Hi guys,

Just finished my 25 mile ride today. Had 3 flat/pumping situations because i thought i put my damn repair kit in my bag but hadn't and got a flat about three quarters of the way through

Anyway here are my stats for the ride, I think I could have done better with cadence but i think my HR was in a good zone the whole ride. I'm not aching too bad, a few little twinges around the knee but its ok, my core is kinda uncomfortable as are my triceps.

I got absolutely drenched and my "privates" are absolutly freezingly numb!

The calories are way over estimated and I've dropped the map feature to fit the other graphs in.

If i keep this up i think ill make my goal.

What you guys think? anything stand out?

Take care

What do you use to get this data?

He used a Garmin Edge 705.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=160&pID=10885


https://connect.garmin.com/activity/33375778

What's your goal?

On a 25 mile ride?? Sounds like you'd better do some work on your fit. I'm feeling a few little twinges around my knee, my core is kinda uncomfortable, as are my triceps ... but I did a 230 km ride on Saturday .... and I'm thinking my fit isn't right. I shouldn't be feeling that much discomfort on a 230 km ride.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Machka

What's your goal?

Sorry I forgot to mention it here.

My goal is to get my fat levels down and work on building general fitness and hopefully completing a century sometime in the future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Machka

On a 25 mile ride?? Sounds like you'd better do some work on your fit. I'm feeling a few little twinges around my knee, my core is kinda uncomfortable, as are my triceps ... but I did a 230 km ride on Saturday .... and I'm thinking my fit isn't right. I shouldn't be feeling that much discomfort on a 230 km ride.

25mile isn’t as far as i can go as im sure i can go much further, i use to cycle alot when i was younger but i suffered a patella tendon rupture and couldn’t cycle anymore, hence the knee issues/concern. My core and triceps are simply sore from not being used to that type of exercise. I wouldn't call myself unfit but i know i no where near some people.

That being said I feel fine today, no aches and pains at all and commuting in today was fine no probs, I posted this thread about half hour after I got back from the 25 mile ride.

Especially considering your knee issues of the past, if I were you, I'd definitely take steps to make absolutely sure the fit of your bicycle is right ... or you could end up with even more problems.

Have a read over these links ...
https://www.cyclemetrics.com/Pages/Fi..._fit_links.htm
https://www.cptips.com/toc.htm#equitip (scroll down to medical issues)


And I'm badly out of shape too, so I suspect my aches and pains are from that ... but I also suspect that my saddle isn't positioned quite right. Tricep pain, for example, is often caused by having too much pressure on the hands or pushing myself back on the saddle.

Here's a link about sore triceps:
https://www.roadbikerider.com/ask2.htm#Why do my triceps get sore?
https://www.roadbikerider.com/432.htm#COACH

I put nearly 2000 miles on my bike before I noticed any knee issues, however once they started they quickly got bad, and I was forced off the bike and in the doctors office. Was told to take 4 weeks off, and prescribed 4 weeks of physical therapy. The physical therapy did wonders for my range of motion, but nothing for my knee.

I went to the Bike Barn custom fit studio here in Houston and spent 4 hours getting fit. That evening I rode 25 miles, 45 the next day, and 180 miles over the weekend with no knee issues. I went from not being able to ride one hour without pain that would force me off the bike, to riding 250 with no complications. Additionally, I picked up a little speed and endurance with the increased efficiency.

I made a short you tube clip to share with some friends, I will link it here for you. In the head on shot you can see my knees making triangles, not to mention my arms are so locked out I have no shoulders. The biggest affect in straightening the knees actually came from shoe inserts. Anyway, get a good bike fit, its worth every penny.

Thanks for the replies, they do seem to focus on my bike fit and knee though Still some good info either way.

Machka, thanks for the links they look very interesting, ill have a look tonight.

Nate, interesting video. I don't think my fit is too bad, its probably not a perfect 100% efficient fit but I'm comfortable on the bike. The uncomfortable feeling i had (which was kinda misconstrued as aches and pains, I'm not in pain, it was rather a post workout tiredness feeling. The same you'd get when doing a good core workout or heavy lifting session) was more than likely just muscle fatigue. I commuted to and from work today and had no issues whatsoever. I'll know to look out for bad form when I'm cycling now though.

As i said earlier i think its fatigue coupled with the fact that i posted right after the ride that it looks like im dying of pain after a 25 mile ride

Does anyone have an insight regarding the data? good or bad.

