Barely keeping up

[Monique1992]

Thanx to everyone! It makes me feel lots better knowing that I don't have to push so hard and getting fit takes time!

[Monique1992]

Get yourself ladies padded cycling shorts. These are worn without undies.

I was told just get guys ones in the beginning ..don't... Boys bits and girls' bits require padding in different place.

Goodness didn't know you get those. I thought you just get one kind!

[DIPSLICK]

It called T.I.T.S

Time

In

The

Saddle

Time and patience, the most I learnt was from helpful seasoned riders, yes you will get bad advise, biased advise but you will learn over time what works, and that comes from TITS

[Ratty]

Goodness didn't know you get those. I thought you just get one kind!

You must get lady specific shorts. Also I would highly recommend getting a ladies specific saddle as well, makes a big difference.

 

Give yourself some time. I was exactly where you are now. I was fit when I started cycling, but in different sports and really struggled the first few months.

 

Keep it up, you will get better with each ride as long as you give your body a chance to recover in between.

[Patensie]

I got my wife to start riding by taking her on riding picnics. The point of the ride was to have fun, not training. At first we did a 3km ride and by the end of that December she could easily ride 16km. She eventually loaded her mtb in the car to ride Jonkershoek on her own. Then she got pregnant! Once the kids are bigger, we'll start her riding again.

[lechatnoir]

I'm going to ditto what everyone else said, and add my own experience

 

Slowly slowly catchee monkey. You do have an advantage in being so light - even just a little bit of power and you'll zoom up the hills! Keep at it, and you'll find your mojo

[Paul Ruinaard]

So just FYI from my experience - it may help.

 

I have over the last three years slowly got my wife back in to cycling. Starting with 8 km rides around the cradle flat sections and eventually she now rides tandem with me and chases me out of bed in the morning. She had done an Argus or two and a 94.7 but it was 12 years prior to me. 

 

We do road races and regularly 70 to 80 kms in the cradle. So we are okay. Not super fit or fast but I am beyond that.

Whats the magic ingredient - I think just slow and steady.

 

You are not going to build that sort of fitness overnight, You are being too ambitious.

 

Some things from the experience of getting her to where she is (I was always in the dog house whenever it went wrong BTW - so there was a lot of learning as to what did and didn't work and when to push and when not to):

 

1.) Good shorts and good chamois cream - cannot be over stated. You get ladies Specific from Pearl Izumi and others - expensive yes but last 5 years. No underwear (you seem to have learned that)

2.) Ladies seat - just shell out the money - Selle Italia L2 or L3 is what worked for her. They are not cheap. Lets say that the noise level went down markedly after this - I wont go in to details but when your stoker cant sit down you pedal the bike home on your own. I changed the saddle and the whole world changed.

3.) Bike setup - pressure points on the bike are saddle, hands and feet - you need to get it optimal. Again this changed a lot of things.

 

Training:

 

1.) Even though you think you are fit you are not cycling fit - you need to understand that and check your ego/competitiveness. It takes time to build the fitness required and its a long game not a short game. Goals matter. Start with 10km if that is what you can manage - then do 15km , then 20km. You risk stressing things you have never stressed before so you need to build up slowly. You will at some point break through the magic barrier of 50 km - then 75 km - then do a 100 km - then do a race. It just takes time.

 

You say you are a hairdresser (BTW not a good idea for cyclists to stand all day) - you didn't just start cutting hair straight up - you learned how to and made many mistakes. You are going to go through the same with cycling.

 

Husband:

 

Ditch the husband. Everything he says you will fight with. Get a mate or another friend to ride with. Even if they say the same thing as your husband you will hate him for it and will listen to them on the same topic. We were MTBing over Xmas with my wife and a mate. I agreed with him to coach her as she would just fight with me. He was a third party so not involved and she listened and learned. Even though I told her the same thing. It leads to some pretty interesting spats on the trails and roads. Go ride with someone else for a bit until you can do 30 kms. 

 

Competitiveness:

 

Dont try and beat him or stay with him for a bit. Just stay within yourself. It will come if you weigh 50kg cause you will likely climb pretty well (you dont mention your height).

 

Enjoy the view - enjoy the weather and think about how lucky you are on a ride - you are going to get the glads and endorphin rushes - you will know when you have a silly grin on your face after a long hard section.

 

Remember the words of Greg Le Mond (2 x Tour de France winner), along the lines of "it never stops hurting - you just go faster"

 

 

 

[Long Wheel Base]

You need TITS and LSD.

