Why Am I So Slow on a Bike?
I’m going on vacation to Venice with my boo’s parents and they LOVE to ride bicycles everywhere. They own a place there and have their own bikes and rent us some so we can bike to every restaurant, bar, or event.
At first I was always excited about it but I have realized something over the several vacations together…
I AM SLOW AS F*** compared to them.
Biking makes me miserable because I can’t go the pace that is comfortable for me. They are freaks, especially his mom, about how fast they peddle and get going. My knees and body hurt by the time we get somewhere and I am sweaty and disgusting. I am literally out of breath the entire ride and they show ZERO distress and are totally enjoying the scenery.
What is crazy is I am really fit. I work out 5 times a week, yoga or cardio, I eat really healthy, I’m petite. I’m not out of shape at all.
Why does riding a bike seem so much more difficult for me than others? And why does it get me out of breath so badly?
One trip I was left in the dust and I complained a lot about being over exerted and they said my bike was the problem so I switched with his mom and guess what??? She still left me in the dust and I felt exactly the same.
I even bought a bike at home and I try to train myself and get an endurance for it but I still just can’t keep up.
Is there something wrong with me?
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I would think that what’s wrong with you is that you’re just not a fanatic about riding a bike. As for the stamina and endurance issues, I would think those are matters of training yourself. Personally I think you’re crazy if you allow your vacations to revert to torture sessions. If you’re not into cycling to the extent of your boo’s family, let them pedal their frenetic asses off as you uber or lyft to their destinations while enjoying and photographing the scenery. Tell boo that you’ve tried it his way, and that perhaps he could cancel say one in 4 bike excursions to ride with you in comfort to wherever the group is biking. So the choice is either to dedicate yourself to living on a bicycle til you can keep pace or saying “screw it. It’s my vacation too.”
@stanleybmanly lol My “boo” will totally understand if I said no to biking but I want to be a part of the family.
Honestly this has made me realize how much thought I’m putting into a vacation that is in two months…. I guess I just really don’t want to ride bikes then. I’m going to tell them not to rent me one because I don’t want to… They should understand I hope.
Your legs aren’t moving fast enough.
I’m stuck on vocabulary. What the hell is a “boo”?
There are a couple of things that seriously impact your ability to keep up no matter how good a shape you are in.
The first is fit; the bike needs to be adjusted to fit your body, with seat height right for your leg length, and handle bars within reach but not too low or too high. If the bike is not adjusted to fit you, it will be uncomfortable and your body will not be able to leverage as much power.
The other bug factor is using the right gears. No matter the terrain, the gears should be set so you feel a modicum of resistance, but not enough to make you strain, while you maintain a pedal rate of 80 -100 rpm.
If you own your bike, make sure it is set up right. If you rent one when with the family, take the time to make sure it fits.
@elbanditoroso My husband is my boo. I use that term jokingly but it’s I guess a millennial term for your significant other..?
2 months? There’s still time to get a REAL bike and bring yourself up to approaching the family standards. It would require some monumental effort, but if you showed up and rode the boo team into the ground (and made an effort to disguise the fact that it nearly killed you), well then you could hold your little head up and never again feel obligated to a boot camp vacation.
Black folks know what a “boo” is. Ask Bill or Hillary Clinton.
Stanley had it right all the way up top.
Don’t torture yourself over their choice. Get wherever on four wheels instead of two.
You describe yourself as healthy and fit, so you obviously don’t need the biking as a fitness choice. It isn’t right for everyone, and apparently it is not right for you.
OR, bike at the pace which suits you, and let them wait for you everywhere.
No need to get yourself up to speed or worry about why you bike slowly. You don’t enjoy it. Ask your spouse to stick with you at your pace if you want to bike over there at all or let them all bike and you not.
I think its nice you tried to share their passion, but its also a little odd that they know you’re a novice and just expect you to keep up. Maybe a heart to heart with your boo is whats needed. Miserable is not a good way to spend your vaca.
I don’t know if they are as popular as they are in the Netherlands (more than half new bikes sold are electric), but try and see if there are electric bicycles to rent there.
You still need to pedal, but you will have much support.
Any fan of Monsters Inc. knows who Boo is…
There were boos in that castle where Mario strove to rescue Princess Sunshine.
I love bike riding but when I arrive at a destination after going many miles, even if the weather is pleasant, I feel dusty and messy. Unless it was a short, casual ride, I wouldn’t want to use a long trip bike ride as a way to get someplace where I wanted to look good (for example out to dinner).
Bicycling is hard on the person who lags behind. The people who are ahead get a nice break waiting When you make it there they’re ready to go and often don’t consider you need a break as well.
Lots of people actually don’t ride bicycles correctly. The seat should be positioned high enough so that the leg is fully straight/extended when pedaling. Allowing for use of the quadriceps as the main muscles responsible for most of the work.
