well ive not rode a bike in about 20 yrs..

hubby bought us bikes on monday.. I rode 4 miles today (yippee) down to a local church.. I didnt eat before i rode, but drank about 20 oz of water

on the way there it was alot of coasting with a bit of cycling.. there is a huge hill that i only got 1/2 way up (very difficult to walk up let alone ride)..

the way back is just the opposite (of course) with little to no coasting.. still only got 1/2 way up that hill..

round trip took me about 30-40 minutes

how do i calculate the calories burned?

how do i plug this into fitday? I know there is a place for activity but if i plug in 4 miles at 30 minutes, wont it just mistake that for faster MPH? or is this ok since on the way back it is double the work?

is it normal for a beginner to feel like when she gets done? and will this go away? (I do feel better after sitting down for 10 minutes and drinking water.. is it simply that i need to carry water with me?)

to avoid the ouchies.. whats the best type of seat to get (i read someone got a gel seat)? and what other things should i get.. gloves? water bottle?

thanks in advance for all of your help.. heres to better health and not getting winded on a bike ride !

I am riding for 3 years now, and also started as a commute. Since I am male, I had additional issuse with the seat.

It is very tempting to get a soft and wide seat, but it will not work for rides longet then 15 min.

You need to find a seat that allows you to put you weight on the two "sitting bones", and if the seat is too hard it'll kill ya, and if it is too soft it will do the same, as you will sink into it and it'll block the blood supply..
I test seats by puting my elbow into them and lean hard, and kinda feel it. Also, make sure you get one of those split seats with sppace in the middle that makes sure you do not put your weight on "the middle" instead of the two bones. When I started I didn't think I had "bones" at all (I was 280)...

no matter how good a seat you get it will take a few weeks of riding until you get use to it and it stops hurting. Now I can sit on a bike for 60-70 miles with no pain.. Also, get yourself good riding pants, the type that has a chamoi (sp?) in them to protect from chafing. Again, do not tempt to get the type with Gel, it'll just bunch up and press on places you don't like pressed against (at least not when you ride)...


Have fun.. Riding is the only cardio I enjoy..

thanks so much for the reply!

I have a schwin (sp?) bike.. the seat sounds exactly like the one you describe.. im glad i asked the question and included the gel seat.. otherwise i might have found myself in an uncomfortable position..

i appreciate your input and look forward to future posts

ps: know any good places online where my husband and i could buy 'extenders' for our handlebars? (he has a mongoose) the customer service rep says they dont sell those parts (to raise the handlebars we would need to remove something and replace it) Also do you think we can do this ourselves or should we take them to a bike shop?

thanks again!

Rideing a bike is simple, rideing it well and getting the most out of it takes a little time.

Some thoughts:

1. There are SOME gel seats that might work. TERRY Cycling makes saddles for both males and females that might look "odd" but have merit. TERRY Cycling also has bicycles designed specifically for women. http://www.terrybicycles.com/index.html Arie it totally correct in that adjusting to a seat does take time. However, remember that you need to learn to sit on the back of the seat to keep the sitz bones on the wide part.

2. I'm not sure what you mean by "extenders". There are several ways that can be taken. It could mean a new stem or those funny "horn" looking things you see on a lot of mountain bikes. It might be a good idea to go to a bike shop and get some advise on this.

3. There are lots of "things" that over time will help you get more out of cycling. A helmet, goves, and water bottles are essential. After that you can look at peddles that have straps or peddle-shoe combinations that allow you to hook on the peddles. Somewhere in there consider clothes that are specific to cycling such as padded shorts and maybe a bike computer. The computer could play a big part in charting progress and helping you calculate calorie burn.

4. The quality of your bike is important. It isn't critical that you have the best but if you ride a "tank" you will find that pleasure in riding might suffer. One of the great things about cycling is to go fast enough to create your own air conditioning and to see as much country side as you can. This is wear a reputable bike shop can be a big help. Walmart, Kmart and other discount/department stores are not the place to start. Their bikes are generally over weight, poorly equiped, and often poorly assembled. A good, general purpose "mountain" bike with front shocks will run you somewhere between $350-$550. You don't need a bike with front and back shocks. A bike shop will help you find a good selection for you and also be a place for additional help in operating the bike and fixing it. Many bike shops are now refusing to repair bikes that are from Walmart...

