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Conditioning/Getting in shape



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 14th 03, 07:34 PM
Bent Pedals
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Default Conditioning/Getting in shape


Couple of quick questions for those more wise than myself . .

52 yrs old, retired, several tonnes overweight, ex smoker,
with a generally sedentary lifestyle, ex avid df rider of close to 14
years, 15 years ago.

Switched to a EZ-Sport Ltd a month ago after realizing the new
df I bought this spring induced enough aches and pains to forgo the
retirement plan of getting back into cycling . . .

Love the "bent" and hardly a day goes by without a ride.
Distances vary daily, ranging from 15-35 kilometers with avg speeds
slowly starting to rise but still around 21 k/h. The speed isn;t as
much a priority as distance. Would love to be able to crank out 75-100
k rides like in the old days.

As I work these bones back into some sort of shape, is there
any sort of routine I should follow to get maximum return on the
effort? Should I be going for distance one day, alternating with a
short speed run the next. Should I ride every day or should I allow
recuperation time after rides, once the legs start feeling the effort?
I know years ago there used to be df routines to no end, with mixes of
hard and easy rides and days off. Or, would I be as well served by
just getting out and riding as the mood hits, enjoying the ride, and
let the fitness comeback slowly?


And . . .

On the df, I'd always been led to believe that proper form
included keeping the legs relatively parallel to the top tube. This
wasn't really an issue with me as it seemed and felt natural. On the
"bent", I find my legs, particularily on the tired side of the ride,
seem to get sloppy and start "toeing out". Is this proper or is it
just simply sloppiness on my part? Is it a sign of improper seat
placement or seat back angle? Once I realize what I'm doing I correct
the condition so no great problem . . . grin, mybe the legs are just
tire from having the my overhanging gut resting on them.

Thanks . . .

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  #2  
Old October 14th 03, 08:18 PM
iLiad
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Default Conditioning/Getting in shape

My personal view on this is to simply ride like you are riding for the first
six months or so.
Once your body is in better shape, then start worrying about the regiment
schedule. The better shape you are in, the more difficult it is to improve,
and that is where the benefit of alternating etc. will really come in. Right
now your body is benefiting so much from simply being out and excercising.
As far as training every day, you need at least one to two days to recup.
Muscles tear down when riding (or excercising in general). You are literally
breaking them down and the only way for them to recoup is time. I take off
one to two per week, depending on how hard I have ridden for the week.
Just one mention, when you say crank out, I get visions of you pushing hard
on the bike. Probably not your intent, but just what comes to mind. You need
to make sure you aren't pushing big gears. Your knees will pay for it in no
time if you are. General cadence should be somewhere at upper 70's to 90's
depending on your condition, etc. If the cadence is much lower, you are
likely pushing to hard. I learned from experience, and asking same questions
in these groups.



"Bent Pedals" wrote in message
...

Couple of quick questions for those more wise than myself . .

52 yrs old, retired, several tonnes overweight, ex smoker,
with a generally sedentary lifestyle, ex avid df rider of close to 14
years, 15 years ago.

Switched to a EZ-Sport Ltd a month ago after realizing the new
df I bought this spring induced enough aches and pains to forgo the
retirement plan of getting back into cycling . . .

Love the "bent" and hardly a day goes by without a ride.
Distances vary daily, ranging from 15-35 kilometers with avg speeds
slowly starting to rise but still around 21 k/h. The speed isn;t as
much a priority as distance. Would love to be able to crank out 75-100
k rides like in the old days.

As I work these bones back into some sort of shape, is there
any sort of routine I should follow to get maximum return on the
effort? Should I be going for distance one day, alternating with a
short speed run the next. Should I ride every day or should I allow
recuperation time after rides, once the legs start feeling the effort?
I know years ago there used to be df routines to no end, with mixes of
hard and easy rides and days off. Or, would I be as well served by
just getting out and riding as the mood hits, enjoying the ride, and
let the fitness comeback slowly?


And . . .

On the df, I'd always been led to believe that proper form
included keeping the legs relatively parallel to the top tube. This
wasn't really an issue with me as it seemed and felt natural. On the
"bent", I find my legs, particularily on the tired side of the ride,
seem to get sloppy and start "toeing out". Is this proper or is it
just simply sloppiness on my part? Is it a sign of improper seat
placement or seat back angle? Once I realize what I'm doing I correct
the condition so no great problem . . . grin, mybe the legs are just
tire from having the my overhanging gut resting on them.

