March Cycling Challenge 2014

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  • gregsonevans
    gregsonevans Posts: 232 Member
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    Added loads of weight to my bike and riding more miles offroad and that is keeping my speed down, tempted to remove all weight but trying to get used to it before I start doing longer rides in the summer where I am hoping to do a 170 mile ride to Wales to visit family and will need to carry clothing etc.
    Count:
    10 Activities
    Distance:
    156.44 mi
    Time:
    14:12:46 h:m:s
    Elevation Gain:
    3,087 ft
    Avg Speed:
    11.0 mph
    Avg HR:
    127 bpm
    Calories:
    12,056 C
    Max Distance:
    31.73 mi
  • Mrscanmore
    Mrscanmore Posts: 859 Member
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    15 minutes this morning. I'm at 135. More than half done :smile:
  • HoaryMarmot
    HoaryMarmot Posts: 36 Member
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    Wednesday Night Recovery Ride - in glorious sunny weather, something a bit unusual here in Oregon.


    Distance 21.1 mi
    Moving Time 1:30:41
    Avg Speed 13.9 mi/h
    Avg Watts 90 W
    Elev Gain 236 ft

    March Total 245 miles.

    Need to work late tomorrow night and then an off day Friday. On Saturday, I will be doing the second Southern Oregon Time Trial and and because of the elevation gain, I will probably come in last in my age group (but beat everyone on the couch!).
  • blanphere
    blanphere Posts: 82 Member
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    21.12 mi; 62 min spinning; avg watts 79; 289 kj
    18.50 mi; 60 min spinning; avg watts 82; 277 kj
    24.41 mi; 77 min spinning; avg watts 54; 255 kj (not my best class)
    6.87 mi; 39.54 min; no watts; 235ish kj....first ride outside! Beautiful day to be outside in Colorado. Only crashed twice!
    20.04 mi; 64 min spinning; avg watts 85; 305kj
    22.02 mi; 67 min spinning; avg watts 72; kj 285 - got a Polar FT4 and it "claims" my calories burned were 585...but with such low watts, and an avg cadence of 85, could I have really burned that much? Seems unlikely. I won't have a Whopper today, just in case.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
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    March Target - 805km

    1/3/2014 - no ride
    2/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/117197010 72.0km
    3/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/117469320 57.7km
    4/3/2014 - no ride
    5/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/117939394 30.8km
    6/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/118200501 22.6km
    7/3/2014 - no ride
    8/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/118655468 61.7km
    9/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/119044778 93.6km
    10/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/119388172 43.0km
    11/3/2014 - no ride
    12/3/2014 - no ride
    13/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/120266721 60.9km
    14/3/2014 -
    15/3/2014 -
    16/3/2014 -
    17/3/2014 -
    18/3/2014 -
    19/3/2014 -
    20/3/2014 -
    21/3/2014 -
    22/3/2014 -
    23/3/2014 -
    24/3/2014 -
    25/3/2014 -
    26/3/2014 -
    27/3/2014 -
    28/3/2014 -
    29/3/2014 -
    30/3/2014 -
    31/3/2014 -

    Total - 442.3km
  • gregsonevans
    gregsonevans Posts: 232 Member
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    Only a small ride today as I had the dentist this morning, first ride of the year without a jacket :happy:
    Count:
    11 Activities
    Distance:
    174.72 mi
    Time:
    15:48:44 h:m:s
    Elevation Gain:
    3,249 ft
    Avg Speed:
    11.0 mph
    Avg HR:
    128 bpm
    Calories:
    13,556 C
    Max Distance:
    31.73 mi
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
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    March 1 - rode 28.6 miles for a duration of 90 minutes
    March 4 - rode 9.8 miles for a duration of 30 minutes
    March 5 - rode 9.3 miles for a duration of 30 minutes
    March 6 - rode 19.6 miles for a duration of 60 minutes
    March 7 - rode 10.1 miles for a duration of 30 minutes
    March 9 - rode 28.97 miles for a duration of 2:03:49
    March 10 - rode 31.61 miles for a duration of 2:06:11
    March 11 - rode 29.28 miles for a duration of 2:04:15
    March 13 - rode 33.9 miles for a duration of 2:00:59

    Total for month of March: 201.16 miles/12:15:14 hours
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
    Options
    March Target - 805km

    1/3/2014 - no ride
    2/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/117197010 72.0km
    3/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/117469320 57.7km
    4/3/2014 - no ride
    5/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/117939394 30.8km
    6/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/118200501 22.6km
    7/3/2014 - no ride
    8/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/118655468 61.7km
    9/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/119044778 93.6km
    10/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/119388172 43.0km
    11/3/2014 - no ride
    12/3/2014 - no ride
    13/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/120266721 60.9km
    14/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/120508987 62.8km
    15/3/2014 -
    16/3/2014 -
    17/3/2014 -
    18/3/2014 -
    19/3/2014 -
    20/3/2014 -
    21/3/2014 -
    22/3/2014 -
    23/3/2014 -
    24/3/2014 -
    25/3/2014 -
    26/3/2014 -
    27/3/2014 -
    28/3/2014 -
    29/3/2014 -
    30/3/2014 -
    31/3/2014 -

