Hi all. I recently purchased a vintage cannondale st600 road bike to commute to and from school (~1.5 miles). The commute is completelyyy flat, yet I find myself wanting to stop for water and free wheeling to catch my breath.
I am a pretty athletic. I rock climb frequently and just recently gave up lap swimming, so I’d hope it’s not a sudden cardio issue.
Could it be that because my bike is too tall for me, making it harder to peddle? Could it be another issue with the bike?
by nicotinemanwhore
27 Comments
Likely it’s just a matter of getting used to the ride. You’re exercising different muscles.
A few things to consider:
– ride in a lower gear and go slower until you are more comfortable (don’t use the big front ring for now)
– make sure there the brakes are not rubbing the wheel. Sometimes the old bikes have brake alignment issues which would slow you down and make it hard.
– fresh lube on the chain and higher tire pressure can have marginal efficiency gains that would make it easier.
It looks like a great bike (size shouldn’t be a huge issue as long as you can reach the peddles and bars comfortably). So I think it’s just a matter of continuing to ride it until you feel more speedy.
Hard to say without seeing an image of you on the bike.
It should not be more difficult to bike a perfectly flat road at a reasonable pace than walking. That being said there are ways to make it harder if you want. I can cycle to work and take it easy or I can cycle to work like I’m trying to win a race.
Whats your Heart Rate when cycling?
Do wheels and pedals spin freely if you pick the bike up and try to spin them? Could be a stuck brakes or something.
Is your saddle at the correct hight? Pedaling with saddle way too low (or high) sucks.
Lastly, are you maybe just trying to go too fast?
Do you know how to work the gears? Pedaling should be low-effort and quick. If you find yourself having to exert a lot of force in a single stroke, shift down. The ideal cadence is somewhere around 75-80 rpm in my experience.
go to a bike shop and have them look it over. they can test things that randos on the internet can’t, and they can help fit the bike to you
Looks like either you have the saddle too low or the bike is too big for you.
A rough guide is that with your heel on the pedal at the bottom of the stroke your leg should be straight.
You should not be able to get both feet on the ground whilst in the saddle, if you can the bike is set up for standing still not pedalling. This makes pedalling far harder work than it should be.
Has the drivetrain been serviced? Are the wheel hubs in good condition? Are you using the correct gearing?
Could be your fit is wrong but we wouldn’t be able to tell without seeing you on it. Another thought; You’re using different muscles. Anytime you start to use different muscles you’re going to fatigue quickly until you’ve conditioned them. The other thing is that you may be making some noob mistakes: remember to breathe, try not to be in the hardest gear all of the time. I have the same bike and it’s a great commuter.
Cycling should be less effort check that your drive train is clean and lubed. That the tire pressure is right and that the saddle height is good for you.
Riding that bike on on a short, flat commute should be a breeze. Something’s not right.
Is it harder than walking *at walking speed*? Or are you trying to go as fast as possible? If the former probably something is rubbing or there is some other mechanical problem (a brake rubbing is probably the most likely culprit in general). If the latter you might just need to slow down and get used to it.
Are your tires flat or low on air? If you squeeze them with your hands they should feel pretty firm, especially skinny tires like those
Slow down your roll. Give your muscles time to adapt.
I am sure if you post a photo people here can help tweak fit.
I loaned my bike to a friend who wanted to ride the Seattle to Portland two day ride. He was a 9-10 mile a day runner.
He beat the one day riders to the halfway point.
I still get a cackle out of that one.
I never did STP, but my bike did. LOL.
Measure the frame. How tall are you? Are you using the gears right?
Something is wrong. If you’re at all fit, you’re doing 12 MPH on flat ground at low effort. That’s seven and a half minutes to go 1.5 miles.
There is no front derailleur and the chain is on the largest chainring. OP can’t change gears in the front, and it is in the “hardest” gear.
> Could it be that because my bike is too tall for me
I see that your saddle is all the way down. The saddle is at the correct height when the ball of your foot is on the pedal when the pedal is all the way down, and there is a *slight* bend in your knee. If your hips rock when you pedal (and your leg is straight and your toe is pointed to reach the pedal on the down stroke), then the seat is too high.
Also, it looks like the nose of your saddle is pointed upwards. Generally, it is most comfortable to have the saddle flat or pointing slightly down in front (like 1 or 2 degrees).
Another problem you might have with a frame that is too large is the reach to the handlebars might be too far. If that is the case, you could move your seat forwards and/or you could get a stem that raises the handles and moves them back.
Finally, as others have pointed out, bicycling requires different muscles, so it gets easier with practice.
There’s nothing like cycling to help you find out all the places you thought were flat are actually reasonable slopes!
Apart from bike fit issues, or gearing, sometimes wind can be a big factor, even on flat surfaces. For example, where I live the wind direction changes depending on whether it’s morning or afternoon, so depending on which direction you are commuting you may be facing a headwind. Headwinds can make biking on flats significantly harder. But I would say first take the bike to a bike shop to get a proper fit.
Other comments have highlighted the most likely things. But throwing something new, if it’s a new to you bike or hasn’t been maintained much lately, friction showing up in certain places will sap the energy that you put into motion. Brakes can be too close and rub, wheels can be off-center and rub or wobble, the chain can be dirty or stiff, things like that. Whether that’s likely or not, may not be a bad idea to take the bike to a shop and say “this is a new used bike” and they’ll have a checklist of things to look for in a general sense of the whole bike, they do that a lot. Or if you’re handy, a checklist like that can be found online and do it yourself.
If you have the seat post that low down in order to ride it, than it is way too big for you.
And the guy before you took off the front derailleur so you’re losing a wide range of gears. You bought a bike on looks first and everything else second
I used to push hard in a high gear and then coast to recover my legs. My endurance improved greatly when I started focusing on pedalling smoothly in a lower gear. Now I bike at basically the same gear as before, but because my technique improved due to focusing on being smooth instead of powerful, it takes a lot less effort to get the same result.
Practice shifting gears. Make sure the brakes aren’t rubbing on the rims.
from this viewpoint … those tires look woefully under inflated
Is your seat tilted backwards? It should be pretty horizontal.
You swim and rock climb, but a 1.5mi flat ride requires you to stop for water and catch your breath?
That isnt because a bike is too big or too small. A 1.5mi flat ride should take like 6min or maybe 7min, without even pushing hard.
There is obviously something mechanically wrong with your bike that is making it difficult to ride.