Hey guys, I was wondering if you guys could help me.
Does anyone here cycle? I really enjoy it and I'm looking to lose weight/tone up. I've cycled in the past and would do 30km as my highest distance, it fucking killed me and it was a bad idea to do such a long distance with being so inexperienced, but I enjoy the scenery which is a big motivator for me.
Does anyone have any advice on the best way to easy into it? Good starting distances? Should I do short bursts of intense and relaxed cycling to maximise the amount of calories I burn? I'm pretty new to Veeky Forums tops so I'm not very knowledgeable
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
James Lopez
I cycle 10-15 miles every day. It has certainly made a big difference in my health and body composition. Plus, it is low impact. 30km might seem bad now but with practice you will do that in your sleep
Hudson Taylor
I've been on a road race team for about 8 years now.
Just ride more hours in consective weeks for 3 weeks at a time, then scale it back to less than Week #1 for the 4th week. Rinse, repeat, bumping up the weekly ride hours in successive blocks. If after 3 months of that you're still sticking with it then get something like Cyclists Training Bible or Time Crunched Cyclist for ideas on a more extensive training program to use.
For each week you ride try to arrange the daily hours in a pattern like this: >off, longer, short, longer, short, longer, longest
Aaron Gomez
>lose weight/tone up
them's fighting words here
Michael Butler
Eh, stuff a sock in it, there are much more annoying memes and shit around than that.
Aaron Powell
Basically what this guy said. Ride the distance you can, but ride it often. If you're really suffering and aren't training to race, dial back your effort to a more comfortable level.
Joshua Anderson
>dial back your effort to a more comfortable level Exactly, thanks for pointing that out. Riders who don't have a heart rate monitor or power meter of some sort might think they're supposed to be hammering as hard as they can all the time (i.e. at or above anaerobic threshold) which will burn you out quickly. At most, to build endurance, you should ride at Tempo (i.e. just below threshold but above basic endurance, z3 for those who understand these things).
Xavier Hall
OP, here again, I'll do you a solid, if you're still paying attention to this thread: tell me how many hours per week at most you have to ride, and I'll lay out the weekly hours for you, sort of a mini-training plan.
Brandon Brown
If you have the opportunity to ride with a recreational club, I would highly recommend it. If you're not quite up to speed yet you'll probably want to keep riding on your own for a bit and losing weight. Once you can comfortably ride 25kph for a couple hours you'll fit right in with most social clubs. It's an excellent way to learn bike handling skills, riding in a group, and fun new routes. I race but I still ride with my local club 3 times a week in the summer for the community aspect. Also, it's gonna be tough any time you increase your distance significantly. Once you have done 30-40km three or four times, it will start to feel like no big deal and soon enough you wont believe you were doing anything shorter.
Elijah Johnson
>Z3 meme tier, z4 is better if you're time constrained and hours on end of z2 are better if not
Wyatt Ward
Try asking on the dedicated cycling board.
Justin Clark
Used to cycle a lot. I had a 27 mile loop I'd do several times a week. Just getting back into working out and can't wait to get back into it.
Gabriel Hernandez
I spend a lot of time on my bicycle, I use it for transportation because everything is within 10km range of where I live. however, I don't know shit about bikes, I feel like a dumbass. pic related. Literally. I've had the same bike since 2011. Bought it from some guy for about 200 euros. It's made by the company GIANT and has disc breaks. I never do any maintenance on it, I just spray some WD40 on the chain and that's it. My friends used to help do some basic repairs in 2013 but it hasn't been touched for like 4 years now. the chain is like 5 years old. is that a bad thing? can it even go bad?
Grayson Miller
If it breaks, replace it.
David Anderson
my dad rode 70 miles after not riding for 20 years, the day before was 55 and the day before that 53, you're just a bitch, he's 68
John Jones
The chain will become elongated over time. I would replace it if it's five years old. It's not that difficult to do yourself, and it's not the expensive to pay someone to do it. Many bicycle shops will roll it into the price of a regular tune-up which I highly recommend to have done once a year. It's usually only $50-100.
Michael Bell
Also don't use wd-40 to lubricate. It's more of a cleaning and rust proofing agent. If it's a road bike use a Teflon lube.
Oliver Ross
It's a mountain bike, but I rarely do any offroad stuff. the only real "action" it gets is when I roll on/off curbs.
Noah Adams
dude youre an idiot, you dont use wd40 as lube. go on amazon or a bike store and get bike lube
Jeremiah Smith
Mountain bikes prefer wetter lubricant to dry Teflon but you still shouldn't rely on wd-40 and you should still get that chain replaced.
Leo Howard
Your chain has probably elongated (and worn down all your gears) to the point where if you replace it, the new one will skip any time you apply power to the pedals, and then the solution is to replace everything the chain touches. In cases like that, it’s just best to ride it until it doesn’t work any more, then decide whether it’s worth replacing everything.
And don’t put WD-40 on your chain, for cryin’ out loud. Get some Tri-Flow at minimum for that.
Ryan Gray
man you didn't have to call me an idiot, I already said I'm not good at bikes...