I broke 90min for the spin into work early last year due to it being mostly down hill after the Mullagh(+272m/-352m). Yesterday I cycled home in less than 90min for the first time, actually I did it in 86min 12sec. I am aiming for sub 80min now:eek:.

Yi Harr

Yesterday gave me a whole load of newbie cycling achievements.

Completed my 1st century of the season.
Completed my 1st ever double century.
1st time up Sallys Gap, Sliabh Mann and Shay Eliott.

One of the biggest decisions I've faced in a long time was whether to head left for the 100km or right for the 200km at Rocky Valley.

Am quite surprised in myself that I managed to finish the W200, granted it took me quite some time.

Expected to be a lot sorer today then I am but tomorrow will probably be a different story.

cdaly_

CJC999 wrote: »

1st spin today. Havent been on a bike since 1997 and even that was only a 4km commute to work in dublin on a mainly level route. Anyway being totally unfit i picked a turn around point and stuck to it. so:

Distance 13.2km. Time:35min. Av Speed: 22.6km.

Plenty of room for improvement but its a start.

Bigus wrote: »

I thinkmyou're missing the point !

Did you ever go for a cycle without figures and just take in what's goin on around you. .?

Ah (s)he's not. If you're cycling to improve fitness, tracking your distance/time is well worthwhile. As fitness improves, there'll be plenty of opportunity to take in the scenery etc...

Cee-Jay-Cee

Bigus wrote: »

I thinkmyou're missing the point !

Did you ever go for a cycle without figures and just take in what's goin on around you. .?

I zero'd the computer before i left and looked at it when I returned home. I spent most of the time looking into fields that I pass every day in the car but have never actually seen for obvious reasons. Tracking my times/speed gives me something to improve on each time i go out.