Confidence destroyed, humiliated for starting a thread in Red-dit cycling
 

I don't know where to start but I recently made a post on a ****** (starts R ends with a T, censored for some reason, pronounced "read it") forum cycling about me having difficulty getting muscle soreness and thought that muscle soreness was an indicator of a good workout. I gave some background information of how I started cycling and what kind of riding I do. I mentioned that I did a 20 mile ride a few days ago, that I was going full gas all the way but that even when I was hurting all the way, that I experienced little to no soreness. I just asked for any advice that would help me.

After I made the post, people started commenting things such as "how autistic are you?" "we aren't here to stroke your ego". One person even asked in what time I did 20 miles and I said in 1:20 hr and I get so many negative downvotes for that and he says that it is pedestrian speed. Someone even shared my post to another forum and they are all putting me down saying how embarrassingly slow I am and that their grandma rides faster than me. I've become a laughingstock now all over ******. Honestly I feel unmotivated to even go out on the bike anymore. I just cared about breaking my own personal records and improving my fitness, I could care less if I'm slower than 90% of cyclists. I feel pretty down and unmotivated to cycle.

Not to sound like a jerk...but if you really just cared about breaking your own personal records and improving your fitness, you wouldn't care what people on the internet say. Forums and sites like R are literally the worst if you're trying to stay sane. Just go out and ride. I quite like the "extra" spice these types of places give...since I grew up buried in internet forums...so that's why I'm here. To add a couple of things:

1.) If you don't want people to jump all over you on R...don't lead with "I did a 20 mile ride a few days ago" and "I was going full gas all the way" and "I experienced little to no soreness". If you're basically going to make a post saying all those things, it comes across as you are not sure why everyone is "whining" about being sore when you can ride for 20 miles super fast and not even feel anything. If you don't want it to come across like that (and subsequently bring the wrath of the R'tors down on your head), then you have to provide a lot more context about your training goals, where you started, and what you've done so far to get there. Without that, it just seems like you're bragging/simultaneously putting others down that can't do what you did.

2.) Bottom line though, most people will still jump on you for a post like that because they are going to say...it's simple. If you aren't sore, train harder. Go further, faster. Climb more hills, pound yourself into the ground...until you ARE sore. Then you know your limit. :)

But alas...if you're wanting a simple answer to your question...I don't have one. There is no real "advice" to help you. Only you know why you weren't sore. Either you weren't going at your limit the whole time, or you didn't ride far enough, or the route you rode wasn't hard enough. Those are really the only options. Cheers and happy cycling to you!

1) I haven't read your original post. I can't say if there is anything in it that - however unintentionally - might have set something like that off.
2) Different sites have different "atmospheres", or customs. Head over to the cycling section of Yahoo Answers if you feel short of your daily dose of arrogance and marginal helpfulness. This site is generally very friendly.
3) There are haters everywhere. Ride more, fret less.
4) Muscle soreness vs quality of workout - I don't know about that. First, it depends on if your're trying to build stamina or strength. If I do an endurance session in a discipline I'm used to, I don't get noticeably sore either. I've done 60 mile XC MTB races and been quite ready for some yard work the next day. However, a far shorter climbing session, sprints or technique training, I'll feel those the next day. I'fe done 200-mile road rides where getting a bit saddle sore, and some twinges in the neck/shoulders is all that remained the next day. The sleep deprivation due the early start has probably been the most influence.
5) "full gas" and "hurting all the way" are not calibrated values. It's like over in the mechanics section when someone says they got the mechanical fastener of your choice "pretty tight" and ask about why it came off. I have no way of telling if you should have been trying harder, or HTFU during your session or if you're simply gifted with Wolverine or Deadpool-like powers of recovery.
6) There Is Always Someone Faster. Unless you're training for a specific goal, don't worry about it. There's just about only one situation where I feel the right to have an opinion, and that is people joining group rides based on what they can do on stationary bikes. My club has a no-drop-policy on group rides, and it can get a bit slow and boring when we're joined by someone who's judging their ability for average speed based on a trainer/stationary bike.

So go ride!

My 2¢, as long as you are moving forward, you're doing OK. Also there's always someone faster than you.

If you want to be stronger and ride faster... ride more.

Now if you really need anonymous people on the interwebs to make you feel good, then you have bigger problems.

BTW, 20 miles in 1:20 is 15mph. That's a "B" rider and faster than many people I know.

Let go of the idiot trolls you encountered. I'm of the opinion that that hostility comes mostly from people who have no real accomplishments or skills, or are trying to sell their own nonsense.

No pain, no gain is a myth. If you're getting faster and riding longer without soreness, consider yourself lucky. Pain is a side-effect of hard work, not something to be pursued. It used to be believed that damaging muscles was necessary for muscles to grow. That's been disproved. I've gotten to the point where I can ride more than 100 miles at a pretty good clip without experiencing any significant muscle pain. I'm going to laugh at anyone who wants to tell me that isn't a good workout.

