Pacing troubles

[Pyjamas89]

Hi wondering if anyone can help. I've been cycling a lot but I seem to have a problem pacing myself. I'm only doing 5 miles at the moment and finding myself stopping for regular water breaks, I'm using Endomondo to monitor everything as well. The first mile tends to be done under 10 mins and then things get slower from there. I'm trying to find someone to cycle with to help with pacing but having no luck so was wondering if anyone else had any tips? Thanks in advance and hope that all makes sense.

[JohnRi]

What kind of bike to do you have?  Road, Hybrid, Dirt Bike?  What kind of terrain are you riding on?  Roads, paved bike paths, dirt paths, dirt trails? How many gears do you have?  What crank gear do you have it in?  (small, medium or large).  What rear gear do you typically have it in?  Small to large?  How hard is it to push the pedels?

What is your fitness level now?  Can you walk 3 miles, how about 6?  You're riding 6 miles an hour at the start.  How long does it take you to do all 5 miles? 

[FitBeforeFifty]

To build endurance, you want to pick a duration or distance first and then find a pace that allows you to finish the workout without stopping. If you have to stop, that's a signal that you should slow down. 

Having said that, you are already going pretty slow. That's not intending to be critical, we all have to start somewhere. That's why John is asking so many questions about type of bike, gears etc... So, you might not be able to slow down too much more and continue without stopping. If so, that's OK, if you continue it will get progressively easier.

If you can't really slow down much more, then stopping is ok. As you continue you'll be able to go longer without stopping and eventually not stop at all. At that point, you'll want to gradually increase the pace as you become more fit and/or increase the distance.

Building endurance and increasing fitness can be a slow process but it will happen if you continue. 

[JohnRi]

Five miles an hour on a dirt path isn't bad, and if climbing dirt hills, etc.  But 5 mph on roads or a pave bike path.  That's pretty slow.  I just started cycling again after 35 years about a month ago.  I'm riding around 10 mph, and my last ride was 15 miles.  First time I rode I had to stop after 20 minutes and catch my breath and drink water.  Last ride I think I rode for 2 hours, and stopped twice for water. 

But my fitness level was pretty high.  I was walking daily 3 to 6 miles.  So my progression on the bike will be different.  I was doing great until 3 miles into a 4 mile walk my right knee started acting up, and then I strained my right calf muscle walking funny that last mile back to the car...  So at the moment, I'm stuck on the couch...  It will be a few weeks before this heals, and I'll almost have to start over...  Which brings up the subject of injuries, progressing too fast will lead to injuries.  On average you should not increase your distance more than 10% a week on a bike.  I don't think riding cause my injuries, but they may have, I did have my longest ride the day before.  An increase of about 1.5 miles over my last longer ride the week before...

So I'm curious what type of bike, a mountain bike is hard to ride on streets and paved bike paths.  Road bikes are hard to impossible on dirt.  Hybrids are ok for both, but a heavier frame makes it harder to ride long distances. 

Wrong use of gears is also huge.  They could have it in a very hard gear and pushing very hard and not really going anywhere... 

So hopefully she they answer and I can give them advice...

[Pyjamas89]

I'm using a moutain bike and tend to go to the country parks for the rougher terrain (tried and failed on roads/pavements).I'll be honest I don't completely understand the gears, I have five gears on the right hamdlebar and three on the left. I tend to hand the left hand gear on 2 and don't change to change it and instead just change the right hand side depending on how easy/hard the terrain is.

Just got back from my ride and tried to only stop after each mile (missed the 3 mile mark so ended up doing 2 before stopping) and that seemed to work pretty well.

Did I miss any information?

[JohnRi]

The front gears on the crank are the chainring.  Generally speaking the smaller chainring is easier to pedel, the larger one is the hardest.  Generally you want to use the small or medium on flat, or uphill climbs, and the larger one on downhill.  These are on your left shifter controls.

The rear gears are at the cassette.  You use these to adjust the difficult of how you are peddleing. These are on the right shifter controls.

For: Uphills and headwinds
Use: Small or middle front chainring + bigger rear gears

For: Downhills
Use: Large front chainring + a range of rear gears

For: Flat terrain
Use: Small or middle front chainring + ­smaller rear gears

Idealing you want to peddle in a gear that is comfortable, but not so easy that you spin the peddles.  I won't lie, I'm still learning gears myself.  I spend most of my time on the small gear on my chainring (My road bike only has a small and a large) and somewhere in the middle of my rear cassette most of the time.  I ride my road bike on mostly flat paved bike path, that does have some ups and downs.  Make sure you keep peddling, but you let up on the force you are pushing when you change gears.  Again something I'm still learning to do.

Avoid cross chaining.  This is where you have the smallest chainring, and the smallest gear on the cassette, and vice versa.  The largest gear on the chainring, and the largest on the cassette.  This puts the most tension on the chain, and can break or damage the chain.  Usually if you do this, your bike will make a lot of noise.

I haven't ridden a mountain bike since I was a kid.  But your right, it's harder to ride on the road or pavement with a mountain bike. The tires on a mountain bike are designed for dirt terrains.  On the road, you lose speed because of the tires.

Try to drink every 20 minutes and stop then.  Eventually you should be able to stop and drink with longer times.   

Make sure your seat is the right height for your body.  That might be why your are slow. 

Any Mountain bike riders have any suggestions?

Other than that keep at it.  You pace should go up as you get stronger.  And have fun! 

[Corney]

Generally speaking, when cycling you should feel very little pressure on your pedal, choose a gear that you can pedal between 70 and 90 RPM's, as soon as you feel increased pressure on your pedal choose a lower gear, when you feel almost no pressure on your pedal choose a higher gear, but try to maintain between 70 and 90 RPM's for the greatest efficiency and endurance.

[Pyjamas89]

So just to fill everyone in on progress. The last ride I went on I did 5.2 miles in just slightly over 50 mins. This time I managed just over 8 miles in just under 1hr 5 mins which I'm pretty happy with. I tried to only stop every 2 miles and only to stand out of the saddle and take a few swigs of water. I also figured out how to keep moving and drink at the same time so didnt feel too pushed. Thanks all for all the advice still don't fully understand left hand gears but I manage well with only the right 😄