5. Just like you studied LC eating, it takes some time to learn things about cycling. Subscribe to BICYCLE magazine, join your local bike club, find others that you know ride often. Local clubs in any reasonable community sponsor rides for all levels of riders. Even if you are not interested in doing the Tour de France, you can improve your enjoyment just talking bikes with fellow riders looking for the same things you are. Many rides are more social then you might think. If you would like to provide information on your home town, I would be glad to see if I can get you a link to a local club.

6. Your getting ill could be related to the level of exercise you experienced and perhaps not being prepared for it. You can help yourself by learning to shift the bike to find the most approriate gear possible. Here, again, is where establishing a good relationship with a bike shop or club will pay dividends in the long run....errr....peddle.

Cycling is a GREAT sport. It is also a very social sport if you choose to let it be so.

Hi Peabod, excuse my editing your post.

I have found that when I exerise after abit of break from LC eating that I will feel quite ill initially. In fact, the first time I LC'ed about 3 years ago I actually vomited after some mild exercise. Afew days later I went for a long hike (6 hours) and had the worst diarrhoea I've ever had.

After a panicked call to my natropath, I worked out that this is actually a sign of your old fat cells being rapidly released for energy. This is roughly how it was explained to me:

The fat cells are used as a kind of toxic storage facility by your body, so when the fat cells are released into your system for energy, so are the toxins. The toxins make you feel sick, and your body will often react by expelling it ASAP (in extreme cases via vomiting or diarrhoea).

Drinking water will definately help your nausea, as this will flush the toxins out. After afew exercise sessions, everything calms down and you no longer feel sick, and you're now toxin free!

On your point about getting winded, I also sometimes find that when I'm really in ketosis and my body is using fat for energy, my muscles become quite abit weaker than normal, and things that I can normally breeze through I really struggle with. I guess this is because the fat is not as accessible to my muscles as the carbs I used to eat.

I ride bikes every weekend too (love it!), and my husband can always tell when I'm in ketosis, because I just run out of puff and go much slower than normal. I actually don't mind this feeling - how encouraging to know that every pedal means a smaller bum!

Noni C

PS Husband & I have matching gold bikes!

hi Peapod, congrats on getting on the bike!!

I must agree with the other guys about gel seats, they are wonderful for about 20 minutes , like a comfy sofa....
anything longer than that you will start having problems with friction
and believe me friction problems down there are not a good thing!!!

its probably tempting to goto the local department store or buy a saddle online, but I would seriously advise against it
make friends with your local bicycle shop, if you buy a saddle and it doesnt work out for you, they will as a genral rule exchange it for something that fits your body better

barends are good on long rides to move your hand position about, and seem to put your body in the right position for *grinding* up the hills
the danger though is they take your hands away from the brakes
but hey they look pretty cool and dont cost alot of money, so why not

as for water, dehydration is a real threat when you are lc'ing due to the lowered reserves of water related to glycogen storage. You can dehydrate very quickly when exercising.
The added problem on the bike is the *natural air conditioning* you dont know how much water you are loosing until its way too late because quite often you wont see the sweat

as a general rule, drink a large bike bottle full of water an hour, when thats gone, go refill it

invest in a water bottle ( bidon ) and cage for your bike
your body and performance up those rotten hills will thank you


have a great day

Simon

thank you all very very much!!

i definitely plan on getting educated! thanks for all the tips.. im absolutely thirsty for knowledge about this!! you can see what a novice i am just by the word 'extender'.. I meant stem

I dont know how to use the gears.. hubby says to shift into high gear to get speed up and then shift to a low gear for hills.. im just going to have to figure this one out from practice.. a bike computer sounds excellent for when i get better at it

I think ive read a few places on here where they say not drinking enough water will make you nauseated.. someone said drink 1 liter prior to cardio..

and just for the record.. when i read 'barends" i read it as 'bare ends".. i dont know what this truly is LOL but im too nervous of a person to take my hands away from the brakes (especially because of our HUGE hills, narrow roads and speed-demon drivers). I am however going to invest in an helmet, waterbottle/cage, gloves, clothing, and (temporarily) an 'odometer/speedometer' thing

any suggestions for calculating calories burned based on the type of ride i had?

