Road Cycling Essentials

[[Damien]]

Not sure if I should create a new thread, but here goes ..

What do you guys do to train? I mean, who was it Damien? did a double century Ride ? not too long ago

how do you guys do it

but lets make one thing clear first, I will not cycle to work (used to it when I was in my early 20's, never again) I do it for enjoyment now

my main goal in the long run, is to be able to do a century ride (I will probably do it on a 100 mile sportive)

My main concern at the moment is my Heart Rate Zones and the ability to increase my threshold

I have finally got what im going to do when im out on the bike next, which is :

Warm up for 10 mins
4 mins at Tempo (Zone 4)
2 mins Recover

do this another 3 times

then 10 mins cool down

do this like once or twice a week

Thought and opinions?

It wasn't me, no. I've only ever done a single proper century.

Personally I don't do any targeted training like hr zones or ftp or whatever. I just ride. I'd be interested to know mine out of curiosity but that'd take kit like a turbo trainer or power meter etc.

If you can cycle 30 miles you can do 60. If you can do that you can do 100. The only thing a longer distance means is that you have to pay more attention to fueling and pacing.

I could probably get more performance by doing intervals and stuff but that turns something I enjoy into a chore. I'll just keep riding as long a distance as I fancy and when I'm in the mood, climbing hills I think will challenge me.

Just relax and ride. The rest will follow.

 

[weta]

Made a basic Tour de France Google Calender with some basic stage info if anyone is interested.

https://www.google.com/calendar/[email protected]&ctz=Europe/London

Thank you!

 

[touch]

Warm up for 10 mins
4 mins at Tempo (Zone 4)
2 mins Recover

do this another 3 times

then 10 mins cool down

do this like once or twice a week

Thought and opinions?

Join a club and get out on some club runs. The best way to increase the distance you can ride is to go out and do longer rides and build up the distance.
Interval training and trying to increase your HR threshold, etc will help with your general fitness and top-end speed but if your doing a 100mile sportive, you wont ever be riding at that intensity. (Your legs will hold you back more than your lungs)
As well as doing longer rides to build up endurance, you should learn how to fuel yourself. What do you need to eat+drink the night before, a few hours before, during (and after) your ride? Everybody is different so you need to try things out and see what works for you.
Also, learn how to ride properly in a group (which will happen anyway if you join a club). There will be other people doing the sportive and if you know how to work with a group you'll save yourself a lot of effort.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Not sure if I should create a new thread, but here goes ..

What do you guys do to train? I mean, who was it Damien? did a double century Ride ? not too long ago

how do you guys do it

but lets make one thing clear first, I will not cycle to work (used to it when I was in my early 20's, never again) I do it for enjoyment now

my main goal in the long run, is to be able to do a century ride (I will probably do it on a 100 mile sportive)

My main concern at the moment is my Heart Rate Zones and the ability to increase my threshold

I have finally got what im going to do when im out on the bike next, which is :

Warm up for 10 mins
4 mins at Tempo (Zone 4)
2 mins Recover

do this another 3 times

then 10 mins cool down

do this like once or twice a week

Thought and opinions?

If your goal is just distance/endurance based, then I'd say you're over thinking it. Worry about all that stuff when you start worrying about how fast you want to do that 100 miles, or how tough a 100 miles you want to be able to do.

I started cycling properly in June last year. In march I did a fairly hilly metric century and in July I'm doing a fairly flat imperial century. I have done no structured training at all, I've just gone out and ridden my bike. When I first started, ten miles felt like quite a long way, and while I was doing 30-40 mile rides I was often absolutely ruined after 25 miles. Now I'm regularly doing 20-30 without breaks, and 50 milers are the new 30s. I think fuelling is a factor, and that is something you'll need to work on. Other than that, I'd say just ride. Ride further and for longer and hey, if you want, ride harder as well, but I don't think that's the key to this problem.

 

[Vonhelmet]

Yea, I can swap the lights easily enough since I can easily spend my C2W allowance on the other accessories.

My reasoning was this grudas (more than happy to have the flaws in my thinking pointed out!).

- Advice on here was to make sure I went hybrid rather than MTB, partly to ensure I got a decent gear ratio for road work.
- Having done some more reading, my worry with the Hybrid Comp was that if I want to do anything more offroad based, I'm looking at a new bike potentially, since most of what I read was of the view that it was heavily biased to the "road" end of the hybrid range.
- That led my thinking to a more MTB biased hybrid, but with lockouts on the front to make sure that on a commute I didn't lose out.
- I took the advice on here r.e. the helmet and tried a few on at Halfords today - luckily that one was comfy.

Does that make sense, or am I being totally daft?

Cheers!

