Biking!

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Carrie6o6
Carrie6o6 Posts: 1,443 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I got a bike for my birthday. I LOVE it!! My goal is to ride 11.4km in 38mins... Do you think that is unreasonable? Thats about... 4miles I think... At about 18km/h... Im just begginer... I can do 3.8km in 18mins hahaha So it will take some work... But is it possible?
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  • Carrie6o6
    Carrie6o6 Posts: 1,443 Member
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    I got a bike for my birthday. I LOVE it!! My goal is to ride 11.4km in 38mins... Do you think that is unreasonable? Thats about... 4miles I think... At about 18km/h... Im just begginer... I can do 3.8km in 18mins hahaha So it will take some work... But is it possible?
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
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    I came up with 7.08 miles for the kilometers that you gave. Can you do it in 38 minutes? Sure--but if you've not been riding for a while, then you'll need to work up to it. I've been riding almost every day for the last 2 months and I can maintain a steady 12-13 miles per hour now--that's 19-20 Kilometers per hour for you.

    Biking is great exercise! Easy on the knees and ankles and back--gets you outside. I love it! I have an IPod that I've loaded up with Praise songs, so I can use my riding time as worship time, too.
  • shorerider
    shorerider Posts: 3,817 Member
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    Oh yeah, and I just finished my first 30 miles ride today (that's 48 kilometers)! If I can do it, anybody can, so hang in there, keep pedaling, and you'll do it!
  • Carrie6o6
    Carrie6o6 Posts: 1,443 Member
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    Wow! Thats so awesome!! Yes my mistake. Im trying to do 5miles... but lapping my town 3 times is 11.4km. I have a zune and load it up with worship and sermons! hahaha awesome!! Thanks!!
  • ohthatbambi
    ohthatbambi Posts: 1,098 Member
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    Just build up to it. I just got in from a 13.5 mile ride. It took me right at an hour. When I started...I could not have gone that far, much less that far in an hour.

    What kind of bike did you get? I got a new one last week!
  • Carrie6o6
    Carrie6o6 Posts: 1,443 Member
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    Just build up to it. I just got in from a 13.5 mile ride. It took me right at an hour. When I started...I could not have gone that far, much less that far in an hour.

    What kind of bike did you get? I got a new one last week!

    I dont know what kind. hahaha its a 21 speed, hard tail... bout all I know! It works for what I want it to do, good enough for me! hahaha
  • yellow_pepper
    yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
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    And get a pair of padded shorts for those long rides! I biked without them for a few weeks and ended up very sore. :blushing: The shorts make a huge difference when you go beyond 20 minutes per ride.
  • stschulz
    stschulz Posts: 340
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    I can only give you the numbers in miles/hr.

    Around 11 - 12 m/hr is a normal beginner level.
    At 15 m/hr you are riding faster than most untrained people will
    At 18 plus you are approaching racing speeds.

    All these are averages.

    For your purposes I think it doesn't really matter how fast you ride, as long as you do ride and get the exercise.

    If you plan to do that regulary and stick to it, buy a cheap HR monitor. Make sure you stay in your aerobic zone and ride as long as you can. Increase the distanve or time (what ever you like better) by no more than 10%/week and take a break ( = no riding) every 3 weeks.

    As you loose weight and get in better shape you will get faster.
  • Carrie6o6
    Carrie6o6 Posts: 1,443 Member
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    I can only give you the numbers in miles/hr.

    Around 11 - 12 m/hr is a normal beginner level.
    At 15 m/hr you are riding faster than most untrained people will
    At 18 plus you are approaching racing speeds.

    All these are averages.

    For your purposes I think it doesn't really matter how fast you ride, as long as you do ride and get the exercise.

    If you plan to do that regulary and stick to it, buy a cheap HR monitor. Make sure you stay in your aerobic zone and ride as long as you can. Increase the distanve or time (what ever you like better) by no more than 10%/week and take a break ( = no riding) every 3 weeks.

    As you loose weight and get in better shape you will get faster.

    My speed was about 14km/h... which is below 11m/hr haha well I guess it doesn't happen overnight! haha
  • stschulz
    stschulz Posts: 340
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    Carrie,
    that's a good start! :wink:
    It really doesn't matter how fast you go in the beginning. You'll get faster as you loose weight and your muscles are trained more. And finally, this is not a race. Enjoy what you are doing!

    If you ride that speed for an hour you did a great exercise.
  • stschulz
    stschulz Posts: 340
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    One more thing Carrie:

    do not use the bike to go fast in a certain time!
    Use it to go steady and easy but long distances.... like 1 hr or more. Keep your Heart rate as low as you can. This way you will actually start burning fat instead of using up your glycogen reserves fast (which is what happens when you go too fast) and then be exhausted and stop.

