How unfit am I?

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robsmuddygloves
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How unfit am I?

Post by robsmuddygloves »

Hello all, curious about others on here, as a comparison. I’ll preface this by saying I’ve never been particularly goal oriented, much more interested in the joy of being out on a bike as opposed to distance covered.

I’ve just got back from an overnighter on part of the King Alfred’s Way I did with a mate. We set off around 5ish in the afternoon, had a lovely ride out, great wildcamp, but the second day was really tough going. I was knackered, running on empty. Admittedly I am nowhere near as fit as I used to be, didn’t really get out much over the last year and a half. As a result we did 110km in 24 hours, having got back around 5 ish the following day.

When I read about some others on here, well, it’s slightly humbling. I suppose what I’m asking is what would you expect to get through a day? Meanwhile, I need to get out on my bike a bit more in between trips. Cheers.
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sean_iow
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by sean_iow »

Bit difficult to tell form just the info you provided, how much of the 24hrs was riding time? How much did the bike weigh? What bike? Conditions? Most importantly, did you have fun?

On the Gower weekend we did 85 km in 27 hrs but had a great time. Unless it's a race what does it matter as long as you enjoy it :grin:
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ton
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by ton »

i dont consider myself fit as i am well over a ideal weight.
but i can ride for a long time. i can plod along at 10 mph for 10 hours quite happily. so in that way i can mange long days and not suffer too much.

become a good tortoise rather than a crap hare. :-bd
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fatbikephil
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by fatbikephil »

I suspect all of us on here are considerably fitter than yer average person. I wouldn't fret, if you are struggling on a day rest and eat more :-bd As Sean says its all about enjoying yourself
robsmuddygloves
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by robsmuddygloves »

sean_iow wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:26 pm Bit difficult to tell form just the info you provided, how much of the 24hrs was riding time? How much did the bike weigh? What bike? Conditions? Most importantly, did you have fun?

On the Gower weekend we did 85 km in 27 hrs but had a great time. Unless it's a race what does it matter as long as you enjoy it :grin:
Cheers for the reply, the route was mainly gravel, some woodland, some muddy sections. Despite the ominous weather forecasts, there was only one real torrential downpour that lasted about 45 mins, the rest of the time it was overcast, pretty much perfect. All in probably cycling for 12 hours, and it was lots of fun. In terms of bikes, I was on a Genesis Vagabond, not overly heavy kit - not sure on weight, my mate was on a gravel bike. He was equally exhausted.

Just wondering what others aim to do a day. Definitely need to start cycling more.
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Definitely need to start cycling more.
I believe that is key. Two years (or maybe three), I could happily ride a 14 hour day, sleep in a ditch, get up and do exactly the same. Yet, at weekend I found myself knackered on the afternoon of day two following a fairly easy day one. The only difference between now and then is the amount I've ridden.

However, as Sean and Phil say, I had a good time regardless :-bd
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RIP
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by RIP »

aim to do a day
What does 'fit' mean and what does 'unfit' mean I wonder? Who gets to say?

I never have any 'physical' targets only the all-important fun one mentioned by Sean. That way I'm never disappointed and never think about my [un]fitness. I start when I start and stop when I stop. As far as I'm concerned my body (and mind :wink:) will just do what it does at the time. There's too many variables affecting the calculation as well: terrain, load, sustenance, weather, sleep/rest, things to look at. It's not worth burdening my freedom with a specific mileage or height. It's also one reason I'm not interested in an arbitrary 'Route' pre-set by some other agency.. pressure, pressure, conform, failure, unfit...

Not a very helpful reply in your context, apologies, so I'll hazard 30 miles on average terrain but that's pretty meaningless as an isolated figure too :smile: . I think I did about ten miles on one of my most enjoyable days ever. Pathetic eh :smile: .
Last edited by RIP on Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:23 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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ton
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by ton »

When I started cycle touring with the wife it was all new to her. Like she had only ever cycled with the kids in the park
So we started our 10 mile rule.
Ride 10 the stop for coffee
Ride 10 and stop for lunch
Ride 10 stop for coffee
Ride 10 stop for a afternoon pint
Ride 10 to overnight stop

Still try and stick to the same plan nowadays.
robsmuddygloves
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by robsmuddygloves »

RIP wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 2:04 pm
aim to do a day
What does 'fit' mean and what does 'unfit' mean I wonder? Who gets to say?
I agree, it’s all relative. I think I was just a little shocked/surprised at how much I was struggling, certainly based off of my previous fitness levels. The lack of any proper riding clearly has had a substantial effect. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not beating myself up about it, I really enjoyed the ride, mostly. If anything, it’s made me more determined to get fit for the next trip.
ScotRoutes
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by ScotRoutes »

From personal experience; I can manage a fairly tough first day but often struggle on subsequent days. I put that down to not managing my hydration and nutrition very well. It might be worth exploring that side if things too.

