Anyone Got Back On Their Bike (after a long break) or Started Cycling During Lockdown?
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When the weather allows me to hit the road I ride about 40 miles once a week. Started late at age 42 because I didn't like running anymore. I wanted to do some cardio besides weight lifting so I bought my first road bike.
I loved it since my first ride......it helped me through lock down when the gyms where closed. Up here they still are 😒2 -
I don't think gyms have opened here, but I wouldn't go to one until we have a vaccine. The gym is for health. Being in an enclosed space with a lot of people breathing hard during a pandemic of an airborne virus doesn't sound healthy at all.
But riding a bike outdoors? Fun!!4 -
Once again, good luck! Depending on where you are in the UK, there's a Youtube channel I watch pretty often, and some of the locales might be familiar to you. leonardmlee ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEuC2TeojJTwX0yfPmGFiWA ); he's a bit older, and a bit on the heavy side. Of course, the GCN - Global Cycling Network is UK based, along with their several sister channels, including tech topics, GCN tech ( https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC710HJmp-YgNbE5BnFBRoeg ).
Thanks for the LeonardMLee link, hadn't come across him but have now watched quite a few and subscribed. Nice to have a "normal" persons take on things. Youtube has been really useful in terms of maintenance tips etc. After my last ride on Sunday I decided my 10 or so year old tyres had had enough and were probably a little dangerous so had new tyres and tubes delivered yesterday; now fitted and hoping to get back out there in the morning and start my June mileage.
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Bikes are so much fun! 🥰2
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I started cycling about 1.5 yrs ago after a 30 year break. I rode over 1,000 miles last year at age 64!8
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I only have one bike, and bikes aren't allowed on most of the good trails around here. A road bike is the obvious choice if you're only going to have one. But every now and then I get to rent an MTB and have a completely different kind of fun.
Shocks make a bike extremely forgiving. You can basically just ride wherever you want. You can do potholed gravel roads and tame trails on an “all road” bike, but you have to choose your line carefully. On a MTB I tend to go for the obstacles because it’s fun to be able to.
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NorthCascades wrote: »
Is this photo a Mt. St. Helens locale, or a fire scar? Both pic are great. You've got some great country out there.0 -
Burn scar from 10 or 15 years ago, at Harts Pass.
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NorthCascades wrote: »Burn scar from 10 or 15 years ago, at Harts Pass.
I probably mentioned, here and there in these forums, that I lived for a while as a kid outside Seattle (Auburn). Love the geography and the countryside out there and up into the Cascades and Olympic Penninsula. Now, I live at the Jersey Shore, and love it, too, but it's different. Sand, ocean, flat; I live about 3 miles away from the highest point on the Eastern Seaboard south of Maine, appropriately called "Highlands" which is about 230 feet above sea level. As a sailor coming up the coast, you can see it pop up from quite far away. I forget sometimes how much flat we have here until I took my then-young kids (about 8 and 5 at the time) through the "Delaware Water Gap" the first time, in the NW part of NJ. Bracketed by "mountains" about 1500 feet above sea level (not as high relative to their bases), the kids were in awe at the gigantic mounds. They had never seen such things.2 -
Second June ride done:
Sun 7/6 22.32 miles
Wed 11/6 10.51 miles
Total: 32.83 miles
Remaining to Goal: 67.17 miles3 -
I used to bike commute for over a year. About 9 miles one way. Started off with 2 days/week and ended up biking also on snowy windy days or pouring rain. Interestingly enough, I would still do video workouts at work, I felt so energetic! What I loved about 🚴♀️-commuting would be that I invested almost no extra time in it ("stealing" family time, in addition to being a working mum).
I then switched jobs and now have roughly 3 miles. Luckily all nature (at most 1 traffic light, depending on the route). Sometimes I variate and make it a tad longer. Still little, but now in the summer I take every opportunity to travel by 🚴♀️ everywhere (shopping, taking the kids to their trainings, when they take place ofc!, even dr's appt!).
I love to go on bike tours with the kids. Right now only exploring our area of course, but still fortunate enough to have a few lakes in the surroundings. 😍
Feel free to add me! I get easily motivated by example 😀 and we could set goals and see how it goes (I'm in a few challenges here already and I don't bike enough miles at the moment to be "competitive", so I'll keep away from that for now).
Have fun 🚴♀️ing!1 -
I bought a hybrid bike to commute with, but have never done it. I really need to get back on and riding and look into riding to work now that the daylight works better...1
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amorfati601070 wrote: »When the bike bug bites it bites hard. I've been cycling for around 6 years or something. I use it for everything, I ended riding so much I got rid of my car too. I come from a running background but wanted something more low-impact, so the bike was only natural. Speaking of impact, just wear your helmet too, you prolly do but it can be sketchy as hell. The longest I took off was probably around 4 months after being hit by a car and breaking my patella. I get a be loco without my time in the saddle.
Chapeu!
I don't give a rip about my car.
