I've been riding bikes for ages, but I'm still not very good at it. And I'm really quite fat, 13 stone and five foot 5 and a half. I got myself a heart rate monitor and it's shown me that I never really get out of the 'pace' zone - so I'm slowly fat burning when I exercise but never going into the real effort zone. I never go above about 150bpm.
Riding on holiday the last couple of weeks showed me that I can get up hills, even long ones, but not steep ones. And I am slooooow when I climb hills. Soooo sloooooow.
I'm going to be 50 in January and I don't want to get all stiff and be a fat old woman who has no energy and have to use a mobility scooter.
Where shall I start?
I won't read the other posts so my thoughts are independent.
1 - There's absolutely nothing wrong with exercising in the fat-burning zone, especially if you a overweight and new to it all. In fact I'd recommend it.
2 - Steep hill-climbing is more related to Power:Weight than any other form of cycling. You are currently experiencing a double whammy of problems, not much power and too much weight (and possibly low fitness, possibly not.) Let's say you have great aerobic fitness and that it's simply Power:Weight. You have 3 options:
i. Increase your power. (Hill-climbing repeat sessions, High-resistance SPIN class, Wattbike, Squats in the gym..etc)
ii. Decrease your weight (5:2 diet works wonders, longer rides in fat-burning zone, say 2-3 hours where you are on the edge of being out of breath but can still chat)
iii. A combination of the above..which is clearly the best method.
That's the bad news.
The Good News...... If you have low power and you are significant;y overweight then the potential gains you can make are huge and rewarding. Every few pounds you lose, and every bit of power you gain, make for easier/quicker climbing.
Good luck (I'm on my own personal P:W improvement program at the moment, using 5:2 diet and Wattbike power classes)
