wished

A little more encouragement- On my 62nd birthday, about a year ago, I decided I was tired of being out-of-shape and feeling old. Due to a bad accident with permanent hip/femur issues walking was rather painful to go far, but I borrowed a bike finding that biking did not bother my leg. I bought a cheap Walmart bike (we really don't have a LBS) and rode it until I realized I wanted something better. I remember the first time I went 10 miles, felt like I just did a marathon! I started using a phone app to calculate speed/distance. My goal was 10 miles at better than 10mph average, which happened quicker than I thought. Fast forward to a better bike, longer rides, faster pace when in the mood. My last few months of work I bike-commuted about 8 miles each way, a few more if I went to Starbucks on the way. I retired last week after teaching 40 years and hope to buy a Surly Disc Trucker later this summer to do some touring this fall when school starts back.

I've lost almost 50 pounds, feel better than I have in decades, and this morning after two hours of mowing grass in this Florida heat I did 40 miles on the bike around town with just over 14mph average. Yes, you can do this but fair warning that cycling is VERY addictive! Enjoy!

Roughstuff

Add to all the letters above BULLY for you and great to see it. Hope it turns into a lot of cycling and bicycle touring.

dim

I've been cycling for 8 months ...,. my 1st ride was 3 miles and I struggled to breathe. I'm old now so it was hard when I started

I've now lost over 40 pounds, and ride long distance at speed and I pass many who wear lycra and dress like Robin Hood.... my longest ride was 119 miles at a good pace, and I average just over 200 miles per week (I commute by bike and work at several sites every day):
https://www.strava.com/athletes/12571658

here is my advice:

firstly, sign up to Strava ... it's for free (I have the premium membership which costs £4 a month and gives some extra details) .... this will log your rides and you can see your progress

get a bike computer that has cadence (RPM) .... try and ride at 80 RPM on the flat roads ... use the gears to get this rpm

ride 5 consecutive days in a row and increase your distance every week .... on your rides, choose a section where you ride as fast as you can (for a few minutes), then slack off to get your breath back (high intesity training)

the first 2 weeks of doing this, you will be sore, and I tossed and turned at night when I slept, but remember that if your legs don't hurt after cycling, you never tried hard enough

eat proper and cut alcohol (if you do enjoy a drink, have them on your rest days)

you will be amazed at how fast you get fit .... what you put in, is what you get out

Jseis 

Absolutely! You go girl! An endurance pace is what you need. Training should be long enough to sweat. Don't over do it, just keep improving by a schedule as suggested and plan rest days. Definitely good cycling shorts w/padding and use chamois cream.

spinnaker

Some very long paragraphs. I only browsed through most of them but I did not see the most important bit of advise.

SEE YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE DOING ANYTHING! Get a cardio workup if your insurance will pay all or most of it. Else wise the idea of starting small is an excellent idea. And start sooner rather than later. I think you will be surprised at how quickly you will build up your stamina to be able to do 35+ miles a day.

Aidoneus

After reading your post and the tour description from their website, I gather you plan on renting one of their mountain bikes. If I were you, I would inquire about what models and sizes are stocked and reservable. In particular, I would ask about gearing, wheel and tire sizes, and if there is any choice of saddle. Better still, I would see if I could find a comfortable saddle now and bring it with me for the tour. As already mentioned, you will probably want to purchase quality chamois pads as your mileage increases. As the longest section looks to be about 30 miles, it really shouldn't be too tough to do in a leisurely way with lunch and stops for photo ops. Sounds like a lot of fun, and I'm jealous! LOL

Catherine99

Lots more helpful advice and some incredibly encouraging stories from others who picked up riding after a time being out of shape.

I'd like to reply more personally but my laptop is frozen and I'm reduced to mobile at the moment.

I've ridden just under 6 miles each of the last 3 days and last night I hopped on at around 11 just to breeze around the block a few times & ended up doing over 4 miles then so that put me over ten for the day and I feel totally fine. I seem to be acclimating very quickly and am getting a sense of how I'll be in fine shape for the trip by the time it's here, just as you all said.

Today is very cool, not to even hit 80, feeling crisp out right now and breezy. I think I will try for a longer ride. I'm beginning to learn what routes are smoother/less bumpy/less obstacles and that makes riding longer easier. That first 7 mile day that wore me out was a pretty uncomfortable route it turns out.

The trip is (nearly) officially booked! I sent the request, just waiting for confirmation tomorrow. And I ordered some chamois cream from Amazon after reading about saddle sores & such, I'm fine so far but better safe than sorry! And hopefully I'll be taking rides long enough to warrant it soon enough.

I will inquire about the bike model & saddle as Aidoneus said, though I will have to return here with the response to have you help me understand what it means to me since I really don't know as a real noob.

