So what with one thing or another, illness mainly, today was my first commute on the new bike. My legs are shot as it's about 4 weeks since my last ride apart from collecting the bike and they feel knackered right now after the 10 miles in. But it rides well, feels nice and solid and the brakes are appreciably better than on my other bike. I like the triple front ring as well because I'm too big to dance up hills. All in all I think this will suit me down to the ground. Just need to find some audax rides now!
returned to cycle commuting a few weeks ago, around a hundred miles per week. The ride includes Shooters Hill, burn between 400-500 calories on a hybrid (each direction).
Probably age but I wondered if there were any tips for stiffness (in the the legs) other than resting etc. Tried arnica cream a bit, other suggestions welcome.
returned to cycle commuting a few weeks ago, around a hundred miles per week. The ride includes Shooters Hill, burn between 400-500 calories on a hybrid (each direction).
Probably age but I wondered if there were any tips for stiffness (in the the legs) other than resting etc. Tried arnica cream a bit, other suggestions welcome.
Try a warm up and warm down before and after with some stretches.
returned to cycle commuting a few weeks ago, around a hundred miles per week. The ride includes Shooters Hill, burn between 400-500 calories on a hybrid (each direction).
Probably age but I wondered if there were any tips for stiffness (in the the legs) other than resting etc. Tried arnica cream a bit, other suggestions welcome.
Spin more - turn a smaller gear at a higher cadence. Definitely something that you need to work at - I've only been riding a bike for five years, so spinning doesn't come easy to me. The older you get, the longer it takes for you to get lactate out of your 'heavy' working muscles as well, so your quads tend to suffer more, leading to that heavy-legged feeling. Turning an easier gear more quickly is more efficient as it works your CV system more than your muscular one (has the added benefit of delivering you more fitness as well)
First winter chaingang of the year last night. Pleased with hanging on for seven laps, but am a long way away from being race fit - been doing base miles only for the past two months. Winter training on the turbo starts properly next week, working to a plan this time. Last year my training was more structured than before, this time round I'm looking to take that to the next step, so following a specific, dedicated plan with an objective at the end of it and structured sessions all being geared towards that. Should be interesting - and at least Zwift makes the turbo more enjoyable
I just can't get to grips with Zwift @Leroy Ambrose ....not enough structure there for me and it kept dropping the connection...have sacked off my subscription and am sticking with TrainerRoad...much more boring but more structured workouts on there than I'm ever going to need... That said, I've just had nearly two weeks off the bike (apart form a bit of Yorks Moors last week) so when I start again next week it's going to be hideous....urgh.
I just can't get to grips with Zwift @Leroy Ambrose ....not enough structure there for me and it kept dropping the connection...have sacked off my subscription and am sticking with TrainerRoad...much more boring but more structured workouts on there than I'm ever going to need... That said, I've just had nearly two weeks off the bike (apart form a bit of Yorks Moors last week) so when I start again next week it's going to be hideous....urgh.
It's worth persevering with, but a lot depends on your setup (power meter vs dumb trainer/smart trainer, Ant+ vs Bluetooth, Wifi signal etc). Took me a good while to get there - in the end I got it figured out and it's been well worth it. TrainerRoad will work for you though - just something less grim about riding around a virtual island with other people than just staring at graphs or videos.
Properly grim out there this AM. Had planned 70 miles but the weather meant a revised route of 35. Bucketed down for 19 miles and then came the head wind.....
Stretching has helped a bit. I'm overdriving it after 3 years out, by including Shooters Hill both way, which I could easily avoid, so might just be overdoing it.
Spinning thing is interesting will give that a go
I used to get back issues but don't seem to with the hybrid. I've done a bit of running recently, which my osteopath recommended would help the back, so it might be that. Alternatively I wonder if it was the set up of the road bike.
Has anyone else found the BetterPoints app, you can earn points by riding through Greenwich (proper)
Stretching has helped a bit. I'm overdriving it after 3 years out, by including Shooters Hill both way, which I could easily avoid, so might just be overdoing it.
Spinning thing is interesting will give that a go
I used to get back issues but don't seem to with the hybrid. I've done a bit of running recently, which my osteopath recommended would help the back, so it might be that. Alternatively I wonder if it was the set up of the road bike.
Has anyone else found the BetterPoints app, you can earn points by riding through Greenwich (proper)
The hybrid will help you because most peoples' back issues on bikes are caused/exacerbated by a low stack height. Hybrids are generally higher in the front, so tend to put your back in a much more comfortable position (obviously not the case for everybody, but as a generalisation it helps). You'd probably scream if you saw my race bike... but after a while you get used to it. First few races I did with the stem slammed and my seat poking halfway up into the stratosphere it felt really, really weird. Not 'painful' as such, just... odd. Hurt like a bastard for about two hours after a race mind, but that's gone now for the most part.