Enjoy the efforts you're making, keep pushing yourself for the sake of personal accomplishment, and feel free to ask basic questions here. There's a couple of posters here who might attack you that way, but the moderators here are very good at banning such people. We'll do our best to answer your question, then savagely attack each other when we disagree.

I can ride 20 miles at 22-23 mph and still end up taking well over an hour depending on the route. There's these things called traffic lights and stop signs. Also, speed isn't always a good indicator of effort. Some of my toughest workouts have been rides into a headwind, and times on those are awful. With a tailwind, I can lollygag, and still look like I was really pushing it. And, of course, there's hills.

I see people post speeds like yours, making it obvious that is maximum effort for their level of fitness, and 99% of the responses will be polite and try to be helpful. I disagree with the above poster, there's no problem with describing what you're doing as "full gas.". That gives us some perspective of where you are in your development, which is pretty important in tailoring advice.

Eff red it. Who cares what they think?

Just an FYI, 50 years ago yesterday the first transmission on what we know now as the internet occurred between UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and it broke after only two characters had been sent...it sucked.

Take it with a grain of salt.

Ignore the mean people and ride on! Consider that many of the comments were fired from smelly lounge chairs by folks who change their keyboards bc of the cookie crumbs and donut flakes that cause the keys to stick. Also remember 20 miles is a ride too far for a majority of the population...you are doing terrific.

Shake it off like water off a duck’s back. This is the Internet, home to a few nice folk and some who will condemn every statement which comes from your mouth. You could go 30 miles in an hour and there will be someone to criticise you. Go ride and enjoy yourself.

Get thicker skin

forums are tough

Sounds like an internet forum is not the place for you.

Duh, it wasn't BF that hurt his feelings....

I haven't seen the post on whatever site you're referring to. If R******T is "recumbent," I don't know why that would be blocked because there's a recumbent forum on this site. And, it seems to me that it'd be the first choice for you to post to, since you're already a member here. Most bent riders, like most riders in general, are in the <15 mph category.

It's not "recumbent." It's a site, the name of which gets censored on BF. Once read the explanation as to why, but I cannot remember what it is.

dude

go buy a Trek so you can fit in better :)

It is "read it", not how you spell it but how it sounds when pronouncing it.

Not too long ago I read a book entitled "The Sociopath Next Door" by Martha Stout, a psychologist formerly teaching a Harvard but now a clinical psychologist. The point of the book is that sociopathy is a condition of about 3-4 % of the population. There are seven identified behaviors of such people three of which are lack of compassion, manipulating, and bulling others. Occasionally driving the more sensitive to suicide. Since such people don't care about you, you should not care what they may say about you or anyone else. The opinions you should care about are from people who have earned your respect.

There are plenty of You Tube videos on he subject of sociopaths and psychopaths and the destruction they leave in their wake.

I know what it is. Buck up, buttercup. If you really are as bent out of shape as you claim (I smell something fishy.), you should definitely avoid Internet forums.

I recently built a steel gravel bike last month, I don't really care too much about speed, it even has wide semi knobby tires and weighs almost 30 lbs loaded with gear. I noticed that my speed has increased after starting to ride this bike. I think mainly due to how I enjoy the ride and that I have more motivation on it after having my specialized allez stolen in 2018 and using a beat up fuji ever since. Just going from being able to ride from 12 mph avg on the old bike to 16 mph avg on the new bike got me feeling like I just started cycling. I felt great breaking my own PRs that I hadn't touched since 2016.

Just ignore what people say on the site that starts with R... it's occasionally helpful, but it also seems to be overpopulated by young bros. It's like shouting into a room full of college-aged boys.

BF tends to skew a bit older, and there are a ton of folks on here with actual, verifiable experience. Sure, not everybody is nice all the time, but we try.

Thank you everyone on this thread, I appreciate it all, you guys made my day.

Great Point! Just find something you Enjoy :thumb:

There are giant ****** bags in the world.

They hide in daylight. They come out online.

If you can't deal with that, the internet is the wrong place for you. But you'll rarely see them on the bike path. So get out and ride and don't let the internet bother you.

Well...actually...you will still see them. They just won't say anything because odds are the guys online who talk like they can beat Lance Armstrong while riding a unicycle are probably incapable of riding more than 20 feet without needing to stop and rest. In my whole life I've rarely met anyone who is as capable as they claim to be when putting someone else down. The reason they put someone else down is because thy are ashamed of their own inability to perform. They can't make fun of themselves so they make fun of others. In reality they can't ride worth a crap.

You did 20 miles averaging 15 mph.

That ain't bad for a common non professional rider. If you were in the Tour de France that's a little slow. On a Specialized Allenz doing a weekend ride....I'm pretty confident in saying that 99% of America couldn't keep up with you, even if many regular active cyclists could.

Buck Up Buttercup

I like that one. I will use that with my kids :thumb:

And even then I'm sure it was filled with trolls, spam, Nigerian scammers, and pr0n.