 

 

 

 

 

Before you check me out funny, TITS is like Dips said above Time In The Saddle and LSD is Long Slow Distance aka base miles. In short just go out and ride and get used to the hours in that particular position. I'm sure when you first started hair dressing you struggle being on your feet all day but now you don't have any issues.

[Martin PJ]

It doesn't matter what you do, or how fast you ride, the main thing about riding is that you enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, then you are doing it wrong and you will quit eventually.

 

I think it may be a mistake to ride with hubby if he is putting you under pressure. He needs to change his approach if you are to last in this sport.

 

I think the Hub is a great place to ask for advice, however, you will get a lot of different opinions and you need to choose one or two that you want to try. You can't do everything.

[Lurch the stalker]

If you do a search on here you will see many posts by me complaining about trying to teach my sister.

Some of the best advice I got was to let her set the pace (I was expecting her to keep up with me and I couldn't fathom why she was not able to) and also getting other people to ride with her (thanks again Hayley for keeping me out of prison, haha).

[Ed-Zulu]

Im not nearly fast enough and tiring out very quickly. Hills are my worst enemy at the moment. Im stopping every 10 meters

Hi Monique, with most sport, the old mantra of easy, easy catch a monkey rings true. 

 

It will take time and trying to keep up with your hubby should for now, not be your aim. Why not try and ride two hills in succession by next week and then build on that. This is not something that will come overnight, your goals need to be much more realistic.

 

BUT...keep at it, its a brilliant way to spend weekends and arvies together.

[scotty]

You need TITS and LSD.

 

 

 

 

 

Before you check me out funny, TITS is like Dips said above Time In The Saddle and LSD is Long Slow Distance aka base miles. In short just go out and ride and get used to the hours in that particular position. I'm sure when you first started hair dressing you struggle being on your feet all day but now you don't have any issues.

Long Steady Distance 

[hayleyearth]

best way to get fit is spinning.

 

if you are chafing you have the wrong clothing (or you are wearing underwear with your shorts)

 

edit: take is slow, as they say Rome wasn't built in a day

 

When I MTB I always only wear normal underwear with baggies, 30km or 80km rides. DO NOT wear underwear with lycra though. (guess we all have different bums  )

[V12man]

When I MTB I always only wear normal underwear with baggies, 30km or 80km rides. DO NOT wear underwear with lycra though. (guess we all have different bums  )

FAR FAR too much information young lady..... granny underwear does not count as underwear..... :eek:

[hayleyearth]

Im not nearly fast enough and tiring out very quickly. Hills are my worst enemy at the moment. Im stopping every 10 meters

 

I was where you are now back in 2011 (didn't ride since then consecutively though) but I still want to get off on hills at times  I also HATE hills. Maybe for the start stay away from them.

 

Also, your bum pain, it will go away, I just told a fellow Hubber this weekend that getting back on the bike this year after about 2 months off from consecutive cycling had my bum hurt like hell for the 1st 9 days (I went riding everyday though - pushed through it). I mentioned that it made me understand why it is so hard for beginners. Yoh

 

I also find that many people that start off (I was like this too) put their seat too low. I understand it makes it easier to get on and also feel saver (or like you have more control), but it actually just tire your legs WAY quicker. 

 

I usually choose to go ride alone, so I will be out on the cradle (for instance) doing what ever my fitness can handle at that time, but I realise that I choose to go alone because I am lazy and don't want to be pushed (where I guess I am now, I should be) and I also feel guilty keeping others back, but it comes from hours and hours and hours alone first.

 

The fact that YOU are here asking for 'help'/suggestions I think is already a very positive thing (i.o.w not your husband explaining his frustrations and asking for HELP!!). Only good things can come from this! 

 

If other girls are keen, I will be keen to do a 'slowish' ladies ride out somewhere with you all...maybe Redbarn is a good place....it is quite flat out there and in the middle for people from PTA and JHB.

[philip.maree]

Hi Monique.

 

What I do when my better halve joins for a ride is to

 

1. Be extremely thankful that she wants to join in the fun and my passion for cycling.

2. Ride my Rigid SingleSpeed or pre select a gear on my geared bike and not change it for the whole ride. It works extremely well since on the flats I can only go that fast before the gear is to light and on the climbs it's a proper grind.

 

The problem with the scenario is a general one at this point as your fitness and skill levels are vastly different. This goes for most "groups" that start out riding together but it will pan out with time in the saddle. 

 

So give yourself a chance and don't go to fast to soon as you do not want to negatively affect your experience on the bike. 

 

It will take a bit of time but not nearly as long as you think.

Edited January 19, 2016 by philip.maree