Picked up our new Specialized bikes Tuesday night. Between cold weather and church services, we finally got to take them out for a test drive today in our track.

Put the first 3 miles on this afternoon; could already feel it in my knees! The few inclines which are nothing when we're walking are felt in an entirely new way when riding, even after living in this neighborhood for 22 years.

My doctor is after me to lose the weight, and I think it will.

My goal is 1000-1500 miles between now November 1st.

Taking it slow and steady, here we go!!

Pictures??

Glad to see another riders- or couple of riders out there. 1500 miles is doable but you have a bit of training to get in by the 3rd Saturday in September. That is a special day on this forum--Pie Ride Day. The cycling you will be able to do but in between trying to get the weight loss in-Don't forget to practice the Pie Rides. They can be difficult if you have not trained for them.

Welcome

What's a pie ride?

Sounds great…. tell me more, please.

3rd Saturday in September and the forum members do a ride in their locality. At least 15 miles but on the ride you have to have Pie. Could be homemade and taken with you or at a carefully investigated Cafe that you have found during the year. Due to the Geography and location of members to the forum-it is down to you to find the cafe but I will warn you now- Work up on the severity of that Pie. Blueberry is the ultimate but it is wise to start off with something simple like Apple or Apricot. We don't have many Blueberries over here so Normally make do with Fruits of the Forest or if I can find one--Rhubarb Crumble. Just to give you a taster.



Pics are necessary and the pic should include some idea of the location and the bike.

It is not the ride that is hard- It is trying to do the extra 15 miles after the 2nd slice of pie because you got greedy.

Congratulations!

It was only five years ago that I returned to cycling. Discovering modest inclines in places I thought were flat was a bit disconcerting at first, but I got used to it.

On the canal path there's an overpass over the railroad mainline between Buffalo Rd and Chili Ave. That was my nemesis during my first year. It's nothing to walk up, but my legs about fell off the first time I rode up it. I made that stupid little hill my training hill until I was able to ride over it effortlessly.

Hills take some work, but riding regularly, it's fairly easy to ramp up the mileage on the flats. To give you an idea, I rode almost daily and in just six weeks increased my comfortable mileage from two to 15. The canal path is great for this. The aforementioned overpass (and the Brooks Ave underpass) aside, it's as flat as the water itself.

You're in Greece, aren't you? You can start on the canal by Park Ridge and ride all the way to Pittsford, or in Genesee Valley Park, turn off and take the Riverway right to downtown. It comes out at the Court St Bridge.

You can fuel up at the Dinosaur, or the several restaurants on the canal in Pittsford, then return.

Going the other way, it's packed gravel, but easy riding to Spencerport and Brockport.

You won't make it all the way for the first few times, but it's a great set of goals to work towards.

Heh.. your view of the world takes on a totally different perspective when you start riding. You notice everything, especially when it come to climbing hills.

Keep it up and don't forget to drink regularly and to eat (not too much) every hour or so. Make sure that you take one day a week as a rest day. You may want to alternate your days riding with walking for a while. If not, then try to stay out there a little while longer each time you go out.

Good luck !

We're in Chili; sure we'll meet up sometime early this summer.

We plan on owning the canal.

Great decision to buy the bikes. Best exercise to do alone or even more enjoyable with friends, co-workers and the ultimate a stoker!! I ride with a number of different groups as time permits but most enjoy riding with the wife. So to make sure we both get full enjoyment we purchased a tandem a few years back.

Strangley enough. though I love to climb hills, I typically find it easier to climb on the tandem, I'm thinking my power is coming from my 100lb, 5' wife. Riding doesn't get much better.

Good luck and keep riding, you should find over time you will have stronger knees and the riding will be more enjoyable.

Ah! At the intersection of Paul Rd and Scottsville Rd there's a restaurant--the Jetview or something like that. In the back corner of their parking lot is where the paved portion of the Genesee Valley Greenway begins. It's near to you and a good, safe place to leave the car. You can take that right into Genesee Valley Park and go either way on the Canalway, or straight ahead on the Riverway to downtown.

I've seen lots of deer in that section. It's quiet and scenic and you wouldn't know you're a few hundred yards from the airport.

I think that especially for us over the age of 50, we need to be good to our bodies and gradually work up on our exercise programs. Don't push yourself too hard too fast. But it is amazing how quickly your body will respond and build strength. Soon, you'll find that the exercise from bicycle riding is really addictive. There's something that happens in our chemistry that makes us need to keep up the exercise. So keep your body happy and give it the exercise it craves.

Oh yeah, I love hills too. But mainly the ones that go down...

Where the hell are you guys? Greece, Chili? I thought you were in the United States.

Chili,NY, which is a non-descript suburb of Rochester,NY. Ditto,Greece,NY.

