August Cycling Challenge 2013

74 miles in three days...Day one: 2470 ft elevation gain. Day 2: 3600 ft elevation gain. Day 3: 3250 elevation gained. I'm aiming for 75 miles per week for the month of August. :-) Let's get it!

Of course it is okay! Welcome!!!!

Thank you!

Did another 11 km on the paved trail this morning. Usually when I begin exercising I bite off too much too soon so I'm just taking it easy with the mileage for August. Just to get my bum used to the seat is a challenge.
I love cycling so much. It makes me feel like a kid again.

I fell over several times when I started with the clipless pedals... that can hurt and you feel and look silly tipping over so watch it.
However they add greatly to riding and leg toning.

1st Aug - 34.72 miles
2nd Aug - 21.12 miles
5th Aug - 34.61 miles
6th Aug - 17.47 miles

Total: 107.92 miles
Target: 200 miles (might need to revise target at this rate......)
Remaining: 92.08 miles

Wow.

Was raining this AM so that cut me out of my work commute of about 18 miles. I squeezed in a 12 mile ride between jobs. I am going to start posting times & speeds on my log.

8/1 - 12.57
8/2 - 12.40
8/3 - 12.11
8/4 - 13.08 (AM)
8/4 - 06.71 (PM)
8/5 - 23.10
8/6 - 12.06 (42:52 @ 16.9mph)

MTD - 92.03

So listen I just got my bike a few months & 360 miles ago. I noticed my gears making noise. The bike shop said to expect a stretch. Apparently both the front & real derails are affected. The front doesn't want to shift well into the inner most gear and the rear doesn't want to shift into the inner most big gear. The bike has barrel adjusters but either way I adjust them doesn't quite clear up the chatter I am hearing. Should I be turning the barrels counter or clockwise?

I work 2 jobs and I hate to have to take it to the shop again for what I think should be an easy adjustment.

1st Aug - 34.72 miles
2nd Aug - 21.12 miles
5th Aug - 34.61 miles
6th Aug - 34.78 miles
7th Aug - 17.45 miles

Total: 142.68miles
Target: 200 miles (might need to revise target at this rate......)
Remaining: 57.32 miles

Just curious if some of the people here who cycle everyday/or most days could help me out. Is it normal to see a weight increase when upping rides/mileage? I used to do about 3-4 days a week and now I am doing 5-6 days. Other than aspect I have not changed anything and I have gone up 2lbs. Will it eventually go back down? Or should I be doing something different.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Yep. I noticed the same thing. Some people will start riding more (or increase cardio in general) and thier appetite will increase, so they consume more calories. The problem with biking is that depending on what kind of riding you do, the calories burned estimates on here, and on other websites, can be very inaccurate. I ride in the mountains where the vast majority of my ride is climbing (sometimes 2500+ ft elevation gain in under 2 miles) and my for an hour of riding, my estimate will be around 559 calories. Well, heck...if I ride for an hour on more flat, paved surfaces, my estimate will still be 559, but I gaurantee you I burnt half the calories on that ride.

I fell into this trap for the first month of riding. Now, I simply add carbs during my ride and eat pretty normally the rest of the day. My weight has returned to normal and is dropping slowly. (I'm not trying to lose) If I am doing a longer ride (over two hours) I will eat approximately 100 calories, 10 g of protein, 15 g of carbs and a few fat grams every hour for the entire ride. This keeps my energy up, but doesn't over load me on calories. I don't over eat afterwards either because my body doesn't go into "holy hell, I need some calories and carbs NOW" mode after so many hours of work without fuel. If my rides are under 2 hours they are very intense, so I will eat a few quick carbs beforehand, then eat a normal recovery meal, high in protein, afterwards...then business as usual. I hope this helps. Enjoy the ride!!

I rode over 3 miles to my physical therapy appointment, then took the long way home and rode almost 4 miles back. Hills are killer! Rode to my Dr. Appointment on Monday--round trip almost 8 miles.

Not much I know but a start.

