Okey in the graph we have the distance in km. altitude in meters (green) and my heart rate (red).
As you can see I only rode a short bit. Less than 4km. Started with a 30 to 40 meter climb. I almost wanted to get off my bike before I reached that because I was breathing so hard. It took a bit for my heart rate to catch up with my breathing and then it peaked at a 192 bpm.
Half-way I took a 4ish minute break to let my heart rate sink a bit before cycling home. (OG plan was to cycle a bit further but I couldn't)
When I got home I was struggling so much, with being out of breath, with the high heart rate. It almost took me 30 minutes to feel normal again.
I knew my condition was shit and I knew that picking up cycling in a hilly area would be rough. But I didn't expect it to be this bad.
Will it get easier?
any tips?
I'm already riding in my lowest gear most of the time.
Would cycling in the gym on a stationary bike be helpful?
or should I just ride this as often as possible and try to extend the ride a little bit every week?
by Responsible_Vast8668
5 Comments
Just ride your bike regularly, and you will become fitter.
Also, I personally think that most Road and Gravelbikes don’t have low enough gearings for beginners in mountainous terrain. I would suggest, depending on your groupset, to get a bigger casette or smaller chainring, to be more comfortable on the mountains
A standard Gravelgroupset (2×11) would have 30-46 chainrings and 11-34 casette.
I build my setup with a 11-40 casette, and I can easily grind up >10% inclines. you can potentially go even lower: e.g. 28-44 chainrings with 11-42 casette
Will it get easier? Yes.
But it takes time. I’ve worked with Cardiologists, who told me that riding your bike hard and having a high heart rate won’t cause damage (to a point), so as long as your heart is healthy, you need to give yourself time – and flat roads.
If you’re not sure about the health of your heart, then stop and get it checked out immediately.
My first ride on the road was only about 12kms and that included a mid ride break.
Riding consistently will be the key, not the distances.
There is also that famous quote from Greg Lemond 😉
One suggestion is to try going slower. It’s really easy to mess up pace as a beginner. Sometimes you just need to go really slow and pace yourself. Eventually as you ride more you can go faster, but biking is typically more endurance than sprint.
A stationary bike might help to give you a recovery ride every other day or so. Or to spin down after a hard ride so your muscles can flush some lactic acid. If you can’t get anything but hill climb challenges from home your stationary bike might be your “easy day” option. Or you could buy a bike rack and drive to a flat area. It would also keep your legs moving in Winter or on rainy days.
Are you overweight? If so, you should get a lower gearing.