Creaking newbie

Please be gentle with me - I'm delurking rather cautiously.

I used to cycle a lot many years ago - mostly in the countryside round
Peterborough and York, both of which are fairly flat. I have an old
ordinary bike - came from H*lf*rds about 15-20 years ago, with Sturmey
Archer hub. Once best beloved has got the thing roadworthy (can it
be done, I ask myself) I plan to start gently - heck, I'm no chicken,
about as fit as a doughnut, and what is known around these parts as
"bonny". I'm starting with short trips into town instead of using
the bus, and local pottering to shops and the kids' school instead of
the car. But this is *Sheffield*! Whichever direction you go, it's
always uphill, like some nightmarish Escher picture. I'm not buying
a newer bike until I've proved I can do it and keep it up, so I have
to make do with less than the ideal (ie, brand new tourer, lots of
gears etc), so I expect I'll have to push it up the steeper hills.
I want to get fit enough by August to be able to seriously consider
cycling/camping in East Anglia (note- flat).

Best beloved knows enough about bikes to do the tinkering (I'm better
with a car engine myself), but I need advice and encouragement. So
far it's been thin on the ground - the kids howled with laughter and
best beloved, who takes his cycling very seriously, is not entirely
convinced that I can hack it.

All advice/ encouragement/ warnings welcomed.

--

Debbie
Urban Theology Unit, Sheffield
Views expressed in this email are my own and are not
necessarily those of the University of Sheffield or UTU.

Sheffield is hilly.

Having a newer, lighter bike with more gears will make it easier, hence more
enjoyable, for you and quicker too. It'll make it easier for you to keep up.

Believe me - I am no spring chicken, and could, I suppose, be called "bonny"..

Incidentally - don't think you need to try to keep up a.s.a.p. - do it at
*your* pace, even if it means molluscs get there quicker ;-)

Choose your bit of East Anglia carefully - it isn't all flat. Mountainous it
isn't but there's plenty that is not flat.

You go girl! The more of us that cycle the better! Indeed, thell your other
half you need a nice lightweight tourer, fitted with Campagnolo parts - triple
chainwheel at the front 9-speed at the back with mudguard clearance and a nice
pannier rack fitted. Oh, and a Terry's Liberator TiLite saddle.

and if other half gives you grief - tell him he'll be getting a visit from the
paving slab fairy, whether or not he wears b*bs... ;-)

After all - he's only jealous that you'll put him in the shade.

Cheers, helen s





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Debbie wrote:
hack it.

All advice/ encouragement/ warnings welcomed.

Go for it, build up gently maybe you can drive to a flatter area at a
weekend and go for a longer ride. Visit your old haunts around York, try out
the York-Selby track (note to self, try this track out). Perhaps try out
the Trans Pennine Trail as it passes Sheffield.

Maybe set yourself a goal, get Best Beloved to buy that new bike for you if
you are still cycling by mid summer.

In article ,
says...
Best beloved knows enough about bikes to do the tinkering (I'm better
with a car engine myself), but I need advice and encouragement. So
far it's been thin on the ground - the kids howled with laughter and
best beloved, who takes his cycling very seriously, is not entirely
convinced that I can hack it.

All advice/ encouragement/ warnings welcomed.


I'm a fat git that started riding again in 2002 , joined bike club in
Aug 2003 and now does 50 miles club rides in S Wales. It can be done, and
I'm sure you will enjoy it, when your heart tries to leap out on a climb
just remember the next time you do that climb you will be 100 yrds
further up before it tries to leap out , and there WILL come a time when
you start thinking about how to get up the hill faster, not just if you
will get up it!

In article ,
omcom says...

Choose your bit of East Anglia carefully - it isn't all flat.

S******!

"dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers" wrote in
message ...

Oh, and a Terry's Liberator TiLite saddle.

Sounds like something you get in an Ann Summers shop.

Debbie, if you enjoyed cycling years ago, you'll love a new bike. It's a
worthwhile investment if you really are prepared to get into it again.

Good luck, and keep us up to date with your progress.

On Tue, 03 Feb 2004 22:29:02 +0000, Debbie
wrote:

Please be gentle with me - I'm delurking rather cautiously.

I used to cycle a lot many years ago - mostly in the countryside round
Peterborough and York, both of which are fairly flat. I have an old
ordinary bike - came from H*lf*rds about 15-20 years ago, with Sturmey
Archer hub. Once best beloved has got the thing roadworthy (can it
be done, I ask myself) I plan to start gently - heck, I'm no chicken,
about as fit as a doughnut, and what is known around these parts as
"bonny". I'm starting with short trips into town instead of using
the bus, and local pottering to shops and the kids' school instead of
the car. But this is *Sheffield*! Whichever direction you go, it's
always uphill, like some nightmarish Escher picture. I'm not buying
a newer bike until I've proved I can do it and keep it up, so I have
to make do with less than the ideal (ie, brand new tourer, lots of
gears etc), so I expect I'll have to push it up the steeper hills.
I want to get fit enough by August to be able to seriously consider
cycling/camping in East Anglia (note- flat).