I have registered for the 2014 London to Brighton bike race. Any ideas on training? I cycle 30KM 3 times a week. What about bikes? My current bike is a 17 year old mountain bike. rides well, but...

any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I wish I would have found this thread a long time ago. I try to get out on my mountain bike as much as possible as it's something that I'm passionate about and is helping me with fitness and weight loss. But unfortunately I won't be able to contribute for a few weeks since I had a crash back in June and will be going in for surgery on my shoulder this Friday and will be down for a while. But I'm lucky, it could have been much worse. I'm just hoping for a faster than expected recovery to get a few more rides in this season. *thumbs up*

YTD: 333.86 mi
MTD: 34.37 mi

8/6/13
Distance: 6.36 mi
Time: 29:16
Avg Speed: 13.0 mph
Elevation Gain: 69 ft
Calories: 355 C
Avg Temperature: 82.9 °F

8/4/13
Distance: 11.96 mi
Time: 55:20
Avg Speed: 13.0 mph
Elevation Gain: 92 ft
Calories: 640 C
Avg Temperature: 72.8 °F

8/2/13
Distance: 16.06 mi
Time: 1:13:50
Avg Speed: 13.0 mph
Elevation Gain: 217 ft
Calories: 672 C
Avg Temperature: 74.8 °F

8/1 - 12.57
8/2 - 12.40
8/3 - 12.11
8/4 - 13.08 (AM)
8/4 - 06.71 (PM)
8/5 - 23.10
8/6 - 12.06 [42:52 @ 16.9 mph]
8/7 - 06.18 [22:51 @ 16.2 mph] (AM)
8/7 - 10.18 [36:59 @ 16.5 mph] (Noon)
8/7 - 12.03 [43:59 @ 16.4 mph] (PM)

MTD - 120.42

8/1 - 25.32 miles
8/2 - 17.0 miles
8/4 - 40.39
8/6 - 7.2
8/7 - 10.5

Total : 100.39

8/4 17.25mi road 1hr 1416 cals burned
8/5 7.25mi stationary 30min 580 cals burned
8.7 10.75 stationary 40 min 780 cals burned

8/1 - 8.46 miles
8/2 - 8.61 miles
8/3 - 8.41 miles
8/4 - 9.35 miles
8/5 - 8.48 miles
8/6 - 8.41 miles
8/7 - 14.38 miles

Goal - 200 miles
MTD - 66.10 miles

Just curious if some of the people here who cycle everyday/or most days could help me out. Is it normal to see a weight increase when upping rides/mileage? I used to do about 3-4 days a week and now I am doing 5-6 days. Other than aspect I have not changed anything and I have gone up 2lbs. Will it eventually go back down? Or should I be doing something different.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Yep. I noticed the same thing. Some people will start riding more (or increase cardio in general) and thier appetite will increase, so they consume more calories. The problem with biking is that depending on what kind of riding you do, the calories burned estimates on here, and on other websites, can be very inaccurate. I ride in the mountains where the vast majority of my ride is climbing (sometimes 2500+ ft elevation gain in under 2 miles) and my for an hour of riding, my estimate will be around 559 calories. Well, heck...if I ride for an hour on more flat, paved surfaces, my estimate will still be 559, but I gaurantee you I burnt half the calories on that ride.

I fell into this trap for the first month of riding. Now, I simply add carbs during my ride and eat pretty normally the rest of the day. My weight has returned to normal and is dropping slowly. (I'm not trying to lose) If I am doing a longer ride (over two hours) I will eat approximately 100 calories, 10 g of protein, 15 g of carbs and a few fat grams every hour for the entire ride. This keeps my energy up, but doesn't over load me on calories. I don't over eat afterwards either because my body doesn't go into "holy hell, I need some calories and carbs NOW" mode after so many hours of work without fuel. If my rides are under 2 hours they are very intense, so I will eat a few quick carbs beforehand, then eat a normal recovery meal, high in protein, afterwards...then business as usual. I hope this helps. Enjoy the ride!!

Hi there, a few weeks back I increased my mileage / training in general quite substantially, I was burning 2k calories and my weight wasn't shifting, I wasnt eating all my calories back either. But I then increased my calories so that I could burn more and this helped somewhat, also you need to bear in mind when TOM visits and also that when you start increasing mileage/exercises that your muscles hold on to water (water retention) so after a few weeks you'll notice a difference.

Stick with it, it'll work. I'm losing weight now and upping my calories although not going stupidly over, maybe I'll be eating 1600 cals a day so eating theoretically 400 into my training calories.
Good luck!