Any cyclists or indoor bike people can help me?

[PashunFroot]

I’m very overweight, and very unfit. My husband has very kindly surprised me with an exercise bike (I’ve been wanting one for ages.) where we live, cycling just isn’t safe really on the roads and I also have a small baby so indoor biking is my best option.

I can’t cycle for more than a minute without it really burning. I’m really disappointed in myself. I know I was going to start small and build it up, but I was thinking more 15 minutes at a time. I actually think I’d collapse if I tried 15 minutes!

the bike I have makes me enter the distance, time and calories I want to burn first. But I have no idea how long it should take to cycle 1km?

can anyone help me out with how a complete beginner should get started?

How do you mean really burning? As in leg muscles or are you getting really puffed?

So first steps

• Check your bike position, you might be riding it with the seat to low, causing you to strain your muscles to turn the pedals


• Don't have the resistance set high! Really loosen it off initially, if your muscles are objecting to cycling you need to ease them in.

Look for a get started program - there are things like this to give you a structure aloneonahill.com/blog/the-couch-to-8k-cycling-plan

Can you set your bike just to run in a 'manual' mode where you adjust the resistance and durations rather than setting their goals?

I'm not sure what speed goals would be expected. My husband cycles at about 25 -> 30 kph but he's pretty fit. I'd say 10 kph (so 6 minutes to do a km) is possibly a place to start.

Yes my thighs burn! I think the seat is int he right place. My leg is extended fully with peddle at the bottom?

Indoor cycling is horrible. I’m a bit of a (fat middle aged) bike nerd. I do a 20 mile round trip commute 3 days a week, longer rides at weekends of maybe 50 miles, and do a couple of 100 mile sportives each year. I love it.

But I can’t ride indoors. It hurts, I can’t get comfy, and it’s boring as hell. I maybe manage 15 minutes on the turbo trainer. I think indoor cycling is a mental challenge - you can’t see where you’re going, because you aren’t going anywhere.

Do you have a normal bike? Or can you borrow one, stick it in the car and ride off-road or on a quiet route? The reason I’m asking is that it’s actually really easy to rack up the miles outside, especially if it’s flat. It takes me 5 mins a mile to do my commute - if you were able to ride outside, you could see how far you could actually go and that might help you on the indoor bike - eg I’ve ridden 3 miles in 30 mins outside so now I know I can do it inside too kind of thing?

I find exercise bikes really hard to use as I have only used ones where the seat can only go up and down and as women generally have longer thigh bones ( in proportion) than men, we often need the seat to go forward and backwards too!

Your knee shouldn't lock out straight when your foot is on the pedal at the bottom - there should always a slight bend in the leg. You should not push down straight when pedalling - make sure the seat isn't too far forward but also not so far back the you feel you are pushing 'forward'!

If you are very unfit it might be that instead of 1 cycle lasting 15 minutes, you do 15 cycles of 1 minute for a few days. Once you get going, your fitness will improve dramatically but going from nothing to 15 minutes can be a massive jump! So start on the very minimum of resistance you can but you do need to feel you are pushing 'something' so you need to tinker with it to work out what's best for you.

Well done for starting - maybe you will fall in love with cycling and get a bike for outdoors soon!

Hi Op. I am a keen cyclist and undertake courses for adults who want to gain confidence. My advice when starting is not to look at any dials and move at a pace you are comfortable with. Similarly only start with a couple of minutes and then stop. Over time you will find you can lengthen these, but I would not be looking at calories burned or setting any targets for a month. Indoors I do not know, but typically when I am taking a group of new cyclists the speed is quite gentle- usually 8/9 mph.

Hiya. What bike is it? Can it connect to any of the cycling apps like Zwift?

Hi all Thankyou for your help! I’ve actually just had a play with it and turns out the resistance was really high! I’ve just done 5 continuous minutes on the lowest setting and I could have gone longer but the baby needed feeding. I would love to get out on a real bike but I’m just worried I’d get stuck somewhere as I’d be too fat to cycle back again 🤣

Your leg shoud have a bend - not a sharp one but a bend when the pedal is at the bottom. take any resistance off and pedal slowly say 60 rpm (turns of the pedal). and and that for as long as you can. Put some music on and pedal for the length of the piece of music say 3 mins. Stop, rest, try again. Dont be worrying about speed/heart rate/calories etc. Just start small and maybe twice a day?

You want your knee to be ever so slightly bent at the bottom of the stroke, not fully extended.

To start with, don't worry about the distance, speed or anything, your body needs to just get used to the activity. Just gradually build up the time a minute or two at a time.

Your leg should have a v slight bend when pedal at bottom of stroke. You saddle should be hip height - so stand next to it and set it where you think hip bone juts. Your saddle to handlebar distance should be your arm measured between elbow and finger tips - so put elbow in front of saddle so elbow touches end of saddle and move handlebars until they aren’t further than ends of fingers (if you can). Handlebar height depends on how strong your lower back is and how you feel - I would start with handlebars higher than saddle and drop from there (over weeks or months if you prefer a lower more racing posture).
doesn’t matter how small you start, just start and repeat when you can.
I use Les Mills for indoor bike stuff - you don’t have to go at their pace! Ignore cues, do what you can but at least you have a structure and you’ll see improvements.
ime it takes around three weeks to break in your bum so expect it to be sore at first but keep going, it will disappear if you persist.
good luck and have fun!

You need to adjust your seat height you leg should not be fully extended, best guide is to put foot on pedal with the pedal at the bottom i.e. leg fully extended then adjust the height so there is a bend at your knee but your knee should not bend over past your toes.