Hi everyone! I commute 50 to 75 miles a week. I have been doing this since March. The thing is my legs are always sore. I expected it for the first month or so but not this long. I do think I am getting faster. I started at an average of 9 miles an hour and now up to 13 miles an hour.

My question is is this normal? Should I peddle slower?? Should I peddle harder to get stronger??

I am just hoping to get to a point where it is relatively easy to do my commute while tackling my hills at 8 miles per hour. Just wondering if that day will ever come.

Nah you're good man. The more you eat & stretch between rides the better the recovery. Pedaling, typically it depends on 1) terrain 2) distance 3) personal style. Most cyclists will say to pedal easier gears for 60-90 cadence. Hills 80-90 is good. Easy gears means you're working you heart and lungs more, saving your legs (glycogen) for more hills or longer distance. Higher cadence = more power. Harder gears help work on strength good for building speed on flats. Though generally, cyclists time trialling will still pedal those gears at a cadence of ~90. So the short answer is pedal with what style feels comfortable and works on building higher cadence. Cheers

Seat too low or gear too high possibly. Stay hydrated and having a decent diet can help. Stretching and a solid rest day or two also.

Rest days?

I've been commuting around 60 miles a week for 8 years now and my experience is soreness comes and goes though there's really two issues: pain and soreness.

Pain or muscle stiffness: is directly related to flexibility and bike fit. There's periods of time where something will hurt or be sore. The single best thing for that has been yoga and/or taking breaks from riding.

Soreness: is from muscles being tired. There's periods where I can ride 7 days a week and never really be sore and times where I really need to avoid riding on the weekends to give the muscles time to rest. I doubt this ever fully goes away. I suspect that if I was very conscious of taking it easy all week I could make sure it didn't happen, but sometimes you just need to go fast.

Take care,

Rob

90bpm! Spin those pedals. That really helped me make it to work quicker and feeling fresher with less recovery time. So try using lower gears and higher cadence. Unless you are running a SS. Then I guess just get used to it.

*Edit: Read my signature

Usually I ride two days rest one and then ride the third. Two days off I might ride a bit.

Seat is good and I lowered the front gears so it should be good too.

One of America's most famous bike racers once said, "It doesn't get easier; you just go faster!" And you are seeing that.

Several suggestions: Leg massages, perhaps with one of those massage sticks. I haven't used them, but I used to race and learned good deep massage years ago. Don't ride the same pace every day. Include some deliberately easier days. This includes going up that hill. Be sure you are riding at a high enough RPM. Riding at RPMs of say 60 to 70 is setting yourself up for what you describe. Sticking to 90 - 100 is far easier on the muscles and as good or better for your cardiovascular fitness. (You may find that you want some form of foot retention as you pick up your pedal RPM if you are not already using it. Toeclips or clipless pedals and shoes or platforms with the pins.)

Congratulations for sticking it 'till now. Try some of these suggestions. Keep riding. It will get faster, better, maybe hurt less depending on the speed thing and for sure: more fun.

Ben

Thanks for your input on spinning those peddles and also to Valleyrider! I have been trying to spin faster but don't have a cadence counter so I might try spinning faster than I am. I have some nasty hills on my ride, something around 5 to 7%. Nasty for me anyway.

I've got hills like that too, and I also don't have a cadence counter thinger. My solution was to put my watch in a place I could see the seconds tick by while riding and time it so I was pedaling 60bpm, one rotation per second. Once I figured how that felt, I knew that I had to pedal 1.5 times that fast to reach 90bpm, and now I try to keep it at least there, especially on my hills. You don't need to spend the money on computers if you don't want to and won't use it for much.

Just enjoy the ride and the freshness at work.

I was initially advised to pedal in harder gears (more effort per stroke, so lower cadence), but I went with the majority advice, which is to pedal in easier gears (less effort per stroke, so higher cadence). I found that this did improve my stamina noticeably. I've noticed that quite often when I'm cruising in the easier gears, the pedals almost spin by themselves, so that my legs are hardly doing anything at all. I ride with platform pedals so I do sometimes shift to a harder gear if the pedals are spinning a bit too fast, causing my feet to start slipping.