I always found climbing was a psychological thing (for me anyway) and
being not of a climber build (heavy and tall) I made myself do it in
my head .... If that makes sense.. I turned out be virtually
unbeatable on most hills in our local club.

My advice ... You WILL hack it !New bike ( doesn't really need a
zillion gears) build slowly, keep those revs up, not silly high gears,
think 'mountains' and enjoy it .....

Post back in summer and I bet you will be fitter ... as for the kids,
what do they know :-)

Go For It !!!!!

Debbie writes:

Please be gentle with me - I'm delurking rather cautiously.

I used to cycle a lot many years ago - mostly in the countryside round
Peterborough and York, both of which are fairly flat. I have an old
ordinary bike - came from H*lf*rds about 15-20 years ago, with Sturmey
Archer hub. Once best beloved has got the thing roadworthy (can it
be done, I ask myself) I plan to start gently - heck, I'm no chicken,
about as fit as a doughnut, and what is known around these parts as
"bonny". I'm starting with short trips into town instead of using
the bus, and local pottering to shops and the kids' school instead of
the car. But this is *Sheffield*! Whichever direction you go, it's
always uphill, like some nightmarish Escher picture. I'm not buying
a newer bike until I've proved I can do it and keep it up, so I have
to make do with less than the ideal (ie, brand new tourer, lots of
gears etc), so I expect I'll have to push it up the steeper hills.
I want to get fit enough by August to be able to seriously consider
cycling/camping in East Anglia (note- flat).

Best beloved knows enough about bikes to do the tinkering (I'm better
with a car engine myself), but I need advice and encouragement. So
far it's been thin on the ground - the kids howled with laughter and
best beloved, who takes his cycling very seriously, is not entirely
convinced that I can hack it.

All advice/ encouragement/ warnings welcomed.

A three-speed Halfords bike is not going to be ideal for cycling
around a hilly place, and urban traffic these days is pretty
frightening. I think it might be good to do at least some of your
cycling in places which are more conducive to relaxation and
enjoyment. Is there any where nearby where you can hire a reasonably
good, light, off-road bike for a day? If so, is there a forest park or
similar nearby with some 'green' grade off-road trails, or canal
towpaths or abandoned railways?

Enjoy.

You will get a lot fitter amazingly quickly, particularly at
first.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

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"Debbie" wrote in message
...

I have an old
ordinary bike - came from H*lf*rds about 15-20 years ago, with Sturmey
Archer hub.

I rode one like that around the Peak District in my youth, including some
offroad riding :-)

But this is *Sheffield*! Whichever direction you go, it's
always uphill, like some nightmarish Escher picture.

Heh! I had friends who lived in the Fields of Dron, not unadjacent. There
was a man from the council who would follow you around reversing the slope
of the road so it was uphill both ways :-D

I'm not buying
a newer bike until I've proved I can do it and keep it up, so I have
to make do with less than the ideal (ie, brand new tourer, lots of
gears etc), so I expect I'll have to push it up the steeper hills.

No disgrace in that - but have a lok at the seoncd-hand offerings in the
paper or the local bike shops. An aluminium framed rigid (no suspension)
mountain bike can be had for a song these days. Stick a pair of road tyres
on it and you've got a very practical town bike.

I want to get fit enough by August to be able to seriously consider
cycling/camping in East Anglia (note- flat).

Apart from the hills ;-)

the kids howled with laughter and
best beloved, who takes his cycling very seriously, is not entirely
convinced that I can hack it.

Threaten him with loss of "privileges" unless he accompanies you on your
rides ;-)

Hmmmm. In cases of differential fitness, tandems are often an amicable
solution.

All advice/ encouragement/ warnings welcomed.


Consider yourself encouraged :-)

--
Guy
===

WARNING: may contain traces of irony. Contents may settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 10:28:04 -0000, "Just zis Guy, you know?"
wrote:


Hmmmm. In cases of differential fitness, tandems are often an amicable
solution.

I mentioned that. He didn't seem over amicable about the idea. I
forget the exact words, but it was something like "when Hell freezes
over".

All advice/ encouragement/ warnings welcomed.


Consider yourself encouraged :-)

Thanks to you and to all for helping to convince me it's not the
premature onset of senility. I can do it, I can do it... Now if
this rain would just stop, I could get started.

Debbie

--

Debbie
Urban Theology Unit, Sheffield
Views expressed in this email are my own and are not
necessarily those of the University of Sheffield or UTU.