n00bie milestones

[oldnewby]

Well, I successfully survived my first 90km trip today

nice one wallaby, well done!

[CatCanRide]

Nice to read some more "achievable" sounding goals being kicked here.

Have to admit that once if someone had told me that I would be able to ride 50ks on my pushbike I would have laughed - but that is what I did yesterday. Enjoyed reading Troy's comment that he no longer feels stuffed after riding 50ks and has just completed 100. I flaked yesterday after my 50ks.

Things that have made my "yay - I've done that" list so far.
Being able to indicate that I'm turning right
Accumulating 500ks ridden
Riding up the short steep pinch on one of my regular routes that I had always died on
Completing 25, then 40 then 50ks in one ride
My heart rate monitor no longer telling me that I'm working out too hard on the bike
Being able to help another cyclist refit their chain.
Realising that I'm "only 18ks from home" (that used to be a BIG ride for me)
Looking at my legs and realising that they are beginning to acquire a cyclists tan.

Still to come:
1,000ks accumulated on my bike hopefully within this week.
75k ride
100k ride
Being brave enough to use cleats

Cat
(still working on a signature)

[wallaby]

Looking at my legs and realising that they are beginning to acquire a cyclists tan.

I can certainly relate to that one!!!

I certainly flaked after the 90kms yesterday, but happily can move around today, not feeling too bad! Or maybe its just because I didn't push hard enough!
It is nice to compare to other "most realistic goals" for us newbies - definately comes in handy! Reminds me of where I have come from, in a relatively short space of time. Imagine what I could do if I actually had time!

[iMad]

I DREAM of doing 90km, no 50km, no, no 30km.

I'm up to 27km 4-5 times per week after about 3 months with my new hybrid and only average 20-21 km/ph.
Haven't ridden for 20+ years and at 67 years of age and 40kg overweight to start with (lost 20 so far) I'm finding the going quite tough.
I'm enjoying it all though even allowing for all the niggling injuries.

I know my progress is extremely modest by most peoples reckoning but 30km is my short term goal and to be able to do a century ride my long term.

[CatCanRide]

Hey iMad, That's a pretty good average pace, I'm not sure what my average is, but it took me 3 hours to ride my 50ks. I guess that translates as "not that fast". (Probably around the 17k/hr mark).
If you just ride 1.5ks further from home by the time you get back you'll have your 30ks. lol It's how I've slowly been increasing my distance. A bit scary when you start thinking "but it's not that much further to . . . ." I've been riding now since about mid winter last year. Slowly increasing frequency and length of ride.

Wallaby, I sometimes wonder if it is our minds that get tired. I was too bushed to move when I got home from my 50k ride, but if I had the time today I could probably do it all again legs wise - my butt however I'm not so sure. I just want to know how long it takes the body to aclimatise to the longer rides. I didn't get saddle sore until after I started doing rides of 35+ks - have started wearing nicks now, but even that didn't save me on the 50K.

I think cycling is addictive. Heading up to Sydney to visit my mother for a week and the first thing on my packing list is my bike and bike gear.

Cat
(still working on a signature)

[wallaby]

I know what you mean Cat. I think half the time my mind gets tired and so my legs don't work anywhere near as hard as they could do and so things take longer to get somewhere. I certainly don't set any speed records myself, far from it (ave 20km/h yesterday), but yesterdays aim was to "just do it" - which was huge!. I feel like (especially after yesterdays ride) I am not sure really how lazy I am, given that I am actually capable of a long ride like that, so imagine what I should be able to push myself to on a shorter 20k ride (which is my commute, usually 1 per week if I can).

So thats my next challenge - is to actually hammer my next commute out and smash my times/averages and just see exactly what I may be capable of and really hurt myself - so the long ride has certainly helped my mindset, having achieved such a long ride which i never thought was honestly possible .

iMad - don't worry, I was so chuffed when I did a 30km ride the first time, as before bike riding I could never have imagined getting somewhere that far on my own steam (ie I could never have run that far or swum that far), so I guess cycling was a bit of a door opener. So the idea of being able to ride across the city and back is actually a realistic goal now. Like Cat said, just tack on a little bit more out-of-the-way roads, and you'll be doing 30 km before you know it. It was funny, I did a 55km group ride in November last year, and beforehand I actually hadn't ridden any further than 30-35km. So just because you haven't done it, doesn't mean you aren't capable of it either. Before yesterdays ride, the furtherest I had actually ridden was another 60km ride (and then I went and did another 30km on top of that - wow!!! )

