arreyonskyy

hi all
i need some advise.

ive never really been a bike rider, until a couple of months ago i bought a mountain bike from walmart ( didnt want to invest much in something that might end up in storage.) and i haven't gone more than 2 miles on a ride. plus i have patello femoral syndrome
so that's my history.... here is the problem
i was thinking of doing the 3 day breast cancer walk (20 miles a day) just for the fun of it. then i found out that my grandmother had breast cancer, and it made made really want to do the walk. but after walking a couple of miles my knee was killing me. so i bought the bike.
now this is where you guys give me advise.....
ive decided to be a "one woman crusade" in oct. (the time of the walk) and bike 20 miles a days for 3 days.
is this possible, with having little experience biking?
how would i train (riding, working out, weights, nutrition)?
what would i need?

any advise would be good.

Thanks,
tessa

Hobartlemagne 

Keeping it simple, try 2 or 3 rides during the week at reduced distance,
then a weekend ride at about double the weekday distance (of a single day)

maybe start with 1 mile each weekday ride and 2 mile weekend ride.
Each week add 1/2 mile to the weekday distance - always double the distance on the weekend.

Take it easy with your knees- set your seat height correctly. The most common mistake is to
set it too low. Isolated quadraceps pain is a sign of a seat too low. With a bona fide knee condition, you really ought to consult your doctor about your excercise plans.

With nutrition and your particular riding goal, Id say focus on a 'healthy diet' rather than an 'athlete diet'.
Dont skimp on carbs when your distance starts increasing. You dont want to run out of energy.

Weight training is helpful, but since I dont do it Ill leave that for someone else to recommend

hope thats helpful

joeprim

Tessa

Lots of time before october to work up to it. I like doing weight training, but I don't believe you have to do it. Just keep increasing your distance 20 miles isn't that far you can do it.

Good luck to Grandma!

Joe

MichaelW

A very sedate cycling speed is 10mph. If you trundle along at that speed, after 2 hours you have done your 20miles. If you keep at it for 6 hours you will have done the whole 60mph and at no time will you be out of breath.
The trick is to get used to being in the saddle for long periods of time. You dont need any special physical training or diet.
The best way to condition your body to get used to cycling is to ride. As a beginer, ride by time rather than speed or distance. Start with 1/2 hr rides then 40 mins then 1 hr etc.
At weekends you can go on longer rides and pretty soon you will able to ride for a few hours without any problems at all.

Make sure you bike is adjusted to fit you and the bearings, brakes etc are all properly adjusted.
If you have knobbly tyres, swap them for narrower, high pressure road tyres with a pincture resistant kevlar band. 26"x 1.5" is a good size. This will increase your speed by a few mph for no extra effort.
For rides over 1 hr I wear padded bike shorts (with no underwear).
A helmet and gloves will protect you if you should take a slide.
Carry a puncture repair kit and spare inner tube and practice so you know how to use it.
Carry some food and water (1 litre/hr)

gear

After the charity ride; maybe you should consider making 20 mile rides part of your every day routine.

Little Darwin

If you follow the earlier advice about short rides during the week and longer weekend rides, you will be able to do 20 miles very soon. Again, I don't know about your health issue.

When I started, and had trouble riding around the long block I lived on. Within 3 or 4 months my typical ride was 10 miles, and I frequently rode 20...

Rest days are essential as well... don't think that riding hard every day is the best way to get in shape. You can ride every day if you want, just make sure that a couple of days each week are nice easy rides.

The trick is to take your time and enjoy the experience. Enjoy the time in the saddle now, and during your 20 mile rides...

geo8rge

If there is a circular bike path about 3 mi near you, see if you can go around it 7 times. How do you feel. You will not be in a group so you will not have pressure to complete it. It is a short loop so if you stall you are close to where you started.

Overhauling hubs and truing the wheel if necessary is not a bad idea.

Onomatopoeia

Be careful of accelerating your training too fast. You want to give yourself time to adjust to the new stresses and strains without being forced to take 6 weeks off to recover. Also, even though it's a Wal-Mart bike, take some time to try to get it fit to you. Small things that may only be minor issues at 5mi will become major ones at 10+. Bike fit is also not necessarily something you set and forget about. As you improve and become more fit, you will change and so your fit will have to change over time too. Just make small changes and be aware of how it affects you. Good luck!

