My first twenty miler. Now my second twenty miler as well!

Feek · 18 Sep 2016 at 14:10

I know many of you will do this before breakfast but this was a big one for me - My first twenty mile ride.

Most of it was along combined public footpaths/cycleways so my average speed wasn't very fast. Being a Sunday, there were a lot of people about so the bell got a good airing to alert slowbies that I was behind them.

I Stopped a couple of times to take some pictures and drink some water but then some total dingbat on a bike moved directly into my path right at the bottom of a hill forcing me to brake down to a stop very quickly - Because I'd been giving it some, I was in a high gear so I ended up walking up the hill because I couldn't get the momentum going to be able to change down the gears to something I could actually pedal. He was very apologetic but must have been either deaf, stupid, ignorant, or all three because I was dinging away like mad as I approached him so that he'd look up and keep clear *sigh*. Apart from that, I didn't stop at all.

whyscotty · 18 Sep 2016 at 14:16

Congratz

petriodet · 18 Sep 2016 at 14:58

Well done, won't be long before you can do 30 miles and when you start to hit 40-50 miles you'll wonder why 20 felt hard.

ristac · 18 Sep 2016 at 15:24

I used to cycle everywhere as a kid, just getting back into cycling. After a couple of getting used to the saddle rides and getting comfortable, I've done 7 miles and 10

Groin and butt discomfort kick in before anything else.

Lethal` · 18 Sep 2016 at 17:46

Good work

Armageus · 18 Sep 2016 at 17:47

Good effort and nice max speed

Feek · 18 Sep 2016 at 18:11

I don't know where that max speed has come from, I can't find it as I scroll through the ride on Strava and I don't remember going that fast anywhere. I suppose I could have but I just don't recall it.

Lethal` · 18 Sep 2016 at 19:05

You can see whereabouts if you go on Analysis on the Strava web app. Quite likely you did hit that really as it's pretty easy going down a hill and it's unlikely to feel super fast.

Feek · 18 Sep 2016 at 19:14

I'd already done that but couldn't find it - I've just zoomed right in to see where it's logged and it's clearly a GPS blip as that bit is flat and the trace thinks I've just leaped from the track over to the road.

neil_g · 18 Sep 2016 at 22:00

What was your GPS device?

Vonhelmet · 19 Sep 2016 at 07:13

Moses said:
On the being stuck in a high gear thing - you could have just stood by the bike, lifted the back wheel, and changed down whilst turning the pedals with a foot or hand.

Or stay on the bike with one foot on the ground, change gear, put the front brake on and lean forward to lift the rear wheel, then turn the pedals over with your other foot.

Easier with clipless pedals, but doable on flats.

Schizo · 19 Sep 2016 at 07:50

Well done dude,i remember my first 20,only had my road bike a day with clip on shoes,the next day i done a 50 miler,was a eye opener to me and was not prepared one bit,got the same ride coming up in 2 weeks,i now know what to expect and will be 100% prepared

Jono · 19 Sep 2016 at 08:08

Last time I went out for "twenty miles" I got dragged around an extra 80. So well done on being restrained

I can't really remember my first 20 miles... but I do remember doing 25ish, and averaged about 12 mph... and was dead for about a fortnight.

Vonhelmet · 19 Sep 2016 at 09:36

I remember being amazed I could even ride that far in one go.

Feek · 19 Sep 2016 at 12:28

neil_g said:
What was your GPS device?

Strava running on my phone, in my pocket. I'm going to be getting a Garmin 520 which I'll nail on the handlebars.

Moses said:
On the being stuck in a high gear thing - you could have just stood by the bike, lifted the back wheel, and changed down whilst turning the pedals with a foot or hand.

Vonhelmet said:
Or stay on the bike with one foot on the ground, change gear, put the front brake on and lean forward to lift the rear wheel, then turn the pedals over with your other foot.

Easier with clipless pedals, but doable on flats.

Good shout lads, that's something so obvious but it just doesn't go through the mind at the time.

Feek · 19 Sep 2016 at 12:29

schizo said:
Well done dude,i remember my first 20,only had my road bike a day with clip on shoes,the next day i done a 50 miler,was a eye opener to me and was not prepared one bit,got the same ride coming up in 2 weeks,i now know what to expect and will be 100% prepared

Heh, no plans to do a fifty mile ride just yet but I'm sure it'll come.

Jono said:
...and was dead for about a fortnight.

Heh heh, I'm fine today. If it's going to hit me, it'll be tomorrow.

Vonhelmet said:
I remember being amazed I could even ride that far in one go.

I knew I could do it, I did eighteen miles last weekend. It was a nice feeling though. I did plan my route on purpose to be particularly flat

FrenchTart · 19 Sep 2016 at 12:30

not a bad average for your first tbh...good work

what's the next target?

neil_g · 19 Sep 2016 at 13:16

Feek said:
Strava running on my phone, in my pocket. I'm going to be getting a Garmin 520 which I'll nail on the handlebars.

i found my iphone used to do something similar. randomly it would plot me in the middle of a field. one of my colleagues did a 10k run recently and his iphone read a couple hundred more meters distance than another runners garmin..

definitely wouldnt go back to a smartphone since getting my 800

Feek · 24 Sep 2016 at 12:03

My Garmin arrived on Thursday and I fitted it all to the bike yesterday so this morning I went for a ride. I made the stupid mistake of pausing it to make a couple of changes to the settings and forgot to restart it for a couple of miles so this is shorter than it should be. Is there an auto-pause/resume hidden in the settings somewhere?

A very similar route to last weekend, I just went further by road to start with to get a greater distance away along the sea front. Dreadful headwind for a big chunk of this but then of course I benefitted from the tailwind on the return part of the ride.

It's amazing how different things report different calorie burns. Garmin Connect and Apple workout both say over 1200 but Strava says 540. The Garmin has speed, cadence, GPS and the heart rate strap and Apple workout has GPS and the wrist HRM.

Could easily have ridden further because I was far from exhausted but I've got things to do today.

FrenchTart · 24 Sep 2016 at 12:39

Garmin should auto-pause by default but it may be hidden in bike/activity settings.

If you have put correct height/weight/etc data in Garmin Connect then it should have the most accurate kcal estimate by far when use use an HRM. That said, in this case the Strava total sounds right.

Feel free to add me on Strava if you want me to look at your rides a little closer

https://www.strava.com/athletes/3808469