[iMad]

Hey iMad, That's a pretty good average pace, I'm not sure what my average is, but it took me 3 hours to ride my 50ks. I guess that translates as "not that fast". (Probably around the 17k/hr mark).
If you just ride 1.5ks further from home by the time you get back you'll have your 30ks. lol It's how I've slowly been increasing my distance. A bit scary when you start thinking "but it's not that much further to . . . ." I've been riding now since about mid winter last year. Slowly increasing frequency and length of ride.

iMad - don't worry, I was so chuffed when I did a 30km ride the first time, as before bike riding I could never have imagined getting somewhere that far on my own steam (ie I could never have run that far or swum that far), so I guess cycling was a bit of a door opener. So the idea of being able to ride across the city and back is actually a realistic goal now. Like Cat said, just tack on a little bit more out-of-the-way roads, and you'll be doing 30 km before you know it. It was funny, I did a 55km group ride in November last year, and beforehand I actually hadn't ridden any further than 30-35km. So just because you haven't done it, doesn't mean you aren't capable of it either. Before yesterdays ride, the furtherest I had actually ridden was another 60km ride (and then I went and did another 30km on top of that - wow!!! )

Thanks guys for the encouragement
I think the thing that worries me most about longer rides just yet, is feeling like I did on today's ride.
Yesterday was hard and my fastest over the 27km and today I decided to do the same ride but easier. Well after about 15km I bonked big time, even level ground felt terribly hard. I ended up cutting it short by 1km because I was completely shot.
Another thing... I see larger groups of riders out some mornings and I think to myself how nice it must be to ride in a peleton (is it called a peleton on a social ride?), or maybe join a bike club and ride with others. The thing is, I only ride a Hybrid and I know from experience they're a good deal slower than Roadies. Being a competitive bugger, I wouldn't really want to be dropping out to a long last on every ride. When is the time to make the decision to ride with a group?

[AndrewBurns]

Hey iMad, That's a pretty good average pace, I'm not sure what my average is, but it took me 3 hours to ride my 50ks. I guess that translates as "not that fast". (Probably around the 17k/hr mark).
If you just ride 1.5ks further from home by the time you get back you'll have your 30ks. lol It's how I've slowly been increasing my distance. A bit scary when you start thinking "but it's not that much further to . . . ." I've been riding now since about mid winter last year. Slowly increasing frequency and length of ride.

iMad - don't worry, I was so chuffed when I did a 30km ride the first time, as before bike riding I could never have imagined getting somewhere that far on my own steam (ie I could never have run that far or swum that far), so I guess cycling was a bit of a door opener. So the idea of being able to ride across the city and back is actually a realistic goal now. Like Cat said, just tack on a little bit more out-of-the-way roads, and you'll be doing 30 km before you know it. It was funny, I did a 55km group ride in November last year, and beforehand I actually hadn't ridden any further than 30-35km. So just because you haven't done it, doesn't mean you aren't capable of it either. Before yesterdays ride, the furtherest I had actually ridden was another 60km ride (and then I went and did another 30km on top of that - wow!!! )

Thanks guys for the encouragement
I think the thing that worries me most about longer rides just yet, is feeling like I did on today's ride.
Yesterday was hard and my fastest over the 27km and today I decided to do the same ride but easier. Well after about 15km I bonked big time, even level ground felt terribly hard. I ended up cutting it short by 1km because I was completely shot.
Another thing... I see larger groups of riders out some mornings and I think to myself how nice it must be to ride in a peleton (is it called a peleton on a social ride?), or maybe join a bike club and ride with others. The thing is, I only ride a Hybrid and I know from experience they're a good deal slower than Roadies. Being a competitive bugger, I wouldn't really want to be dropping out to a long last on every ride. When is the time to make the decision to ride with a group?

Do you eat and drink before and during your rides? For 15km I wouldn't bother but for 30+ you should definitely be drinking and probably eating, you'll find that you'll nose-dive unless you keep your energy up when you ride longer distances. I once did a 70km ride in the morning before eating breakfast and I didn't take any food with me, by about 50km I was completely dead, think I was hypoglycaemic for a while that day.