Thanks . . .



  #4  
Old October 14th 03, 10:26 PM
derek
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Default Conditioning/Getting in shape

Hmmm.

Probably the best way to increase your conditioning is to hook up with a
group of club riders and occasionally ride with them. Pick the snottyist
and most elitist group you can find. If you live in Washington, I hear that
the Outdoor Magazine "Gear Guy" belongs to such a group, and that they
accept bents in the group for ridicule purposes only.

Since you are totally overweight and out of shape, and riding a relatively
heavy "comfort" bent, you will confirm all of thier preconceived notions
about bents, and they will revel in an opportunity to ridicule and humiliate
you on every hill of the ride. You will be dropped by this group mercilessly
at first. Even though you are well past your "testosterone poisoning"
younger days, the injustice and cruelty of that whole experience will stick
with you and you will find yourself taking the long way back on your regular
solo rides, and even doing that steep little "out and back" detour to get
some hill conditioning in.

You will find that the regular riding helps you to drop weight and add
muscle to your aged, walrus-like, blubber-marblized midsection, and your
average speed will kick up several notches. When you hook up with the group
for clubs rides now, you will find that there will begin to be some silent
sympathizers who secretly admire the fact that you have turned the corner
and whipped yourself into moderately decent shape, even if you ride a bent.
Maybe its the guy you loaned your cell phone to for a call to his wife
during a ride, or the tandem couple who appreciated that you stayed to help
them take care of that flat while the rest of the group dropped them and
rode off like self-centered, anti-social buffoons.

Your silent supporters will back you up in small little ways, like changing
the subject when the most vocal and bombastic anti-bent group members try to
spew provacations about bents during coffee stops. If you are not now one,
you will have a small insight as to what it feels like to be an isoloated
racial minority in a group setting. Next, you will find yourself dreaming
of that exotic, high $$$ performance bent that only weighs 21 lbs. Since
you have dropped 25 lbs due to regular riding , you are fairly certain that
if you had that magic new bent, you could settle accounts with the blowhard
members of your cyling group for once and for all. And you do.

By now bent riding has become an addiction, and you find yourself checking
internet bent NG's and chat groups and gleaning arcane tidbits of knowlege
about bike parts and bent technology. You even know what a "splitter plate"
is. You are now logging about 200-300 miles per week on your bent, and
things are a little strained with your non-riding friends and family because
you don't seem to have time for them anymore. The first group you were
riding with turns out in retrospect to have been a bunch of overweight old
duffers that can no longer keep up with you at all, so you graduate to a
newer and younger group that includes a goodly number of Cat 3-4 riders.
Nobody gives you trouble about your bike anymore; they ride enough to know
that your physical condition is the main thing when it comes to serious
riding.

Finally, you will start having some repetitive stress and overuse injuries
and have to do some riding layoffs. You need to spend more time at work too,
so the riding suffers. You will have some bad days on your bent, and no
longer will you feel the exuberant thrill of recumbent triumpalism that
comes from blowing by a paceline of lycra clad roadies at well over 30 mph.
Who cares anyway? You will finally patch things up by spending more time
with your wife, friends and family because they are really the most
important thing in your life, and that high performance bent will get sold
over the internet on www.recumbents.com to some lady named Marci who is
looking for that perfect ride for her husband of some friend.

Weeks later, after having to buy some new trousers at Mervin's to accomodate
your expanding waistline, you will aimlessly wander out into the garage and
spot your old Sun EZRacers comfort bent that has been sitting abandoned and
collecting dust in the corner for some time. Funny that you never sold it,
huh?. After assuring your wife that you were only going for a "very short"
ride on the bikepath, and that everything is OK, you will find yourself
gliding down the path on your old magic carpet bent with this silly stupid
grin on your face. Heck, you didn't even bother to put on any cycling
clothes, so you like like any other middle-age guy on a bent with your gray
hair, shorts, white socks, beard, and aero-belly. . . . .