THANKS so much!!! i truly appreciate you all..

looking forward to more reading..

You will find that a simple bike computer is pretty cheap. $15 maybe. I have a fairly simple spread sheet in excel that calculates (ball park) calorie burns. You plug in your distance ridden, time it took, your weight, and there you have it. Email me if you would like a copy. There are a lot of variables but it should help you get close.

hi again Peabod

lets have a shot at answering some of those questions....

gears....
believe it or not, its better to spin your legs faster than push harder
just watch the professional cyclists and how fast their legs go
basically forward energy = speed of legs X how hard you pushing
you will use your energy reserves more efficiently by staying aerobic by peddling faster ( especially on lc )
see if you can peddle at about 80rpm ( count the rotations/minute )
if you cant get there yet, dont worry, just practice

water.....
drink slowly but consistantly through the ride
stay hydrated, but not floating in it
make a mental game of it, like a mouthful every so often
getting dehydrated will sap your energy like nothing else

protective clothing
please please wear a helmet, its just not worth not wearing one
wear gloves because if you fall instinctively you put your hands out to cushion the fall.....ow!!
padded shorts (knicks) great investment, if you're shy about wearing lycra you can always wear them under *normal* clothing ( but never wear underwear under your knicks )
and dont forget to be sun smart ( here in australia skin cancer is a real threat )

calories.....
sad but true, exercise doesnt use many calories
what it will do however is make you fitter, heart healthier and most importantly stop your metabolism for crashing when you cut calories by dieting

my polar hrm book says for a casual cyclist
8.3mph = 3.75 cals/min
16mph = 10.5
22.5 = 24

just being out there is the important thing


simon

I like your formula there cb
see how it matches up with my hrm
scary mary with that technical stuff there
I think I just like to get on and pedal, working on the assumption tomorrow ill be better

Isnt cycling great peapod, I havent put my finger on it yet, but nature looks all that much better cycling compared to walking

With the diet, the others might disagree with me, but I try not to get too caught up in the technicalities of it all, just the principles
I low carb, but dont get too hung up by the rules or minor err blow-outs
long as im doing it better today than i did tomorrow, i think im doing great
hmm didnt i just say something like that about cycling

have a great day

m0rgan

I KNOW, I KNOW! LOL I'm a bit...umm...err...can I say "anal" at times and not upset anyone.

I like to teach cycling from the techincal side because I believe that it will help people get more pleasure more quickly. I was lucky, I seemed to learn this stuff naturally plus I was too stupid to know what I was lacking. I did my first 100 mile ride after owning a bike for 4 and I had never ridden more than 15 miles in a day before. On top of that, no toe clips, no water bottle, didn't know what a gear chart was, didn't understand shifting patterns, wore blue jean cut offs ( ...THAT HURT!), and $5 in my pocket to buy snacks on the route. I still completed the ride in a respectable 8 hours and THAT is how I got started. ([In my best Homer Simpson] Gee Marge, I don't know WHY my butt was sooo sore, and my legs hurt sooo bad, and I feel soooo ill.)

I've helped a few novices along before they tossed their bikes to the great storage shed god. LOL I admit, it helps to do it in person but what the heck. At work most folks know that I am serious about starting right and I've even helped them pick out bikes at my favorite bike shop...honorary employee. LOL

Time to go ride!

hehe cb you are a star

i think learning to ride is better on a steep curve (better than steep hill)
Actually i got my *first* bike for Christmas, one of those el-cheapo
kmart kinda things, and just loved being on it
Barely went 4 miles the first few times

Easter time I bought myself a serious road bike *emptied wallet*
Training at the moment to do our local round the bay ride ( 140 miles )
on october 19th

hehe lookout peapod, cycling's like a drug

i have a new question for you guys:

ever heard of 'fast twitch' versus 'slow twitch' (relating to muscles)?

my hubby says i should not only learn how to switch gears but when going uphills i should stand up yeah right!!!! anyhow, being that it is next to IMPOSSIBLE for me to do..

somsone i work with rides about 20 miles a day and he mentionend he heard something about this 'twitch' thing.. where some people do well standing up because of being one kind and others do better sitting down? I cant recall exactly what he said.. do you guys know what im talking about? (because i dont..)

thanks in advance! (also what are your opinions on standing up to do hills? and if this is how you do it.. how do i work up to doing that?)