As for the group rides, perhaps you could look up BUG's (bike user groups) in your area? They do group rides and tend to be slower and much easier for people without road bikes and experience. It certainly is a different thing riding with a fast group on a road bike, you can cover ground at higher speeds a lot easier than you can when solo because people share the load of wind resistance and it's a bit safer I think when on roads because it's much harder to not see a big group of cyclists. Perhaps once you've done some group rides with a BUG you'll feel like you want to get a road bike and maybe join a club, it's really dependant on what you want to do.

[wallaby]

iMad (I can't quote very well, so I won't even try )

I have only done 1 group ride and I learnt heaps from it in terms of riding in a group, watching the other riders on the road etc, however I still feel very conscious of how slow I was and still am, so am not quite ready to go to regular group rides just yet, until I get an average speed up and consistent.

I realised yesterday (when trying to follow someone) how inconsistent my speed and cadence is, so I am going to focus on that over the shorter distances and once I have that pinned down, then I will be able to hit up a group, knowing that my average IS 25km/h, rather than guessing and hoping (rather than yo-yoing all day long, which is what I did yesterday).

But there is no reason why you can't find a regular ride that will cater for your level of experience and pace (as long as they are willing!) and that way you can improve quickly with the safety and knowledge of others!

[iMad]

Do you eat and drink before and during your rides? For 15km I wouldn't bother but for 30+ you should definitely be drinking and probably eating, you'll find that you'll nose-dive unless you keep your energy up when you ride longer distances. I once did a 70km ride in the morning before eating breakfast and I didn't take any food with me, by about 50km I was completely dead, think I was hypoglycaemic for a while that day.

As for the group rides, perhaps you could look up BUG's (bike user groups) in your area? They do group rides and tend to be slower and much easier for people without road bikes and experience. It certainly is a different thing riding with a fast group on a road bike, you can cover ground at higher speeds a lot easier than you can when solo because people share the load of wind resistance and it's a bit safer I think when on roads because it's much harder to not see a big group of cyclists. Perhaps once you've done some group rides with a BUG you'll feel like you want to get a road bike and maybe join a club, it's really dependant on what you want to do.

Yes, two slices of wholegrain toast and a cup of tea. I always take 650ml water with a Zero re-hydration tablet dissolved and sometimes a Zero gel. Zero (in UK) reckon we should consume 3 energy gels each hour of intense physical activity.

Immediately on return I eat a banana and a peach or such. There's a bloke on here called Trailgumby that has helped me with this sort of thing. I will look up BUGS and see what it's all about. I'd like to ride with a friend. My son-in-law does triathlons and occasionally I ride with him but he's not available very often and far a stronger rider.

iMad (I can't quote very well, so I won't even try )

I have only done 1 group ride and I learnt heaps from it in terms of riding in a group, watching the other riders on the road etc, however I still feel very conscious of how slow I was and still am, so am not quite ready to go to regular group rides just yet, until I get an average speed up and consistent.

I realised yesterday (when trying to follow someone) how inconsistent my speed and cadence is, so I am going to focus on that over the shorter distances and once I have that pinned down, then I will be able to hit up a group, knowing that my average IS 25km/h, rather than guessing and hoping (rather than yo-yoing all day long, which is what I did yesterday).

But there is no reason why you can't find a regular ride that will cater for your level of experience and pace (as long as they are willing!) and that way you can improve quickly with the safety and knowledge of others!

Thanks again, I've increased my average speed considerably since starting riding in November. At first I was lucky to manage 14km/h and now I'm almost always over 20km/h (just ) Today, because I bonked, I was back to low 19's

[Downhill]

A milestone for me today. Completed my first 100 k ride after rediscovering cycling just over a year ago. Nothing special, I know, but it was still an achievement for me. And I enjoyed it too!

[oldnewby]

that's plenty special downhill, I know exactly how you feel, well done!

[brades68]

Milestone for me in a sense. I've climbed Mount Morgan (Central Qld) once before on a compact crankset about 2 years ago, yesterday i did it on a standard crankset (aka man gears ).

