Originally Posted by
El Gigante
Welcome to the forums! If you are relatively new at riding, it may just be a matter of building up your endurance. By increasing the frequency and distance that you ride, you will build up your aerobic capacity and fatigue won't be as much of an issue. Also, make sure that you drink plenty of water when riding and have a snack before riding so that your body has fuel to burn.
I'm not an expert at bike fitting, but the bike should be comfortable for you to ride. The seat should be high enough for you to get almost full extension of your leg on the downstroke of each pedal revolution. Suggest going to a local bike shop (LBS in forum-speak), for them to look at you astride your Peugeot and fit it to your height and riding style.
Not sure of where you are located at, but December can be pretty darn cold in most parts of the country. Your body being cold and uncomfortable can greatly increase the amount of fatigue you experience while riding. I generally ride with a base layer of a long sleeve polypropylene shirt, covered with a short sleeve poly jersey and a fleece jacket. I stay relatively warm down to the low 40's (F), which is about as cold as it gets in my part of southern California. Silk long underwear, (tops and bottoms), are also lightweight, excellent insulators, and wick the sweat away from your body. Hope this helps and I'm sure you will get lots of other posts with great advice that you can use.
Good luck and Happy trails!
Paul
Thank you for welcoming me. Actually I have ridden bicycles all my life. But as a child I used to ride shorter distances and on level ground. It is only recently that I have been using my bike for commuting with any regularity.
"The seat should be high enough for you to get almost full extension of your leg on the downstroke of each pedal revolution"
I have some problems with the interpretation of this "almost full". I once tried to raise the seat a little, but it became rather uncomfortable to ride. And anyway, the distance to the pedal varies with the shoe one wears. Maybe we can operationalize this "almost full extension" by talking about the angle between the lower leg and upper leg that should be present with the almost full extension when the pedal is in the six o'clock position. Mine - just measured it - is about 160 degrees (full extension being 180 degrees). Would that be considered "almost full extension"? or should I still raise the seat a bit? If so, by how much? 0.5 cm, 1cm, 2cm? By what increment should I proceed when raising the seat?