Sung to the tune of "On Top of Old Smoky"
On top of Mount Raymond
I sit here forlorn
My ticker is pounding
My quads are both torn
I pedalled for miles
As happy could be
That hill proved my cadence
Just wasn't to be
I start every morning
Intentions held high
But strike a good challenge
And away they do fly
Catweazle gets ragged
The strain soon does show
It's not what I want, but
What to do I don't know
My Fifty Plus friends will
Help me out I'm sure
It's joy out there riding
I want to do more
heh heh....
Here's the deal. As some of you are already aware, I'm a novice rider and I'm not adopting much of a 'scientific' approach to it. Nevertheless I've been doing a fair amount of reading up, and learning from what I've been reading. I've kinda got the hang of spinning those pedals faster than I was originally doing, and using the gears more effectively.
Over the past couple of weeks I've knocked up 400km, and for the "out there riding" component of that I've averaged about 21-22kph. I understand that's sorta OK for my level of experience and on a heavier and slower 'comfort bike'. I can only guesstimate my cadence, but I'd guesstimate it at around 70 to 75 or thereabouts, for the most part. It's definitely better than 60, and it's comfortable enough. I understand, from what I'm reading, that's rather OK too for a rider at my level of development.
So I'm happy enough, except for the fact that I find it awfully damned easy to lose that 'rhythm' when I'm confronted with a harder than usual challenge. When the wind gusts harder, or I come across a bit of a climb that's steeper than 'gentle', I'm finding that the rhythm has disappeared and I'm struggling, and it seems to happen without me even noticing. And it's hard work to get back to where I was.
I need to improve that, before I'm ready to venture further into territory where I want to ride. As mentioned, I don't really want to get too technical and 'professional' about it, and I'm not necessarily looking here for "the answer"! At present, I'm kinda feeling a bit too intimidated to head into the more specialised sections looking for advice too.
What I'm hoping is that some of you more experienced folk might see your way to having a chat about people in situations like mine, and thus help me get my head straight for confronting this little challenge
