Peak Pedal, Not Peak Oil!

Trying to be the best human-machine hybrid vehicle I can be, to get in better shape I've also recently begun working really hard at old-fashioned pedal-pumping.

With no electricity, on flat pavement, without stopping or coasting I can pedal at 10mph for 4 miles before my legs become too pooped to participate, though my lungs feel great and I'm barely winded.

I'd like to get a better idea of the kind of progress I can expect if I keep working hard at it a few times per week, for the next few years. I'm presently 35 years old, and feel like the next ten years is my last chance to regain the excellent physical conditioning I had when I was a younger runner.

So what about you'all?

How fast a speed can you maintain over what distance?
How long/hard have you practiced?
How much did you improve over what length of time?
Any other info pertinent to the poll you'd like to share ?

(If your name is Fechter and you only ride a scooter, substitute no-electricity kick-scooting for pedaling )

I think I made it about 1/2 mile kicking my Zappy after a controller meltdown. It was not comfortable. Talk about a workout.

After just a little pedalling, my chin gets sore from my knees hitting it. (small bike)

Don't worry about body-recovery... people ten and twenty years your senior can get very active and healthy. My brother started running at age 62; he was not a total couch-potato, but had never enjoyed running as exercise until recently. He does 4 mi /day.

You got the right idea tho... do active things you enjoy: riding, running, swimming, rollerblading, skiing, tennis; whatever. If you find it enjoyable, you will do it more often. Hopefully on a regular basis.

Now pass me those Luckys...

My legs are suffering from MDS (motor dependency syndrome), so if I ever have a motor or controller failure far from home it's gonna be a long day.

xyster said:

I'd like to get a better idea of the kind of progress I can expect if I keep working hard at it a few times per week, for the next few years. I'm presently 35 years old, and feel like the next ten years is my last chance to regain the excellent physical conditioning I had when I was a younger runner.
<snip>
How fast a speed can you maintain over what distance?
How long/hard have you practiced?
How much did you improve over what length of time?
Any other info pertinent to the poll you'd like to share ?

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xyster...

I was born in `53. Pushed a gas pedal for a couple of decades, though used to enjoy the Victorian pedal bicycle. Covered Halifax to Kingston (Canada, eh?) once, about 1,000 miles, in seven days. Best run 160 miles over a long day (with stops for four meals)

While I have lived in a "car-free" community for the last ten years, for this last year I've been staying at a Club in town, where most of the Members are seniors.

It's been instructive to see the car-free folks still riding their pedal bikes in their 60's and 70's.. even 80's... because they have been doing this all their lives.

At the Club, most Members struggle to get from the door to their car or a taxi, with walkers and canes, `cause they have been transporting themselves all their lives by sitting on their butts wiggling a gas pedal.

Your choice <smile>

After millions of years of "product development", we are built as hunter-gathers. Active all day, just to survive. A couple of generations in the 20th-century automobile doesn't change this.

To answer your questions:
Q:How fast a speed can you maintain over what distance?
That's a two-part question...
How fast?
A:Faster than a Porche, stuck in bumper-to-bumper urban traffic.
Faster than the local public transit service.

How far?
Aepends on hills, winds, whether I need to arrive relaxed and fresh, or
needing a shower and a snack or a nap.

Q:How long/hard have you practiced?
A:Six years kickin'

Q:How much did you improve over what length of time?
Aon't know. Other factors muddy the waters, like getting older and
doing a lot of drugs.

I can offer a couple of analogies maybe... My sailboat of choice is a performance catamaran:


I don't do much to keep in shape off-season, so every season sees a change in my upper body muscles as I get this workout. I use my right hand (arm) for hauling mainsheet (line that controls main sail), and by seasons-end, I have shirts where the right sleeve is tight and the left is loose.

I remember too, a long-distance pedal bike trip, where on the third day I noticed that my feet were going numb. It turned out that the muscles on my legs had enlarged so much, my shorts had gone tight around my legs and were cutting off the circulation.

So my point in these examples is only that while we think of evolution (adaption) as taking millions of years, in fact our bodies adapt at an amazing rate.

Q:Any other info pertinent to the poll you'd like to share ?
A:Nope.

Cheers

Lock

Thank you, Lock, for sharing your inspiring experience regarding true "long haul" cycling. In addition to other exercise, I've been pedaling hard twice per week. I can now cover twice the distance than when I started a few months ago, and at 25% greater speed. Biggest problem is my butt getting sore from the seat -- and that's even with an oversized gel seat. Also, at speeds over 10-12mph pedaling my 100+lb hubmotor bike becomes much harder than I'd otherwise expect. On any given level stretch, I can maintain 2-3mph faster pedal-only speed with my lighter, motor-chain-to-freewheel Currie ebike than my x5.

xyster said:

Thank you, Lock, for sharing your inspiring experience regarding true "long haul" cycling.

