Cycling Tips

mufc802

mufc802

mufc802

Soldato
Joined
1 Jul 2009
Posts
2,678
Hi,

I admit I do hardly any exercise, I'm 17 and I know I should do some.

I have started to do some cycling, and I get tired after about 10 minutes and I feel sick and dizzy. I'm not overweight, but I think my muscles aren't very strong. Any cyclists here who can give me some tips on how often/far I should go cycling, and any tips on what sort of diet I should take up?

I've got basically a month of doing nothing untill I can start full time work (hopefully) which requires me to be pretty fit, so I hope I can drastically improve up to then.

Any help is appreciated.:D

(I weigh 75KG btw)
 
Cycling won't be easy if your bike is anyhing like 80 percent of the peoples around here. Make sure the tyres are pumped up and the brakes aren't binding. Make sure your seat is at the correct height so that your getting a decent extension on your legs!

I used to pedal slower in a higher gear which would tire my muscles out,these days a lower gear and higher pedaling speed seems to work my lungs more than my legs. You could try doing a few minutes of higher gear work then slowing down the speed a bit to recover.

http://coachlevi.com/cycling/high-vs-low-cadence-pedaling-speed/
 
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Assuming you are not firstly draggin a bike shaped object about, which I think even I would fall down in a heap if I had to try and pedal one for more than 10 seconds then start of with some low intensity work to build up base fitness.

Riding around at a pace that allows you to still carry out a conversation is about the correct level, dont aim to go out everyday as you will burn out. You need to build it up slowly and increase the duration or how often you ride every week based on how you feel mainly, rest is where the body gets stronger. Not during the riding which just forces the body to change, you need to give it time to carry out these changes.
 
what i did was set a route, mine was through the forest and back about 3 miles. go and time yourself but dont go at it as hard as u can. then next time try and beat your time by a few minutes. after a week or so you will be able to go a lot harder and not feal like you do at the moment.
 
Are you trying to ride like Mark Cavendish for 10 minutes or something?

Either you're really unfit or you're going off a bit fast!
 
The type of bike says a lot too. If you have a full suspension mountain bike (Most people seem to!) And are riding on the roads then see if you can 'lock' the suspension. Knobbly tires make it a lot harder to pedal too . . .
 
sick and dizzy usually means no energy, nothing to burn, so you crash.

either that or you are drinking too much sugar/sport drinks and are crashing from that.

eat carbs before you go riding , pasta, potatoes, etc.

are you eating at all before you go riding?
 
Dogoid said:
sick and dizzy usually means no energy, nothing to burn, so you crash.

either that or you are drinking too much sugar/sport drinks and are crashing from that.

eat carbs before you go riding , pasta, potatoes, etc.

are you eating at all before you go riding?
Click to expand...

Yes I had pasta before I went.

I do tend to drink a lot of energy drinks though, maybe I should cut down..
 
halfords apollo range?? :D
When I first started to commute with a bike 3 months ago it took me 35-40min to do 5miles and was pretty much dizzy and sweating like a pig, thighs were heavy, huffing and puffing etc.
This drasticly improved though by the first week I wasn't dizzy anymore and I recovered a lot quicker.
By the first month I shaved off almost half the time off my commuting time took me less than 20min to do 5miles.
After two months I've gotten so used to it I don't even get tired when I arrive partly I don't wanna overdo it before work. On the way home I take a longer route home now to make it a bit harder.

So by the first month you will see a lot of improvement
at first it takes you like 10-15 min to recover but now it only takes 1-2min to recover from a fast bike session.

correct PSI on your bike tyres and correct seat height would be the most important thing to sort out before you ride properly.
 
Make sure you’ve got the seat adjusted to the correct height etc. If your bicycle seat is six inches lower than it should be you’ll be knackered in no time – it’s unlikely to he six inches too high ‘cuz you wouldn’t be able to reach the pedals! Having the seat too far forwards or backwards also has an effect on efficiency. If all else fails get a tandem, grab the back seat, get someone else to do the pedalling and shout encouragement at them. That would use up a few calories too. :)
 
6thElement said:
It never gets any easier, you just get faster.
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well it does get easier for that 5miles I was comparing about
not talking about speed though
for the same amount of time e.g 30min for a beginner vs a person 1month in
of course it will be easier for the 1month in, person.
Your right about speedwise you can go faster and be equally tired at your destination if you wish to do so still you will recover 10 times quicker than the newbie.
 
I have a few large hills to negotiate on my 12 mile commute to work and when I've been a lazy bugger and not cycled for a while it can be a bit of a slog but after a few weeks I fly up those same hills without breaking sweat. Just keep at it and before long you will be enjoying your cycle and wondering what all the fuss was about.
 
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