Road Cycling: Cycling Training Thread

I need new motivation!  I just finished one of my favorite loops.  26 miles relatively hilly an average of about 15.5mph.  Pretty slow for me... my legs were done before the big climb.  The best thing about today was shorts and short sleeves!!!!  Spring has arrived in the Western Carolina mountains!  Hope everyone has the best ride ever tomorrow!

Thanks to Mark for starting up this thread.

I recently joined a local team that I've been riding with for the past 2 years and I'm really excited about focusing on more cycling this year.  Of course I'm finishing up a run focus this week so my mileage is lagging, but I've been out a few times and I'm feeling good.  Today I plan on going for a short (~30 mins) spinning around the neighborhood to get in some saddle time and to keep my legs loose for the Shamrock 1/2 this weekend.

Once I get back into the serious cycling time and get in some races I'll put up more info.  In the mean time, Good Training!

- Matt

Ah, that post-ride-shower feeling!

Off work early on Saturdays, stretched and dressed by 16:30.

Headed off on my main climb here, up to the local ski-slope.  Not much wind today, compared to recent weeks, and the afternoon sunshine was lovely.  I felt able to maintain a higher pace than usual on the lower slopes, and in fact felt great for the first half of the climb.  But I paid the price on the top third, my breathing became laboured and my pulse hit the roof.  Wound back to an easier pace, and nonetheless beat my previous time for the climb by 30 seconds. 

The ski-slope, packed with people just a couple of weeks ago, was now just a muddy hill.  Not so many cars passing me now, this is my domain!  On the down-side, the cedar trees have started pollinating now, giving me an allergic reaction.  Had a good cough at the top, stretched, and felt better. 

Gravity paid me back on the descent, but I stopped for a few intervals on my favourite part of the climb.  Finding I can get a good rhythm going or good technique, but not both at the same time.  I need to set out with the intention of doing intervals, my cardiovascular fitness is pretty poor...

Anyway, feeling good, very chuffed with myself for keeping going through the winter.  Just hope I can keep my dodgy knee from playing up.

I hope you all have a fantastic ride, folks!

Mark 

Re: Those folks who haven't discovered the benefit of wheels are having a grand old time posting a training thread. 

I am a runner who discovered "the benefit of wheels" about a year and a half ago.  I am a little apprehensive posting in a cycling forum as I am still a newbie...but I could not resist your recruiting efforts

I am in Chicago (western suburb) and still have my bike on the CompuTrainer...as of yesterday there were still chunks of ice on my driveway and the roads are littered with potholes and watery runoff - not a pretty site.  Some guys I ride with have been out a couple of few times...but it is been a long tough winter and until we get a more major break in the weather I get a better workout on the trainer.  Also - we don't have any hills to speak of around here.

On Saturday I was able to get in about 16 miles on the bike (front end of a brick workout...).  The main part of the ride was a simulation of the Coors Light triathlon course 12.5 miles with some challenging hills (more challenging that I can get outside at home). 

I am looking forward to getting outside - but in the three months I have had it - I have gotten a lot out of the trainer and all of the data/feedback it provides.

I am curious - has anyone else out there ridden with or routinely trained with a CompuTrainer or equivalent?

Hey Guys!  The 1/2-Marathon went well.  It was a little cold and windy, but I was able to post my 2nd fast time.  Now, it's on to the cycling focus of my year!  Woo-Hoo!

I haven't used a CompuTrainer but I would love to get one.  Everything I've ever read about it is very positive.  I know some of the others on my Fat Frogs Racing team use similiar apparatus in their training and it's done them well.  Nowadays it seems like cyclists are "feedback" hungry creatures (wattage, distance, speed, average everything, etc.) and the CompuTrainer looks like something I'd want to feed that desire.  I use a fluid trainer (with not much feedback honestly) for my indoor training.  It's done well for me at my amateur level so far.  Maybe one do though...

Alright, back to the grind for me.  Good Training & welcome to the group Joe!

-Matt

Great work Mark!

It's hard to compare my workouts on the fluid trainer except by my HRM.  I may need to look into the CompuTrainer some more.  Christmas is coming, right?

- Matt

I was thinking along the same lines as far as convincing my wife that I "need" to spend that $$$ on some more gear.  I didn't realize you could do side-by-side comparisons of workouts.  That seems like a great feature.

I was planning an easy ride up to the lacrosse game that some of our youth guys are playing in this afternoon but the 20-30mph winds (gusts over 40mph!) and the called for thunderstorms might put a damper on all the plans...mine AND theirs!

Yeah, I wouldn't think about an interval run as part of a brick but you can't let the 16-yr old show up the "old" man, eh?

Hope all is well with everybody in this group.  Good Training!

