New Rider Struggle ?
 

Just started riding again after a 8 year break. Back when I use to ride I never payed attention to cadence or anything would just pedal normally and coast when I was tired. Now I started cycling 2 weeks ago again im at 370lbs and after lots of reading people keep talking about keep a cadence. I at the present moment cant even keep a cadence for more than 20 secs or so and have to coast a little because my legs get tired. Have been riding 2 miles a day to get the body moving. I am assuming that this is normal but wanted to confirm that it takes time cycling to build up the strength while cycling to be able to develop a cadence and consistency to peddling. Is this normal when starting off ?

Thank you in advance for any input it is all welcome

its normal , don‘t worry about it. i used to ride 30-70km / day. 5days/week. now after 15 months break i cant ride more than 20km / day. just keep going bro

Yep, just do what you can and stay comfortable. Don't worry about cadence this or HR that. Just ride, enjoy it and ride. Don't over think it. Your fitness will come if you keep at it, I promise.

We have all been there starting out, I remember years ago I could not go 4 miles without thinking I was going to die. Now if I can't get out for an hour I feel its not worth it. I forget that we ride for the fun too.


When I started back in on a training program I was 336, started slow and just kept at it. I am now down about 70 pounds still working every day but I do owe it to better life choices and cycling. And a wife chasing me with a whip ;)

A good cadence is something you can always refine later, and could be a good habit to develop soon as it could save some wear and tear on your knees and other joints. However, in terms of fitness - getting on the bike and getting moving is 90% of the battle. Listen to your body, but also make it fun. Push yourself past your comfort level - but don't push yourself to the point of pain. I would hate to look at my bike with the same disdain I do when I looked at our treadmill (I finally sold that, now can't find anywhere to hang my coats). Take time to stop and look at things and enjoy the ride. That is what will keep you going - the love of the ride - not the fitness you get out of it (which will be a pleasant by product).

It takes time for the fitness to come back after time off the bike. The key point is to keep at it and do a little more mileage, time,effort on the bike with each ride. I've taken to riding during my lunch hour, which means a fast ride through the neighborhood for 20 to 40 mins. I'm getting there, but my legs still feel like spaghetti afterwards. Keep at it and good luck!

Just ride the bike
The fact that you are moving is key.
Expect to tire and be winded.

I look at cycling like a three legged stool.
Heart - Lungs - Legs
Riding will imporve all three, in time.

Hang in there, ride your bike.

fat biker

At your weight and condition...just ride. Don't worry about anything but getting healthy and feeling better.
Good luck !

Get out and ride. Make sure that the bike is comfortable and you like it. You will ride more if you are comfortable. You will be riding farther and faster soon. Don't bother with cadence right now, when you are pedaling, make sure it is a comfortable and you are not trying to power up hills at too high of a gear, that's not good for your knees. Remember to enjoy riding.

Try walking everyother day.
Good for the legs.

a little update, I have been at it now for 6 weeks since this post, im up to 5-7 mile rides every other day and it is definitely easier to keep at it. now I keep pedaling almost the entire time and just enjoy the ride but definitely building the stamina slowly. Working on getting a more comfortable saddle, tried riding the one that came with the bike now for a month and even with padded bike shorts it hurts after a few miles. tried using a cloud 9 comfort saddle and so fat im not liking it to much due to how big it is, it feels weird. any suggestion are welcome. was thinking of trying one of the brook b17 saddles

I didn't even know cadence was a word in cycling until a few weeks back, and now that I do I don't really care what it means because I'm still trying to make cycling less of a chore to just loose weight. It's hampered a little bit by doing the same route every time I go out and because I do it at 4am, (everything is the same so it feels like a chore), but over 5 months, 1 month of doing the new route, it's slowly feeling like less of a chore. Even the addition of more steeper hills hasn't really added to the 'chore factor'.
I only lasted a week or two after getting the bike before I got padded shorts and they did make a difference. After 4 months I was wondering what a new saddle would do for me and I did look around but really had no idea which of the sales pitches to believe and which to avoid. The one big thing I have noticed though is that since I changed my route, added hills, both up and down, included longer and shorter runs and more corners I tend to worry less about my butt. I do about 1 hour 20 every second day, weather permitting, and most days I can come home without a sore butt on the factory fitted seat.
Now if only I could figure out how to ride in wind without killing myself I could actually ride every second day.
That probably doesn't help much but it's what I found.

