The right way to get back into cycling!
Ok, I can hear your thoughts now, you’re thinking “Gary, this is dumb, all I need to do is hop on a bike and go!” Well, you could do that but if you haven’t ridden a bike in several years then 99 times out of 100 the outcome will go something just like this…
The Wrong Way to get back into cycling
You drive down to the local bicycle path to avoid road traffic (this was a good move!)
- You hop on the bike, “Wow, the seat is a lot harder than I remember but this is gonna be cool!”
- You forgot to put on a helmet (Even the most macho men realize a helmet is a smart idea, we’ll explain why in a later installment)
- You set off down the path, you’re just a little wobbly but it feels pretty good.
- You start thinking about the days of your youth, when you’d go ripping around the neighborhood at light speed… So you kick up the speed!
- You reach a small downhill section of the trail and you kick up the speed a little more, now you’re going 15mph and you’ve already went ¼ of a mile! Gee this is fun
- The trail flattens out again, Ugh Oh! Why are my legs burning? Why am I breathing so hard? Your grip on the handle bars becomes tight and you angrily pump harder thinking somehow this will help, your bottom begins to chafe from thrashing around on the seat while pumping harder to “go fast.”
- At the ½ mile mark you step off the bike panting, your legs are burning violently, you sheepishly alternate between walking and slowly riding your bike back to the trail head. We call this bonking in the cycling world, in other sports it’s called “hitting the wall,” but basically this is just your muscles telling you that they have had enough and you went too hard too fast.
I’ve seen this very behavior a hundred times, but don’t feel bad, this happens to the best of us (yours truly included!) But ask yourself a serious question, when the above ride is over will you be in any hurry to do it again? No! You’ll probably be thinking “Man did I get old!” or “Wow I am out of shape” and your legs will hurt for days! The fact however is that neither age nor the state of your health had anything to do with why you bonked, you bonked because your leg muscles were not ready for the exertion you submitted them to.
The psychology of the above "melt down" goes something like this: Bicycling is something most of us did as a child, therefore cycling is child’s play, it should be easy. Then once you get on the bike and the "feel" of the bike starts to come back you get a little cocky and remember how cool it was to go fast so up goes the speed… Within minutes you have over exerted yourself and you bonk!
What actually happened is that your legs were made to move in a way that they haven’t moved in several years, they aren’t used to that movement or the pressures that are generated by pumping the pedals. To think of it in another way, the leg movements in cycling are a little like walking up and down stairs, you push down hard them lift up gently… And we all know how taxing walking up and down a flight of stairs for any length of time can be!
The burning you are feeling after this failed attempt at getting back into cycling is caused by lactic acid, your body sends lactic acid into the muscles as a way of saying “Slow down buddy or your going to break something!” (this is only one simplified reason, there are many.) We are now ready to talk about the right way to get back into cycling.
The Right Way
- You drive down to the local bicycle path to avoid road traffic (this is still a good move!)
- You put on your helmet and mount your bike, the seat is still a lot harder than you remember but no worries, it’s still gonna be cool!”
- You set off down the path, your just a little wobbly but it feels pretty good.
- Because you read this post you understand that your inclination will be to speed up but instead you hold off and keep your speed at a tame 7-8mph
- You reach a small downhill section of the trail, but now you resist the urge to pick up speed, you simply glide down the hill and enjoy the scenery. Yes, this is fun!
- Before you know it you are at the 2 mile mark and it’s time to turn around, you may be tempted to go further but I caution you against doing so. (Start out slow and build up gradually. I suggest adding no more than 1 mile per ride or 5 miles to a ride in any given week, trust your instinct on this and you should be Ok.)
- At the half way point you get off the bike and stretch just a bit, again admiring your surroundings.
- You gingerly ride back to the trail head at an easy 7-8 miles per hour, you really want to go faster and maybe even farther but you know better!
- Your ride is over and guess what? Your legs don’t hurt, your bottom doesn’t hurt and you’re feeling pretty good about this cycling stuff.
What happened during this ride is that we understood the science behind using muscles in a way that they are not accustomed to being used. We held back and gently let our muscles, hands and bottom get used to the motion and exertions of cycling.
Time for a true story
I really wanted to get my then 66 year old father interested in cycling but he hadn’t been on a bike for more than 5 minutes since he was 16 years old. So using the principles from above I took dad on a ride, letting him know before hand that he would instinctively try to ride to fast but I would guide him during the ride to ensure that the pace wasn’t overly fast.
When we first got on the bike I let dad go at his own pace, he immediately sped up to around 12 mph and I asked “how does it feel?” he said “It feels great! This is easy!” but after just a few seconds he started to breathe harder, that is when I said “Ok Pop, time to slow it down a bit.” We reduced our speed to 8mph and through a lot of coaching on my part (Slow down, slow down slow down) I managed to keep the speed right around 8mph.
I let Dad decide how far we would go, at about 2 miles out I asked him how his hands, legs and bottom were feeling, everything was fine and he genuinely wanted to keep going… We continued on until we reached the four mile mark at which point I decided that, if we go anything further the sore bottom syndrome may kick in.
At the end of the ride Dad rode 8 miles without stopping (he simply didn’t feel like stopping) his legs, hands and bottom never got sore and he also enjoyed the ride. I checked with him the next day and still no soreness.
I repeated the same process as above and within 2 months Dad worked up to riding 20 miles without soreness or pain. A few months later Dad joined my son and I on a Bicycle vacation to the Mickelson Trail in the Black Hills, he didn’t ride everyday of our vacation but he had no problem with riding 20 or more miles on the crushed limestone trail.
Lastly, you may not want to tackle 8 miles your first time out, in fact I suggest that you keep it to only 1 or 2 miles unless you have an experienced riding (that understands the human instinct to go fast) partner who has the ability to slow the ride down as you re-adjust to cycling. (It is even harder for an experienced rider to go slow, so choose someone with a LOT of patience!)
The morale of the story is; cycling is enjoyable but like any other physical exercise you have to work you way into it, you have to start slowly and build up stamina and muscle memory. If you follow my advise you will be riding more frequently and farther sooner than you ever thought possible.
So get out and ride!
Gary
www.rollingroads.com