OTOH I sleep pretty well (for me) when outdoors whereas many don't. That can also affect your performance past day 1.
jobro
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by jobro »

become a good tortoise rather than a crap hare.
Thats the essence of long distance riding/racing to me. That, and never sleeping!!
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by jobro »

What does 'fit' mean and what does 'unfit' mean I wonder? Who gets to say?
It means absolutely nothing. It has no meaning. We use the terms fit and unfit in a very glib way. What we are usually referring to is a single sport efficiency.

As an example, Mo Farrah has a 10K run time 14 minutes faster than mine. People would say that because he is much fitter than me. Yet when Farrah did a 25 mile time trial on a bike in a multi sport celebrity thing his time was about 20 minutes slower than my best. So who's "fitter" ?

The true measure of "fitness" is cardiovascular response to a fixed neuromuscular load and thats hard to determine outside of a lab.

I don't know if its because I'm getting old (and much slower) or wiser in my advancing years but I'm becoming quite certain that when we go out and take part in whatever sport floats your boat, performance should be measured by enjoyment/pleasure/lasting memories. Unfortunately our Garmins don't measure those parameters!
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RIP
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by RIP »

Sorry about my somewhat grumpy reply. It's just that my instant reaction with this sort of stuff is to rebel against the whole 'aim high', 'sports nutrition', 'gym programme' industry juggernaut pressuring people to conform to some, as said above, meaningless ideal.

It's obviously not what's going on here which is "hmm I could probably have ridden a bit better I wonder why I didn't" - perfectly reasonable. I'm also massively in awe of the feats frequently posted on Here as said before, even if it's not my bag. Nah, it's the juggernaut that gets on my wick :smile: .

Must dash, need to go and mix up another gallon of Monsanto's superduper vitamin protein endurance shake :smile: .

I reckon the Olympics would be far more entertaining if no nutritional programmes or training at all was permitted, and contestants just rolled up and gave it go :wink: .
Last edited by RIP on Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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TheBrownDog
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by TheBrownDog »

Well I'm not as fit as I was 20 years ago but I do think Im still quite fit for a bloke my age of 56 and size of 6'2" and 110kg.

According to the NHS I am obese and my healthy weight would be between 65-85kg. Yep, I need to lose the 10kg Ive piled on this past 18 months and I'm working on it, but FFS, 85kg? I was that weight when I was 16. Even back in 2004 when I was training for the Etape du Tour I never got below 95kg. And as for the supposedly healthy lowe weight of 65kg? My 16 year, fit and willowy daughter is as tall as me and she is 70kg. Jesus.

Anyway, like Tony, I can happily go all day if Im going at my own pace. But as soon as I'm in a group and I have to keep up, i get wasted real fast. Thankfully, Im never in much of a hurry these days.
I'm just going outside ...
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PaulB2
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by PaulB2 »

I find that when I’ve not been riding as much that I tend to go out way too fast and then pay for it later. The more I ride the better I am at just cruising along.
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Jurassic
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by Jurassic »

Does it really matter if you're not racing? I'm fitter now than I've been for ages but probably nowhere as fit as some who frequent this forum but I don't really mind as long as I enjoy the rides that I do. I've come to the conclusion that ideally I don't really want to ride more than 50 or 60 miles a day or it just becomes a slog. I think I prefer to judge my rides by enjoyment rather than distance covered.
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Alpinum
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by Alpinum »

sean_iow wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:26 pm Bit difficult to tell form just the info you provided, how much of the 24hrs was riding time? How much did the bike weigh? What bike? Conditions? Most importantly, did you have fun?
I add:
How much climbing/descending?
What terrain (mountain hiking paths, road, easy double tracks, rough double tracks, bush whacking, moor crossing etc)?
Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:58 pm The only difference between now and then is the amount I've ridden.
I don't think it's that easy.
Before my two HT rides in '13 and '16 (each precisely 5 days of effort) I had ridden about 1000 km in the six months before the event, during which my body never felt drained. I believe the intensity plays a huge factor too.

If I go by what Strava and Garmin Connect tell me, the boost in endurance is very significant. I mix long rides (currently 70 - 80 km) with short ones and vary intensity.
It's all fun and interesting and has no impact on how much I enjoy being outdoors in the first and most important instance. Each to their own, but a training regime does work and doesn't need to involve long distances (only) to become comfy and stay comfy on long or multi day rides. This (fitness) will also allow you to focus more on your surroundings rather than yourself.
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Bearbonesnorm
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

I don't think it's that easy.
It is ... if you don't ride then you don't receive the benefit of high intensity rides, low intensity rides, medium intensity rides, pushing, carrying or any other fitness benefits derived from cycling :wink:
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Rob S
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by Rob S »

I did a 100K with 2270M of ascent around the Peak a few weeks back, it took 11 hours 30 minutes. So we probably have a similar level of fitness.
Compared to some of my riding buddies I'm unfit, but compared to most of the population...

