CYCLING

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Invisibilis

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My sport for the last 15 years is cycling. It is a sport that suits me best. Started riding to lose excess weight. Lost 35 kg (77 lbs) in first 12 months. The lighter I got the better it felt to ride the bike. My first ride was 5 km, and my legs ached for three days. Now I regularly ride 400-500 km per week, and my legs still ache after a 100+ km hard ride, but I recover by next morning.

Ten years ago, I spoke to a friend about the idea of competing. I have never forgotten what he said: "Well, it is now time to stop pretending and start contending". What he said shifted a mind-set in me. Ever since then, my cycling has improved. H marked improvement occurred since mid 2019 when I decided to have a hero to follow and take lessons from in terms of courage, faith, resilience, obedience, going to any lengths, and truth. Yep, it is Jesus Christ.

I pray and meditate daily. Competitive cycling is now part of that practice. After every ride I am truly thankful for the fun and experience. All my cycling friends, except Christians, cannot believe how well I am riding. They all know that I give all credit to God, which makes the atheists wonder, for they cannot ignore the racing performance.

Anyway, are there any other cyclists on this forum?
If so, I would like to read your experiences about cycling.
 

Invisibilis

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I used to before a knee problem forced me out of the sport.
Must have been serious.

I get knee problem when I push too hard for too long, but it heals up after a few days.
Much of our aches and pains come from either poor bike set-up for one's body, or doing something strenuous, and not the norm, on the bike.

Lot of my older friends are getting e-bikes. They love it, because they no longer suffer as much to enjoy a good paced ride.
The bike shops around here allow you to test ride an e-bike for a few hours. Have you considered that option?
 

FHII

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Cycling is a big part of my life! I don't put up the milage you do, but manage 400-500 miles a month. I usually do one cycling race per year, but am transitioning into triathlons this year. I'd like to do more, but with Church, working two jobs as well they can be expensive, I don't get to do it as much. This year I will be doing one criterium, a Sprint triathlon and to running races.

I mostly ride alone. The solitude is a great feeling!
 

reformed1689

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Must have been serious.

I get knee problem when I push too hard for too long, but it heals up after a few days.
Much of our aches and pains come from either poor bike set-up for one's body, or doing something strenuous, and not the norm, on the bike.

Lot of my older friends are getting e-bikes. They love it, because they no longer suffer as much to enjoy a good paced ride.
The bike shops around here allow you to test ride an e-bike for a few hours. Have you considered that option?
I have a weird kneecap issue. Went to over a year of physical therapy. I could probably get back on a bike but I just haven't had the courage or desire to after that experience.
 

Preacher4Truth

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My sport for the last 15 years is cycling. It is a sport that suits me best. Started riding to lose excess weight. Lost 35 kg (77 lbs) in first 12 months. The lighter I got the better it felt to ride the bike. My first ride was 5 km, and my legs ached for three days. Now I regularly ride 400-500 km per week, and my legs still ache after a 100+ km hard ride, but I recover by next morning.

Ten years ago, I spoke to a friend about the idea of competing. I have never forgotten what he said: "Well, it is now time to stop pretending and start contending". What he said shifted a mind-set in me. Ever since then, my cycling has improved. H marked improvement occurred since mid 2019 when I decided to have a hero to follow and take lessons from in terms of courage, faith, resilience, obedience, going to any lengths, and truth. Yep, it is Jesus Christ.

I pray and meditate daily. Competitive cycling is now part of that practice. After every ride I am truly thankful for the fun and experience. All my cycling friends, except Christians, cannot believe how well I am riding. They all know that I give all credit to God, which makes the atheists wonder, for they cannot ignore the racing performance.

Anyway, are there any other cyclists on this forum?
If so, I would like to read your experiences about cycling.
We ride a couple of Trek FX's on some trails around here. Have done some 20+ mile rides. But now I want to go faster, and on longer rides, so am looking into road bikes.
 