Data all looks good, although you either got tired the last 5 miles or did a very extended cool-down. I always try to hit it as hard as I can near the end of the ride, partly to see what that is and feels like, and partly to really put it to my legs.

The main thing I see is - no hills! Hills are the only thing. Seek them out and ride up them. Every hill in sight. No hill too steep. A couple of years of that and you'll feel a lot stronger. But also do rolling rides like this. Only two hard hill rides/week. Your HR graph for a hill ride should have "table tops" on it where you hit the high HRs shown here, and then sustain them for 10 minutes or so. You can also do slightly rolling rides like this with a HR spike for every little climb. Slightly different effect, both good. If you live in an area that's so flat that this graph is "hills," then you can get a similar effect by just going hard for 10-20 minutes a couple times in a short ride like this, 4-5 times on a longer ride. But you won't be able to do that until you get in better shape.

So you're doing great, just keep working on it. Once you're doing over 100 miles/week, you can worry about the fine points.

Thanks CFB, your right about getting tired in the last 5 miles however it wasn't just that. Travelling back to where i live means a huge increased in traffic and to be honest most of my way home was complete grid lock with annoying drivers trying to fit into spaces only a cyclist can go

Anyway, the hills issue is something I've been looking at. I want to do more because climbs are not my strong point and I'll be looking around for them from now on, i'll do one mid week on the way back from work. I've set out a route quickly using a mapping tool on the internet and loaded it up to my Garmin so I'll give it a go and post the details

I hit 66.48 miles last week Mon-Sun so its steadily increasing

Take care

good stats but I am faster than you.

LAE

you are just like me 5 years ago when i got into cycling again. sheesh...i did and still do ride round regeants park occasionally though not for several weeks now. i can give you loads of pointers given the terrain we have and the limited toughness of our location. you did about 12 laps or there about of the outer circle, right?

How long have you been cycling now? your average speed of 14 mph on regeants park is ok but not really relevant for evaluating how fit you are. What i like about that park is that it is like a cycle track if you loop the outer circle as long as you time the traffic lights and don't get caught too often. This means you can pretty much just keep going and build up your stamina/endurance. Forget about building up yur climbing legs and muscle mass. Do that in the hills on weekends. Use the park loop for what it is good for..i.e. non stop endurance. This will build up your cardio fitness and then when you do the hill repeats, the only thing holding you back are the leg muscles. At the park, just keep pushing round and aim for about 16 to 19 mph over 20 laps. It won't take long. Trust me. that is how I started.

rumrunn6, haha I’m sure you are, tbh there a loads and loads and loads of people faster than me!

Coasting, i don’t remember how many laps it was. I factor in the trip there and back as well so it's probably less that 25miles of Regents Park.
I will try to get faster for more of the time. 14mph is slightly slower than usual; I think I’m usually around 16 but for much shorter trips. I'll try aim for 18+ next time. I think I’ll do that for as long as I can and then break it up into two separate laps because I still want to go further.

My plan for this Sunday is 35miles, I think maybe 18+mph (or as fast as I can go) for 20miles and then my normal pace (be it faster or the same as before) for the last 15miles. Whether that works remains to be seen

It’s all trial and error I guess

are you a relative newbie? i love that sense of enthusiasm and adventure.

Coasting, hehe yes and no. I used to cycle a lot when I was younger but had a patella tendon rupture, got better(ish), started weight training then suffered a collar bone break in a motor bike accident and now 30lbs heavier (left over muscle + fat) decided to get back on the bike to get back to a low BF%. I have road experience and know how to maintain a bike and myself (being a prospective physiotherapy student) but I just need to kick on and get some miles in. I enjoy it and it's good for me so its win win as far as I'm concerned.

haha that "sense of enthusiasm and adventure" you mentioned is just part of my personality. I get ultra competitive with myself, because I know I can always win!

Hey Sick, the GC activity you linked to has a display for temperature. I don't get that for my activities & I don't see an option for that or a way to activiate it. Do you know how to get it to show? TIA

Which Garmin device do you have? the one in the link is the edge 500 and i think by default records temp data. The edge 705 for example doesn't record temp although apparently has a temp gauge (I remember someone saying it displays the temp on error boot up or recovery mode or something like that) but it doesn't show up on display. I've also heard it is a temp gauge for the internal device temp and thus wouldn't work well for actual weather-wise temperature readings.

I think it all depends on the model you have.

I have an Edge 305. I was hoping they added weather to GC. They used to have it in MotionBased and SportTracks has it, so it's doable independent of the device. They need to get grade% into GC also.