Average Speeds -getting Downhearted!

[boy in a kilt]

I've ridden the roads around Nice. Beautiful but apt to be a bit hilly. I've been to that part of the world a few times and I'm hoping to take my wife (who posts here and talked me into joining the forum) there on bikes. Someday.

Couple of ideas. Don't "plan" on doing so much distance per day. Touring is about enjoying the trip (and eating). I've done 120 mile days over mountain passes with a full load and I've spent a days where I've been lucky to hit 40 miles. Each trip will (or should) develop its own rhythm.

If you need to plan for things like accommodations, best to experiment. Load yourself up with roughly the amount of gear you'll take, then toss in another 10 kilos for good measure and do a ride at a nice pace. You should be a little tired at the end of the day, but not totally knackered. Plan based on that. If I had to pick a number, I'd say 60-70 km per day would be a good starting point.

[liz_999]

Hello again, am back from the cycle tour!

First things, I have been very silly - it seems my speedo is different to everyone elses and instead of working out my average speed for that particular ride, it works it out across all rides... so as my first ride was very hilly and a couple of subsequent rides were flat i was thinking my ride speed was 9mph for the flat when really that was the average of them both... realised this when i did 12 miles in under an hour and still had a speed of 9.5!!
So it seems I am faster than I originally thought!

The tour was very successful, did about 500 miles in about 10 days, did a couple of 60 mile days, and also cycled up Alpe D'Huez (had to stop once 2km from the top with excruciating stitch - could kick myself now!) and the Col du Lauteret, and Montgenevre and a place called Sestriere -did Montgenevre and Sestriere on the same day - 2 huge climbs and then had an amazing 56km of descent of about 2000m, was crazy!

So I have gained a bit of muscle in my calves (I had stick legs before) and toned my thighs and lost about 5lb! Am now looking forward to NOT eating pasta!!! My body is just about recovering (only had 2 rest days during the trip and then had the day before we flew home in Milan where we didnt cycle). Have found that the tendons/ligaments right behind my knees are very tight, and found also that my knees suffered a lot during the rides. Not sure why this is, does anyone else have painful knees when climbing in particular???

So after around a month of cycling I am very proud of myself and just want to carry on now! Bike needs a service though!

Thanks for your posts!

Liz

Liz

[rij73]

Are you kidding? You did some of the major Tour de France climbs after cycling for one month??? I find that absolutely incredible!

How did it feel to climb for sooooo long at a stretch?
Before cycling were you already strong from some other sport?
How about pictures of your trip?

Enquiring minds want to know!

[Veronica]

Not sure why this is, does anyone else have painful knees when climbing in particular???

I've had knee pain all my life - even when I was a little kid, some sort of biomechanical genetic thing I think. I just avoid the things that I know cause it.

One of those is trying to climb in too big of a gear.

V.

[amy]

liz_999... WOW! How does one even bike those distances after such a short time on a bike? I can't even imagine. Having just read the distances and experience time, I would worry about your knees! Clearly you are a strong woman!

As your friendly online therapist, however, I would recommend more frequent training at shorter distances, daily GENTLE stretches of those legs, and perhaps icing after a ride for now. A good yoga class would be great.

But I will admit I know far more about therapy and the body than about cycling, and many women here have done amazing things. I'm in the "go slow and steady to start" camp.

Good luck!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Liz999-
You must be some incredible cycling prodigy!
How can you even TALK about being discouraged at your average speed??

You need to sign up for the Paris-Brest-Paris and then.... on to the Tour de France!!

[RoadRaven]

Hey there liz - first well done on completeing a great tour...
Most impressive...

But I have to ask... are you saying you had only been on a bike for a month before yu did this tour?
And if so what sport did you do before cycling? Marathon running or some kind of running sport?
And what kind've bike were you on? If you had a triple, it would have made the climbs (like Huez) much more manageable...

I am intrigued, I would love to do this type of tour. But after training for 2 years, and racing for 1 year, I was shattered after a 66 km hilly road race on Saturday... how did you achieve these distances day after day if you only had a month to prepare?

Are we misinterpreting your post?

[Eden]

Touring is *completely* different from racing. My husband and I used to go and do loaded tours without much if any preparation (back in the old days, when no one told you that you had to train for it..., so we didn't know we weren't supposed to be able to do it ) Sure 60 - 90 miles on a loaded touring bike isn't a walk in the park (and we would keep most of the days on a longer tour down to 30 -40ish - like V says, more time to enjoy the place you are cycling through), but you never have to go faster than you want to, you can stop and smell the flowers, look at the sights, get a bite to eat, just stretch and rest and sip your water bottle any time you want to. Novel idea huh!
It really does make a big difference. Its like getting to recover in little bits all day long, so even if you get to your destination tired and hungry, you can eat, sleep and be OK to do it all again the next day. Even with races - I've done a fair amount of stage racing, which at my level means 3 - 4 races over 2-3 days, you would be very suprised at how much you can recover overnight if you get a good meal and lots of sleep in, but that was after *lots* of training, but yeah even a 24 mile race can feel much more taxing than a 60 mile day touring.