I use the activity finder on strava for things like this.
Enter start point, desired distance and elevation gain then just follow a random person's ride.
Road Cycling Essentials
- Thread starter Matutu
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I use the activity finder on strava for things like this.
Enter start point, desired distance and elevation gain then just follow a random person's ride.
Don
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- 20 Oct 2002
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- Oxfordshire / Bucks
Thanks guys
Well, last year when I was in the club, I did there 50 mile reliability trial, I did that on my own, and I put in extra miles to get to the start and back, and I managed it all 65 miles without bonking, and I didn't eat at all, I dinno why I'm struggling this year. when I rode with the club we constantly do around 40-50 miles, sometimes because I cycle to them, I do an extra 5-10 miles
How much have you been riding over the last few months?
Don
- Joined
- 20 Oct 2002
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- Oxfordshire / Bucks
I ride 2-3 times a week, all over winter I've been out (although I was on the turbo in November for 2 months)
im off out now to do some miles
but i'll leave you with my strava for you too see
http://app.strava.com/athletes/1072386
Lap around the village looks like a perfect training route to me.
If you want endurance do 3, 4, 5 laps etc.
If you want speed push yourself over 1 or 2 laps (remembering to warm up first) but make sure your heart rate is up the whole time.
What is stopping you from going out with the club again?
If you want endurance do 3, 4, 5 laps etc.
If you want speed push yourself over 1 or 2 laps (remembering to warm up first) but make sure your heart rate is up the whole time.
What is stopping you from going out with the club again?
Ok let me caveat by saying that I am no expert but here are my observations
You are running out of endurance at 35 miles ish because your body is not used to performing for that length of time. Most of your rides are less than 30 miles and at what look like fairly low intensity.
- This training in Zone 2 HR I find to be completely useless for time crunched riders. I am not sure what age you are but riding at 140bpm is not stressing your CV system. its ok if you are training every day and need a recovery ride but not when you are riding 2-3 times a week
- Looking at your ride history you did a reasonable amount last year but not a huge volume and little over 50 miles. Therefore you simply do not have that base level of bike fitness yet.
- From what I can see your biggest week last year was c120 miles. That isnt really a lot if you want to improve. I also suspect that you might not be stressing yourself enough on your shorter rides.
- This is not a fuelling issue. Your previous posts suggest that you are if anything eating too much. AFAIK the body has around 2 hours glycogen stores at zone 3 level activity. I can ride 2 hours or 35 miles with no fuel.
My advice
- Up the intensity of your shorter rides. For me this means 20-30 mile rides where my average BPM is over 160bpm
- a good way of doing this is to click down one sprocket from where you are comfortable riding and push yourself to the point where you feel the lactate in your legs
- find a ride buddy who is stronger than you are force yourself to hold his/her wheel
- try and build a few more 40 milers in if you can, then 45s, then 50s. On your longer rides you do want to be coming back home feeling that your legs are stressed.
- see if the club has a faster group to aim for.
- allow yourself recovery time and try and incorporate some off the bike core exercises.
In summary, you have made a good start but you cant expect your body to cope with 50 miles without incident when most of your rides are 20 miles at low intensity. I find STRAVA a great motivator at times, the segments for me are like intervals on the road all of which helps build strength and endurance.
After the winter it can be a bit demoralising when your level drops but it soon comes back if you ride often enough and hard enough. Hope this helps and doesn't come across too critical
Echoing everything Calpol said above, especially the caveat about not being an expert: I found the most speed and endurance gains I made last year seemed to be had from riding a lot of high intensity ~30 milers - really pushing for the majority of the ride. Longer and slower when I had the time, shorter and faster when I was pushed for time, and take a break or go very very easy when I was feeling burnt out. Seemed to make relatively decent progress in a year on the bike doing that sort of routine.
Just posted in another thread, but just took delivery of an Elite roller http://www.wiggle.co.uk/elite-arion-parabolic-rollers/
Had a quick 30 minutes on them just now and despite initially thinking WTF was I thinking buying these, I am actually getting used to it slowly but surely.
Least I have no excuses now to put in an hour or two a day on the bike. Granted I'm not mega serious about my riding, do it purely for exercise and fun
Does anyone else use rollers? How is everyone else getting on? I migth have to invest in some training tyres as mine seemed to get pretty warm. I imagine the heat would normally dissipate when out on the road.
Had a quick 30 minutes on them just now and despite initially thinking WTF was I thinking buying these, I am actually getting used to it slowly but surely.