Bikepacker67

Although with my Brooks I can get away with street shorts for a few hours in the saddle.
But if I'm riding for 4 or 5 hrs a day, day in - day out, those "goofy" tight shorts are a Godsend to my aft end.

caligurl

start slow... but build up as quickly as you are able!

if you work... are a mom... or even a student... as a newbie doing 20 miles each and every day is unrealistic! even i don't have the time to ride 20 miles a day! and i've been at it a while!

the advice of shorter rides during the week... and then longer ones on the weekends is good (especially if you work or have child care issues during the week... again... making assumptions here)

you have plenty of time to work up to 60 miles between now and oct! i started riding just about 2 years ago (end of june)... and that first year... i did my first organized metric (62 miles) in october! so it's very do-able!

i remember riding 5 miles.. then 10... then my first 20.... then my first 30... then my first 40! each step feels so good... like i had accomplished so much!!!!!!!!

now granted.... i was on a road bike... not a mountain bike.... which IMO is more comfortable to ride... but it as long as you work up to it.... you'll be riding 60 miles in no time at all!

Portis

20 miles by foot is a long way. 20 miles by bicycle is not. Check around these forums and you will find a good many on here ride at least that far every day, year round. Many are commuting and many are just riding.

I realize that you have some sort of ailment that may make it worse but for an average non rider to crawl on a bike and ride 20 miles, it is really no problem. Even if they haven't ridden. Remember it is a vehicle you are on, you only provide the power. This is not the same as walking or running.

stapfam

Riding a bike is easy-All it takes is practice. Riding a bike for a long distance is no different. All you have to do is get used to it. Start at a short distance and someone has suggested 3 times a week and that is ideal. Then At the weekends increase the milage. Exactly as someone has suggested.
Your problem will be two fold-- Initially the butt ache. You have to attune the butt to your saddle and you have to get over that painfull bit. Then the body. Dare say the legs will ache- some shoulder stiffness will come in and possibly a bit of back ache. Don't worry about any of this for a month, unless the pain is severe.

I do not know the milage you can ride right now but You should be able to do 5 miles in the week and 10 at the weekend within a month. If you can do this then you will not have a problem- If it is still a struggle in a months time- then you need a bit more practice. Don' t worry = it will come.

If you can find someone to do the training with you then so much the better. See if one of your neighbours rides- tell him what you want to do, or her, and they will gladly get you started.

Good luck on your training and wish you well ont he ride.

Little Darwin

As far as nutrition, which you asked about and nobody has answered yet (that I recall).

TO ride 20 miles per day 3 days in a row will not require anything nutritionally other than a well balanced diet. A couple of potential points to ponder.

Recovery for your muscles is supposed to be enhanced if you eat a combination of carbs and protein shortly after working out.

Hydration! Drink before you get thirsty. Get used to drinking while riding. For 20 miles plain water is probably good, but an electrolyte/carb drink like Gatorade would be ok too. Drink a little bit frequently while riding (also before and after).

For a 20 mile ride you probably won't need it, but a high energy food is good for longer rides to keep from bonking. There are many threads in the forums about how to avoid bonking...

arreyonskyy

thanks guys you are a big help. some one was asking about the patella femoral symdrome. my vmo (inside quad beside knee) got weak affter a fall and cause the lateral medius quad (outside knee) to become weak and full my kneecap over the the outside. no major problems just physical thereapy. i did do a couple of cortisone shots. nothing major just a big pain in the !@$% knee. it can become a major issue like crondromalisa (i think i spelled that right.)

and right now when i do ride i go 2 miles and it takes about 35 mins

MichaelW

If you have knee problems pay special attention to the gearing and pedalling speed you use. MTBs give you plenty of options but a classic newbie mistake is to select a gear that is too high then press hard and strain slowly against the pedals.
More experienced riders know that you pedal efficiently by spinning in circles against a fairly low resistance. Your pedalling revs/min or cadence should be no lower than 60 rpm on the flat. Ideally you want to be > 80 rpm.