Since you're on a hybrid, you might want to check your saddle height as well. They're generally set too low for most people, and ff you're feeling heavy-legged, it could be that you're mashing down too heavy on your pedals - raising the saddle will help with that (and also help ensure you don't end up with knees like Tommy Smith...)
Morning all , can anyone recommend a cheap Turbo Trainer , I have around £100 to spend , thank you
Anything around that price point will be useless for anything except the most basic of training - but, that said, they'll all do a decent job of the same thing (providing manually-set resistance for interval work). Decathlon and Halfords are your best bet - look for the lower-end offerings from brands like Minoura and Tacx
Morning all , can anyone recommend a cheap Turbo Trainer , I have around £100 to spend , thank you
Anything around that price point will be useless for anything except the most basic of training - but, that said, they'll all do a decent job of the same thing (providing manually-set resistance for interval work). Decathlon and Halfords are your best bet - look for the lower-end offerings from brands like Minoura and Tacx
That's all I need , just basic training , had a bit of knee trouble lately (wear & tear ) just want to keep my fitness up rather than sit at home stuffing Donuts down my throat.
Morning all , can anyone recommend a cheap Turbo Trainer , I have around £100 to spend , thank you
Anything around that price point will be useless for anything except the most basic of training - but, that said, they'll all do a decent job of the same thing (providing manually-set resistance for interval work). Decathlon and Halfords are your best bet - look for the lower-end offerings from brands like Minoura and Tacx
That's all I need , just basic training , had a bit of knee trouble lately (wear & tear ) just want to keep my fitness up rather than sit at home stuffing Donuts down my throat.
Stretching has helped a bit. I'm overdriving it after 3 years out, by including Shooters Hill both way, which I could easily avoid, so might just be overdoing it.
Spinning thing is interesting will give that a go
I used to get back issues but don't seem to with the hybrid. I've done a bit of running recently, which my osteopath recommended would help the back, so it might be that. Alternatively I wonder if it was the set up of the road bike.
Has anyone else found the BetterPoints app, you can earn points by riding through Greenwich (proper)
The hybrid will help you because most peoples' back issues on bikes are caused/exacerbated by a low stack height. Hybrids are generally higher in the front, so tend to put your back in a much more comfortable position (obviously not the case for everybody, but as a generalisation it helps). You'd probably scream if you saw my race bike... but after a while you get used to it. First few races I did with the stem slammed and my seat poking halfway up into the stratosphere it felt really, really weird. Not 'painful' as such, just... odd. Hurt like a bastard for about two hours after a race mind, but that's gone now for the most part.
Since you're on a hybrid, you might want to check your saddle height as well. They're generally set too low for most people, and ff you're feeling heavy-legged, it could be that you're mashing down too heavy on your pedals - raising the saddle will help with that (and also help ensure you don't end up with knees like Tommy Smith...)
knees are feeling it, but seat on HB is quite high already..
Morning all , can anyone recommend a cheap Turbo Trainer , I have around £100 to spend , thank you
Anything around that price point will be useless for anything except the most basic of training - but, that said, they'll all do a decent job of the same thing (providing manually-set resistance for interval work). Decathlon and Halfords are your best bet - look for the lower-end offerings from brands like Minoura and Tacx
That's all I need , just basic training , had a bit of knee trouble lately (wear & tear ) just want to keep my fitness up rather than sit at home stuffing Donuts down my throat.
@Leroy Ambrose my experience of Zwift has been with a Wahoo Kick'r using Bluetooth to an iPad, mounted on the bars... If I could find my ANT+ dongle, I guess I could try the desktop version on my Macbook, but that would be on a table to my side, so not head on/immersive enough. I've read it's something to do with the OS that causes it to drop out on mobile devices via Bluetooth (and I believe that they still market the IOS version as a beta) so maybe I'll be back when that gets sorted out....till then I'll stick with TrainerRoad which, after a few weeks off, was a bloody nightmare this morning....hanging on by the final set...fortunately my cadence monitor needs new batteries, so no record of how slow I was pedaling...
@Leroy Ambrose my experience of Zwift has been with a Wahoo Kick'r using Bluetooth to an iPad, mounted on the bars... If I could find my ANT+ dongle, I guess I could try the desktop version on my Macbook, but that would be on a table to my side, so not head on/immersive enough. I've read it's something to do with the OS that causes it to drop out on mobile devices via Bluetooth (and I believe that they still market the IOS version as a beta) so maybe I'll be back when that gets sorted out....till then I'll stick with TrainerRoad which, after a few weeks off, was a bloody nightmare this morning....hanging on by the final set...fortunately my cadence monitor needs new batteries, so no record of how slow I was pedaling...