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Yer welcome

Biggest problem is my butt getting sore from the seat

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It gets worse. Most of my heavy pedaling was high school. Pedaled all the fat off my ass. Found hard wooden seats in University really uncomfortable. On the plus side, the ladies seem to enjoy a firm butt, in certain <ahem> circumstances...

Once you try stand-up kick scoot, you never go back (to a seat)...

-- and that's even with an oversized gel seat. Also, at speeds over 10-12mph pedaling my 100+lb hubmotor bike becomes much harder than I'd otherwise expect. On any given level stretch, I can maintain 2-3mph faster pedal-only speed with my lighter, motor-chain-to-freewheel Currie ebike than my x5.

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Yah, can't understand those heavier two-wheelers myself. And chain and sprockets and gears... versus the hub motor? Folks tap about "performance" as speed and distance and efficiency numbers, but the really important factors are comfort and reliability and safety. Man I am so tired of stretching #25 chain! And grease. And noise.

tks

Lock

Riding your battery-laden ebike, how many miles (km) can you reasonably-comfortably (light sweat) pedal (pedal only) non-stop, no coasting, on level pavement, going 10mph (16kph)?

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I don't consider myself fit and I'm 37 but it doesn't sound like a challenge to me. I imagine I could keep going until I fell asleep and fell off the bike.

xyster said:

Biggest problem is my butt getting sore from the seat -- and that's even with an oversized gel seat.

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The gel seat is probably not helping as it is spreading your butt apart more than you are used to (or maybe not :lol: ) and thus your natural padding on your seat bones is less effective. Throw the gel saddle away and you'll be less sore.

I don't consider myself fit and I'm 37 but it doesn't sound like a challenge to me. I imagine I could keep going until I fell asleep and fell off the bike.

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Would that be an ebike of some sort? I'm pedaling a 50kg comfort-frame ebike with fat tires and a 12kg hubmotor with noticeable cogging torque. I haven't ridden a normal bike since I was a kid, so I have no idea how my pedal-only cycling would compare.

The gel seat is probably not helping as it is spreading your butt apart more than you are used to (or maybe not :lol: )

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Ha Ha Ha....

and thus your natural padding on your seat bones is less effective. Throw the gel saddle away and you'll be less sore.

Click to expand...

The gel seat is much more comfortable than the stock seat -- just not comfy enough for my boney butt.

xyster said:

Would that be an ebike of some sort? I'm pedaling a 50kg comfort-frame ebike with fat tires and a 12kg hubmotor with noticeable cogging torque. I haven't ridden a normal bike since I was a kid, so I have no idea how my pedal-only cycling would compare.

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Yes, I have a hub motor kit which weighs less than 10kg. Add in the bike at about 15Kg for an all up weight of 25Kg. I don't feel any resistance from the motor at 10mph at all. It's a geared hub motor with a freewheel so the only resistance is from the nylon planetary cogs which turn with the hub. There may be a very slight drag from this but I can't feel it at all.

Two times, I've gone 6-7 miles one-way (12-14 miles roundtrip) with my e-bike with the batteries unplugged - to keep the people I was with from making comments. I wasn't particularly exhausted by the experience, but it's a bit of a frustrating way to ride. You have the weight of the e-bike coupled with about 10% resistance from the motor... I'd much prefer to just use my aluminum non-ebike instead... on that I've done over 30 miles (in the mountains) in a morning.

Well, I didn't vote.

I think I could have ridden bike de merde 5-7 miles in it's element, if I had to, or much further in summer w/slicks. But even then, more then 20 miles would have made me stop & think about my options.

It was not geared to be used without the motor, instead I could cruise comfortably w/motor, go uphills without bogging down too much, or overrun the motor for short periods when needed.

Had to ride it once without the motor, the key switch had slipped out of it's holder then into the light thing case so I couldn't turn on the bike anymore, and I had to ride it 2kms that way. The blowfulness of that situations was only exceeded by it's sucktitude. If I had to ride it far, I think I would have moved the chain a gear or two up the freewheel, and walked it up steeper hills as needed.

As has been mentioned, a conventional bike is a hella better ride if you plan to not use the motor... If you can find something like an old steel road bike on garbage day sometime, may wanna pick it up cause by comparison it's gonna feel like a rocket.