Again, I can't thank you all enough. Nicest, most helpful group I've ever interacted with on the web or real life. And by far the best reading comprehension on any Internet forum. Bike riding must make a person smarter and extra good natured. All the more reason this is a good pursuit for me lol

dgodave

These are important but overlooked aspect of cycling: explore, see things, go somewhere new. Keeps it fun and interesting, and keeps the motivation up.

spinnaker

Good to see you are starting to ride. More than likely you won't need the chamois cream but it doesn't hurt to have some along just in case. I have thousands of miles and can only remember once or twice when I had an issue. Hot sticky weather is what gets me on my butt. For future reference, good old fashioned petroleum jelly will do you just fine and is probably better for dealing with the issue after you have a problem. You might want to add a small tube to your supplies.

You mentioned supported tour? So I assume they will be carrying most of your gear? If so you still might want to have a day bag like a nice sized handlebar bag for snacks, camera, sunscreen and your chamois cream. You should practice riding with it to get used to the added weight. For certain, ride with bags and gear if they are not hauling your gear.

And get yourself a second water bottle. Better having too much water at the end of the day than not enough.


And again PLEASE see your doc before going on the trip. If you haven't had a tetanus shot in some time it might be a good idea to get one. You will be on a bike trail and volunteers usually do a pretty good job of keeping them clean and safe, there is always that chance of a stray rusty nail.

Aidoneus

Saddle fit is highly personal. I believe most bicycle shops have one method or another of measuring the width of your "sit bones," which determine the appropiate width for your saddle--although even that can vary depending on how upright you ride. After that, it gets alot more complicated with plastic versus leather, split seats, and proper personal adjustment of saddle fore/aft, tilt, and height. Only you can decide what works best through trial and error. Your bike shop may have loaner saddles to try out. If they do, definetly give it a try when you get up to about 20 mile rides. I don't know about cream, as I've never used any, but a good chamois pad made a huge difference for me. I went from painful 5-7 mile rides to comfortable 20+ mile rides as soon as I switched to a wider, leather saddle and picked up a pad. But then again, I hadn't been on a bike in more than 50 years. LOL

MichaelW

Lots of good advice here.
Seeing how any saddle time is good preparation for touring, you should consider using your touring rig for shopping trips. You will also get the feel for handling a fully loaded bike which is useful, even if you plan on going unloaded.
A cruiser style bike is not really suitable as a trainer for distance.
If you are renting a bike, you should consider bringing your own saddle and pedals to fit to a rental bike.
On safety, many people recommend a helmet for low speed crash protection, but also wear cycling mitts to protect your hands from a severe skinning.

Miele Man

An old man walked across the country. At the end of his trip he was interviewed.

Interviewer: You walked across the entire country! That's amazing! How did you do that?"

Old man: It was pretty easy sonny. I did it one step at a time. One step at a time."

Interviewer: "What was the harderst part of yuor entire trip?"

Old man: "Well I'll telly you sonny. The hardeest part was... taking that vey first step."

You don't know what you can do until you try.

BTW, I use a handlebar bag on some tours or long rides because that bag is a great place to store stuff I might want quickly. However, weight in a handlebar bag can affect the bicycle steering. I now mount my handlebar bag behind the saddle via a short section of cut-off handlebar fastened to a threadles stem which is clamped to the seatpost. Here's what it looks like.

#2 Step 4a Handlebar Bag on Stem by Miele Man, on Flickr

#2 Step 4c Handlebar Bag on Stem by Miele Man, on Flickr

this bag is used to hold a couple of extra bottles of water and some snacks plus my tool kit. I can roll up my nylon windbreaker and a pair of bicycling tights and put them inside the bag or strap them to the top of the bag without affecting the bicycle handliong.

Good luck getting ready for your tour. I hope you enjoy it.

May the wind be at your back and your punctures few.

Cheers

gauvins

Two things. First, as has already been mentioned in this thread, go progressively. Many injuries come from overly ambitious goals. The 10% per week increase in time/distance is frequently mentioned. In your case, you seem to have 10 weeks to train for 30 miles per day. Starting at 10 and slowly increasing to 30 should be no problem.

Second, if your main objective is to become more fit, you may want to invest in a heart rate monitor. It is useful during physical activity (you do not want to push too hard, or not enough). But it is even a better indicator when you take your pulse at rest. As you'll become more fit, your pulse at rest should decrease. If you are over-doing it (or something else is not OK) your pulse at rest will be increasing.

suburbanbeat

I've seen and heard of plenty of people embarking on months-long tours after having not ridden a bike or doing any kind of endurance training for months. You'll be fine. Even if you were to not train in any way, you would be fine. Your first few days might be rough, but more than likely your body will acclimate quickly.

tortron

an old tip that i heard I think works quite well is, take the miles you ride in a week. That's more or lesswhat you can ride in a day.
supported and mostly on flat should help

Catherine99

Wow, wished, this is incredible! Yes, I can see how it can be addictive! I hope to become a full blown junky

Will Wheeler

In the beginning, I would focus more on time spent on a bike instead of miles. An hour a day at a pace you can withstand will also increase your mileage. If you have uphills nearby, use them to your advantage. Yes, swear at them, hate them so damn hard, but still go up there! Getting some proper food and enough rest is just as important as the workout itself to transform your body into a "cycling machine". Good luck, you will make it if you want to!​