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/149194263

hurt like hills can only hurt - coming down was good though

Now i just have to man up to tackle Mt Archer in Rockhampton

Cheers
Mick

[Mrfenejeans]

A Milestone for me.

First ride to have a 32km/h Average speed, and was a 49km ride so pretty happy with that.

[Ken Ho]

Milestone for me in a sense. I've climbed Mount Morgan (Central Qld) once before on a compact crankset about 2 years ago, yesterday i did it on a standard crankset (aka man gears ).

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/149194263

hurt like hills can only hurt - coming down was good though

Now i just have to man up to tackle Mt Archer in Rockhampton

Cheers
Mick

Im coming back up to Gladdy soon, maybe we can organise something.

[Xplora]

Longest distance ever for me this morning, and for the week. 70km including the Rouse Hill ride around the airbase, and another 170 during the week. Gosh... 240km makes me sound like some hardcore dude

[Mrfenejeans]

My bike Avanti TDF Cadent i bought August 2011 has now done 5000Km's.

[CatCanRide]

Hey. Downhill - 100K ride. That's impressive - I wouldn't be talking that down. It's going to be a while before I do a ride that long.

Andrew - good comment re fueling the body. I think I will be needing to make a point of refueling the body halfway through my longer rides. May finish them not feeling quite so drained and exhausted. I'm not riding fast as yet, but am enjoying doing the k's.

Been up in Sydney for the past week - love the M7 bike path. Just wish that I could have dedicated a day to just riding and seeing how far along it I could have managed. Managed to click my odometer over to 1,000ks ridden while I was up in Sydney. Was so proude that I took a photo of my trip computer showing 1000. Now to work towards having 2000 ks ridden.

Mrfenejeans 5,000ks is only a dream for me at this stage of my riding career. Which raises the question - when do you no longer consider yourself to be a newbie at riding a bicycle?

Today purchased a second cage to add to my bike for better hydration on my longer rides. I suspect that I am addicted to this cycling.

[oldnewby]

longest ride I've done yesterday, 134km. Bikely says 131, cos I doubled back a few km to meet my dad for a coffee. 6hrs ride time, very happy with the day! http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/be ... ay-berwick

[lovemybike]

A milestone for me today. Completed my first 100 k ride after rediscovering cycling just over a year ago. Nothing special, I know, but it was still an achievement for me. And I enjoyed it too!

It is special! Did you think that you'd be able to do that a year ago? I know I didn't when I did my first 100kms. It is a really long way to ride a bicycle and while there's always someone who can go further/faster etc you're out there doing it and enjoying it Nothing special is sitting on the lounge watching the telly eating chips and drinking diet coke - anyone can do that!

[DavidTomic]

Nothing special is sitting on the lounge watching the telly eating chips and drinking diet coke - anyone can do that!

That reminds me ... I'm missing the cricket right now. Now where the hell did I leave those damn chips?

[waramatt]

My new milestone in 2012 is a 50k ride with 1000m elevation gain. I practiced today and did 30k with 590m elevation gain. Lots of fun. On google maps it looks like I spilled a bowl of spaghetti - lots of back-tracking and doubling up because where I live there is a shortage of decent hills. Ultimately I want to do the 165k ride at Fitz's Challenge that has 2300m elevation gain but reckon that will be in 2013.

Well done to all the noobs who are knocking off milestones. I reckon it keeps you motivated, fresh and feeling good.

[lovemybike]

Nothing special is sitting on the lounge watching the telly eating chips and drinking diet coke - anyone can do that!

That reminds me ... I'm missing the cricket right now. Now where the hell did I leave those damn chips?

Onya bike Don't forget the diet coke - it cancels out the chips!

[AndrewBurns]

Keen to try out the new rollers I sat down and had a nice low intensity spin session for half an hour, trying to smooth out my pedal stroke which at the moment is very choppy. Managed to kick my bike's clock over 1000 km too, "Hongfu FM039" going strong!

Also managed to fall off when I tried to stand up in the saddle on the rollers, the resistance really isn't high enough I find, as soon as I stand up I'd need to be spinning really hard to feel anything at all. Luckily I just fell of the back of the rollers and not completely over

[oldnewby]

Well done to all the noobs who are knocking off milestones. I reckon it keeps you motivated, fresh and feeling good.

agree wholeheartedly