Road Cycling Essentials

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[Damien];23292330 said:
I'd rather do the bumps tbh. My problem with hills isn't power, it's getting out of breath so if I can get up before my breath runs out I'm happy.
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You tackle the long hills in a very different style to the short ones, you soon get used to it. :)
 
Each hill is different. And from riding them numerous times you soon become aware of where you can press more or where you need to take it easy. There are hills around here where you know you can go up at a steady pace and get into a nice rhythm. And there are others where you know you can push harder at times as you know there is a less steep stretch.

Practice :)
 
I bought my first road bike in June, and this year managed:
- First sportive (50mile)
- First 100 mile sportive (Pedal Scotland - 110 mile, Glasgow to Edinburgh the long and hilly way!)
- 3000km for the year
- A huge improvement in my fitness - unrecognisable from when i was a 20 a day smoker just 18 months ago.

Next year my goals are:
- Get some constructive training in right throughout the year this time
- More Sportives - already signed up for Etape Caledonia, and probably do at least 3 others
- 5000km for the year
- Cycle the length of Scotland - borders up to John O Groats
- Go hit a couple of good Scottish climbs i've got my eye on
- More w/end cycling trips with my mates - cycling round Arran this year was my fave.
 
I bought a road bike in July, done just over 3000m in total this year. Won't be doing anymore though as I had a pretty nasty fall yesterday.

I've done some longer rides, TTs and joined two clubs this year, Next year I want to get my TT time down and also do a 100 miler.
 
2011
Rode 450 miles London to Newcastle via Manchester.
~3500 miles in the year at avg speed 16.2mph.

2012
Rode 600 miles Newcastle to Paris.
C2C Whitehaven to Tynemouth - 136 hilly miles in 1 day.
Virgin Cyclone - 104 hilly miles in 6 hours 49 minutes.
~5000 miles in the year at avg speed 17.4mph.

2013 goals
A bit more reserved due to second baby arriving last month:
Race at least one road race/crit.
Race the CX season.
London 100.
Get up to Applecross and ride Bealach-na-ba.
~5000 miles at avg speed 19mph.
 
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I really fancy a double century ride too. My god that sounds like agony though lol!

I'm getting better though, after my first 100 mile ride, I felt like death. But after my latest one not too long ago, I felt pretty good. Not sure about double that distance though!!
 
I say my goal is a metric century at some point... I'm planning to do the 90 mile Liverpool Chester Liverpool ride in July, so might tack on 10 miles and call it 100 for the day :D
 
Don't see why. I upped my avg speed by 1.2mph over the last year and can't see why I couldn't do the same again next year so if I push a little harder than I did this year I'm there.
 
That seems like a very fast average speed to me!
My average speed for this year is 14.3mph (over 3500+ miles) and i consider myself reasonably quick. Some of that is on my MTB, but most of the road rides are in a group, so they should balance each other out.

May as well try it though, see how fast you can actually go.
 
InsomniaCalls said:
Don't see why. I upped my avg speed by 1.2mph over the last year and can't see why I couldn't do the same again next year so if I push a little harder than I did this year I'm there.
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Because 17.4mph to 19mph is quite a large leap compared to 16.2mph to 17.4, and then doing all your riding with an aim of 19mph will be quite taxing on the body.
 
my only goal is 5000 miles thats it really :) avarage speed is to hard to do because i live in a really busy city and commute to central every day..

long rides might do but at the moment im the only one with a road bike out of all my mates :o :) and cycling alone is a bit boring.

haven't entered anything yet and probably won't.

so yeah 5000 miles is my goal
 
Only started cycling at the end of June this year, and am quite unfit and overweight, still managed just under 550 miles (with nothing in november, for a mixture of reasons), including 46 and 67 mile sportives but mostly just commuting and some weekend rides.

So my aims for next year are fairly generic:
Lose weight/gain fitness
Do more sportives (I'd like to do 100 miles, probably towards the end of the year)
>2000 miles, both general commuting and I'd like to make it a routine to get out and do at least 1 ride at the weekends.
 
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