Quote Originally Posted by Robyn Maislin
Esther, if your breathing is OK and your muscles are screaming, you might want to add in some strength training and stretching on your off days. Nothing major, even things you can do at home if you don't belong to a gym. Look on line or check out some books for some ideas. Were you doing some other type of fitness activity before? If not, it sounds like you are doing OK for someone who has only been riding for a month. You could try to add in another mile a week, or stick to your schedule and then try to do a longer ride on the weekend. Make sure you are resting and eating/drinking enough before and after you ride!

This is the route I took. I wanted to be able to get up hills more easily and do a tour. Last summer 25 miles was my longest ride. From Dec 'til May I did weight training (which is great for females anyway to ward off osteoporosis) and some Yoga. Note I wanted to build strength so the trainer advised me to do more weight less reps, this varies from person to person to check out what you need to meet your goals

When I got back on the bike in April, 15 miles was a snap, by May I was able to do 48, June 58 (3 days in a row on a short tour) , July a metric century and August an Imperial Century in with a 434 mile tour!

Keep it up, practice your spinning and shifting and the distance will come

BTW I am 49 years old with a couple of health issues that are a pain but manageble.