Ballistics

So I've got close to 200 miles on my first road bike, a little over two weeks worth of riding.

Right now I'm 6', 225 lbs. average about 16 mph on my Fuji when I ride my standard 17.5 mile loop.

When my ride is over after a little over an hour, I work up a mild sweat and I do feel like I got a decent work out, but the main thing keeping me from going faster are my legs. They start getting sore a few minutes into the ride and stay sore until I'm finished... I get passed by guys in better shape that are keeping a similar cadence but in a higher gear because they've got stronger legs. I don't really get exhausted / winded during my ride.

As I continue riding, I'm wondering if my legs being weak/sore will always cause the most fatigue, or if my legs will eventually be much stronger, so that most of my fatigue will come from being lung / heart rate exhausted.

pallen

"As I continue riding, I'm wondering if my legs being weak/sore will always cause the most fatigue, or if my legs will eventually be much stronger, so that most of my fatigue will come from being lung / heart rate exhausted."

I'm going to guess yes, but there's only one way to find out

merlinextraligh

At this point, you just need to ride more miles and your body will adapt.

It's likely that you're riding too high of gear at too low of cadence. Working on spinning a reasonable cadence smoothly will help.

The traditional rule is that if your legs hurt gear down, if your lungs hurt gear up.

But again you just need to ride more at this point.

seejohnbike

who cares? (rhetorical question... obviously, you care, and that's cool)

your only 2 weeks into riding. just keep riding, and your body will start to grow accustomed to cycling, and you'll develop leg strength, lung capacity, muscle memory, all that good stuff. In general, (disclaimer - I'm not a doctor), the body seems to address it's weakest concern first. If it's your legs, then they'll get stronger first. Eventually you'll reach a point where your legs and lungs are at 'equilibrium,' and taxing your body equally, and then they'll start to develop together.

or, you could consider tweaking your biking to build a bit more leg strength if you think it's lacking, or hit your lungs harder if you think they're being neglected. check the workout recipe book in the racing subforum

Chris(NJ)

Agreed. Keep riding!

I dont know if its worth it for you, but I recently picked up some recovery compression tights and I really think they help muscle recovery.

TassR700

As stated above, higher cadence works the lungs/heart, lower cadence works the legs. So if your legs are hurting, go down a gear and spin faster. The fitness will come as long as you keep riding.

pdedes

why are you riding the same loop over and over?

jbholcom

There is no secret to improving endurance type activities such as cycling, you just have to keep on doing it over and over again.

Ask this question again in a few month of continued cycling. I bet you'll be able to answer it yourself.

caloso

Just for fun, try this: do the same loop and aim for the same speed, but do it in a smaller gear. You'll have to spin a higher cadence, obviously, and that may feel weird at first, but I'm betting you'll have less muscular soreness.

lukasz

Just keep riding. Your average speed means nothing. Focus on enjoying the ride rather than going fast. It is meaningless and will just cause you to burn out. If you want to go fast, do some races down the road--way down the road. Your distance right now is a just out of the range of a long warm-up. If you just get on a bike and try to crush the pedals, it is probably the reason for your leg fatigue.

bikerjp

Take it from another noob. Ride often, don't worry about speed, pay more attention to HR and getting a good aerobic workout, increase time/distance as you can, work up to at least 90 min rides at least 3 times a week or more and maybe a 2-3 hour ride 1-2 times a week. In 6 months your legs will be doing fine, your endurance will be up, your cardiovascular will be improved, your weight will likely be down, and you'll be feeling good. Then you have another 2.5 years to go before your body is fully adapted to cycling.

brundle_fly

I seem to have that problem too with my legs burning out too quick.I believe it is due to having it in too high gear(I'm in 15-18 on a 20 speed most of the time).Pedalling fast feels strange and my speed goes down if going 90 per min,but looking at the cyclists on TV that's the way to do it

coldehammer

Agree with everyone else, just ride more and you will soon see this was just the first milestone in your drive for improving. In my first days of cycling, 20 miles seemed like such a big deal and now it's an everyday occurance. You may also want to focus on how and when your legs start feeling sore.

