Re: Getting back out on the bike again

Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

On 5/26/2025 12:45 PM, NFN Smith wrote:

After a far-too long layoff, I'm working on getting back out on my bike
again.  I hate the process of getting restarted.
 
When I was last riding (about 18 months ago), I was riding as well as I
had been doing in several years.  Then came equipment issues (especially
problems with flat tires), winter, scheduling conflicts, sickness
(including a bout with COVID, and more recently a viral infection),
general laziness, winter again, and more laziness. Now I get to start
again with a baseline of more or less zero, including working off a
number of accumulated pounds, even if not quite as many as I had feared.
 
Next step... get out bike, and check condition.
 
Tires flat, no surprise there.  Drive train in good shape -- I replaced
chain and cassette last spring. Tool bag -- missing spare tube, son
"borrowed". Handlebar tape needs rewrap -- I have a couple of rolls, but
haven't gotten around to installing. Speedometer -- battery totally
dead, meaning I've lost all the accumulated mileage (and forgotten the
numbers) and I have to remember to make sure I correctly reset for my
wheel/tire size when I replace the battery. Lights seem to be OK, but I
don't really need them right now.  Water bottles -- ugh! Need to get
those completely cleaned out, but fortunately, I was able to swap in a
fresh set.
 
Actually, I like the summer heat, and am kind of annoyed that I missed
most of April and May, although it will be close to October before I
have to get out the arm warmers for early morning rides.
 
Clothing seems to be all OK, and all in the expected storage places.
 
And of course, the hardest part is getting shorts on and actually
getting out onto the street.
 
I got out this morning, and after a little less than a mile, I felt the
rear tire softening. I don't know if there's a new puncture there, or
just one that I forgot to fix.
 
I pumped up the tire and headed back for home. I got less than 2 miles
on this ride, not even enough to get warmed up.  In my current state of
fitness, I had planned to go out only about 30 or 40 minutes. Big
disappointment.
 
Thus, off to the bike shop for a couple of new tubes and a patch kit
(our dry air means that a tube of glue is generally usable only once
before it all dries out and evaporates).
 
Of course, that doesn't count all the un-fun rides that will be
necessary to build up my fitness again.  The last time I went through
this, it was close to 500 miles before I started feeling decent again,
and with my riding schedule, that's going to take a couple of months to
get to, even if I can get to getting out 3 or 4 times per week.
 
Whine....
 
Did I mention that I hate getting restarted after a long layoff?
 
Smith

 
I went through something similar recently, due to family issues. My
layoff was about six months. The first few rides this year, just 20
miles or so felt scary tough. But when I started doing club rides again
I was fine keeping up with the group over much longer distances. Maybe
it was the inspiration or the distraction of riding with others, having
conversations, etc? Or maybe they had also gotten slow over the winter.

Seems to depend on the level of fitness and if any health bits and bobs,
took me I guess 2 years to get broadly back to to where I had been, the
fact I’d nearly died and so almost certainly being a factor!

 
Today interference from a parade (blocked roads) caused me to skip a
club ride, so I decided to do 30 solo miles on a beautiful day. About
halfway through that I was feeling really good (um, for a guy my age!)
and changed to a longer route with some tough hills. A while later I was
feeling so good that I extended again. I roughly doubled my original
planned mileage.
 
I mean that as encouragement. You may regain fitness faster than you think.
 

Number of folks in the club who have had relative short periods of injury’s
have all come back much fitter probably as they were actually training.

Roger Merriman