[Closed] Struggling with biking at the mo

We’re you enjoying it before you got unfit? Also, have you put on weight during lockdown?

Rather then spend a lot of money on an ebike it sounds like you’d do better to get fit and see if that brings back the fun.

What kinds of ache are you getting and any idea why? Are we talking general muscle tiredness or worse than that? 5 months off makes a big difference to fitness and just generally being used to riding a bike.

Why not try some local rides of shorter distances a few times a week grabbing an hour or 2 here and there and then build up your distance over a month.

£2k is budget ebike money.

So do you want to get fit, or do you just want to ride with the least effort for the maximum reward?

If it's just being unfit, core strength etc then I'd say work on that - you may have to start with shorter rides but you'll soon start to see the rewards.

I'm starting to be of the opinion that for the unfit mtb'er (not age, or an injury etc - I'm all for ebikes giving those who can't ride due to something other than fitness a chance to be on a level playing field) that an ebike is 'the easy way out' and they'd be better off actually improving fitness.

Aches and pains will be there on an ebike too.

Before you go selling a great bike go hire an ebike first. It will help you make your mind up.

Do you have a road bike as well? I like mixing it up between the two. The benefits or a road bike to me is its so much quicker, no prepping your kit, you just get dressed, ride it and put it away. No washing (normally) no kit covered in mud and it hardly ever needs any tlc or new parts. It just works.

When I can't be bother with a 3 hour mtb ride I sometimes just go out on the road bike for an hour or two. It's probably my road bike fitness that makes my mtb rides so enjoyable and why my friends that hate road bikes struggle on long rides.

OP - I sort of get where you are coming from. My cycling has almost dropped off the radar this year (lockdown, Covid, post-Covid recovery) and I've been over-eating too so am overweight. Rides are tiring and I get back more beaten up than I did in the past.

However. I'm determined that this too will pass. Make plans, set targets (achievable but challenging) and use these to give you something to work towards. I'm already thinking of 2021 and what I need to start doing now. An Ebike isn't going to help.

Everybody is depressed and one effect of depression is that you stop doing the things you used to enjoy. I haven't ridden seriously for four months. My weight has dropped from 76 kgs to around 70 thanks to stress and anxiety and probably muscle loss.

Short rides, but often. You'll soon get fit without pushing into the back pain.

I'm a little torn on this, and think it may also depend on what your local rides are like. My brother has just got a Cube Reaction Race e-mtb, and lives next to a particularly hilly part of Salisbury Plain. Joined him for a ride and it was really hard work on a lightweight gravel bike on the climbs, and some of the rougher gravel sections. His bike is now unrestricted so he was bombing everywhere at 30mph plus! Reflecting on the ride afterwards, his 29" plus tyres were more suitable for the terrain, as was his front suspension. That said, I think I may have had the greater sense of achievement after cleaning all of the climbs. I tried the ebike after the ride, not a fan as incredibly heavy, so much so you'd struggle to carry it on a roof rack, etc. For the price I'd rather have a lightweight full sus with plus tyres, and work on my fitness. No way he'd have gone out without motor assist though, and he swears he gets a decent workout. He'd be stuck out there if he ever had a motor issue or ran out of juice. He'd need a passing Chinook to help evac!

I mainly ride my 29er as a go anywhere gravel bike. 20-30 milers during the week and maybe a longer one at weekends. I stopped riding for a bit to put a gravel drive in for extra parking. I thought I wouldn’t loose any fitness doing hard manual labour, all I did was wreck my hands and back and boy have I struggled on the bike for the first few rides back, only missed a months worth of riding. Getting back into it now just. Give it time.

Between Covid restrictions and then having to work away a lot for the rest of the year I’ve done so little riding compared to usual.
Strava says 600-odd miles, which is pitiful compared to usual. My last ride was on the 1st of Aug too so I’ve not ridden for a whole month!
Even when I’ve got the time to ride now, I don’t have the enthusiasm. The idea of riding with my usual group of friends is even worse as they have mainly used lockdown, furlough etc to get fitter and to to ride even more than usual so the gulf in fitness is getting wider and I dont want to be dragged around a ride by them, feeling crap and demotivated even more.
At some point the mojo will return, I’ll start hitting the turbo trainer again and work some fitness back into my legs.
Until then? Bikes are just things taking up space in the garage...

I used to be a bike obsessive and very fit. 10 bikes in the garage at one point. Disappeared every weekend to somewhere else in the country either for a race, an event or a jolly. Evening rides 3 or 4 times a week. 10,000 miles ridden in 2009. I became a sponsored rider for a local cycling team. Regional Champ at Vets CX. I was really fit and really enjoyed it. I couldn't imagine a time when I wasn't *racing*, let alone riding. That enthusiasm peaked when I was at my fittest, but lasted for about 10 or 12 years. However, about 9 years ago a change of job and a house-move (and a divorce!) meant I suddenly had a lot less time on my hands, and my interest in biking - and subsequently fitness - waned.

