No power

CSU

...been back on the bike to and from work this past 4 months, by no means would I consider myself fit, but a lot of the time it feels like there's too much resistance leaving me out of puff in my legs.

Bike has road tyres @ 60psi
All parts maintained and in good working order.
...it must be me.

Last week a little lady twice my age left me for dust on some warhorse she was riding, I don't understand ... WTF?

Sure, the guys on their super expensive road bikes always pass me by, that's different, something else is going on.

On the weekend I bought 2 continental city rider II tyres and things are worse, cycling seems yet more difficult.

Help?

Kaisr Sose

Are you 100% certain the wheels are spinning freely?
How do you feel of the bike?

CSU

Kaisr Sose wrote: »

Are you 100% certain the wheels are spinning freely?
How do you feel of the bike?

100% sure.

Not sure what you mean by feel?

Not out of breath or energy, legs just tired and after uphill as i slow down I get cramps in my feet... I drink lots of water all day so ???

irishrover99

CSU wrote: »

On the weekend I bought 2 continental city rider II tyres and things are worse, cycling seems yet more difficult.

Help?

Any of those touring/city type Continental tyres will make things worse.
They are meant to provide puncture protection so in other words they roll very bad.
I had the conti touring plus on for a few winters and while it allowed me to mess around in The Phoenix park and on the canals, on the road they were awful and gave no comfort.
If you got a puncture it took ages to change.

rtmie

You don't mention what type of bike, mountain bike, hybrid, road bike etc.
Depending on type your 60psi might be a bit low for road bike tyres Also how are you using your gears, grinding a hard to push gear or spinning an easy to push one.
You may be grinding a big gear and Turing out your muscles. It is easier to spin fast on a lower gear, may achieve more sustainable speed.

CSU

rtmie wrote: »

You don't mention what type of bike, mountain bike, hybrid, road bike etc.
Depending on type your 60psi might be a bit low for road bike tyres Also how are you using your gears, grinding a hard to push gear or spinning an easy to push one.
You may be grinding a big gear and Turing out your muscles. It is easier to spin fast on a lower gear, may achieve more sustainable speed.

Sorry, bike is a lightweight mid-range Trek/mountain bike - no shocks.

Tyres are rated max 60psi.

I'd be using all gears all of the time maintaining a constant as much as I can.

jive

CSU wrote: »

Last week a little lady twice my age left me for dust on some warhorse she was riding, I don't understand ... WTF?

I had a dude leave me for dust several times on my commute home and this guy was like Santa Clause in both age and stature, leaving me disgusted at myself and the mess my body had become. I bust a gut to catch him at a red light one day to drink in this glorious elder, turned out he was on an e-bike; queue massive relief and some semblance of body confidence restored!

My only advice would be make sure there is no rubbing of brakes and that your wheels turn free (hold bike in air, spin wheel, you'll know). The power will come with time spent on the bike.

CSU

jive wrote: »

I had a dude leave me for dust several times...

LMAO!

100% sure all is in perfect working oder ... took everything apart myself...lots a lube.

Macy0161

jive wrote: »

I had a dude leave me for dust several times on my commute home and this guy was like Santa Clause in both age and stature, leaving me disgusted at myself and the mess my body had become. I bust a gut to catch him at a red light one day to drink in this glorious elder, turned out he was on an e-bike; queue massive relief and some semblance of body confidence restored!

That happened to a friend of mine too - couldn't understand how she was hearing all these tales of a nieghbour doing relatively long distance cycles with no training, keeping up with another neighbour who would train. Turned out it was on an ebike! Not just the pro's that motor-dope

Kaisr Sose

If you are 100% certain it's not the bike and you are getting pains in feet or other things like abnormal fatigue, then you should have a visit to the Dr. Lots of physical things could impact on your power output or perceived effort. The site disallows medical advice or discussion though.

ED E

A simple thing to try would be downing a sports drink 15 mins before you leave, spike your blood sugar and see if that gives you a boost. If successful, review your diet with a professional.

rubadub

CSU wrote: »

Sorry, bike is a lightweight mid-range Trek/mountain bike - no shocks.

Tyres are rated max 60psi.

If they are big knobbly mountain bike tyres you could change to thinner slicks which can go to high pressure, made a very big difference to me.

Cee-Jay-Cee

CSU wrote: »

Sorry, bike is a lightweight mid-range Trek/mountain bike - no shocks.

Tyres are rated max 60psi.

I'd be using all gears all of the time maintaining a constant as much as I can.

What actual bike have you as 'lightweight' 'mid-range' and 'mountain bike' are not words that generally go together?

