My bike workout in the last week.
 

I have rode my bike for 3 days in 1 week

The first day was last thursday tried to do 5 miles on the highway
FAILED
I only made it 2 miles before my legs gave out my heart hurt and i passed out almost on the highway falling off my bike.
No one stopped for me not even the cops or ambulence that drove past.


The next time was monday (when my legs stopped killing me so badly
This time I tried for 3 miles around town because I didnt want to push it.
FAILED
I only made it about 2.7miles around town and had to stop for a halfhour and walk back.
It was hard to push myself. made it to a pharmacy and bought a TON of icy heats to put on my legs (p.s. they do work but not instantlly)

That brings us to today.
I Decided ok i will try 3 miles again as my goal because I almost made it last time.
Success
I made it 3 miles and my legs didnt hurt.
But i flipped over my handlebars hitting my head on the sidewalk ripping my pants (dont ask how)


So all in all for this bike riding thing i will one day be able to bike more and more and hopfully have a nice casual 5 mile bike ride and have fun doing it.
Untill then I need to work on the fact its been years and need to take it slow.

How is my first time in 4 years gone you think?

Well, you can't say its boring.

Nice job persevering. Seems like you're making progress. And now you've learned what NOT to do. Hope your head's ok.

its sore not much blood helmet broke in half through so thats a bummer lol

After looking back at OP's previous posts I have come to the conclusion that either he has more drama per minute than anyone I know, or, as someone else opined, we're all the subjects of some sort of bizarre internet study.

Either your roads are super hilly, you're riding in the wrong gears, your bike doesn't fit you, or you're really really out of shape. I hadn't ridden in 10 years and was able to do 5 miles without much effort.

And you can't say that you flipped over the handlebars and not tell the story. :(

My first bike ride as an adult was about the same. Two miles as fast as I could on a 30lb mtb with full suspension and I thought I was going to die. The next day, it was 8 miles, but slowly. Then 25. Then I got a road bike and it all got good :-) Keep at it!

Clearly you are a natural!

The desire to be a rider I think is the most important thing and clearly you have that. So take it slow, it's not a race. What is right for you is what's important. Baby steps my man. Good on you for going for it!

Keep us posted.

seriously, just read some of his posts.. can't be real.

I hear good things about yoga.

No
they arent hilly, and idk what gear to do i got gear 1 speed 7 or something like that
The bike is the bigbest adult size 26 i admit i could lose weight (if bike riding can even help that)

As far as flipping over i was riding and a car went straight through a stop sign so i slammed on both breaks flipped over and caught my pants on something cause now the butt in my pants is gone

Im trying but i work so many wierd random days now that I cant go to work sore
I am going to be posting results from strava everytime i ride as a way of keeping it posted and we shall see how i do from there.

Sounds like you need to get back in shape. Take it slow and gradually build up your fitness. No point having a heart attack over it. Also work on your eating habits. You won't lose weight through exercise alone.

im eating healthy n drinking water
is bike riding a good weight loss way or no

Yes, although it depends on your pace. But it sounds like you're working pretty hard, not just coasting along at the minimum necessary to keep upright. Given your state of fitness, maybe you should be doing biking and walking an alternate days. Walking at a fast pace for an hour burns a substantial amount of calories and has benefits in terms of strength and aerobic fitness.

the average speed came out to 12.0 MPH

im trying to be healthy :)
TRYING

It sounds like you are in pretty poor physical condition and significantly overweight. Okay, that can be changed.

For weight loss - the hard truth is, nothing really works for weight loss except eating a lot fewer calories. 1 hour cycling at 12 mph on flat ground/no wind might burn 300 calories; that is 1 bagel, or 1 donut, or 2 slices of bread, any of which takes only a couple minutes to eat. You could ride your bike for 4 hours straight, but 15 minutes in McDonalds would undo all your work. None of us can out-ride our mouths. If you don't make a very major change in your diet, you can ride that bike for a year and not lose weight.

For improving your physical condition, in particular your heart and lungs, cycling works well. You will want to start slowly - considering how poor your current condition seems to be, you should consult a doctor before starting an exercise program. As suggested, when you do start exercising, you might start by walking and taking easy rides, don't do anything hard yet. Eventually you should ride at least every other day, preferably every day. Long rides are good, but short intense rides are good too - even just 20 minutes of hard riding with your heart rate high is good. But not yet! - right now, I don't think you should get your heart rate "high", I think that would be too risky.

I suggest that you ask about this in the Clydesdales and Athena forum. There are folks there who are taking exactly the same journey you are, and they may have more to add. Your topic has nothing to do with Commuting.

:roflmao2: you're killing me

12mph is too fast for you. I can't even imagine how out of shape you must be if you can't ride 3 miles on the first attempt. My guess is you went to max heart rate rightaway, and your body panicked. 12mph in low wind conditions is about 130W of power output on a mountainbike. Walking briskly is about 100W, so you should aim for that until you feel good about it. That means no more than 10mph, less if there is wind (even a sidewind slows you down).

Ride safely without distractions (dedicated bike path if you can) until you are absolutely at home in the saddle. You can die easily in traffic if you can't panick stop without going over the bars.

Good luck!

Keep at it and don't worry about your average speed. Fitness takes time and requires changes in lifestyle and diet, but you'll be glad that you did it. There are all sorts of cyclists who struggled when they first started and got fit enough over time to ride centuries and increase their speed.

lol

How did painting your tires go?

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...se-things-work

The chronicles of BubbaX

I dont feel 12MPH is to fast though....
Im over 6'5
230 now (lost 10 pounds or gained it back idk its been 1 week).
Probally paniaced and went to fast since i tend to freak out easily
so i should go less then 10mph?
I do but theres no bike paths in my town and i am sure i can die in traffic


Thanks

Yes, if you can barely bike 5 miles, you're going too fast. Lower speeds, longer rides for you. When you're trying to get into shape, maxing out your heartrate for short bursts is not what you want to do, you need to have a basic fitness level first.

well idk what settings to put my bike at

Gear 3 7 speed waht its got 3 numbers on the left
and 7 on the other side

21 speeder

I don't know what those numbers mean. For flat roads and no wind, start in the middle ring in the front and somewhere in the middle of the cog in the rear. Don't think of it as 21 speeds; think of it as 3 ranges of 7 speeds. The big outside ring is high range for when you are going downhill or have a tailwind. The middle ring is normal range for most flattish riding. The small inside ring is your granny gear.

Keep at it, and if you feel like you're at your limit, then back off a bit.

+1

For simplicity sake, unless you're going up a big hill, I'd leave the left shifter on 2 and adjust the right shifter up or down as needed. I saw from another post that you live in Minnesota but I'm not sure where. If you're going up a steep hill you could change the left gear to 1 until you reach the top then shift it back to 2. For most hills leaving the left gear shifter set at 2 will work fine. Just set the right shifter to a lower gear.

I think the big mistake people make is riding in too high a gear. Another common mistake people make is having their seat too low. That can make riding your bike a lot more work. The seat (or saddle to use the correct cycling term) should be high enough that your leg is almost fully extended when the pedal is at its lowest point. Another thing that can make you work much harder than necessary is not having enough air in the tires.

The posts you've made thus far are unique and therefore many of us are not sure whether to take you seriously or not.

Ride slow enough that you can cover the desired distance without it becoming a near death experience. ;)

Well my current settings is at 1-7

Again, I don't know what that means. If it means the chain is on the big ring in front and the smallest cog in the back, you are in your highest gear. If that's the case, then no wonder your legs hurt.