    Total - 505.1km
  • jjking54
    jjking54 Posts: 113 Member
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    3/3 - 19 miles
    3/5 - 21 miles
    3/6 - 17 miles
    3/10 - 21 miles
    3/11 - 15 miles
    3/13 - 16 miles

    Total - 109 miles
  • gregsonevans
    gregsonevans Posts: 232 Member
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    I was hoping to get a longer ride done today but had to return home to replace the chain, hopefully get a decent ride in over the weekend
    Count:
    13 Activities
    Distance:
    196.70 mi
    Time:
    17:38:08 h:m:s
    Elevation Gain:
    3,584 ft
    Avg Speed:
    11.2 mph
    Avg HR:
    127 bpm
    Calories:
    15,219 C
    Max Distance:
    31.73 mi
  • faugsu
    faugsu Posts: 330 Member
    Options
    3-1 15 miles
    3-2 15
    3-8 15
    3-9 16
    3-10 16
    3-11 21
    3-14 22 MTD 120
  • jerms9
    jerms9 Posts: 14 Member
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    Hi,

    I'm not sure if this is a good place to post or not, so if you have recommendations that this belongs in a different thread, please let me know.

    I've recently started biking again. I have a mountain bike and am riding on a relatively flat trail right now. My goal is to advance eventually to more true mountain biking in a few months once I can get my endurance built up.

    I'm only in my second week, but the past two times I've gone out, when I've started out riding my legs -- mainly in my quads, have felt very tired. I could understand feeling this tiredness at the end of a ride after giving a hard effort but am a little confused because now I'm feeling it when I start out. I took the last two days off completely from exercise to give my leg muscles a break. Today I felt the tiredness in my quads right away. I took down the tension to a 2 and shortened the ride to 20 minutes.

    Anyone experience this? I'm not sure if its lactic acid built up or I just started out too fast and need to slow down my reintroduction to biking. It's been a good year since I've routinely exercised at all. Potassium -- do I need bananas? Build quad strength? All of the above?

    Any and all advice is welcome, fine cycling people. Plan to join this challenge in April!
  • CricketKate
    CricketKate Posts: 3,657 Member
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    Hi,

    I'm not sure if this is a good place to post or not, so if you have recommendations that this belongs in a different thread, please let me know.

    I've recently started biking again. I have a mountain bike and am riding on a relatively flat trail right now. My goal is to advance eventually to more true mountain biking in a few months once I can get my endurance built up.

    I'm only in my second week, but the past two times I've gone out, when I've started out riding my legs -- mainly in my quads, have felt very tired. I could understand feeling this tiredness at the end of a ride after giving a hard effort but am a little confused because now I'm feeling it when I start out. I took the last two days off completely from exercise to give my leg muscles a break. Today I felt the tiredness in my quads right away. I took down the tension to a 2 and shortened the ride to 20 minutes.

    Anyone experience this? I'm not sure if its lactic acid built up or I just started out too fast and need to slow down my reintroduction to biking. It's been a good year since I've routinely exercised at all. Potassium -- do I need bananas? Build quad strength? All of the above?

    Any and all advice is welcome, fine cycling people. Plan to join this challenge in April!

    Sadly, I have no advice to give. I just wanted to tell you that this is an excellent place to ask.
  • CricketKate
    CricketKate Posts: 3,657 Member
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    Woo Hoo! I made it out on my bike today, first time since November. I only got in about a mile and a half due to flat tires. Still, it felt so good to be out again. I've been strength training and walking/jogging all winter, but I sure felt the burn in my legs, even in that short distance.
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
    Options
    March 1 - rode 28.6 miles for a duration of 90 minutes
    March 4 - rode 9.8 miles for a duration of 30 minutes
    March 5 - rode 9.3 miles for a duration of 30 minutes
    March 6 - rode 19.6 miles for a duration of 60 minutes
    March 7 - rode 10.1 miles for a duration of 30 minutes
    March 9 - rode 28.97 miles for a duration of 2:03:49
    March 10 - rode 31.61 miles for a duration of 2:06:11
    March 11 - rode 29.28 miles for a duration of 2:04:15
    March 13 - rode 33.9 miles for a duration of 2:00:59
    March 14 - rode 26.4 miles for a duration of 1:44:27

    Total for month of March: 227.56 miles/13:59:41 hours
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
    Options
    I'm only in my second week, but the past two times I've gone out, when I've started out riding my legs -- mainly in my quads, have felt very tired. I could understand feeling this tiredness at the end of a ride after giving a hard effort but am a little confused because now I'm feeling it when I start out. I took the last two days off completely from exercise to give my leg muscles a break. Today I felt the tiredness in my quads right away. I took down the tension to a 2 and shortened the ride to 20 minutes.

