Getting a leg up
 

New cycling addict here, a 40-year-old "clydesdale" weighing in at 235 pounds (I've lost 5 pounds over the last month or so). In the past 12 weeks since winter broke I've seen my average weekly speed go up from 18 km/h to my current 24 km/h. I can feel my strength and stamina improving weekly, which is exciting. But here's my current problem, which I was wondering how some of you might address if so inclined:

Where 12 weeks ago a hill would leave me out of breath, and I would feel exhausted after rides, I now no longer do. I'm now going faster up hills, and rides of 40 and 50 kms are a walk in the park. This hopping off the bike after an hour and a half and not feeling the least bit of fatigue has been a revelation for me, so I want to increase my average speed, but I've got a bottleneck: the muscles just above my knees.

What do you do when the heart and lungs are raring to go, but the legs can't match them in performance? Do I just have to be patient, and wait for my legs to get stronger? I'm certainly hoping to slim down a whole bunch this year--it doesn't take a brain surgeon to see that losing another 35 pounds or more would do wonders for my legs. Still, I wonder if anyone has had a similar experience and might have some pointers to offer?

Ride, ride and ride.

rousseau-

congratulations! I took up biking last year May & was hooked after a few rides, doing 1400+ last year. I cannot answer your leg question - I did though get sore knees early on. Believe now I was riding with the seat a little too low, and going for too high a gear. Better go for higher cadence & lower speed.

The big health benefit, and it surprised me was my breathing capacity. After a couple dozen 10-25 mi rides I felt like my lung capacity tripled.

btw I'm a sea kayaker, enjoy hiking & snowshoeing. But the endorphins are never as good as with cycling

Peter

Yeah, the lung capacity increase is cool, I can feel it as well.

And I think I understand the "ride, ride and ride" credo, but maybe I'd better confirm: are you saying I should keep riding?

<g>

On the leg thing, maybe you're in too high a gear? Try one or two gears lower, and make up the speed by increasing the cadence.

If you're using a platform pedal, you could (and should) go to clipless or Power Grips. Being able to lift the pedals on the upstroke will make a noticeable decrease on the opposite muscles.

If your seat height is right, and you've already tried all the rest, maybe you're just trying to progress to quickly.

I'm coming from a different situation but I had the same problem, heart was raring to go but legs were dead. I'm not overweight and had good lung capacity from other activities but my biking muscles weren't developed yet. After about 6 months of riding and increasing my ride lengths my legs are finally catching up. 12 weeks isn't that long, I'd say just give it time. From what I've read and heard here and other places the first year should really just be about increasing time spent riding, building a training base (what's the official term?), leaving specialty exercises for later years.

grats, feels good eh? ;)

Wow, you people here really seem to know what's going on. I wonder if I am indeed in too high a gear sometimes? I'll have to experiment more with that.

I'm using clips, which help with lifting on the upstroke, though I think that the muscles I'm using for that are tired, too. I'm riding a hybrid and will not be putting any serious consideration into getting a real road bike until next year, so I'll save the clipless purchase for then.

I think maybe I am trying to progress too quickly. I know that I'm getting impatient with my average speeds. I think I'll have to take things in stride and try to enjoy the riding more instead of engaging in all this relentless pushing (which has been fun, but the last thing I need is to push myself too far and ruin cycling for myself).

I started riding for exercise last summer, and have now lost over 20kg(was 126) and my average speed has gone up from 18 to 30km/h. Best tip i can give you for your knees is to spin lower gears and go clipless. I don't ride more than to the store without clipping in anymore.

Ummm....if you buy clipless for the hybrid you can always transfer the pedals when you get a roadie.

When I first started riding I found I was constantly pushing to improve. Heart racing, sweating, on and on. Mainly because I hadn't noticed that I HAD been improving. One day I decided to take it easy, and have just a leisurely ride; to hell with my time, I was getting tired of my burning legs. While that morning was slower than the day prior, I was still faster than when I started, and I barely even exerted myself!

I know that's not technically the answer to your question, but everyone else had that covered. So the moral of my story is...once in a while take the time to take it easy and just enjoy the ride and the breeze in your face, and appreciate the "advances" you've made all at the same time. Go out charging at full steam another day.

One suggestion to try next time you are out riding is to up the cadence. Try to maintain the same speed as before, but go down a gear. Also, when you are climbing, don't be afraid to downshift. It may feel like you are spinning the pedals really fast with no resistance, but you could be climbing just as fast.

In general a low cadence is easier on the cardio-vascular system and harder on the legs, while a high cadence is easier on the legs but loads up the cardio system.

God bless!
Wayne J.

p.s. Congratulations on riding. Doesn't it feel great to start to get in shape? :D

When I was new to cycling 4 years ago, I was like you, trying to build up my speed and go as fast as possible. I hit the same 15mph / 24kph you are at that first year. And slowly worked it up the next couple of years.

This year, I learned about heart rates and zones. I realized in the past, I was riding in zone 4 and burning sugar, that is why you feel so tired after a ride.

This year I'm going for distance, 3,500 to 4,000 miles is my goal this year and I'm riding in Zone 2 and Zone 3, which burns fat. I've lost 25 lbs this year so far riding over 1,500 miles.

Daily I can go on rides of 30 to 40 miles and not feel wasted after, but rather be ready to go the next day. Sure, my average speed in only 15mph, but that is ok, I'm not out there racing against anyone. I'm building my stamina to go on century rides and maybe even tour.

I'm right there with you, being 39 and 240 (was 265), 6'1". And you know what? I went on a group ride with an average speed of 16-18mph for 30 miles the other day, and I was able to hang with them. Yeah, I was last up the hill, but caught up easily on the down side.

Listen to the others - I have a cadence of 90 revs per minute on most rides.

Do different kind of rides - fast paced, long distance, low gears and spin, high gears, etc. Change it up to increase all areas of cycling ability - don't just focus on SPEED.

Mark
'03 Litespeed Blue Ridge - go long days
'98 Lemond Alpe D'Huez - go fast days
'01 GF Tassajara - up and down days

Increase your Cadence and spin faster...

One area not covered is are you allowing yourself rest days. If you are pushing yourself for speed, then rest days are very important to allow your muscles to recover. Recovery rides can be an important method for muscle recovery too.

One common training setup is to ride one day hard, one day easy and then take a day off. If you love to ride this plan can be hard to follow, but gives you an idea on how important rest days are.

Recovery rides are shorte and slower high cadence rides to get the blood flowing to the muscles for faster recovery and to reduce Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).

Great suggestions, many thanks to everyone. I'll certainly look at increasing my cadence on "recovery" rides and not worrying so much about speed on those rides. I just got back from a leisurely 30 km ride today, and even though the winds were blistering at about 35 km/h I held myself back from fighting them. My average speed went down somewhat, but on the other hand, I never broke a sweat.

I gotta tell you, I'm still not completely used to not even breathing hard on a longish ride like I did today. Weird. And good, obviously. I've really started noticing my stamina build up these past few weeks.

Ummm...you're right. So I did. Purchase clipless pedals, today, I mean. Though I decided to buy double-sided MTB clipless shoes and pedals, because right now my hybrid is my only bike, which I use for quick trips around town as well as full-on rides, so I wanted shoes more amenable to walking here and there.

Don't worry, I'll get the roadie clipless gear when I get the road bike. Which will probably be next year.