    Easy does it.
  • yellow_pepper
    yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
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    You don't start to burn fat until you use up your glycogen reserves.
  • stschulz
    stschulz Posts: 340
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    A L L you glycogen reserves in muscles and liver pepper?:ohwell:
    How does your body after that maintain the energy needed for the workout? Burn fat aerobically so fast that it is sufficient to produce the required energy?
  • Carrie6o6
    Carrie6o6 Posts: 1,443 Member
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    I was so happy!! I biked at 27km/h!! Only for about 3mins from the store to home.. Didn't think I could go that fast... My legs were a bit tired and I was actually a bit out of breath. It was great! I wish I had more time to ride my bike.. I only have time after work.. I get home from work around 11pm-12am... I try to go out then.. I want to get a buggy to pull my kids around with me.. That should be a good workout! haha
  • Carrie6o6
    Carrie6o6 Posts: 1,443 Member
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    One more thing Carrie:

    do not use the bike to go fast in a certain time!
    Use it to go steady and easy but long distances.... like 1 hr or more. Keep your Heart rate as low as you can. This way you will actually start burning fat instead of using up your glycogen reserves fast (which is what happens when you go too fast) and then be exhausted and stop.

    Easy does it.

    Is the only way to monitor my HR is by using a HR monitor? I dont have a watch.. or anything really.. I should buy one.. What is my heart suppose to be at?
  • stschulz
    stschulz Posts: 340
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    No, it is not the only way. But the only accurate way:smile: .

    Then again you are not doing any serious professional training where eact numbers would be important. If you can still comfortably have a conversation your heart rate should be in the right range. As soon as you start panting, breathing heavier and could no longer have a conversation with someone riding next to you you'll approach your anaerobic zone.

    Now that is really VERY rough. Might work for your purposes though. The reason why I tell you all that is that I do not think a fast sprint, getting all worked up, your heart rate up and everything hurting is at this point of your "training" as beneficial for you as a slower, steady but long workout. I would rather see you ride comfortably longer distances than attempting to ride what ever miles or km per hour.

    You said you do not have a watch. You really need one for that. With no HR monitor you should at least get a feeling what heart rate you are at by counting. If you do that for a little while you (roughly) know where you are.

    A often used general formula is 220 minus your age to determine your maximum heart rate. That is a very crude approach but it seems to work for most people. (Doesn't work for me). So, deduct your age from 220 and remember that number. As a general rule you should not go beyond 85% of that number to stay aerobic. Between 70% and 75% of your max heart rate would probably be good.

    Borrow a watch on your next rides and stop every once in a while to chech your HR. Doesn't take long. Count 15 sec and take that times 4. After a while you will have a pretty good idea how you feel around070%, 80% or more and that should do.

    You can buy HR monitors very cheap online if all you want is visually see your HR at any time, but it doesn't sound as if you want that.

    I leave my HR monitor in the drawer right now because I have a pretty good idea where I roughly am after using it a while. I will get it out if I want purposely do anaerobic training, but that will be a while. For that purpose you DO need it though.
    Hope that helps
  • Carrie6o6
    Carrie6o6 Posts: 1,443 Member
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    Thanks for the help, that's awesome. I will look for a HR monitor.. I thought they would be expensive, my husband would have my head if they were hahahaha Thanks for all your help!
  • stschulz
    stschulz Posts: 340
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    You'r welcome Carrie.
    Cheapest one I can find real fast on the sites I am familiar with is $30 plus shipping.
    If you order one let me know.
    If you don't let me know too and we figure out how to keep you in the right range.
  • yellow_pepper
    yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
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    Glycogen reserves are fairly small - enough to supply about 600 kCal of energy after an overnight fast. Of course, you make more by eating ... but just to give you a breakdown of where energy comes from:

    Order of Use Source Amount of Energy
    1 Blood sugar 40 kCal (that is "Calories" as we know it)
    2 Glycogen 600kCal on waking, more or less depending on food intake
    3.1 Muscle protein Depends on how much you have
    3.2 Fat Depends on how much you have

    Fat is burned in parallel with muscle. You won't start burning fat (or muscle) during exercise until you're in a glycogen deficit. So, unless you burn more than 600 calories (and probably more than that, if you eat before you exercise), you do not burn fat when you're running, biking, etc.

    When you exercise, you deplete your glycogen stores so that your normal activity (when you're done with your workout) will start to use your fat as fuel, and that's provided that you do not over-replenish your glycogen stores when you finish exercising.

    So when you're exhausted from exercise, and you've only replenished a small % of the calories you burned, and you're just lying around exhausted - THAT'S when you're burning fat! Your body continues to burn calories, but it has nothing readily available, and hopefully it's repairing your muscles with protein you just ate, so THAT's when it starts to burn your fat.

    The process of burning fat is exhausting ... Most people cannot continue to exercise while burning fat. That's when you're running/biking through muscle exhaustion. Even endurance athletes replenish glygocen (with PowerGel, Gatorade, etc) rather than burn fat/muscle for fuel. Granted, they also don't have any fat to burn.

    But in summary, exercise itself usually doesn't burn fat - but it depletes glycogen so that your less intense activities do burn fat, provided that you don't fully replenish (calories out > intake).
  • yellow_pepper
    yellow_pepper Posts: 708 Member
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    Just wanted to add one more thought:

    This is why there's some truth in the notion that you can burn fat while you sleep IF you don't eat a lot at night. If you go to bed with low glycogen reserves, your body will burn through them while you sleep ... Of course, this can happen at any time of the day. But during the day, we want to feel like we have energy to do something with our minds, and our muscles! As I said before, burning fat is exhausting ... it's the body's last resort for fuel. It's those times when you feel like you are running on fumes when you are most likely to be burning fat. Not when you're racing down a beautiful bike path - that's when you're running on glycogen!

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