Peapod,

I'm also a novice biker - at least I was before I fell and tore my rotator cuff so bad that 2 surgeries haven't fixed it. I hadn't been on a bike since you had to pedal backwards to stop (well, since I was a kid). I wasn't used to the hand brakes. I was riding my partner's mountain bike on a closed flat road two years ago, and didn't want to ride it through the mud puddle and get it dirty. I couldn't go around it because of the curbs, so I hit the brakes.

Now I'm a science teacher and love to demonstrate science principles, but I think that that afternoon was a bit much. An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and I proved that when the bike stopped and I didn't. I did a belly flop in the mud puddle, with my arms in the "stop" position. I laid there trying not to drown in an inch of water until he came back to see if I was okay (he was riding ahead of me and didn't notice I was missing for a little while).



So, take it from someone who knows, practice with the brakes before you have to use them in a pinch!

To the rest of you who have posted here, thanks for all the good info. I'm still trying to get my partner to take me biking again - for some reason he is reluctant to do so. Meanwhile I keep my quads toned on the exercise cycle at the gym.

Joan

Hello Joan!

BUMMER about the accident. I know it can be hard to overcome "issues" that arise from accidents. I suggest you go get the current issue of BICYCLING. It has a picture of Lance Armstong on the front. It has a real good article about the author's rehab after breaking a collarbone that required some serious surgery. It might have some similarities for you to consider.

OK, next to peddleing, braking comes in pretty important and being a teacher, this lesson should make sense.

1. Your most effective brake is the FRONT brake which is in your left hand...repeat after me...LEFT HAND! LOL No, the brake isn't different than the one in the rear. It is because as you break, the combined weight of the bike and rider shifts towards the front wheel. Proper breaking technique will alow you to apply more pressure on the front without locking it up.

2. THEREFORE...the least effective brake is the rear (right hand brake) which adds another problem...skidding. Repeat after me...REAR IS RIGHT! The harder you brake, the more weight you off-load on the rear so if you brake too hard you can lock it up and if you are in a turn your tail will want to slide out from under you.

3. To compensate for these tendancies practice slidding the butt back as far as possible for aggressive breaking. This will keep more weight on the back and help avoid a swan dive over the handle bars.

4. Brake BEFORE a turn! Braking in a turn can be disasterous if you aren't on top of the situation. Gravel in a turn can do some crazy things.

5. Don't ride a dead horse to the grave! If you loose control...GET OFF THE BIKE! That means get your self into a position to roll instead of planting a straight arm into the ground. (Sound familiar Joan?) The tendency for novices is to feel the bike slide from under them and to hold on hand to the hight side handle bar and extend low arm towards the ground. Planting the palm in the ground is a natural instict but it can lead to serious injuries. Rolling and taking some road rash is perferable to wearing casts and slings. The picture in the BICYCLING article is a perfect example of what I mean.

6. Brakes CAN overheat! If you are on a long, steep down hill and you find yourself constantly on the brakes SIT UP! Go "anti aero". Let your body provide aerodynamic resistance to keep your speed under control. If that doesn't keep you happy, then apply brakes to get below your comfortable speed, release brakes let the speed increase, then repeat.

BTW, the shifters follow the same pattern, right - rear custer, left - front chain rings. That relates to this topic in the situation where you come up on soft/gravel settings, whether that is the gravel typically encountered in many turns or the other times you run into it in an unplanned detour. The trick in these situations is to DOWN SHIFT (easier gear) PRIOR to encountering the situation and slow down. Then, keep your peddle cadance a bit higher. Just like a car that should be downshifted in snowy/slippery conditions, you won't have as much torque so as you peddle you will avoid causeing your rear wheel to spin and increase the chances of loosing control. It takes a bit of practice but the the idea is to apply just enough peddle pressure to maintain a safe speed and, as you become more confident, to GENTLY accelerate as you hit the appex of the turn.

BTW, most of my experience is with road bikes. Trail riding presents some slightly different challenges so anyone confident about commenting on road vs. mountain bike techniques is welcome to chime in.