Yeah - Bluetooth is an issue on IOS, and because it's still in beta, you;re not likely to get much in the way of support for it. Bluetooth in general isn't as reliable as Ant+ IMO (I despise bluetooth with a passion anyway, but that's not just hearsay - I've used Zwift with bluetooth and had a lot of issues). Never has a problem with Ant+
I feel your pain - I haven't even started winter training yet - I had a terrible end to the season after I nearly got killed in the MAMIL worlds in France, never recovered from that really. Last straw was getting dropped in my final RR (first time getting dropped all season) so have just done some base miles and the odd long ride since. Trying to get motivated again for the turbo, but I'm so far down on where I should be that I can't even last the pace in a B race on Zwift, whereas last winter I was competitive in the As. Going to be a long, hard winter
hahaha @Leroy Ambrose - I've never been anywhere near any sort of grouping in any cycling I've ever done...am sure you'd wipe the floor with me in whatever state you're in (I've seen your stats remember...your FTP is approx double that of mine...)..but I know exactly what you're saying... I was doing well on TrainerRoad through Sept (all up on strava) in that I was being regular and it was starting to get easier.. Then I got knocked off my Vespa by a woman in a mini and I had over a month off the bike (nothing broken thank goodness) and now it's a struggle to get going again and it feels as if all the work in Sept was for nothing...bloomin annoying..
Urgh. Layoffs are the absolute worst thing for cycling, unless they're deliberately put in for rest purposes as part of a 'proper' plan. I'm the absolute worst for overtraining - I ride too much cos I just like being on my bike, and don't like riding slowly. I've done so much work on periodising my training, but ruin it all by riding too far (schedule called for a couple of long base rides a few weeks ago, but I did 220 miles instead of 160 cos I had the day off, I had a 45 minute sprinterval session scheduled last week but sacked it off and went out for a 2 hour tempo ride instead etc etc). I was pretty down at the beginning of the week after a shit Zwift session, but forced myself to have a day off, then went on the local winter chainy last night and was fine. I need someone to FORCE me to take rest days - but not being able to ride for a month would kill me.
At least with a level of base fitness, you'll get back to 'ride fitness' faster than you would have done otherwise, so stick at it.
@Leroy Ambrose I saw your Zwift ride and your subsequent comments....your cycle club buddies were right (as you say above)...make time for some (scheduled) rest! I had another go this morning on a 1.5hr turbo session...probably too long after such a layoff...I was literally hanging on for dear life by the end...was a good over/unders/sweet spot/threshold session but crikey, by the end of the second set I was wondering how I was going to complete the next two... Again, thank goodness for a cadence monitor that needs a new battery :-)
@razil have you tried compression socks? There's zero evidence for a performance advantage but when used for recovery they seem to help a lot of people. Try wearing for an hour or 2 after a ride and see if the legs feel any better
I second @rina comment. Compression tights after a long ride or after a days skiing always make the next day easier. I’d also recommend them if your going on long flight or drive.
Oh well, sometimes it's time to move on.. After a couple of ops for prostate problems there is no way I can ride for more than about 15 mins at a time, so £800 ish.
Comments
But it rides well, feels nice and solid and the brakes are appreciably better than on my other bike. I like the triple front ring as well because I'm too big to dance up hills. All in all I think this will suit me down to the ground.
Just need to find some audax rides now!
Probably age but I wondered if there were any tips for stiffness (in the the legs) other than resting etc. Tried arnica cream a bit, other suggestions welcome.
Spinning thing is interesting will give that a go
I used to get back issues but don't seem to with the hybrid. I've done a bit of running recently, which my osteopath recommended would help the back, so it might be that. Alternatively I wonder if it was the set up of the road bike.
Has anyone else found the BetterPoints app, you can earn points by riding through Greenwich (proper)
Since you're on a hybrid, you might want to check your saddle height as well. They're generally set too low for most people, and ff you're feeling heavy-legged, it could be that you're mashing down too heavy on your pedals - raising the saddle will help with that (and also help ensure you don't end up with knees like Tommy Smith...)
Here you go - great reviews, and 75 quid: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-crono-mag-speed-alu-trainer/?lang=en&curr=GBP&dest=1&sku=5360626229&kpid=5360626229&utm_source=google&utm_term&utm_campaign=UK_PLA_Accessories&utm_medium=base&utm_content=mckv|sqiXSdKn1_dc|mcrid|67090793342|mkw||mmt||mrd|5360626229uk|mslid||&mkwid=sqiXSdKn1_dc&pcrid=67090793342&prd=5360626229uk&pgrid=17507339942&ptaid=pla-121252192382
I feel your pain - I haven't even started winter training yet - I had a terrible end to the season after I nearly got killed in the MAMIL worlds in France, never recovered from that really. Last straw was getting dropped in my final RR (first time getting dropped all season) so have just done some base miles and the odd long ride since. Trying to get motivated again for the turbo, but I'm so far down on where I should be that I can't even last the pace in a B race on Zwift, whereas last winter I was competitive in the As. Going to be a long, hard winter
At least with a level of base fitness, you'll get back to 'ride fitness' faster than you would have done otherwise, so stick at it.
After a couple of ops for prostate problems there is no way I can ride for more than about 15 mins at a time, so £800 ish.