The benchmark for a cadence of 90 is the song "Stayin Alive" (this tip from CPR class). Each beat should be one full revolution=left+right pedal stroke, so for instance "Ah Ah Ah Ah Stayin Alive" each Ah and Stayin might be a left; and rights inbetween, and "Alive". Or vice versa, but I personally feel that my left foot is my downbeat foot (whether riding or walking or jogging).

Up steep hills, once you granny out you probably won't be able to maintain 90, I know I don't. At that point it's just hard and you do what you can to keep moving uphill and not fall over.

Do you go all out every day? I have had to learn than I cant hammer every ride 5 days a week. I think that does not give your legs time to recover. For me I also found eating some extra protein really helps with the recovery. Finally when I am really feeling soreness in my legs two things. I would roll then out with a foam roller. it makes a huge difference for me. I would be very intentional in my hydration. Drinking water on the way in. 2 20z bottles during the day and one on the way home.

I usually average 130-140 miles a week.

My wife has a wooden roller that she swears by for muscle soreness. I use it occasionally, and it does seem to help a lot.

Bike pics and set up? Gearing and tires used?

As others have said, bike fit and rest. Since last fall, I've rode over 2000 km. It's not much I know, but for me it's quite a bit considering the fact that I just started cycling and work a physical job. I got to a point where I was just burned out. I took the bus to work for a week and stayed off the bike completely. I eventually felt better.

Care to extrapolate on what you did with the front gears? Also, I trust you on the seat, but I also trust myself. But guess how I was riding for awhile on my beater commuter without realizing it? With the seat too low!

My bike had been stolen by a short little ****er, but recovered the next day, and the seatpost was slammed down. I also changed the saddle as soon as I got it back. I didn't realize I had re-set it too low, but because I have a shorter commute now (~3 miles), I rode that way for awhile with little negative effect. Then I had a longer day off, running across town a few times, bringing my gf lunch, visiting old friends, etc... and finally at my midnight ride home my thighs were SCREAMING at me in a way I haven't felt in a long time.

I have also had road bikes ridden for a while with decent fit only to go and make minute saddle adjustments to very good results.

OP, you didn't mention what shape you were in before you started riding, so I'll assume that you were in average shape and were not exercising regularly.

My advice is to get some added exercise for your legs. Every morning, I do 10 reps of stair climbs on the basement stairs. It only takes a minute or two, but I notice an improvement in leg strength.

I was going to suggest a foam roller too but a thick wooden dowel works pretty well. I have even used a wooden rolling pin, like the kind used for rolling out pie crusts, and it works really well also. Regardless of what is used, some kind of rolling really helps, IMO.

Mmm... Pie...

Work out your legs off the bike too, foam roller, take good rest days, get plenty of sleep, and drink way more water than you think you need. Eat good proteins too, it helps keep what you earned. Try riding longer/more difficult rides on your way home too, it can make your commute seem much easier.

Take a break. Seriously.

When I started out, my legs ached all the time. I took a week off, ate lots of protein, and my legs stopped aching. They haven't ached since, and I've been riding 5 days a week for 3 years.

Yeah I bet a kitchen rolling pin would work too, my wife's is a ridged massage tool like this one. That says 'foot' but she uses it on calves and quads.

Since people have been asking for photos and asking about what changes I have done here it is.


Here is the bike. Its a basic model 2014 Scott Metrix 40


Here is the cassette. It is 34 to 11. (8 speed)


Here is the new crank. The old was a 48/38/28. This new one is a 42/32/22. Crank arm use to be 175 but I reduced that to 170. It seems to make it easier to spin.



This is the tire tread.


Tires are Schwalbe Spicers. They came with the bike.

Toe clips. I can use regular shoes this way.

As for using a roller foam or wood that is an idea I had not thought of. My main question is whether this is something everyone experiences? Perhaps it is. I plan to one day reach a point that I am satisfied with the level of strength I obtain. It just seems harder than I thought but I have seen progress.

Good pics. Looks like you've done pretty much all you can, equipment-wise, and all that's left is working on the engine. Suggestions above about riding hard/easy sometimes, massage with rollers, etc, will hopefully help you out!