  #5  
Old October 14th 03, 10:37 PM
Tom Blum
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Default Conditioning/Getting in shape

Derek,

You are the man!!! Great tale of the round trip to physical
conditioning perfection on an individual basis.

Moderation is the key to happiness!!


--
Miles of Smiles,

Tom Blum
Winter Haven, Florida
Homebuilts: SWB
Tour Easy Clone
Speed Machine Clone
High Racer Clone
www.gate.net/~teblum


  #6  
Old October 15th 03, 12:07 AM
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Default Conditioning/Getting in shape

Bent Pedals wrote:

: 52 yrs old, retired, several tonnes overweight, ex smoker,
: with a generally sedentary lifestyle, ex avid df rider of close to 14
: years, 15 years ago.

Maybe you could talk with a doctor whether an exercise program
introduces any issues. At least you won't need to do anaerobic
training yet. But you could get tested to determine your heart
rate zones.

: Love the "bent" and hardly a day goes by without a ride.
: Distances vary daily, ranging from 15-35 kilometers with avg speeds
: slowly starting to rise but still around 21 k/h. The speed isn;t as
: much a priority as distance. Would love to be able to crank out 75-100
: k rides like in the old days.

I think you need to do longer rides at a carefully regulated pace
(slower than usual). Maybe introduce a weekly ride of 50 km, and
get rest the rest of the week. This doesn't necessarily mean days
off, it could mean just 2 km to 30 km on the other days, but
mostly the same slow pace. But you need to be careful that you
don't push yourself on the rest days, so ride at a pace that
certainly doesn't feel like exercising.

You can read books for general principles but it's important to
get the feeling and some experience on how they apply to your
training. A heart rate monitor can be a good tool. You will need
one that displays your current pulse (AFAIK all do that), most of
the other features are not very useful. Maybe you can consider a
model that gives a beep when you are out of the HR zone you defined.

: effort? Should I be going for distance one day, alternating with a
: short speed run the next. Should I ride every day or should I allow
: recuperation time after rides, once the legs start feeling the effort?

I think 3 "hard" days a week makes a good training programme. If
you can ride easily, you could ride the remaining 4 days as well,
but it's probably too difficult for a beginner. Don't ride too
hard on the easy days and don't ride too hard on the hard days. If
you can keep your programme for a month you can consider adding
slightly more challenge the next.

If you develop aches or seem to accumulate tiredness over a couple
of days or a longer period, back off.

: hard and easy rides and days off. Or, would I be as well served by
: just getting out and riding as the mood hits, enjoying the ride, and
: let the fitness comeback slowly?

If you like that more than putting effort on planning and
measurement for maximized training efficiency, go ahead. I'd
recommend experimenting with both approaches :-)

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi
  #7  
Old October 15th 03, 12:36 AM
GeoB
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Default Conditioning/Getting in shape

52 yrs old, retired, several tonnes overweight, ex smoker,
with a generally sedentary lifestyle, ex avid df rider of close to 14
years, 15 years ago.


My story closely parallels your own. I am 53.

Switched to a EZ-Sport Ltd a month ago


I bought a Vision R40.

As I work these bones back into some sort of shape, is there
any sort of routine I should follow to get maximum return on the
effort?


I am not qualified to answer this question, therefore here I go...!
I have heard that not only must you get muscles in shape, but your
heart and lungs and circulatory system et al. And that various
connective tissues (whatever that means) takes a lot longer than
muscles to respond to stress and toughen. Bones will get thicker in
the middle where you won't notice it, with repeated stress. Saw some
research on that. Takes a lil while too. My challenge is to get
stronger without further damaging my tinker-toy knees which have been
a bother ever since that car crash in 1964. It has really limited
what I can do. I am hoping to continue conditioning and do some
touring this next year with a couple of buds, but the ole knees
haven't let me do any long distance stuff yet. Oh, I did 50 miles w/o
pain, but some days 30 miles gives me fits.

For what it may be worth, my scheme was/is to not crank on with a
buncha torque until I have a couple years conditioning. I ride about
50-70 miles/week. I generally am always pushing to raise my average
speed on my commute. I always seem to do some sprints, racing various
pretenders on DFs, or racing the bus or lil gurls on trikes.