That mx bike is better geared for the road than the carerra you looked at earlier, so that helps. It's still heavy, and the suspension will sap some power, but the lockout will help with that. Tyres won't be great for road use, and it may even be best to swap on a set of slicker tyres for during the week and put the big knobbly ones back on at the weekend.

None of us would say it's a great bike for the road, but if you're going to be offroading a lot, then it is probably a good bet. As I recall, your commute is only 5 miles each way, so you'll be able to do that in 25 minutes even on that bike anyway.

 

[uniQ]

First century can be daunting but as long as you pace yourself there isn't that much to it.

Find an event in a few months time, commit. Then get out and ride. Build up to at least one 60 miler and you'll be fine. Just pace yourself. I wouldn't worry to much about 'heart zones', club riding or the ins and outs of nutrition if it's a sportive theres going to be well stocked feed stations and as long as you have a couple of emergency snacks on you, you'll be fine. Just focus on building up some miles the rest can come later.

 

[Mr Jones]

Not sure if I should create a new thread, but here goes ..

What do you guys do to train? I mean, who was it Damien? did a double century Ride ? not too long ago

how do you guys do it

but lets make one thing clear first, I will not cycle to work (used to it when I was in my early 20's, never again) I do it for enjoyment now

my main goal in the long run, is to be able to do a century ride (I will probably do it on a 100 mile sportive)

My main concern at the moment is my Heart Rate Zones and the ability to increase my threshold

I have finally got what im going to do when im out on the bike next, which is :

Warm up for 10 mins
4 mins at Tempo (Zone 4)
2 mins Recover

do this another 3 times

then 10 mins cool down

do this like once or twice a week

Thought and opinions?

I have not thought a single thing you've mentioned. HR zones?! Maybe because I'm a newbie but if it's increasing distance, just go out and ride, then ramp it up a little on the next ride and again?

That's what I've been doing thus far. I am now learning to eat on the go - got the drinking part sorted. My max distance is only 37miles so food isn't a problem but I can forsee it coming - on my last ride, I was starting to feel a wall coming, but with hayfever kicking in mid-ride, it might have been due to that.

 

[Shamrock]

To prepare for the 150km sportive I went out and did a solo century under "controlled" conditions. That meant a familiar 10mi route with a rest/toilet stop I could lap continuously until I hit 100mi (or bail). Not the most exciting ride ever, but it allowed me to gauge how I felt every 10mi mark until I hit the century.

What I came away with was that nutrition and hydration was more important than fitness as most riders can probably do a solo century. It would just be the time that distinguishes them. Also, being comfortable on the bike is equally important as regardless of fitness you won't be able to finish a long ride if your body is racked with pain.

 

[tedmaul]

Personally I really enjoy training. I like pushing myself hard during intervals etc, and even though it can hurt like hell and have me thinking 'why the hell am i doing this' during some tough hill repeat session or something, the buzz of getting it done and feeling the sense of achievement is really addictive. And i love seeing how my fitness and strength on the bike has improved over time.

I did my first 100mile + ride last sept, about 3 months after getting my bike. Although i'd increased my distance over a 12 week period in the build up to it, i still really suffered on the day. I was chuffed to finish and all, but it really showed up my lack of endurance and my inability to recover quickly enough from regular hard efforts in the hills.

Since i started training in a more structured fashion i feel like i've overcome a lot of that. Doing 100km+ without stopping at between 16mph-18mph doesn't seem as daunting and/or impossible anymore and i enjoy it a lot more as a result.

Having said that, that's just what works for me. I can understand how others would see that kind of training as a chore and it would ruin cycling for them. And if you just want to get round a 100 mile sportive, you can do it just by getting out there and riding and increasing your distance gradually. As a few have pointed out, if you get that done then your biggest issue is understanding what fuel your body needs - it's a bit of a rite of passage to do a long ride and bonk half way round because you didn't eat/drink enough. It's a horrible situation when it happens, but you learn from it and make sure you do everything you can to stop it happening again.

Don't get me wrong, i still love to just get out and ride my bike. And even when training, the intervals part of my ride might only take 30 mins, and then i can just do whatever for the rest of the ride. And I tend to train for 8 to 12 weeks with a goal of a sportive ride or something at the end, then take 6 weeks 'off' just to do whatever. Ultimately it's up to you what you enjoy doing - ride in the way that makes you happy. I just thought i'd offer a perspective from someone who actually likes to do a more 'structured training' type of thing.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

What I came away with was that nutrition and hydration was more important than fitness as most riders can probably do a solo century. It would just be the time that distinguishes them. Also, being comfortable on the bike is equally important as regardless of fitness you won't be able to finish a long ride if your body is racked with pain.

This is what I keep telling people.

No-one believes me. I should change my name to Cassandra.