- Matt

I've joined a cycling club team this past month and there are a couple of races coming up in April.  There is a TT and crit weekend with the TT on Saturday and the Crit on Sunday in 3 weeks from now.  I'm planning on doing both of those.  There is also a practice race series (crit style) that is every Tuesday night starting on April 1st that's really close to my house (like I might be able to ride there as a warm up close) that I might be able to do a few times.  There are a couple of tri's coming this year as well, mostly sprints and a couple Oly's.  That's it for now.  Thanks for all the info on the features and the father/son saga.  I'm sure you're a proud papa there Joe.

Good Training!

- Matt

Hello guys!

Sounds like your training is going well, I hope everyone has great weather this weekend.

Me, I'm afraid I have no excuses, I just haven't been on the bike since my ride last Sunday.  Today I went out on my usual route.  I went out a little too hard, especially on the climb.  Still a bit of snow at the top, but this was the first time I've had a dry descent.　The road surface is actually quite bad in places, I have to brake pretty gingerly, but my descent today was a fair bit quicker than my previous attempts.

 I felt pretty tired on the way back, but am hoping to put 100 k's on the clock tomorrow.  There, I've said it now, I have to try!

 All the best for everyone this weekend!

 Mark 

Well, I tried!

It started raining toward the end of my first 35 km loop, but to be honest I was glad of the excuse, I think going too hard yesterday after my week off rather took it out of me.

On the positive side, I found a new road with a nice windy descent for practising my technique, as well as a good straight climb for some interval training. I live to try another day!

Joe, I hope Spring will come for you soon!  I imagine you'll find yourself in good shape once the roads become usable!

Happy riding, everyone!

Mark 

Here's what I got for yesterday:

Workout 1: CrossFit - 3 rounds for time of:

a. Row 500m

b. 30 Burpees

c. 30 Knees-To-Elbows

Time: 30::32

Workout 2: Tempo run (15min w/u, 10 min @ tempo, ~6 min c/d) 3.5 miles

Today is going to be a swim (~2km) and a bike ride (Sweet weather today!) probably about an hour (18-20 miles?).  I hope everybody is doing well.

-Matt

So the swim I had planned for yesterday didn't happen.  I doubt it will happen today either.  I guess that means I need to get to the pool earlier on Thursday and go a little farther.

However, I did get in the bike ride and it lasted about 50mins (~15 miles).  I've decided I suck at riding in the wind.  I have 2 bikes, one Trek that is my road bike (i.e. drop handlebars w/ Shiman STI Ultegra group) and one Kestrel that is my tri/TT bike (i.e. cowhorn with aerobars).  I ride my Trek more and save the Kestrel for my tris/TTs.  Seems like I catch a lot of wind on my Trek but I'm hoping it makes me stronger/faster.  It seems to work since my tri/TT pace is about 2mph higher then what I hold on a normal ride on the Trek.

Anyway, today is a CrossFit day and then I've got a hockey game tonight (spectator).  Tomorrow is another bike (I'll try some fartleks like you suggested Mark) and then some rock climbing in the afternoon.

Good training guys!

-Matt

Hey guys!

My usual route today, set out on the climb today with the intention of setting a breathing rhythm, keeping my cadence and gear choice in line with that.  I was happy with the result, my climb to the top was done in 14:10.  I've set myself the arbitrary target of 13 minutes for the same climb, so a little bit of a psychological boost today!  Thanks for your encouragement, Matt.

I've been having wind-problems of my own!  I guess you need to bear in mind that air resistance constitutes the majority of the resistance you are working against on the bike.  In that sense, air-speed is a more accurate measure of your power output on a ride than the rate your wheels are turning.  But I can sympathise with the feeling of being hit by a strong gust and loosing that chunk of momentum!  It sounds like you have the right attitude, though, a chance to improve your strength.

 Which leads me on to my interpretation of fartlek on the bike.   Generally speaking, I try to keep my cadence at a fairly constant level.  For me that's about 100 rpm, relatively high, I know. Increasing cadence tends to lead to a decrease in pedalling efficiency, in my experience.  I guess your gadetry would give a better indication of whether or not this is true for you, Joe.  Personally, I just flick up a gear and try to maintain my previous cadence for a minute or two.  On the hills, being a very poor (albeit enthusiastic!) climber, I find myself working close to the red-zone throughout my climb.  Today, as I felt good during the climb, I opted for a little interval training, stopping half way down and then climbing back up for about a minute two or three gears higher than I would usually use when just aiming to get to the top.  I hope it will work!

 I'll be interested to hear other people's ideas, and whether fartlek or intervals have made a noticable difference on their performance.

Happy training, everyone! 

Fellas,

Looks like you guys are doing great.  Mark, your smart choices of goals is very motivational & is making me look more realistically at some of my workout setups.  I appreciate that!  Joe, sorry for the crazy weather.  No snow here in VA but it's going to be 80 today and 50 tomorrow.  Silliness!

