July Rides

[Crankin]

I start slow and always end up feeling better at the end. In fact, I often end up finishing a group ride before riders that are overall faster than me.
One of the reasons I stopped doing certain group rides is that they all go out like bats out of hell. DH and I have learned that on many of the shorter rides we do, we often start off climbing, go slowly, and by the time we get back to the flatter part of the loop, we can get our averages up about +2 mph.
If people think this is wimpy, well, it works.

[jilliebeanmn]

You ladies put on some MILES!

My "long" rides on the weekend are 20-30 miles, and my weeknight rides are 15-20.

I did 25 miles on the trail yesterday and it was a PERFECT biking weather day. If not for a packed day, leaving very little time in my schedule I definitely would have went further. I am such a newbie.

My biggest problem with rides over 2 hours is my back ends up killing me. I think I am going to try and move my seat down a little and see if that helps.

[ny biker]

You ladies put on some MILES!

My "long" rides on the weekend are 20-30 miles, and my weeknight rides are 15-20.

I did 25 miles on the trail yesterday and it was a PERFECT biking weather day. If not for a packed day, leaving very little time in my schedule I definitely would have went further. I am such a newbie.

My biggest problem with rides over 2 hours is my back ends up killing me. I think I am going to try and move my seat down a little and see if that helps.

Moving your seat down could cause knee problems. What kind of bike do you have -- hybrid, road, mountain, other?

[jilliebeanmn]

2014 Cannondale Quick-a hybrid with flat handlebars.

[emily_in_nc]

Today I did 47 on the roadie and 2.5 afterwards on the Bike Friday w/panniers to get groceries.

My DH finds the end of our rides here hard too -- I think it's a combination of chip-seal roads near the end, a slight but very long "false flat" back to our rental, and the fact that by the time we're heading in, it's HOT. Today was 88 when I finished up, and I was dripping from every pore. The last 5 miles or so were a grind, but I did it.

I am proud because I achieved 4000 miles on the year today. I have a lot more time to ride now that I'm retired, and it's looking like this will easily beat my previous record year of 2004, where I did 4279 miles, but a good % of those were trainer miles. Living in NC at the time and being a cold-weather wimp, I rode almost exclusively on the trainer from Nov-Feb and occasionally outside those months as well. Now we're able to follow good weather, so getting in outdoor miles is much easier.

[ny biker]

2014 Cannondale Quick-a hybrid with flat handlebars.

You might want to try posting in the Health forum for advice. It could be a problem with reach, which might be fixed by a different size stem or different handlebars. But it also might be an issue with core strength or flexibility. When my lower back hurts, it means I need to stretch my hamstrings.