Invisibilis

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Cycling is a big part of my life! I don't put up the milage you do, but manage 400-500 miles a month. I usually do one cycling race per year, but am transitioning into triathlons this year. I'd like to do more, but with Church, working two jobs as well they can be expensive, I don't get to do it as much. This year I will be doing one criterium, a Sprint triathlon and to running races.

I mostly ride alone. The solitude is a great feeling!
Good to see that you do have a few goals. They keep you moving forward.
I like to do tri's but I am too heavy boned and swim like a submarine (slow, with legs as anchors).
Soon will be doing a monthly criterium with the Byron Bay Cycling Club. Not exactly looking forward to it due to cornering at fast speeds.
My running days are over. Hips can't handle the weight anymore. One of the reasons I like cycling is that it is a sport that allows you to sit down to do it. :)
 
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Invisibilis

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I have a weird kneecap issue. Went to over a year of physical therapy. I could probably get back on a bike but I just haven't had the courage or desire to after that experience.
You're not alone. Many a cyclists, after breaking some part of the body, quit the sport.
I once hit the deck chin first. Knocked out for 40 minutes before paramedics awoke me. Lost a lot of blood, a tooth, and a nasty gash across the chin. Eleven stitches later I looked like a pirate with half my face black and blue. Received brain damage which took 5 months to restore, though many still think I am nuts :). The funny thing was, during those earlier months, I could hardly walk a straight line, yet I had no problems being steady on the bike.

After this fall, I lost my competitiveness for a few years, but slowly got back into it again. And this time with a completely new mind-set, as I've already mentioned. A veteran racing cyclist friend whom I share my experiences to, said that my racing awareness has improved remarkably. All I can say is to that, it's not me that is doing it.
 

Invisibilis

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We ride a couple of Trek FX's on some trails around here. Have done some 20+ mile rides. But now I want to go faster, and on longer rides, so am looking into road bikes.
Great. Riding from town to town can be lots of fun. When we approach a town, we generally race to the town speed limit sign; just to get an appetite for a cafe stop in town.

Getting a road bike, as it is, won't improve your speed that much. It's still hard work.

The only thing that will improve speed is to do interval training. Best done with friends, where you regularly race each other over short distances from 200 yards to a mile. Then ride easy to rest up, and when all ready again, you have another bash at it. It can do this alone, but it's more fun to do it with mates. It's pushing yourself passed your limits which allows your body and mind to develop; and to 'know' that it can ride at these faster speeds.

Have fun riding hard.
 

FHII

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Yea, they do corner fast! I did a few duathlons and one TT before my first crit. The peloton got away from me on the corners due to my inexperience. I'd lose a short distance a little at a time and tired myself out trying to catch up. Gotta work harder and be ready for that.

Wish you the best with your racing. I won't start my races until May (although there may be a few training style races before that with my club).
 
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Preacher4Truth

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Great. Riding from town to town can be lots of fun. When we approach a town, we generally race to the town speed limit sign; just to get an appetite for a cafe stop in town.

Getting a road bike, as it is, won't improve your speed that much. It's still hard work.

The only thing that will improve speed is to do interval training. Best done with friends, where you regularly race each other over short distances from 200 yards to a mile. Then ride easy to rest up, and when all ready again, you have another bash at it. It can do this alone, but it's more fun to do it with mates. It's pushing yourself passed your limits which allows your body and mind to develop; and to 'know' that it can ride at these faster speeds.

Have fun riding hard.
Hmm. A road bike is a way faster bike than a hybrid (Trek FX in this instance) due to the geometry and design of the bikes. For instance a hybrid is heavier, has wider tires, and thus more roll resistance. Road bikes are built lighter, have narrower tires, and are geared to climb and sprint faster. :)
 
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FHII

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Hmm. A road bike is a way faster bike than a hybrid (Trek FX in this instance) due to the geometry and design of the bikes. For instance a hybrid is heavier, has wider tires, and thus more roll resistance. Road bikes are built lighter, have narrower tires, and are geared to climb and sprint faster. :)
Gotta agree: road bikes are faster. But training with one may not make you faster. It seems we are talking training vs. equipment. Intervals are a great training tool. But whether you do them with a hybrid or road bike, I suspect the differences would be minimal.
 