Many riders don’t like their butts up so high, so they keep the seat too low. That’s far less efficient, and bad for the knees.
Adjusting the seat for full leg movement should increase the efficiency and power generation of each full push on the pedal…
It’s hard to believe that boo’s family would not see to the op’s optimization of bicycle characteristics. But your point is worth emphasizing.
Insufficient lead in your pencil.
Ahhhh, no pencil, pretty sure.
I can’t imagine cycling in Venice. The last time I was there I had trouble squeezing through the crowds on foot.
“especially his mom, about HOW FAST THEY PEDDLE and get going.”
This tells me that they are using a different gear where one peddles more that in another resistance gear
( which you probably are using)?
I tried this and I was NOT comfortable over peddling in that gear, but it takes practice and these people have practiced longer .
I have to have resistance gear in other words I push the foot down on the peddle and it moves harder and thus this affects the leg muscles faster.
LOL rent a motorcycle and see how that goes.
The gear that they are in requires lots of turns ( fanatic peddling ) without that resistance, so it take longer to get the muscles to build up, but it moves one faster with less resistance.
Oh yes, by the way if THEY were to change gears they would understand how you feel, perhaps and I bet it that that could and would not like that either.
For myself I could not get into that way of bike riding and never could,as it tired me out faster.
”Lots of people actually don’t ride bicycles correctly. The seat should be positioned high enough so that the leg is fully straight/extended”
Good way to wreck your knees, should be just short of that with a little bend left at the knee with the pedal at full extension.
^Why would fully extending your knees “wreck” them? Full extention of the legs is proper technique in most/all exercises that include the quads. Stronger quads are said to help reduce knee injuries, and strengthen the ligaments around the joint.
Straightening the legs also recreates the natural “range of motion.” Another helpful exercise, for the legs.
These are things that I was forced to learn, as I rehabbed my torn ACL and meniscus, by multiple doctors,and physical therapists, over 13 months…
The rest was taught to me, when I worked at a bicycle shop part time, a few years ago. Well. It was a fitness store, that had a bike department. Bikes were not my area of expertise, but I had to get certified by the employer to build and adjust them for customers…
80–90% leg extension has been the standard fit for like half a century. If you fully extend you risk some hyperextension, it throws your pelvis off balance and is generally uncomfortable. I have never met anyone at a bike shop or rides regularly who would even consider full extension. It’s poor form and can cause injury. That said, I see people try to ride at like 60% extension, that’s poor form too for the reasons you mention and others as well.
The best way to measure your seat height is to sit on it, extend your leg so that your foot is right under the pedal that is in the down position (touching the underside of it with the instep of your foot).
That way you’ll have the most effective position to ride your bike.
Of course the handle bars should be positioned accordingly (a straight upper body is preferable (for most people)).
Find and expert bicyclist and get some good coaching.
I know this in in social but you guys have strayed far from the fact that she doesn’t enjoy bike riding!
^I don’t either. I did, as a younger person. Now. Getting into my late 30’s, I find it less appealing.
Anything might be cool to do, in a foreign place. Hopefully, it will enrich the experience and help distinguish it from other trips.
I forgot to mention that a larger wheel holds energy better. Bikes with large wheels take a bit longer to get up to speed, but hold that speed easier than bikes with smaller tires (so less pedaling on long, straight trips.)
Braking can be affected, but is usually overcome by the larger tire’s bigger footprint.
So the fit of the bike TOTALLY is a big part of why it just doesn’t work for me.
For one, I am 5 feet tall…. I’m very little so most rental bikes are already too big for me. The bikes we rent don’t even have gears, they are like old fashioned looking cruiser bikes. My bike at home is a kids bike so it fits me but the wheels are smaller. My husband has the gears set up for me.
His mom takes spin classes so I think that’s why she’s so fast.
@janbb: I think the gist of what I’m hearing is that maybe if the bike fit her better, she might be a more successful rider and she might grow to like it (the way many people like it).
“His mom takes spin classes”
That’s really your answer.
Make sure the air pressure in the tires is up to snuff.
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Back from vacay!
@Dutchess_lll no gears they have cruiser bikes in Venice.
Long story short, mum in law is a bit crazy. No one wanted to ride bikes because it was over 95 degrees everyday and she wanted to ride EVERYDAY! One day we biked 2.5 miles to a restaurant and on the way back I got overheated and had a panic attack. She’s a nurse and later said she realized I was probably about to have heat stroke if we hadn’t got me somewhere to cool off. They gave her a really hard time about it :{}
The good thing is since I made such a fuss over being afraid not to keep up, father in law and boyfriend were very good about slowing down and reassuring me we were in no rush.
It was a good vacation. :)
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