Cadence: I'm personally a 90-100rpm kind of guy.  I also think it's kind of a "personal" thing since 100rpms works well for some guys (i.e. Lance) and 70rpms works well for others.  Mashers vs. spinners.  Joe seems to get a lot of good data from the SpinScan so that makes the investment seem worthwhile to me.

Fartleks: If you get in a group of riders then your idea Joe of doing bike fartleks like you do in your runs would be great.  If you're riding alone then you can do what I do and pick a point ahead (stop sign, driveway, bush, etc.) and go as fast as you want to that point.  Or you can do it by time (i.e. go hard for 3 mins, recover for 3, etc.).  Fartlek is Swedish for "speed play" right?  So, go out and have some fun playing around.

Yesterday was a nice day for a ride and I got about an hour of saddle time for about 18 miles.  I went up to where the local crit training races are going to be and rode the course.  It was  little windy on the back stretch but it was a good ride overall.  At least I'll be familiar with the course if I can get into the race this Tuesday.

Good training!

-Matt

Ah spring!  It has sprung here in VA.  That means when I saw the 7-day forecast this morning on the local news, 5 out of the 7 hard the rain icon on it.  Good times!  Also, the temps ranged from 78 to 53 throughout the week.  Even better times!

Of course Joe's weather takes the cake and I'm by NO means trying to compare ours.  I'm just letting you guys know I'll be using all sorts of my "bad" weather gear this week (i.e. arm warmers, rain jacket, etc.).

The weekend was a bust for me because of family obligations and travel for that, but this weekend is "free" and the wife and I have decided to keep it that way and ride when we can.

Today I'm going to mix it up a little and do an interval run wrapped around some CrossFit exercises.  Total of about 5 miles of running and about 30 mins of body punishing...er...work outs mixed up like a smoothie.  Promises to be fun!  I'll let you guys know how it turns out!  March is almost done but now the madness goes into April.

-Matt

Yes to carbo loading!  I had my pizza and beer on Saturday.

Still darn cold here (below freezing here on Tuesday night).  

I was able to squeeze in a quick 30 minute bike ride (trainer) with a focus on high cadence (high for me anyway - I had 3 minute stretches of 105).

Matt: What happened to the crit's?

Stay healthy,

Joe

 

Hello guys! Embarrassingly long absence for me, today was my first ride in a week.  The weather  was  perfect, though,  mid sixties with just a light breeze.  Hope you guys get some of the same!

Despite my frustration at not getting out in the week, I think the break may have done me some good.  I went out fairly easily, but challenged myself with some 'speed-play'.  Good stuff!  Felt pretty strong throughout the ride, and my knee felt just fine.

 I'd like to try and get a regular training program going.  I'm thinking of six days on, one day off, with my first day a regular training ride with a timed climb, the second day a set of intervals on a nearby slope, and the third day a recovery ride, repeating the pattern on the next three days before the rest day.  

 Does that sound sensible?  What kind of pattern, if any, do you apply to your training?   I'd appreciate any kind of ideas you could give me, my philosophy up to this point has really been 'just ride', and I get the feeling I overdo things at times.

 Hope the weather is good for you!

 Mark

Hello Joe,

Glad to hear that the weather has finally turned good for you!  Hope it stays that way in the run-up to your triathlon.

 Many thanks for your ideas, it makes a lot of sense.  I have been trying to find events to enter.  There are plenty of hill climb events in Japan, unfortunately they're all pretty far away, and only having Sunday off work makes getting to them difficult, if not impossible.  Never mind, I kind of view each ride as an event, like you do on your trainer I race against my previous times, and I've never felt bored, despite riding most of the time on only two routes.

 Cross-training is something I'll have to give serious thought to.  Unfortunately, running is the only viable option as far as I can see.  I say unfortunately because I know from experience that my running gait is somewhat bouncy, I ran in my student days, and I'm worried that I'll do myself some damage.  Well, I guess there are plenty of people on this site like yourself I can ask for advice.  I'll have to visit the shoe-shop for some strange flexible shoes!

 Take care, thanks again for your help!

 Mark.

Alright,

So, the TT on Saturday went pretty well.  It was kind of windy but otherwise a great morning for a ride.  The results are posted yet but I cranked out the 12 miles in about 32 mins holding (according to my cyclometer) 20.5 mph average.  That's about what I was shooting for, so I'm happy.

HOWEVER, the crit on Sunday was a whole different story!  The Cat 5 race had about 48 dudes in it and they were obviously much better prepared for it than me.  The old mantra that, "You can't win a crit in the first few laps, but you can certainly lose it" rang true for me.  I got shot out the back of the pack so fast it made my head spin.  I tried to hang on but no luck.  Me and about 3 other dudes got lapped about 5 times (0.4 mile track) before getting yanked by the official with only about 5 mins left to go.  Oh well, at least I didn't quit right?  A humbling experience that will make me better prepared for the next one.

Alright, back to work for me.  Good Training!

- Matt