slowandsteady

I think this discussion just clarifies what wimps men really are. Come one, legs burning and micro tears are pain? That isn't pain! Broken pelvis, now that is pain. How about a chest tube? Pain is a big injury not a strong workout.

You don't need to be in "pain" to get a gain from a workout. You do need to exert yourself. The degree of exertion has to do with your training goals.

Portis

No ride = No gain.

CRUM

You must be a doctor. Doctors always say stuff like that. The pain on the other side of the fence is always more painful. "You'll feel a bit of discomfort," or, This might sting a bit, or when he was about to plunge a 2 foot needle into my liver, smiled and said,"You may feel a bit of pressure".

But I agree with men being wimps in regards to their pain threshold. I'm one and yes, I am a wimp. Real pain sucks. Exertion pain doesn't.

DataJunkie

Silly me. I didn't realize that was actually pleasure not pain.

I-Like-To-Bike

Pain IS Gain for bicycling masochists.
BTW, anyone ever see a cyclist smiling while in "training" mode? I haven't.

Denny Koll

Most folks don't smile and laugh when having intense sex either. A lot of folks who don't like to push hard can't understand that the pain of a good workout doesn't induce smiling.

webist

One benefit or goal I have not seen mentioned is fat burining. A steady, long, very mildly aerobic workout at about 65% of maximum heart rate will call on energy stored as fat to a greater degree. Higher intensity activity will derive more from glycogen stores and carbs. Losing fat is a laudable health goal in my opinion. Coupled with moderate strength training to build and firm muscle tissue is also a laudable health goal.

One eventually wears out on long slow rides. One wears out on short intense rides. One wears out on tough hill climbs. One wears out eventually when doing high rep - low weight strength training or heavy lifting. Any of this "wear and tear" can eventually lead to varying levels of discomfort and even pain. As others have said though, it is all really goal dependent.

slowandsteady

Pain is for wimps.

Richard Cranium

Pretty vague statement, doesn't mean anything, neither do most of the answers.

I-Like-To-Bike

Wow! You really do get into your cycling workouts/masochistic rituals, don't you, to make a comparison like that.

SSP

Reading your posts, I kind of doubt that you smile much at all...on or off the bike.

genec

If you're not breaking a sweat, you're not doing work.

I too laugh at those folks on stationary bikes that are reading books while they "ride."

Sure a walk or a low intensity workout is better than nothing... but it is barely maintenance. If you want results, you have to work.

I-Like-To-Bike

I like to get from one place to another by bike. I like the result of getting there with as little work as possible with as much comfort as possible in the right amount of time. I want the result I get from the best balanceof these factors- pleasurable cycling. If you wantyour results to be measured in sweat and pain, good for you.

I-Like-To-Bike

I suspect you derive your "kind of doubt" from reading a crystal ball, not from understanding what you read.

flair1111

Theres good pain and bad pain. Anyone wanting to know the difference must try their bodies and find out for themselves. There is a line you must not cross or youll overtrain. Experiment.

cyclintom

Your biking friend is only somewhat correct. You can't build muscles without strain but you can certainly build a better cardio-vascular system and increased lung efficiency.

Surely you can understand that it requires exercise to increase these capacities. But working harder before you can isn't a way to achieve anything but extreme fatigue.

To achieve top fitness you need to exercise very hard. Usually most people can't achieve that sort of effort without the carrot of a racing group. But unless you're naturally talented you can't just pop into a race and hope to be able to hang on long enough to achieve anything at all.

Generally it takes about two years or so of "sport" or "recreational" riding to build you to the point where you COULD develop stronger muscles, faster speed and more endurance at a level where you could eventually hang on to a racing group.

The difference between you before racing a couple of years and after are so astounding that you wouldn't believe it at this point in time. It is unlikely that you could even concieve that you could ride that fast for that long until you actually do it.

But all that aside, you can get more than competent and be able to ride with 80% of the good cyclists out there without ever racing once.

All it takes is time and application. Ride a lot. Challenge yourself. Do metric centuries a whole lot until you don't have the slightest fear that you can't make it over ANY metric course. Then graduate to centuries. Then do back to back club ride centuries out to some town in the middle of nowhere and back the next day.

You'll know you've arrived when you've lost your fear of distance, wind and climbing.

Nermal

[QUOTE=CRUM]You must be a doctor. Doctors always say stuff like that. The pain on the other side of the fence is always more painful. "You'll feel a bit of discomfort," or, This might sting a bit, or when he was about to plunge a 2 foot needle into my liver, smiled and said,"You may feel a bit of pressure". /QUOTE]

My experience with the medical profession tells me they like the word "discomfort". They do a gall bladder extraction without anesthetic and say the patient experienced a certain level of discomfort.

Chuckie J.

I agree!

I would suspect that if you can bike from one place to another without it feeling like work you're probably in pretty good shape, too. There's a hill that I have to go up every time I get on the bike and it gets easier and easier. Sometimes I don't even sweat. Isn't this a good thing?

Nermal

No, but since sweating is involuntary, you could simulate a few groans.

Nermal

Chuckie, I didn't notice you were from Albuquerque. I was there last weekend and saw lots more bikes going places than in Farmington. I did not see many hills, so you may have something, there. Cycling may really be about going somewhere.

SSP

I've read enough of your sniping, negative, curmudgeonly posts to infer that you rarely smile (except, perhaps, when you attempt to insult someone).

Flak

Pain is just weakness leaving the body

Adiankur

There is pain, and then there is counter productive pain. Before I started cycling I did more gym work. I bumped up my work on weight training at one point. I did a hard leg workout, then ran 4.5 miles, and then hit the elliptical. Well, I couldnt walk down steps for four days without grabbing something to take the stress of my legs. That was pain I can do without, but I do enjoy the after effects of a human workout and the soreness that comes with it. Its not for everyone, and all people want varying levels of fitness. Who cares really. As to it taking a couple years to develop in a sport, I can see that. I worked my butt off in the gym and often averaged a heartrate in the 150's over 1-1.5 hours in the gym or while running, but struggle to keep my heart going at 140 bpm for an hour on the bike. The legs just arent there yet.

bluecd

sounds like you've relegated yourself to being a slow biker which is fine, i have no problem with that. i want to go faster and need to tax my body so it adapts and gets stronger. muscle fatigue & soreness goes hand in hand with that.

you go ahead & putter along and please accept my appology for startling you when i call out "on your left".

I-Like-To-Bike

Maybe, but I doubt you'll be speeding by me or anybody else on a real road any time soon, speed boy.