Preacher4Truth

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Gotta agree: road bikes are faster. But training with one may not make you faster. It seems we are talking training vs. equipment. Intervals are a great training tool. But whether you do them with a hybrid or road bike, I suspect the differences would be minimal.
Dunno about your conclusions.

Training on a road bike would definitely build up a persons speed, that's the reason for training in the first place along with increasing endurance. The same would be true on any bike.

However if I were to race myself in an interval for time it's a guarantee the road bike would far out pace a hybrid.

Having ridden both the difference is far from minimal.

Now if it were a matter of higher end road bike vs. a lower end heavier road bike in the same interval then the difference would be more in the lines of a minimal difference.

The differences between a hybrid and road bike are vast; i.e. the same effort and output on the latter would blow away the same effort and output on the former.
 
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mjrhealth

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My sport for the last 15 years is cycling. It is a sport that suits me best. Started riding to lose excess weight. Lost 35 kg (77 lbs) in first 12 months. The lighter I got the better it felt to ride the bike. My first ride was 5 km, and my legs ached for three days. Now I regularly ride 400-500 km per week, and my legs still ache after a 100+ km hard ride, but I recover by next morning.

Ten years ago, I spoke to a friend about the idea of competing. I have never forgotten what he said: "Well, it is now time to stop pretending and start contending". What he said shifted a mind-set in me. Ever since then, my cycling has improved. H marked improvement occurred since mid 2019 when I decided to have a hero to follow and take lessons from in terms of courage, faith, resilience, obedience, going to any lengths, and truth. Yep, it is Jesus Christ.

I pray and meditate daily. Competitive cycling is now part of that practice. After every ride I am truly thankful for the fun and experience. All my cycling friends, except Christians, cannot believe how well I am riding. They all know that I give all credit to God, which makes the atheists wonder, for they cannot ignore the racing performance.

Anyway, are there any other cyclists on this forum?
If so, I would like to read your experiences about cycling.
Hi, I too ride, being doing it for over 20 years , but only last year got myself a decent Specialized hybird bike, Certainly dont ride the distances you do, dont have time during the week, but try get out saturdays , sunday is swimming when I am able, after those 100 km + rides one need to recoup a little. Aiming to get a proper road bike, the one I currently have is usually lugging camera gear too. Makes it heavy.
 

FHII

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Dunno about your conclusions.

Training on a road bike would definitely build up a persons speed, that's the reason for training in the first place along with increasing endurance. The same would be true on any bike.

However if I were to race myself in an interval for time it's a guarantee the road bike would far out pace a hybrid.

Having ridden both the difference is far from minimal.

Now if it were a matter of higher end road bike vs. a lower end heavier road bike in the same interval then the difference would be more in the lines of a minimal difference.

The differences between a hybrid and road bike are vast; i.e. the same effort and output on the latter would blow away the same effort and output on the former.
Could be... We are talking training of course... Not single efforts. I'm looking at it interns of work output, HR and stuff like that.
 
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Preacher4Truth

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Could be... We are talking training of course... Not single efforts. I'm looking at it interns of work output, HR and stuff like that.
No one informed me our debate was limited to "training." Who added that rule? :)

Regardless of this there is no comparison between the two; training, single efforts so with all due respect I think your points are moot. ;)
 
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FHII

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No one informed me our debate was limited to "training." Who added that rule? :)

Regardless of this there is no comparison between the two; training, single efforts so with all due respect I think your points are moot. ;)
Invisibilis said getting a road bike wouldn't improve speed that much, but interval training would. So, right off the bat we are talking training methods vs. equipment used. With that in mind, everyone does have a point. Training makes you faster. Superior equipment allows you to go faster. And with that, it's always wise to train with the best equipment possible.