 

[#Chri5#]

First century can be daunting but as long as you pace yourself there isn't that much to it.

Find an event in a few months time, commit. Then get out and ride. Build up to at least one 60 miler and you'll be fine. Just pace yourself. I wouldn't worry to much about 'heart zones', club riding or the ins and outs of nutrition if it's a sportive theres going to be well stocked feed stations and as long as you have a couple of emergency snacks on you, you'll be fine. Just focus on building up some miles the rest can come later.

+1 from me.

Go out, ride lots, get the hours in the saddle in so your backside gets used to it. Find some decent hills to ride up to get the legs & lungs burning. Less thinking, more riding

 

[Guerrilla]

Anyone have any experience tips for switching drop bars out to a flat bar?

Bought a Triban 3 a little while ago for riding to work but so far really not loving it, coming from a MTB I just can't get comfortable.

Seems I underestimated the road quality also... Actually thinking about going back to my MTB bike instead but then this one just won't get used.

Do I just need to man the hell up and give it more time or is switching the bar out a viable option, that hopefully won't cost a lot?... I imagine the gears and brakes will need to be changed too?

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

You'd need to change a lot. I'm not even sure that mtb shifter cable pull ratios are compatible with road mechs.

Where / how are you uncomfortable?

Also, any chance of a picture of the bike as you currently have it?

Road bikes are very comfortable, if they weren't we would't able to do 7-12 hours at a time on them. However, they are very Goldilocks; either side of just right and they are no good and dialling in your bike to be comfortable takes time and some trial and error, especially as we are talking about adjustments of 5mm at a time.

 

[touch]

edit: ignore, i think i'm wrong

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

I think the shifter pull ratios will work. I remember contador using a MTB rear derailleur a couple of years ago (before the days of WiFli and other road mechs that can handle large cassette sprockets).
Still going to need to buy a lot of new bits though.

Just checked and all Shimano 7, 8 and 9 speed systems have the same pull ratio, it's just the 10 and 11 that are different.

The stuff I was reading was about using MTB rear mechs with 2300 shifters, but it should work the other way too.

 

[Guerrilla]

You'd need to change a lot. I'm not even sure that mtb shifter cable pull ratios are compatible with road mechs.

Was afraid this may be the case, didn't seem it was going to just be a case of changing out one bar for another

Where / how are you uncomfortable?

Mostly the hand positions, it's not so bad when I get a bit of clear, half decent quality road but I don't seem to get so much of that. I have been tending to ride with my hands on the top rubber parts (the hoods i think?) so i can access the gears and brakes, especially when around traffic lights and the like but after a while it starts to feel rather uncomfortable so need to change.

Also, any chance of a picture of the bike as you currently have it?

Sorry for the mess ...

I haven't changed anything from standard.

Road bikes are very comfortable, if they weren't we would't able to do 7-12 hours at a time on them. However, they are very Goldilocks; either side of just right and they are no good and dialling in your bike to be comfortable takes time and some trial and error, especially as we are talking about adjustments of 5mm at a time.

I can imagine it's more to do with me than the bike, I had a local bike shop give it a once over when I got it so I'm hoping everything is set up alright... It might be worth adjusting the seating or handlebar height. I do have a fairly large back pack (with clothes, waterproofs, lunch etc) but shouldn't imagine that'd make a huge difference?

 

[Shamrock]

Where is the discomfort? The bit between your thumb and index finger? Do you wear gel padded gloves?

The hoods or bars are definitely only for resting on, most of your body weight should be on the saddle or going into the pedals.

 

[[Damien]]

Those handlebars need rotating backwards. No wonder it feels uncomfortable on the hoods. As a rough starting point the flattest part of the underside of the drops (the end bit) should be parallel with the ground. From there you can make adjustments with the height/angle of the handlebars and if necessary, the angle of the shifters on the handlebar itself.

For now though I reckon just rotating the handlebars will make it loads comfier.

Edit: Most people I've seen who don't have their handlebars 'straight' angle them backwards if anything, not forwards.

 

[touch]

Looks like the bars are angled down a little which will put more weight on your hands. You could try lifting the front of them a bit.

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

Hoods should generally be the most comfortable place to have your hands. If you hold your arm out in front of you and relax then your hand should be in the correct position for the hoods; there is no tension in the muscles needed to get your hands into that position, it's the natural way for them to be.

If you twist your hands into a flat bar position you have to work for that and you can feel the muscles in your forearm working.

Is it a numbness that you get or something else? If it's numbness then it's too much weight on your ulnar nerve in the palm of your hand. You could try moving your saddle forward a bit OR rotating your handle bars OR flipping your stem over. All of these should take some weight off your hands. Only do one though and then ride for a few days.