Least I have no excuses now to put in an hour or two a day on the bike. Granted I'm not mega serious about my riding, do it purely for exercise and fun
Does anyone else use rollers? How is everyone else getting on? I migth have to invest in some training tyres as mine seemed to get pretty warm. I imagine the heat would normally dissipate when out on the road.
I have their AL13 rollers.
I enjoy riding them, but find it boring after more than 30 minutes. You can make it a lot harder than the road too as there is no let up apart from stopping and getting off.
My riding position also seems slightly different to on the road, I ride more forward and over the bars on the road.
Cheers Berger, yeah I was considering the resistance unit, but now I have these, I think they'll be more than enough on the higher gearing to give me a workout.
I do think I need to invest in getting my seat/pedal/cleat position looked at professionally. My position does indeed feel different to riding on the road as well. And at higher cadence I feel like I'm rocking forwards and backwards on the rollers. But at lower cadence it feels a lot smoother.
I do think I need to invest in getting my seat/pedal/cleat position looked at professionally. My position does indeed feel different to riding on the road as well. And at higher cadence I feel like I'm rocking forwards and backwards on the rollers. But at lower cadence it feels a lot smoother.
think this is what I'm going for.. -;
any things to change/add? also.. campy is tempting too.. but I wonder if any of my tools will work with that groupo? I know shimano/sram share the same but what about campognolo ?
[*]Frame- Ribble 7005 Sportive Frame 55cm (C-Top)
[*]Headset - Ribble Headset Branded Ribble 1 1/8" Hidden (ITS) 45 x 45
[*]Groupset - Shimano 105 (5700) Black 10 Spd Double Groupset
[*]Cassette - Shimano 10 Spd 105 5700 Cassette 11-28
[*]Chainset - Shimano 105 Black Double 5700/5750 10 Spd Chainset 5750 Compact 175 34/50
[*]Wheels - Fulcrum Racing 7 Pair Wheels 9/10/11 Shim
[*]Handlebars - Deda RHM 01 Bars Black 42cm
[*]Handlebar Stem - ITM Alcor 80 (31.8) Stem Black 100mm
[*]Headset Spacers - Trivio Headset Spacers Alloy 1 1/8" Black 10mm
[*]Saddle - Selle Italia X1 Man Saddle Black
[*]Seatpillar - Deda RSX 02 Seatpillar Black on Black 31.6 350mm
[*]Tyres - Yaw Nitro Rigid Tyre Black/Black 700x23mm
[*]Inner Tubes - Yaw Butyl Inner Tube 700x18/25 SV42mm
[*]Handlebar Tape - Deda Cork Ribbon Handlebar Tape Black
- Price excluding Pedals: £807.95
any things to change/add? also.. campy is tempting too.. but I wonder if any of my tools will work with that groupo? I know shimano/sram share the same but what about campognolo ?
I think the debate was had earlier in the thread but if it was me I would get this instead
http://www.rosebikes.co.uk/bike/rose-pro-sl-2000-2014/aid:668081
Its lighter, arguably has better wheels and to my eye is better looking. Ribbles are good bikes but a bit "meh" at the cheaper end. The rest of the spec looks comparable.
Please if you order the ribble dont get those shoot yaw tyres!
If you go through the special edition bike section, you may be able to save a few quid, if you are happy to switch a couple of things - the seatpost (Deda RSX 01 instead of RSX 02) and the stem (Deda zero 1 instead of the ITM one). However, you do have to switch the wheels out for something like Shimano RS21, which I appreciate may well be a deal breaker if you really want the Fulcrums.
As for Campagnolo, the tools are incompatible and the prices start at LOL and go all the way up to WTF.
Calpol, that sounds spot on!
- Joined
- 3 May 2004
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- Kapitalist Republik of Surrey
Rofl
Garmin Edge 1000 announced!
http://gizmodo.com/garmins-edge-1000-may-be-the-smartest-bike-computer-ye-1561155835
http://gizmodo.com/garmins-edge-1000-may-be-the-smartest-bike-computer-ye-1561155835
Yep so true. My eyes bled when I saw the price of the Overtorque tools.
while the ribble is a bit MEH look wise it has full 105 groupo.. ROSE is a really good looking bike but FSA crankset plus £70ish quid extra over ribble doesn't make much sense? it is lighter tho..
sounds like campy is out of the question then!
I'll take a look at the special edition bikes, thanks.
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