caligurl

good gawd... don't scare her off! even i don't ride 20 miles a day... and i've several metrics, centuries and double metrics under my belt!

a better suggestion... ride as often and as far as you are able to fit into your schedule!

caligurl

as a newbie with knee issues... and NOT KNOWING her terrain... don't give her mph's like this! when i started out riding... i was lucky to be going 8mph on some rides! and the slightes upgrade! OY! everything else i agree with... time in the saddle... shorts.... bike fit... etc!

i'm just afraid you'll scare her off if she lives in a hilly or rolling area and she sees someone tell her 10mph is good and she can't do it yet!

plus... with knee issues.. she needs to push/should be pushing a lighter gear at a higher cadence... which will mean a bit slower too!

Phloxen

I agree, caligurl.

Arreyonskyy: I saw another post of yours and I believe you live near me (I'm in columbia, sc). I'm a newbie too, I just starting riding in mid-may and through riding almost every day have worked my way up to 20 miles/day in about 1hr 45mins currently. However, the good old south carolina summer weather is upon us (mid to upper 90's with what feels like 100% humidity!) and I can definetely tell the difference in my performance. Make sure you keep hydrated!

One thing I learned is to make sure your seat is at the proper height. I felt like an idiot when a runner at the park actually stopped me and told me my seat was too low. I had already worked my way up to 20 mile rides with my seat in the wrong position! It was amazing how much easier the ride was after fixing the seat height and couldn't believe I had been riding with it too low for as long as I did!

Also, I have a bike computer that I use to motivate myself. I like being able to see my progress on the screen... the mile counter is better motivation for me than anything else at this point.

I don't know how you feel about driving to Columbia to ride, but I've found that Riverfront park (the one on the canal) is a great place to start out. That's where I go. The trail is paved, mostly flat, and is 3 miles from end to end (with water fountains at each end, heh). It's got some beautiful views of the river too! I go back and forth about 3.5 times and I've got my 20 miles. I've also been wanting to go to the Fort Jackson section of the Palmetto Trail, as it sounds like a promising place to ride.

I know you can do it, I feel like if an overweight chick like me can, anyone can! I think it's admirable that you're doing it for your grandma. I wish her the best of luck with her health. My grandmother survived breast cancer a couple of years ago, so I know how scary dealing with it can be. Maybe I'll see you out and about someday!

shakeNbake

A lot of good advice in this thread.

Another one:

Be sure to watch this video before you ride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHJErrp4eOw

If that doesn't motivate you, nothing will.

iNewton

The best advice I was ever given was to finish every single rides hoping you could do a little more.

Never burn yourself out it's the most common mistake people do at the very beginning, you need to get saddle time, yes, but not at the expense of not wanting to do anymore.

Bike rides are fun, if they aren't then you are doing something wrong. Do note that you cannot judge the fun of said riding with a walmart bike however, take the experience with a grain of salt. I started with one as well, but had I not had the drive to become healthy, it would have been in the trash after my very first 15miles ride. (Gradually worked up to with it.)

Big_knob

Well , I commute 5 days a week 37 to 40 miles a day , do very physically labourous work & ride on weekends too. Not that i have any Double metrics under my belt or anything.

zippered

first of all, congrats for setting this challenge for yourself!

i've had patello femoral syndrome for a few years now. i ride a lot, and i push myself pretty hard, but here are a couple things i thought i'd pass on, based on *my* experience:

- try to relax because tense muscles will exaccerbate the problem.
- try to keep your knee warm (this is something i'm working on).
- try to keep your knees in line with your hips, and feet in line with your knees (a medical professional will be able to help you here).
- try to get some massage, i found that i was so focused on the pain in my knee i didn't realise how stiff my calves were!
- try not to favour one side or the other (much easier said than done...)
- try to incorporate little stretches into your day. i'm bad about doing a stretching "regime", but i find that if i'm sitting for awhile i need to stretch my leg out a bit, or it starts locking up a bit.

given some time and rest, the condition ought to improve. have faith, and keep asking questions!

BlazingPedals

Since this thread was dredged up from summer, do we get a report on how arreyonskyy did on the ride?

Miguelangel

Yes please! how did it turn out??