If (when) it dies on the side of the freeway, I could easily get by with just my bike(s), and if I need to travel any longer distance or if the weather is unbearable, there's Lyft.1 -
I’ve had a bike for several years that I used only when we went camping (RV camping). But I’ve just started riding regularly the past few weeks cause I’m newly motivated to lose weight and am limited cause of foot surgery late last year. My daughter and I ride nearly every day, at least m 5 miles. Today I did 10.34! A new high. I’m not able to send friend request. Friend me!2
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Also, I recently learned about the existence of padded bike shorts. I had no idea. They are a life saver! Or rather a butt saver.0
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No reason to be embarrassed. When I see someone overweight who’s walking or cycling or whatever, I think that it’s great that they’re working at it. And you don’t go from zero exercise to a marathon in one workout. You’ve got to gradually ramp up your exercise. Of course this is coming from someone who is only 10 pounds into a 60 pound weight loss goal, so I totally understand how you feel. I’m sure people see me and think “look at the fat lady on the bike” but I’m going to keep riding.1
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I’ve had a bike for several years that I used only when we went camping (RV camping). But I’ve just started riding regularly the past few weeks cause I’m newly motivated to lose weight and am limited cause of foot surgery late last year. My daughter and I ride nearly every day, at least m 5 miles. Today I did 10.34! A new high. I’m not able to send friend request. Friend me!
Excellent, well done, hope you can carry on enjoying it.1 -
No reason to be embarrassed. When I see someone overweight who’s walking or cycling or whatever, I think that it’s great that they’re working at it. And you don’t go from zero exercise to a marathon in one workout. You’ve got to gradually ramp up your exercise. Of course this is coming from someone who is only 10 pounds into a 60 pound weight loss goal, so I totally understand how you feel. I’m sure people see me and think “look at the fat lady on the bike” but I’m going to keep riding.
... and I'm the fat old guy on the bike. And, I'm keeping on riding, too!
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I got out yesterday for my first ride since strict lockdown descended on us here in NJ in March. It was a modest ride compared to my previous efforts, but it has been 90 days off the bike, so I am not surprised. Since I came back into cycling a couple of years ago after decades away, I've learned that ride conditioning is a gradual process. At first, frankly, a mile was a big deal. Now I'm riding everywhere (or was until covid-19). As a result, I know it'll come back through repetition. BTW, I'm down between 70 and 80 lbs from max (been varying a bit in lockdown), with more to go.
Pic is yesterday, on my ride, at one of the public access points on my peninsula to the estuary ("river") which runs out to the ocean a couple of miles away. Now that I've broken the barrier, I'll be out and about again. With prudence, of course, being susceptible with several underlying predisposing conditions.
Good luck on our riding, too!
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I've been cycling "seriously" (avidly) since April 29, 1990 when I got on my bicycle and decided to train for an event at the end of that summer.
On that first ride, I rode 2 miles and had to take a break after the first mile.
That was very disappointing because I grew up in a cycling family and had dabbled at it since I was 6 years old, but it had been a few years since I had done much on the bicycle. Walking, running and weightlifting, but not cycling.
By the end of that summer, I was comfortable with 50 miles (80 km) in a day.
Fast forward through recreational centuries, commuting by bicycle, and racing ... and I landed in Audax/Randonneuring in 2001 where I've remained (mostly) ever since. Ultradistance cycling.
Unfortunately .....
My husband had a serious workplace accident in 2018. In early March we had cycled a 300 km randonnee, completing it in 18 hours and 18 minutes including all breaks. We were kind of loosely training for the Paris-Brest-Paris in 2019 and were getting some rides under our belts so that we'd be assured of a spot on the event.
A couple weeks later, we were packing and getting ready to ride a 360 km fleche on the Saturday ... but in the middle of the day on the Thursday, I got a call that my husband was in the hospital with a severe traumatic brain injury.
He was in a coma for 3 weeks, in hospital for a total of 100 days and was in rehab for a long time after that. Even now, he doesn't have the strength and energy he did.
We are riding again, but now we tend to do 10-20 km rides.
Zwift has also been our friend.
We'll see where cycling takes us from here.
But this shutdown has been nice because I've been working from home. It's winter here now and gets dark very early. On an ordinary year, we'd only be cycling outside on weekends. This year, we can cycle on week days sometimes too. 12 -
@Machka9 : I want to hug you, like your post and admit it's so inspirational - all these at once! 🌻 Happy to be your pal, never knew about hubs, sorry to hear about how much you've being going through 🤗. You're strong and truly inspirational by example 👍. Thank you so much❣4
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@Machka9 : I want to hug you, like your post and admit it's so inspirational - all these at once! 🌻 Happy to be your pal, never knew about hubs, sorry to hear about how much you've being going through 🤗. You're strong and truly inspirational by example 👍. Thank you so much❣
Thank you!
{{hug}} 0 -
I took a bike pic thanks to inspiration from here! This is my 25 year old Cannondale after it’s recent face lift
My husbands new favorite thing about working from home a couple days a week is sneaking off to the river at 5 AM to fish for a couple hours... last week I had the impromptu idea to hop in with him and do my virtual Tri along the river while they fished. Swam in the river while they dropped the boat in, ran the third leg in as he was loading up - perfect timing!6 -
@Machka9 - what a story to tell thank you for sharing! 1
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Our most recent ride! June 14 ...
Sunday -- winter's afternoon ride ...
Distance: 16.40km
Elevation: 91m
Moving Time: 1:02:17
Elapsed Time: 1:03:48
Speed: Avg: 15.8km/h Max: 43.6km/h
Calories: 252
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I raced 5 years ago, then got sick. I put on a bunch of weight, ugh. Not good for cycling, especially in WV.
I'm just getting back into it and the rebuild sucks, but it will be worth it soon enough. Feeling the wind in your face is freeing. I did 20 miles with the club Tuesday and I had to walk a hill I have NEVER EVER walked before. Such is the life of restarting at a much heavier weight...
Best of luck. Feel free to add me. -Nikki4
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