As it's a mountain bike of some sort then it'll most likely be fairly heavy and fairly slow due to knobbly tyres.

I have a heavy (13.5kg) Cube 29er mountain bike and I average 20kmph on it with knobbly tyres on a training loop/route. I also have a heavyish (10.5kg) gravel type road bike with 28mm road tyres and over the same route I average 25/26kmph. I can average 29/30kmph on my lightweight (7.25kg) carbon road bike on the same route. Bike type and weight makes a big difference.

Mountain bikes are not geared for speed and generally more suitable for trails and rougher surfaces.

Is there any chance you could borrow a road bike from someone just to see if your experiencing the sane trouble on it?

homer911

jive wrote: »

I had a dude leave me for dust several times on my commute home and this guy was like Santa Clause in both age and stature, leaving me disgusted at myself and the mess my body had become. I bust a gut to catch him at a red light one day to drink in this glorious elder, turned out he was on an e-bike; queue massive relief and some semblance of body confidence restored!

On behalf of the pedelec users out there, sorry for temporarily bruising your ego! I have been passed out by some elderly riders on regular bikes and I live for the day I may be fit enough to emulate them!

cyclocross!

When the chain is not on the crankset does the crankset spin freely?

2 things I have seen over the years. The screw that holds the cable guide being too long and pushing the barrel of the bottom bracket against the axle of the crank causing friction or the 2 sides of the crank being too tight to the frame and causing friction.

Is the brakeblock rubbing against the rim?

Kaisr Sose

It's not always the bikes fault...

Alanstrainor

jive wrote: »

I had a dude leave me for dust several times on my commute home and this guy was like Santa Clause in both age and stature, leaving me disgusted at myself and the mess my body had become. I bust a gut to catch him at a red light one day to drink in this glorious elder, turned out he was on an e-bike; queue massive relief and some semblance of body confidence restored!

I get passed by an old lad on a city style bike doing 45km/h+ fairly often, the first few times I couldn't understand it. I was flat out doing 40 and couldn't catch him. Fooking ebike, probably has a monster of a motor in it to get to that speed.

Try and keep your legs spinning, make use of the gears you have. No point in staying in a high gear and mashing away, when you could spin. If the bike is okay mechanically (no rubbing brakes, chain in good condition etc) then it might just come down to training more. And don't mind those cheaters on ebikes!

outfox

OP, I've gone through that 'no power' thing before. More than once. I find only one solution seems to work: Stretching. I suggest going for a physio session, identifying which muscles are tight, and implementing a daily stretching regime. You'll notice a big difference in 1-2 weeks.

bazermc

Are you sure the bike is not stuck in reverse gear. ????

secman

What are you doing to try to improve power ?
Usually just takes hard work and plenty of it, invariably you feel worse , tired for a while and then it kicks in , you will know that feeling when it happens. The old saying , you can't take out of the bank what you didn't put in. Bank the miles first.... best of luck.

homer911

Alanstrainor wrote: »

I get passed by an old lad on a city style bike doing 45km/h+ fairly often, the first few times I couldn't understand it. I was flat out doing 40 and couldn't catch him. Fooking ebike, probably has a monster of a motor in it to get to that speed.

Not street legal without tax, insurance and a helmet. To be legal, a pedelec's power must drop out at 25Kmh.

Kaisr Sose

homer911 wrote: »

Not street legal without tax, insurance and a helmet. To be legal, a pedelec's power must drop out at 25Kmh.

Some people are taking the limiters out. These should not be allowed in cycle lanes. Can be quite scary if they pass close.

CSU

secman wrote: »

What are you doing to try to improve power ?
Usually just takes hard work and plenty of it, invariably you feel worse , tired for a while and then it kicks in , you will know that feeling when it happens. The old saying , you can't take out of the bank what you didn't put in. Bank the miles first.... best of luck.

Oddly, I didn't cycle for 4 days in a row a while back and the commute to and from work the next day was insane, could push and push with no fatigue at all. Will look into taking care of myself a bit better , ignoring it truly shows...

saccades

Sounds like tiredness to me.

When I commuted tuesday & thursday I would/could smash myself and get 47/48 mins into work, when I upped to monday, wednesday and friday I'd lose the "zing" and be getting 50-52 minutes.

I now only get 1 commute a week (but it is 125km) and I'm still recovering on the club road spin 2 days later.

I kept a rough log of times, by the end of summer on 3x I'd be 2-3 minutes quicker every time than the start the start of summer and if I gave my self a rest and then went to set a good time to work I'd be 46 (so achingly close to 45 and then they "dressed" the road).