    One thing to check is your position on the bike - Initially I'd say is your saddle in the correct place - both in height and in fore-aft location.

    First Step, get the saddle height correct. Too low and you’ll feel cramped and put excessive strain on your knees. Too high and your hips will rock from side to side and potentially put strain on your lower back. With a friend holding the bike, sit on the saddle and place the balls of your feet on the pedals. With the pedal at the bottom of the pedal stroke (six o’clock), there should be a slight bend in your knee. You shouldn’t feel as though you are having to stretch but your leg should feel extended and not cramped.

    Second - Saddle fore-af adjustment. if you are sitting too far back over the back wheel and behind the cranks then you are working the quads harder - normal approximation for the starting point in correct position of the saddle fore-aft is to position the saddle in a location that will put your knee over the pedal spindle when the cranks are horizontal (9 and 3 o'clock) - get on the bike, leaning against a wall, put the pedals in place at 9 and 3, feet on the pedals and drop a plumb-line from the front edge of your kneecap. If this drops behind the pedal spindle, move the saddle forward on its rails a little and re-measure. Don't move it more than 1/2" in either direction without a) checking saddle height is correct at this new location, and b) riding the bike for a while to see if it improves or makes things worse.

    It's not a "carved in stone" rule - indeed there are more people who swear at it than by it these days, but it IS a decent starting point for people with "normal" leg lengths (and an average upper/lower leg length balance - some people have long thighs and short shins or vice-versa, which is where KOPS sort of falls down a bit)
  • ecograndma
    ecograndma Posts: 19
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    3/6: 15.20
    3/8: 20.32
    3/12: 12.21
    3/14: 15.79

    MTD: 63.52
  • mstripes
    mstripes Posts: 151 Member
    Options
    Hi,

    I'm not sure if this is a good place to post or not, so if you have recommendations that this belongs in a different thread, please let me know.

    I've recently started biking again. I have a mountain bike and am riding on a relatively flat trail right now. My goal is to advance eventually to more true mountain biking in a few months once I can get my endurance built up.

    I'm only in my second week, but the past two times I've gone out, when I've started out riding my legs -- mainly in my quads, have felt very tired. I could understand feeling this tiredness at the end of a ride after giving a hard effort but am a little confused because now I'm feeling it when I start out. I took the last two days off completely from exercise to give my leg muscles a break. Today I felt the tiredness in my quads right away. I took down the tension to a 2 and shortened the ride to 20 minutes.

    Anyone experience this? I'm not sure if its lactic acid built up or I just started out too fast and need to slow down my reintroduction to biking. It's been a good year since I've routinely exercised at all. Potassium -- do I need bananas? Build quad strength? All of the above?

    Any and all advice is welcome, fine cycling people. Plan to join this challenge in April!
    It sounds like you are on a spin bike. Try going longer at a lower resistance. Spin your legs as fast as you can until your hips are rocking and then back it off10-20 rpm. Do this 1-2 minutes at a time with slower spinning for 2-3 minutes between sets. Cycling is a cardiovascular activity not a leg strength activity. Leg strength will increase over time. Some muscle pain is to be expected with any new activity. Spinning faster to get the heart rate up increases blood flow which clears your muscles of waste from doing work. Rest is just as important as effort. You need to make sure you give your muscles time to heal between workouts.

    BTW month to date 210 miles, will get over 30 more today.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,682 Member
    Options
    March Target - 805km

    1/3/2014 - no ride
    2/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/117197010 72.0km
    3/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/117469320 57.7km
    4/3/2014 - no ride
    5/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/117939394 30.8km
    6/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/118200501 22.6km
    7/3/2014 - no ride
    8/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/118655468 61.7km
    9/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/119044778 93.6km
    10/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/119388172 43.0km
    11/3/2014 - no ride
    12/3/2014 - no ride
    13/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/120266721 60.9km
    14/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/120508987 62.8km
    15/3/2014 - http://app.strava.com/activities/120805619 29.2km (active recovery ride only)
    16/3/2014 -
    17/3/2014 -
    18/3/2014 -
    19/3/2014 -
    20/3/2014 -
    21/3/2014 -
    22/3/2014 -
    23/3/2014 -
    24/3/2014 -
    25/3/2014 -
    26/3/2014 -
    27/3/2014 -
    28/3/2014 -
    29/3/2014 -
    30/3/2014 -
    31/3/2014 -

    Total - 534.3km
  • sajeffe
    sajeffe Posts: 850 Member
    Options
    3/1 - 1.2 miles.
    3/2 - 1.7 miles.
    3/8 - 1.9 miles.
    3/9 - 2.8 miles in little bits between chores.
    3/10 - 2.0 miles.
    3/11 - 2.4 miles.
    3/15 - 2.5 miles. Building my speed back up a little. 9.5mph average today. Last year, my max was about 11.5mph average (and rarely got that fast). I'm happy with anything over 10.1mph.



    MTD = 14.5 miles.

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