Then a Redundancy meant I had to start my own business and work from home, so for the last three years I've hardly touched a bike. In fact I've hardly left my desk, let alone the house. I've got quite fat and unhealthy. I didn't have the heart to sell a couple of bikes, though, even though they were quite literally gathering dust and cobwebs. I knew there was slim chance I might pick it up again one day, but I wouldn't and couldn't return to the same level as before.

Since the Spring (when my workload dropped off a cliff for the obvious reason) I've tentatively started riding again. Just short, local loops at first. An hour or so to start with, and definitely solo (I couldn't have kept up with any of my old riding buddies).

At the moment, I am enjoying riding. I ride a few times a week from my front door, and can now ride up hills without wheezing like a pair of broken bellows. And my back doesn't ache as much as it did because my core strength is gradually returning. My rides are getting *longer, hiller, and more enjoyable.

Bikewise, there's absolutely no point in my owning or riding anything expensive. I have no interest in driving a bike to ride anywhere, and locally there are no trails that require suspension. So I have a ten-year-old Rigid SS 29er, and a 12-year-old CX bike left over from my racing days (put some slicks on and it's a 'road' bike). I know I'll never be obsessive about it again, so am not going to throw £££ at cycling and buy something elaborate. I wouldn't dream of spending 2k on an e-bike.

Anyway, my point is that I knew that getting back into it would be hard. Largely cos I had lost my mojo and was a Fatty Fat-fat. I knew I was unfit and wouldn't enjoy riding if I started up again. However, the more you do it, the easier it gets. Baby steps.

(*to the point where my second-wife is starting to raise an eyebrow). 🙂

It's easy to feel sorry for yourself when you gain some weight and lose fitness, bought that t-shirt a few times myself over the last ~18 months (including recent weeks since having my back abscess lanced, after I got close to my best in July following a slump due to long-term fatigue issues in the aftermath of Covid infection in March), but ultimately it's down to us as individuals to either accept the currently reality or push that envelope again to try and get back or surpass our previous selves.

I’ve been struggling with health this year and taken a big dive in fitness as a result.

It’s been really helpful for me to stop seeing bike riding as a means to achieve stuff or challenge myself, but as a way to be outside and moving. Rides that are on the surface boring pootles have become really enjoyable and valuable to me.

That in itself has helped me get back to enjoying more challenging rides.

Oh, and if you can find the time for some regular ‘conditioning’ exercises you should be able to keep the aches at bay. It probably won’t take much - I just do 15mins of easy yoga a few times a week.

I’m in a similar situation (massively overweight, worse since ‘lockdown’, so biking in more arduous/demotivating because of, but am also reinjuring a groin-tear if I overdo it on bike (currently means if I climb hard while seated, or go for a sprint)

I was in this exact same place (albeit slightly less overweight) 2.5 years ago and bought a single-speed hardtail. So a ‘new-toy’ motivation boost, and also helped increase fitness/lose weight remarkably quickly. Loved it. Biking like a kid again. Just pedal, or get off and push.

I noticed changes in 3 weeks riding about 3x a week 1hr per ride. Living in the hills it still involved a fair bit of walking (32/16). Eventually lost interest for a number of reasons mostly the defective sliding dropouts 😡

I’ve been thinking of cleaning and lubing the MTB and then putting in storage.

Instead walk/jog/run for the winter.

Try biking again next spring?

Think about it. Save money have fun get fit, go on hikes, explore places. Ditch the car for local trips. Make up excuses to get out on your feet as long as you DO IT 😎

One or two nights a week, walk to supermarket and buy a smoothie or healthy snack, then walk home instead of watching tv etc. Any old ‘excuse’. Just listening to podcasts. Just listening to the birds. Just getting away from the screen/car/bike/those indoors. Find a walking-buddy. Find a running-mate. Enjoy it on alone. Mix and match.

In fact this has just convinced me that this is what I need to to do. Boot-clean tonight. Order new laces. Dust off MP3 player. Dig out the Lobo and fill it with sherry grab small backpack.

I'm in the same boat, gonna get an ebike

I purchased an Orange Five Pro new 2019 (i think) but IV been struggling to ride it as I’m not as fit as I used to be and I’m struggling with back/joint pain on long rides

I went through something very similar recently, broke my shoulder over the winter, had a baby and then lockdown, going out on rides I was being dropped or holding people up and didn't enjoy it. I was able to re find the love by nipping out solo and just repeating one trail interval style to get some fitness and bike skill back, it felt great to push hard and have the bike handling return, maybe give it ago?

There was a thread yesterday about time poor stretching for back pain, see what you can gleam and give it a go: https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/time-poor-bike-specific-stretches-back/