Beginner cyclist after years of inactivity
 

Hi, I am 23 and I've been gaining weight and doing nothing fitness-wise since 2019, last week I decided that 98 kilograms are a bit too much (even tho I'm 183cm tall or 6ft I believe) and started cycling.


I own an old mountain bike, Bottecchia FX 107 old model with drum brakes, not the new ones with brake disks


I do a mixed route: there's some gravel, some road, up and downs. It's about 8 kilometers to arrive at the destination and 8 kilometers back, 16 kilometers in total.


I have ADHD so to track my progress and not lose interest I use adidas running app, it also has a cycling activity tracker. (Feel free to suggest better apps)


First time I had an average rhythm of 3:55 minutes per kilometer (and I couldn't finish the route cause I was very tired)


Second time, 2 days later, I completed the route and did 3:02 minutes per kilometer


Third time, the next day, I did it again in 3:02 and 2 days later (yesterday) I did it in 2:30 minutes per kilometer.


Is this normal? Am I overdoing it or not doing enough?

I didn't feel tired yesterday after completing the route and today I don't feel sore.


Any advice is welcomed, I really don't know what in doing to be honest 😅

Whiplash, congrats for getting on the bike. It's a great way to stay fit. There are plenty of apps to try. I'll recommend Ride with GPS as an app. There's a free version that will get you started.

The thing I look for in my riding season is improvement over time; a faster Average Speed, a longer distance ridden, a hill that gets easier to climb. The app compiles that data for me, and it motivates me.

Good luck.

You are at the beginning of a long journey. I would do two things. First I would see if I could find some local cycling person who is knowledgeable and willing to share their experience with you. Second, and most importantly, be patient. Take your time and build gradually. And, always enjoy the ride. It will come along gradually.

Congratulations for rescuing yourself and the bike! And welcome to the Forum.
In addition to time and distance, you can conveniently measure your weight to see tangible progress.
Good luck!

Sounds perfect. Welcome to the forum...

I picked up cycling again 4 years back after a gap of about 38 years, partly for exercise.
First outing was 8 miles and I nearly died.
Now my training route is 21 miles 2 or 3 times a week.
That's just to point out that most people would be roughly where you are (I'm 90kg and 183).

But a point I'd like to make is that speed isn't everything, you could stay at a moderate speed and just go further or hillier.
I'm an old git and fully retired so I don't really feel the need to be fastest.

Welcome to the forum! You are on the right track. Cycling with a bike you already have is a great way to burn calories, but you do need to do it a lot. The brakes you mention are a non-issue - they only help you stop!

If you are not into racing or something, I wouldn't worry about tracking progress with technology. Your scale can do that just fine. So will a regular clock. Your body will also tell you when big hills start to feel like small hills.

Personally, I like the routine plus model. Commit to specific weekly time/miles that you will do no matter what, and then add errands and fun rides on top of that.

You are also young, so if you ever overdo anything, you will recover quickly.

Don't worry too much about your performance. Just keep riding. You have a good 16k route, so just keep riding that. You'll get stronger and faster as you ride, and when you feel your current riding is really easy, you can add distance and ride more often. If you "compete against yourself," you can get discouraged. At first, you notice your improvement and then get discouraged when you peak and can't match your previous performance. So don't worry about it. When I started, I was riding about 12k four times a week. When that got really easy, I started increasing my distance and the number of days I ride. Now I ride almost every day, 25-35k. Sounds like you are off to a good start.

15mph pace on mixed roads on a mountain bike is a good pace. Try for an hour a day 5 days a week to start. Then add a longer ride 2 or 3 hours each weekend. Pretty soon you will be knocking out 100k in a day just for fun. It is about saddle time, not speed at first.

Once you have some base miles you will need to change it up a bit on your daily rides. You will start looking for hilly routes, easy recovery loops, and places where you can do interval training. Then speed will start to happen.

Ride three days per week. Increase ride length when a length becomes easy, and increase ride length no more than 50%.

Be pretty determined to finish every ride you start.

Don't pay much attention to speed.

Follow these guidelines and you'll have fun, and improve in the process.