I have had my bicycle 1 1/2 years. My pulse has gone down about
14/sec to 62 (not resting), my tummy is smaller and really tight, my
endurance is way up. While hiking I can run up mtns that I huffed and
puffed up before. My leg muscles draw comments and admiring glances a
lot. And they are still growing. Gonna enter them babies in the fair.
  #8  
Old October 15th 03, 04:07 AM
Bent Pedals
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Default Conditioning/Getting in shape

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 19:18:57 GMT, "iLiad"
wrote:

My personal view on this is to simply ride like you are riding for the first
six months or so.


Makes sense . . . don't push too hard too soon.

Right now your body is benefiting so much from simply being out and excercising.
As far as training every day, you need at least one to two days to recup.


I've been finding that 2-3 days of riding then 1 day off fits
and feels right. So I guess I'm doing okay.

Just one mention, when you say crank out, I get visions of you pushing hard
on the bike. Probably not your intent, but just what comes to mind. You need
to make sure you aren't pushing big gears.


Sorry, should have said it differently. I'm allergic to the
big gears, try to keep the cadence between 80-90, grin, but not always
successfully. This danged bent needs gentle coaxing up the hills.

Thanks for the advice.


  #9  
Old October 15th 03, 04:22 AM
Bent Pedals
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Default Conditioning/Getting in shape

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 14:20:11 -0500, Cletus Lee
wrote:

I think you are on to it already. 'Hardly a day goes by without a ride'


Grin, it's kinda hard not too . . . it's one of the few
inexpensive activities that puts a silly grin on my face.

I would focus a little more on the 20-30 km range. When you feel comfortable after doing this
three days in a row, you should be ready for 100 km. in a day.


I do find the 20-30 range coming along more often. Went out on
a night ride the other night, a 12k ride through a few subdivisons.
Once I got home and realized I hadn't broken a sweat, I went out and
did the ride again . . . The previous day I'd done a personal best *on
the bent* of 35k, hence the reason behind the original question.

I can leave for a two week tour and manage more than 100 km per day for six or more days in a row and this is with loaded
panniers too.


Sounds like what I'm aiming for . . . Back in the df days, a
friend and I took a 5 day tour that still brings fond memories.

Thanks for the advice . . .
  #10  
Old October 15th 03, 04:42 AM
Bent Pedals
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Default Conditioning/Getting in shape

On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 21:26:39 GMT, "derek" wrote:

Probably the best way to increase your conditioning is to hook up with a
group of club riders and occasionally ride with them. Pick the snottyist
and most elitist group you can find.


Actually, you've come close to one of my goals . . . a long
term goal, but a noble goal non-the-less.

Last year the local cycling club put on thier annual century. A
friend of mine finished the ride in the lead group of jersied lycraid
egoists. Because he didn't belong to thier team, he'd recieved an
immense amount of grief for the last 40 miles. He figures they were
ticked off because his 30lb mtn bike with wide tires could keep up
with thier sub 20lb, 1 inch tyred speedsters. My goal . . . to give
this same crowd a run on a bent. Yeah, I know, it'll likely never
happen, but hell, a man's gotta have a dream!

Maybe its the guy you loaned your cell phone to for a call to his wife
during a ride, or the tandem couple who appreciated that you stayed to help
them take care of that flat while the rest of the group dropped them and
rode off like self-centered, anti-social buffoons.


Sounds like real life to me . . .

By now bent riding has become an addiction, and you find yourself checking
internet bent NG's and chat groups and gleaning arcane tidbits of knowlege
about bike parts and bent technology.


Grin, doing that already . . . will that get me in shape as
well? (smile).

You even know what a "splitter plate" is.


Uh oh . . . what is a splitter plate? I'll never get the
cadence above 90 without knowing. Please, enlighten me more!

things are a little strained with your non-riding friends and family because
you don't seem to have time for them anymore.


Have you been chatting with my wife?

After assuring your wife that you were only going for a "very short"
ride on the bikepath, and that everything is OK, you will find yourself
gliding down the path on your old magic carpet bent with this silly stupid
grin on your face. Heck, you didn't even bother to put on any cycling
clothes, so you like like any other middle-age guy on a bent with your gray
hair, shorts, white socks, beard, and aero-belly. . . . .


I take exception to the white socks . . . and you forgot the
white beard.

Thanks for the smile . . .

 




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