Paid Members Accident Prone Posted March 12, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2015 Decided to bike to and from work. There are a multitude of reasons for this but it's only a stop-gap before i am qualified to drive. So hopefully i'll only have to put up with a year of this nonsense. Â So, i got a new job back in December. It's 8pm - 4am which means that buses are operate less in the evening and they don't operate at all until 4:40am. What i was doing is getting three buses to work and then waiting until 04:20, walking 15 minutes to the bus stop and then getting two buses back home. It's annoying as my place of work is situated only a few miles from my house but the buses take about 75 minutes as they go in the opposide direction and then they turn into the right direction. Had 6 weeks of that and decided to bung it off and start walking. Â Walking takes about an hour to do. It means walking through the scariest park known to man, where serial killers could lurk around any corner or bush, but it means i'm home earlier. It started to get a bit of a slog though, especially the last leg. And i wasn't a big fan of walking through that fucking park. It's like a setting from a Slenderman game or horror movie set in the woods. Â So i bought a bike yesterday. 200 quid, hyrbid something or other, didn't want much as it's only for work. If it lasts me 4 months then it's all ready beaten the price of a monthly bus pass. 18 gears and all that jazz. I'm riding late at night so i can happily ride on the pavements and not have to deal with Birmingham traffic. Â My fitness levels aren't like myself at 18 or even 14. I'm 27 and haven't exersiced in years. I love walking places and i'm no slouch, but i have quite the beer belly (i rock the 'Fatboy Slim' look) and my muscles are mearly there to keep my bones warm. So with that in mind.... Â Yesterday was my first bike ride in close to 13 years and i hated every second of it. My arse is on fire still from the 'comfort gel' seating. My legs can barely bend. I pushed and panted and hills can fuck right off. And there a lot of hills. I have to walk about 15 minutes of the journey as it's fucking up hill. I think my gears are done all ready as it will no longer shift into '1', instead it stays at 2 as the gear bar won't budge any further to allow the lesser gear. Anything with a slight downward hill i love, obviously, and flat roads are okay. Yesterday i left work at 04:10 and got home at 04:55. When i was walking i'd get home at 05:15 and when i was getting a bus it was about 05:40. Google says i should do the journey in half an hour but that's if i ride up the hills. Â I'm going to start experimenting with different journeys to try and minimise the amount of upward hill i have to battle and i'll try and post about my journey into this stupid world when i can. Fucking hell. Â So post tips, explanations, your own experiences, anything you want. How do beat fatigue? How do you battle hills? What the fuck is with these gears? When the fuck will my arse stop hurting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoKonjic Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I got a bike on the Cycle to Work scheme the government run. Because I'm a shit spender I decided to get a £1000 racing bike. On the second day riding to work I knocked over a bin man. Swapped it with my brother for his Xbox One a month later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members FLips Posted March 12, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2015 Cannot bike any more for the life of me. Used to do it all the time as a teenager, but like the OP said, no amount of "gel seating" stops it feeling like I'm sitting on a pile of bricks. I'm just too tubby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted March 12, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2015 Cycling is a LOT harder than I remember it being. I used to be up at silly o clock when I was a teenager to do my paper round and it was quite a long round with plenty of hills. Fast forward 15 years and I start cycling to the train station for the first stage of my daily commute- Christ it isn't easy.  You've got a hell of a cycle commute every day there Accident Prone, but I would be inclined to stick with it even after you pass your test. You've got up to an hour and a half of cardio a day, which is fantastic. Plus, you don't need to motivate yourself to do it like you would with going to the gym, as you have to get to work. That's how I see it with me. Also, you'll save petrol money too.  I've been doing it for 2 years now and I've had some tough times- my first bike breaking, having to use my wife's much smaller bike for a couple of months, pictures, weaving through gypsies and the worst- finding my bike was nicked from the train station. Well worth it though, both financially and health-wise.  One tip- get insurance. I also have a hybrid that cost around £200 and the insurance is only £15 a year. Well worth it, wish I had done it before my last bike got nicked.  Edit: regarding saddle sore- your arse will possibly become accustomed to it soon. Mine hurt like fuck at first but after a couple of weeks no more arseache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Danger Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I used to cycle to work when I was doing agency work on the industrial estate. 45 minutes soon turned to 20-25 minutes and the arse ache subsided. The cunts kept sending us to the other site half way through shifts and I'd have to cycle another 6 miles half way through a 12 hour day so I'd usually take about an hour and sit next to the River Dee and get some free money. Â Our cycle path is completely unlit and goes through a load of abandoned steel industrial sites so could be pretty spooky at night, especially when Purple Ake was staying in the area and was ducking the police and I convinced myself the old bunkers would be a perfect place to hide for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted March 12, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2015 I bet Aki loves a cyclist. Those muscular calves! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Pitcos Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 Which park is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Moo Posted March 12, 2015 Admin Share Posted March 12, 2015 It gets easier, I started cycling to work a few years ago when I worked about 8 miles away from home, on a route that took me up some really, really steep hills. I remember the first few rides being hellaciously tough. Back then I used to use an app only my phone to track my rides, and then I would manually collate them all into a spreadsheet to see my times etc. Nowaways it's a lot easier... http://www.strava.com/- use it to record your rides and see your progress. It has leaderboards for "segments" - little portions of your ride that other people have also ridden on. It's like XBL, except not for lazy gits .  Stick at it, it will get easier, and when the weather gets good it's the best way to get to work. Nowadays my 8 mile glorious, hilly commute out of the city and into the countryside is replaced with an all out war between buses, taxis, pedestrians and a horde of other cyclists. It's 5 miles but takes about the same time due to all the traffic. I still miss that commute. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-d-d-dAz Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I fucking hate cycling. Â To save money when I moved to London I thought I'd sack off getting a gym membership and just cycle to work. Â Between the threat of imminent death at every corner and finishing every journey feeling like i'd gone speed dating in a prison shower, I lasted about 10 days before I got a gym membership. Â Bullshit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members PunkStep Posted March 12, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2015 Yeah, fuck cycling in London. If you want to die, then I guess it's quicker than other methods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin Moo Posted March 12, 2015 Admin Share Posted March 12, 2015 Personally I consider it an extreme support combined with a rickety roller coaster. That's how I approach cycling in London. I expect to die, I'm reasonably happy when I don't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dart Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I'm walking at the moment, as my bike is knackered, but I usually bike to work. I do it mostly because it's quicker than walking than for any other reason, but if the weather's nice I'll go the long way home. I have to cross over the railway lines, and the bridge has a horse thing, which is so steep, I find that a bit of a bitch, especially after a day of work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Bellenda Carlisle Posted March 12, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2015 I cycle everywhere all year on a piece of shit bike I found dumped somewhere, my calves are incredible. The worst part of cycling in the winter is deeply breathing freezing air so that it burns your lungs, glad that shit's over for the year. All the fair weather cyclists are coming out now, good on 'em, even my wimpy girlfriend got her bike out of the shed today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Maverick Posted March 12, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted March 12, 2015 I'm starting to read all your posts in the voice off Captain Holt. I use a stationary bike which isn't even comparable but do about 15km 5-6 times a week and the change in my legs over the last year has been mental. Dropped just shy of 5 stone with that and a few diet changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted March 12, 2015 Share Posted March 12, 2015 I get pins and needles in my gentlemans area when I cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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