Average Speeds -getting Downhearted!

[Jiffer]

Liz, it sounds like you are doing amazing for only 3 weeks out. I have a Dh I get a lot of training advice from, which has been very, very helpful. But it is also nice to come on this site with other women, who understand what it is like to be a woman cyclist, and get input from them. I'm sure you'll love it here.

Remember that you will probably never be as fast as your BF unless he doesn't improve and you do. Minitabby gave great in advice in considering a tandem. Dh and I ride a tandem road bike, which is actually how I got into cycling a year ago. I go wherever he goes and we get there at exactly the same time!!! Working at our individual levels of ability and strength. I also have my own single bike now, which I also love, but I rarely ride it with Dh unless he's all set to go my pace with me, which sometimes he does. But I also enjoy going out there all by myself, going as fast or slow as I want on the route that I choose.

As for hills, they are no fun, especially at first. Dh has actually come to LOVE hills and searches out centuries that have a lot of elevation on purpose! WHATEVER!!! It's just something he has found to be good at and enjoys passing up everyone else. I have decided to make myself have a better attitude about hills, since there's no getting around them where I live, and I'm making a point to get better at them. "Hills are my friend!", I keep telling myself! The more I ride them, the better I get at them.

One little tip, when riding a hill that doesn't have a lot of traffic on it. If it's so steep that you feel like you just have to stop the bike because you can't keep going up at that grade, try turning the bike to the left and then the right, to take the hill at a lower grade. I discovered this trick a while back when trying to conquer a killer hill. Luckily, there was very little traffic.

Good luck on all your future riding adventures!!!

[indysteel]

I'm sitting here with furrowed brow because Liz did some of France's most infamous climbs after three weeks of riding and I'm worried about my weeklong tour of Middle Tennessee. Granted, repeated steep grades, no matter how short, can take it out of you, but still. Alpe d'Huez? Five hundred miles in 10 days? I must be a big wimp or something. The first time I hit 500 miles in a month was a big deal. Am I missing something?

[rij73]

Don't worry Indy... seems like a lot of us are feeling that way! That's why I wish liz_999 would come back and answer some of our questions!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Don't worry Indy... seems like a lot of us are feeling that way! That's why I wish liz_999 would come back and answer some of our questions!

She's probably busy pedaling up Mt. Everest!

[lauraelmore1033]

I smell a replay of the CaliSunshine smackdown in the breeze...

[Eden]

I smell a replay of the CaliSunshine smackdown in the breeze...

I honestly don't think this gal is being rude... she hasn't disparaged anyone else. She's new, probably young and she's fit, and what she's said she has been able to do does not sound outrageous.

[RoadRaven]

I agree Eden
I don't think she's being rude or whatever the CaliSunshine reference referred to.

If Liz had experience in another endurance sport... or used low gearing... or is young and fit... then I can understand much more.

Thats why I posed my wonderings, because from my perspective - middle-aged, on a compact, only 2 years on the bike... I don't think I could do even one of Le Tour "hills"...

Looking forward to you popping back, Liz

[spokewench]

There really is no reason that this young woman could not have done what she did. We all seem to think that things are harder than they really are.

Last year, I went to do the Bicycle Tour of Colorado, lots of climbing, mountain passes, approx. 480 miles in six days of riding with one rest day. I really thought it was going to be hard and I have been riding bikes for almost 20 years. But, some of that feeling is because I don't really like to ride for more than 4 hours at a time, 6 at the most. Well, I trained quite a bit, mostly just rode lots of hills before we went and that worked for me. I was able to ride the route without being miserable and without taking all day!

But, to my surprise, there were a ton of people that ride those rides that don't look like they could ever finish them. They are overweight, riding junker bikes, underweight, riding junker bikes, people with cancer, and other diseases who are just heroic, and they finish those rides. They may get up really, really early, before light and ride till dark, but they finish! So, it is really incredible what people can do, and who those people are too.

So, I think it is really in what kind of riding you are willing to do, what speeds, and how much determination you have. It is amazing what any one person can do physically.

I surprised myself on that ride - and I think that a lot of TE'ers would surprise themselves as well if they push their limits! We have wonderful surprises and abilities that we really don't know are there until we try them out.

[indysteel]

Liz, I think that's just awesome!!!! As some of you know from my own thread about my upcoming ride in TN, I've had some moments of weakness--including a bad one yesterday--when I have really doubted whether doing the tour is a good idea. Reading Liz and Spokewench's stories have really given me a renewed sense of determination. Thank you ever so much.

K-

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I surprised myself on that ride - and I think that a lot of TE'ers would surprise themselves as well if they push their limits! We have wonderful surprises and abilities that we really don't know are there until we try them out.

I think that is generally true- people tend to think they "cannot" do something they have not tried yet.
Good for you doing that huge tour!

I've ridden over 4,500 miles over the past year- far more than I ever would have dreamed possible. Yet sometimes I start out on a really long ride, full of strength and confidence and towards the end I am really exhausted. I think it will take me many more months to increase my strength and stamina. I like to think my age (53) is not going to hold me back too much.

And I look forward to seeing a few of Liz's pictures.

[Crankin]

I think the key phrase is that if you push yourself, you can do it. The problem is that after a certain point, i don't want to push myself. Now, I'm not saying that I haven't done things on the bike that I thought I'd never do and I know what seems normal to me astounds my non-cycling friends. But, sometimes I am just as happy doing my 16 mile loop. In fact, most of the time, I am. I've done a century, done 50 mile rides with 5,000 feet of climbing, and I can climb 18% grades (slowly). But the thought of doing those things most of the time, when I sit here and think about it, doesn't thrill me. I keep wondering if I am just a wimp, when I see those people on beater bikes finishing long rides. I mean, I am always happy when I finish doing one of those challenging rides, but in my head, I am never very happy in the beginning of a ride that is challenging. It definitely is in my head, because I always finish, but I guess I will never be one of those people training for a double!