Additionally, you may just be addicted to cycling and need to take a recovery day or two off to let your legs rest. =)

carpediemracing 

Your lungs/heart will limit your overall potential, but you don't "fatigue" your lungs/heart per se on a given ride. You can reach various heart rate zones but if you ease a bit your heartrate will come down. Your heart won't get "fatigued" and slow down due to lactic acid etc. As soon as your heart rate eases you'll be good again.

Ultimately you'll get tired due to short term fatigue from your legs. As you go hard your muscles will try and short circuit themselves for protection. You accumulate fatigue over the course of a ride. Your heart rate may be relatively low but if you've been pushing hard for a while you'll be unable to go as hard as before.

This is why pros dope with blood oriented stuff - because EPO, blood doping, etc, will increase capacity in the lung/heart genre (due to more oxygen in blood).

You need short term recovery to let your legs get back to normal, i.e. overnight rest and maybe a meal or three.

As far as doing loops - an interesting thing Joe Parkin said in his second book "Come and Gone" - most pros he knows will ride on just a few known loops. They rarely go out and explore. I thought I was the only one that did that but apparently not. I'd say almost every single ride I do solo around here takes place on one loop (with two cut throughs to shorten the lap). It's about 18 miles long, and I'll do a lap or two on a given ride.

I do other routes when I ride with a group, but that's usually just on Mondays from the local shop.

Ballistics

I ride the same 17.5 mile loop because it is a bike path immediately outside of my neighborhood and it takes a little over an hour. I'm trying to do this 5 days a week, pushing harder on M/W/F and going a little slower on Tues/Thurs.

If I drop down a gear I do drop speed (and legs feel better) but it does seem awkward to have such a high cadence. Oh well, it seems the answer is the same to most of my questions: more time in the saddle.

caloso

Try going A LOT slower on Tuesday and Thursday.

RoboCheme

I'm in the same boat as you, but I've been riding for six years and I think that my lungs are still stronger than my legs. When I went to a higher cadence, it felt that I wasn't going very fast because it was so effortless (relatively). After I got my powermeter, I found out that I actually put out more power with less leg pain at higher cadences.

CarolinaGuy

I can't believe that no one said to just HTFU. So... HTFU.

Seriously, just give it time. In the meantime, definitely gear down a bit and alternate the "hard" and "easy" days. Before long, you'll find that your "easy" days are "harder" than your "hard" days were just a few months before. Can I "quote" something else, or did I get enough of them? Ride. Have fun.

radshark

Keep riding. Your legs and lungs will eventually agree upon how much sustained effort they will allow you to do. And it will increase over time.

Good luck.

anthony 555

are you giving yourself time to warm up before riding hard? If i do not warm up for at least 20 min I have the same problem. Start with a high cadence before you go to the big gears. I can keep a 17 to 22 mph pace for hours if I warm up first if I do not I am done in an hour.

Kind of Blued

I didn't see anybody mention them, so: hydration and bike fit.

The first is obvious. Second, do your legs hurt "all over" or is it in one specific muscle group? You might find that having your saddle up, down, forward, or back could overemphasize certain muscles.

Still, get more miles in your legs and give your body time to adapt before you start messing with too many things.

jayp410

When I first started riding as an adult a few years ago (at 6'4" / 220 lb) in a moderately hilly area, my legs were much stronger than my lungs. This season at 195 lb, my lungs were a bit stronger than my legs early in the season, but my legs are catching up fast. So yes, the balance of power can change within a month or two.

If your saddle is too low it will make it much harder on your quads than necessary, so if necessary keep raising it until your legs are almost straight (but not quite). Also, if you are not using clipless pedals and cleats, get some....that way you can use your hamstrings to assist the quads.