Geeze, don't forget Sweden, Riga, Brighton, Avon, Macedon, Palmyra...

All just east on the canal from here:

This is obviously not to be confused with pi (pie) day, which is 3/14. Also a good day to ride your bike and eat pie.

Good for you. Keep on riding, and pie day is a many-years tradition in the 50 forum.

And you could live in Sweden or Egypt,NY …all within 25 miles of downtown Rochester.

Knee pain after 3 miles is not a good sign. Make sure you shift often and choose gears that fit the sweet spot - fast cadence but not too fast (no so fast that you feel like a hamster in a wheel), pushing hard enough that your legs feel like they're working, but not working too hard - an effort level that feels like you could do it all day.

If you get this right - get into a good groove - you really can ride all day. Back in the day, when I got my first adult bike - a 10 speed - I started with rides up to 10 miles and thought they were long. Then I started riding longer and longer, and discovered the real limiting factor was my bottom. After 25 miles I still felt great, but my bottom was starting to hurt. After 40 miles I still felt great, except my butt was numb and very painful.

In the ensuing decades I've done a lot of research, bought a lot of saddles, and mostly solved this. Now I can ride a century and not suffer too terribly (although I always suffer when I ride 100 miles - I don't know how those double-century people do it!) I take multi-week tours where I'm riding 40-60 miles, day after day (that's what really tests your butt comfort!) and don't suffer too terribly. (I get off the bike when my butt starts to hurt. A 15-minute break does wonders!)

Keep riding, work on shifting, cadence, and effort level, and you'll be riding much longer distances comfortably before you know it!

We've had our bikes for 12 days now, and put about 8 miles on 'em so far. Never make 1000 miles in 6 months at this rate, but it's still a good goal to shoot for.

With better judgement after April it looks like we'll probably need to put in about 20 hours/180 miles per month to make it. That should be doable! Not easy or effortless, but doable.

On the plus side, we've got the water bottles on, and the bike computer hooked up, and the weather is warming up. As I get older, I've decided that watching a baseball game and riding a bike in the cold is no fun! So I have no excuse now not to just ride.

In the spirit of "Bike Watchers", I'll post my progress here from time to time and hope that "peer pressure" can egg us along. Thanks.

Maybe we can get a bunch of folks to post their goals and help each other out.

Start a thread and we'll be listening...

Others have posted on their difficulties when starting cycling. My first ride was 28 miles with a bunch of 10 year olds. No great speed and a very flat route and all that ride did was to give me a bit of butt ache and enthusiasm to start this pastime. The following day saw the muscle pain come in but I had recovered by the following week to go out with a mountain biker on a gentle road ride for a coffee. Gentle road ride********** 30 miles up 3 massive great big hills that I walked at least 50% that I now know to be in the 12 to 15% grade for a mile each.

That was 21 years ago and I am still puffing up those same hills but on a good day doing a further 30 miles and another few hills. It still hurts occasionally but at least I am able to get out and ride a bike. Something many of my neighbours and friends cannot or will not attempt.

Start slow- start gentle and enjoy the rides. But if someone suggests you go out for a gentle ride with them--Be carefull.

Well, it's May 10th and my bike computer says we've done 33.25 miles. So we're off our 5 miles+ per day we have to average to make 1000 miles by Nov.1st.

There is good news, however.

I did take it slow to avoid problems, and so far , so good. Some soreness, but nothing major. No saddle problems or hand stiffness.

I started out in late April doing 1-3 miles per ride. Tonite I did 10 miles in one outing in just about an hour.

So while 1000 miles might be a goal too far, I'm not giving up on it after two weeks.

And the nice thing is I'm starting to feel the good effects of this exercise already.

Will keep you posted!

1000 miles sounds like a lot. But once you're comfortable on your bike, you will naturally find yourself wanting to go farther each time out. And you will pass that 1000-mile goal by so far that you'll be laughing at yourself. You may well end up shooting for 10,000 miles by Nov. 1st.

I have rides on my mountain bike that are easy at 40 miles per day. 10 days x 40 miles = 400 miles. Make that 20 days, if you prefer to give yourself a day off every other day.

Every journey starts out with a step. Congrats on making the commitment and sticking with it. When the pounds start to leave you will get more motivation, I know I did. Good luck and be safe.
To save the knees try not to mash hard on the pedals. Better to be in an easier gear.

Actually, there are a couple of web sites for just that purpose. I belong to BikeJournal.com. The basics are free, and includes goal setting and goal tracking.

The paid version ($20 a year) includes more stuff to track and lets you customize your ride log a bit more.

• My BikeJournal Profile
• My BikeJournal Ride Log

colpatrick,

It sounds like we are in roughly the same situation. I picked up my new bike a week earlier than you did. My goal is also to ride 1000 miles by early November. Everyone here says it is doable if one gradually builds up the miles.