I'd love to get fit enough to do a BB200, but if you have a family, have to work long hours for a half decent wage and you're north of fifty, it's not easy. There's only so many hours in a week.
robsmuddygloves
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by robsmuddygloves »

ScotRoutes wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:37 pm From personal experience; I can manage a fairly tough first day but often struggle on subsequent days. I put that down to not managing my hydration and nutrition very well. It might be worth exploring that side if things too.

OTOH I sleep pretty well (for me) when outdoors whereas many don't. That can also affect your performance past day 1.
Food intake was interesting this trip, before 11 I’d had three mini breakfasts stops, I tend to get badly affected if I don’t eat regularly. Having said that, those three breakfasts amounted to around 2000 calories, and it felt like it barely touched the sides.

Sleep on the other hand was far from ideal, a really lovely woodland spot, but it really was an overnight series of naps. Got woken up by the sounds of fox mating, then later on an inquisitive badger sniffing around my tarp.

The whole trip has definitely motivated me and my mate to get out more and enjoy more trips, as this one was full of laughs, a bit of swearing, and some beautiful landscapes.
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fatbikephil
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by fatbikephil »

robsmuddygloves wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 8:18 pm Got woken up by the sounds of fox mating, then later on an inquisitive badger sniffing around my tarp.

The whole trip has definitely motivated me and my mate to get out more and enjoy more trips, as this one was full of laughs, a bit of swearing, and some beautiful landscapes.
That sounds like a top trip right there :-bd

The whole scran (sorry nutrition) thing is tricky and I think you do need to train your body to process food whilst on the bike. I've had a few ups and downs in this regard recently, after a few years with no issues. Probably down to getting older and maybe doing a lot more short rides last year. But it boils down to practice so get eating :grin:
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Alpinum
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by Alpinum »

Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:32 pm
I don't think it's that easy.
It is ... if you don't ride then you don't receive the benefit of high intensity rides, low intensity rides, medium intensity rides, pushing, carrying or any other fitness benefits derived from cycling :wink:
Which has nothing to do with what I wrote.
Alpinum wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:14 pm
Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 1:58 pm The only difference between now and then is the amount I've ridden.
I don't think it's that easy.
In other words, loads of riding doesn't necessarily make you a stronger rider. It's also (or even more) about how intense the rides are.
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RIP
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by RIP »

Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 7:32 pm
I don't think it's that easy.
It is ... if you don't ride then you don't receive the benefit of high intensity rides, low intensity rides, medium intensity rides, pushing, carrying or any other fitness benefits derived from cycling :wink:
Nutshell ^.

We've evolved over millions of years to run away from scary tigers, catch a bit of food (not tigers), drink water, and kick six bells out of invading enemies (and frequently our friends too). We wouldn't be here to worry about 'fitness' if we hadn't naturally had enough fitness to survive and multiply so spectacularly.

It's only in the past few decades that we've gone against our millenia-formed and in-built 'fitness' by learning to sit on sofas for hours on end, move ourselves round in metal boxes, and get other people - or indeed machines - to catch or extrude our overprocessed food and beat up our neighbours.

Redress the balance there even a small amount and you can then do away with ludicrously artificial gyms, energy bars, 'hydration', training 'regimes' and all the rest of that mumbo jumbo along with the bloated industry geared to pushing those drugs onto us.
Last edited by RIP on Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:35 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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RIP
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by RIP »

'Fit':

"1. of a suitable quality, standard, or type to meet the required purpose.
2. in good health, especially because of regular physical exercise."

Suitable to meet the required purpose. Not a grotesquely and unnecessarily manufactured machine such as Mr(s) Universe or indeed one or two Olympic champions I could point at.

A similar misinterpretation arises whenever anyone seems to take 'survival of the fittest' as meaning the biggest/best/fastest/violentest/suntannedest/etc whereas it actually means 'the best fit to the circumstances' which may sometimes mean none of biggest/fastest/best/etc.

I would say the fittest bikepacker (that's us right?) is one that can stomach any number of slices of lemon drizzle, put up with a mass midge attack, tussock yomp for miles on end without breaking an ankle, continue riding through any weather system, sleep anywhere anytime, and talk bollocks ad infinitum. Nowt to do with stamina or power or any of that stuff. And yes I know it seems that I'm pretending bikepacking is only about tramping not racing as well :wink: . Maybe racing without all the gunk and regimes is a more honest form of competing anyway...
Last edited by RIP on Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Alpinum
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Re: How unfit am I?

Post by Alpinum »

RIP wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:07 pm Nowt to do with stamina or power or any of that stuff.
Hmmm... I guess eg Liam has loads of both and other of that stuff and it comes in handy indeed when tussock yomping etc.
After all he won a "race" including
RIP wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 10:07 pm mass midge attack, tussock yomp for miles on end, continue through any weather system, sleep anywhere anytime
Some may say an other rider has won the race because he/she had most pies and beers or most scenic bivy spots, despite coming in last.
None is wrong.
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