jeff-o

I got my new Trek 7500FX from the bike shop today, and as soon as everything was all tuned up I took it out for a spin. There is one very important thing I learned.

I am more out of shape than I thought I was.

The loop I took was less than three 3km, yet by the end my legs were woobly, my breath short, my mouth parched and my heart pounding. I suppose that's what a year off a bike will do to you. Ouch. Perhaps I need to adjust my bike a little more? No, it's not the bike, it's me. I'll ride it as much as I can this weekend, hopefully I'll be able to do the morning commute to work by Monday...

I could ask for advice, but I know the answer: ride more, and it will get easier.

Oh yeah, and those road tires really do let you feel everything, don't they? I really like the rapid fire changers though, I'm gonna have to get used to how EASY they make changing gears!

redmonster

Kool stuff

BostonFixed

This thread deserves 1 w00t!

Kokoro

Are you sure that's not the normal reaction to getting a new bike?

jeff-o

OK chaps, I got to do a much longer run today with my sister, perhaps 15 or 20 km ( I don't have a computer installed). My legs are perfectly fine, a little stiff maybe. No shortness of breath, and heartrate was OK too. My ass is killing me though.

Oh, and I fell over once on my bike once because of the blasted clipless pedals, but I'm sure you all know how that goes. I dunno if I'll be able to ride tomorrow, we'll see how my bum is doing in the morning.

tippy

Sorry, had to stop and do some math. 3km = 1.8xxx miles.

Increase your cadence. Take in fluids. I'm new to this cycling stuff too. The biggest improvement in my riding endurance was when I learned (from books and this newsgroup) that in order to ride longer, you gotta get your cadence up. I went from wheezing, gasping, and aching on short rides to really looking forward to the 40 and 50 mile rides. All because I got my cadence up. Now when I get home, I'm exhausted and tired, and drink lots of liquids; but there is no muscle soreness.

Certainly, your posts show that you are just getting started but it also may be hinting that your pushing to hard on the pedals (to much gearing). Even an overweight flabby person like me should be able to do 1.8 miles very easily but I surely will be one hurting unit if I did it in tall gears.

So, if your not already doing it, down shift and pedal faster and drink fluids (in reference to your parched mouth). It makes a world of difference. Besides, what good are those clips (besides making you fall over) if you're not making high cadences.

d.tipton

jeff-o

Oh don't get me wrong, I know that I should keep my cadence up. However, that first ride also involved lots of steep hills (they're not even nice to walk up), which totally killed me. Pretty houses and stuff though. I also think the seat was too high, so I didn't get the most efficient pedalling.

phantomcow2

well generally you get more efficient pedaling with your seat higher. Of course thats not saying its so high that even on the bottom of your stroke you are not at the bottom of the crank fully extended. When climbing steep hills, use the granny gears. You want to keep the same cadence throughout.

jeff-o

I used the "heel on the pedal, toe touching the floor" sizing method. With the seat where it was before, I had to really stretch my leg to actually do this. It wasn't natural at all. So, I dropped the seat maybe 1.5 cm, and all was well. And yes, I used that 9-speed cassette to its fullest extent.

operator

It's more like 1.6.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...km&btnG=Search