Starting out

[Lesley_x]

Hi guys! Today was my first day on my Giant Roam 2 W. I am not brave enough for a road bike yet!

I have found that I am very unfit and covered only five miles (with breaks!!) at a modest mph. However, I have taken the first step!

What's a good starting regime, and any beginners tips/things I should know? And is there any particular aspects of diet that would help?

Thanks

[momsquared]

I have also recently started out. I think the key (regardless of speed or length of ride) is to just try and get out and ride regularly. There are a lot of great books that actually include training programs if you wanted to follow a specific schedule.

I think hydration (when biking and not) is key in the warm weather. I also think that 6 small meals is better than 3 large ones...or one large one and a bunch of random snacks....or whatever.

[Melalvai]

I read an article once, sorry I don't remember where, that sounded like good advice: Increase your mileage at a rate of no more than 1 mile per day or 5 miles per week, starting with a ride of 4 or 5 miles (which you did).

I've been riding my hybrid for 5 years and I rode a road bike exactly once. I hated it. I suppose I should give it another chance, but I haven't gotten around to it. Why would I? I love my bike so much!

[PamNY]

Lesley, five miles is a perfectly good start. My advice is simple: just ride. I started with roughly the same distance as you (I think it was seven miles), and now (about two years later) I can easily do 50 miles if I take all day and go fairly slow (which I prefer).

I never thought I'd ride that far -- I was 58 years old when I bought my bike, and hadn't ridden in years. Now I'm seriously considering a metric century next year.

My experience is that if you are enjoying your bike, you will keep riding and build strength naturally. I did have to work at hills, because there aren't many where I live, but otherwise I just enjoy myself. I also work at core strength because that matters more than I realized.

[ny biker]

The most important thing is to have fun.

[indysteel]

I read an article once, sorry I don't remember where, that sounded like good advice: Increase your mileage at a rate of no more than 1 mile per day or 5 miles per week, starting with a ride of 4 or 5 miles (which you did).

I've been riding my hybrid for 5 years and I rode a road bike exactly once. I hated it. I suppose I should give it another chance, but I haven't gotten around to it. Why would I? I love my bike so much!

I think that's good advice. I do think you get to a point--for me it was at about the 50-mile mark--that I could start adding miles more aggressively, but before that, I ramped up at about that pace.

FWIW, my first ride was 6 miles. A about 13 months later, I did a one-day ride of 160 miles! Crazy, huh? You never know where these bodies of ours will take us.

As for diet, just stick to a balanced diet with lean proteins, complex carbs and fruits and veggies. Drink plenty of fluids. As your rides get longer than say, 90 minutes, you'll have to start eating while you ride. I try to add some extra salt, potassium and calcium in if I'm riding in the heat a lot.

[malkin]

Ride your bike and have fun.
Don't forget to eat and drink, and go ahead and be merry while you're at it.

[Catrin]

You are doing great! I just learned how to ride in December, and it took a couple of rides for me to go as far as 5 miles The others have given great advice, just remember to have fun and enjoy as you ride as much - and as often - as you can!

[navybeetle]

Hi guys! Today was my first day on my Giant Roam 2 W. I am not brave enough for a road bike yet!

I have found that I am very unfit and covered only five miles (with breaks!!) at a modest mph. However, I have taken the first step!

What's a good starting regime, and any beginners tips/things I should know? And is there any particular aspects of diet that would help?

Thanks

I haven't biked consistently for nearly 20 years. I used my tax rebate for a used but tuned up bike. Rode maybe 4 miles the other day and felt alright. Not hurting to bad today and it was a very hilly route. Hang in there and I will too!

[marni]

When I first started riding 4 years ago, I died after riding a mile. Last year I did a cross country from San Diego to St. Augustine. Our longest day was 110 miles, followed by 4 dys of 75-80 miles a day. The average day wass 65 miles but there were a few under 60 miles days as well.

both of yoou hang in there and keep increasing your mileage as it feels good.

As for hills, hills make your butt smaller.

marni

[Catrin]

As for hills, hills make your butt smaller.

marni

Really? COOL!

[navybeetle]

Thanks for your encouragement Marni. I took some pretty good hills yesterday, just being patient with myself, my body and my chain which popped off twice (it went right over the innermost sprocket on the back while I was shifting down). I have to figure out how to stop it from doing that What kept me going on the hills was a comment I read about how hills are good for your legs, now you say they are good for the butt. That is encouraging because i really need to drop the lbs I put on after a back injury this past winter I live in Omaha and this part of Nebraska is not flat!!!! When I rode allot 22 years ago I was in Dallas, what a difference!

[Melalvai]

I live in Omaha and this part of Nebraska is not flat!!!!

Omaha has a nice group called "Activate Omaha", I know a couple of the ladies who run it. Get involved with them and you will learn a lot about cycling, especially about cycling in traffic but also about the local bike paths and rides and so on.

[Lesley_x]

Hi guys, thought I'd come back and update since you've all been so lovely.

Pretty pleased with myself today. Managed to ride just over 5 miles in the one go without feeling like I was going to die. Took me 30 minutes at 10mph, with a few stops for some water.

I seem to get an initial feeling of 'I can't do this!' within the 1st ten minutes of my ride, I think it's just a psychological barrier from being sedentary for so long. Once I get past that I feel like I could ride forever It's funny that my first trip out only 9 days ago took me 15 minutes to do 1.5 miles at 6mph.

Is this a significant improvement? My mood, energy and general wellbeing has improved at a surprising rate!

Oh, and I almost got run over for the first time today too by a young girl coming out her driveway head on, didn't see me. Scary!

[navybeetle]

Omaha has a nice group called "Activate Omaha", I know a couple of the ladies who run it. Get involved with them and you will learn a lot about cycling, especially about cycling in traffic but also about the local bike paths and rides and so on.

Thanks so much for the lead to the active omaha webpage. They are doing a great job. I will visit the site often to see if I can help in any way and to maybe find others just starting out (or starting over in my case).