First ride of the season

[DDH]

I haven't been on my bike all winter. Not going to make excuses just haven't made time. The weather has been great all week and I decided last night that today I was going to get out there. I have missed my bike. I love going for the rides and being outside to exercise.
Well, I didn't go far, only about 7 miles and it was hard. Harder than I thought it would be. I have been on my treadmill for a month now constantly and I thought that would help my bike riding. UH, I don't think so. LOL
It was hard pumping up those hills. I guess you must use different parts of the leg muscle when riding that when walking. I don't know, but it was tuff.
Don't care though, I loved it.
I didn't try to push real hard, I just wanted to get out there and get my legs back a little. Late last summer I went to clipless peddles and the weather started getting bad before I got them broke in good, so I was a little nervous about that, but I did fine.
Gosh it was great to get out. Now I really remember how much I missed my bike.

[Bikingmomof3]

Donna,
Congrats for getting back out there. I think 7 miles with hills is a huge accomplishment. :) This weekend is supposed to be gorgeous and I plan on taking my bike outside after 6 months? :eek: Has it really been that long? :( :eek:

[li10up]

My riding has been pretty limited during the winter. Looking forward to that extra hour of daylight starting this weekend. Now I can ride after work! I bet it doesn't take long for you to get back to where you were at the end of last season.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

sPRING WEATHER IS ALMOST HERE!!! Will be biking again within a few days- I am sure of it!! :cool:
Donna, great to see you again here. :p
You know, before I started biking, I used to do fitness walking, about 3 brisk miles a day, with a few little hills in there. I have found that when I either walk or bike for a couple of months without doing the other, then when I do the other one I am sore all over the next day. Biking DOES emphasize/use slightly different muscles than walking and treadmill. I have found that biking improves my ability to WALK up hills without getting out of breath or racing heartbeat. But not the other way around, for me anyway.

[Jo-n-NY]

Me too, I am in complete agreement with Lisa S.H. I use to walk and used the treadmill religously. However, I built most of my fitness stamina on the bike. I now use the trainer during the winter just so I do not loose "all" of my fitness level that I had built up. I do integrate walking a couple of miles during my lunch hour at work weather permitting.

[Hammer]

I cleaned up my roadbike... I don't think that I've been on it since maybe late september or October.... AND I added aerobars too. It's been upgraded from the basement to my living room again. Now it's taunting me until I do take it for a ride.

I'm just trying to decide when that will be.

I've been working on running and have been taking spin classes over the fall and winter. I've slacked off on running, the weather and work have really gotten in the way. So, I want to keep working on that. But, I have my first multiday tour in June.

I'm nervous to see how spin classes will translate to roadbiking again. My overall endurance should be around the same place it was last summer... I hope that I didn't lose too much.

Still, I'm nervous about getting on again. Being on a roadbike is much different than a spin bike. I've been clipping in on the spin bike, so I should be ok.

Well, I should probably get off the computer and do some cleaning so that I can reward myself with outside activity later!!!

[Mimosa]

Finally it was sunny weather and I could take out my new bike for the first time. It was only my 4th ride this year and did that show on my heartrate monitor :eek: the wind was blowing hard with no where to hide (http://www.gsi.ie/everyone/europe/netherlands/15737_3_kagerplassen.jpg). Just take it headon and pedal to you drop :D ... the cool side is that , eventually, the same wind will blow in your back so I still managed to do an avarage of 26 kph on a 40 k ride.

[Aggie_Ama]

Donna- I have been wondering how you have been! First ride back, 7 hilly miles is good! The weather is gorgeous today, hope you get to ride some this weekend. I am impressed that the clipless pedals didn't give you issues, I feel nervous and rusty on them if I don't ride.

[Starfish]

Women, I know what you mean! I am just getting out on my bike again after about 9 months off it, and after about 8 months of doing nothing. (:mad: no one to blame but myself!)

But, I did get into the gym about 6 weeks ago, and I was astounded at how those few weeks on the elliptical and recumbent exercycle really helped me. My first rides out on my bike (18 flat miles, and another of about 13 miles with 1200' climbing) were a lot easier than I had thought they would be. (Not *easy*, but I wasn't too beat up.)

At least for me, the elliptical trainer hits a lot more of the same muscles as cycling than a regular treadmill does...especially those quads that are kind of high up on the thigh.