A couple of things about saddles

1) a little adjustment to the tilt may work wonders. When I first got on this forum, a poster saw photos of my bikes and stated that I should raise the nose of my saddle because it looked like it was pointed down. I tilted it up a few mm took it out for a ride and I couldn't go more that 6 miles (I was riding 20 miles per ride) , it was a device of torture. I returned it to the position that I had before and it the position that works for me. So you might try adjusting the tilt a mm here or there to see if it gets more comfortable.

2) Saddles are a very personal fit. I have a box full that I tried before finding one that fit me. Most of my bikes now are fitted with that saddle. It's a Brooks C-17 carved, this one fit and I like them because they are waterproof and don't need any break in time in the saddle.

Good luck in the search of a comfortable saddle.

Oh, I did the same with shorts, I have a box full of shorts, I finally found a short that I can ride in all day, I'm not buying anything else.

Holy *$^%^$#(&#&$($)$%*($$#
I just had a look locally for a Brooks C-17 and the cheapest a quick google search finds them for in this country is $200. I don't think I could ever pay that kind of price for a seat unless it reclines and has somewhere to hold the TV remote and my drink!

It's $88 for the standard and 93 for the carved on Amazon here, I think I payed between $60-70 for mine. Same thing with Chester pedals, I got them for $30 and now they want $60 for them.

Amazon does bring that saddle down to $150ish but nearly everything is overpriced here. It used to be a fairly sure bet that buying from overseas was close to the AUD to US conversion but these days so much stuff is a lot more than that. And with some business only using premium postal services since Covid it can cost more than the item is worth to get postage here too. It's not the case for everything. I struggled to get over 2XL jerseys in this country but I found several stores in the US selling them for a similar price to our stores and with free postage. I've managed to get a few tools through Amazon the same way so it is improving, but with the less sold stuff most of the time it's still massively over priced.

thank you for the input I am going to play with the tilt also now, the c17 looks like a good option also adding it to the list.

today I changed back to the factory mongoose seat and adjusted the height up and made it a point to position my sit bones on the rear so my tail bone did not rest on the seat. what a night and day difference I can actually sit pain free after a 3 mile ride before I was dying from the soreness. progress :)

I don't know what model of Mongoose the o.p. is riding but the seat on their Envoy (cargo bike). OMG, the seat. Sorry, saddle. It is hands down the best damn saddle I have ever found in 50 years of riding all kinds of bikes. I wrote Mongoose and asked them how I could get a couple on the side. They say they aren't available anymore. I've done some sleuthin' and I found this. I'm pretty sure these are the OEM saddles for the Envoy and if I was a Clyde it is what I would want under my six. You don't have to work at sitting on the right part of this saddle. It's built in where you should sit. Make sure the back part of the saddle is level. That will have the nose pointing up. This is normal. If it hurts, lower the saddle, don't tilt the nose down.

I remember starting to ride when I was at 412. All my friends, who were riders wanted me to keep my cadence up, but it was hard. Go at your own pace. I would spin at a high cadence for maybe 100 pedal stokes at a time until my legs, lungs, and body could handle it. Remember, it never gets easier, you just keep getting better and stronger!

I ride with a 63 year old who has a stomp, stomp, stomp, coast......., stomp, stomp, stomp, coast cadence. He rode 24 miles with me with no issues yesterday, so I wouldn't worry about cadence.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...3a1747d813.jpg
Selle SMP TRK

If I had invented this saddle, I would have trade-marked the term 'crotch cradle'. :)

I've been recently riding up again after like a 5 year hiatus and its really rough starting off. For me I just keep riding the same trails i know i can do back and forth until I was used to the bike, trail, muscles developed enough to start venturing elsewhere.