Road Cycling Essentials

[rogan]

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.

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.

I can do 45 mins tops, i dont get bored, i just get saddle pains I don't seem to get when on the road, I guess its something to do with the lack of moving around the saddle when on the rollers. I enjoy them way more than I did my turbo though

Its also vastly improved my balance on the bike, still not amazing yet, cant do no hands, but drinking is more stable that is was when i first started on the rollers

 

[grudas]

There would be no difference between the 105 crankset and FSA Omega. We know you don't put down enough power for stiffness to be an issue.

I thought the wear would be a lot higher on FSA crankset no? I've heard some bad things, and flex is a BIG problem in my case, I actually output a tosh load of power(thanks squats ) and I've managed to break my BMX cranks, frames etc..

Grudas, on second thoughts if you have most of the tools already why don't you self build and get yourself something nicer/carbon?

Carbon frameset: £240
Forks: £60
Groupset: £300

Cheap finishing kit: £100?
Budget left for wheels: £100?

that does sound like a good idea, I'm a bit torn between alu and carbon! I do want a STIFF frame. I'll have to look into it actually! custom is my preferred way of doing things to be honest.

Also why the compact chainset? Thought you liked a bit of speed

I have a 50/34 up front right now and around London that's more than enough with 11/25 cassette on the rear!

Grudas, change the tyres to GP4000S.

yeah I bet the stock/free ones are crap but I would buy a set of tyres with it anyway.

FSA cranks are fine. and Shimano are cheap to replace/upgrade if you want later on. For £35 more you are getting a much better frame and arguably slightly better kit all round. Plus I reckon that orange bar tape is very Grudas.

that tape is very me! and ROSE looks great but custom might actually be the way forward! I wonder what I can build for around £850

 

[touch]

flex is a BIG problem in my case, I actually output a tosh load of power(thanks squats ) and I've managed to break my BMX cranks, frames etc..

>Claims to be Chris Hoy

>Chooses compact chainset with 28sprocket cassette


...We see through your lies



(seriously though, a compact is the right choice)

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

I wonder what I can build for around £850

Well by Soloist frame was £400 and the 105 groupset was £330.

As stiff as a stiff thing with a stiffy.

 

[ShiWarrior]

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?

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

Calpol, that sounds spot on!

Thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it

today, I did 40 miles Just

after the first hour my legs were still feeling really good, after that my legs started to hurt a little, but after the 3 hours my legs were hurting quite a bit

5 miles from the end my legs were burning up, I didn't think I was going to make it home without bonking, but I did


so here it is :
http://app.strava.com/activities/128430926

any thoughts on my ride?

I keep wondering if I am over doing things, ie need a week off? or am I doing too little?

is it a good idea to do something like that today where my legs hurt at the end? or bad idea?

 

[grudas]

is it a good idea to do something like that today where my legs hurt at the end? or bad idea?

looking at analysis it looks like you simply need to push harder to hit your legs? I mean 13mph/avg is low and it looks like even of flat sections you're rarely going over 15-16mph.

KEEP PUSHING haha.

>Claims to be Chris Hoy

>Chooses compact chainset with 28sprocket cassette


...We see through your lies



(seriously though, a compact is the right choice)

I just went with 28 because I'm planning on doing more hilly rides and IMO it could come in handy?

Well by Soloist frame was £400 and the 105 groupset was £330.

As stiff as a stiff thing with a stiffy.

hard to find any for sale sadly.. would be nice tho but add wheels to that, finishing kit etc and it'll be closer to 1k

 

[Robzere31]

If you report a ride / segment to Strava, is it anonymous when the person is asked to check/correct their data?

I smell a rat here. Average speed of 54.6km/h and a max of 67.3km/h - can't say I've seen Mr Cavendish on my patch...

I've reported one recently, but nothing has come of it.

http://www.strava.com/activities/126865993/segments/2852576017

As good as the guy maybe, I don't think he is 23mph faster than me over a mile !

 

[touch]

any thoughts on my ride?

Looks good.

What did you eat and drink?

 

[ShiWarrior]

Looks good.

What did you eat and drink?

entire ride :

1 bottle of High 5 Energy Drink
3 cereal bars

 

[touch]

entire ride :

1 bottle of High 5 Energy Drink
3 cereal bars

Did you feel hungry at all?

Depends on what you had eaten before, but i'd usually want to eat more than that on a 3hour ride.

 

[nydryl]

http://app.strava.com/activities/128430926

any thoughts on my ride?

Your average heart rate seems quite low for a ride that's really taking it out of your legs. Could you try taking your average cadence up from 82 somewhere closer to 90, getting in an easier gear, and getting your heart rate up without killing your legs.

I'll qualify by saying that this could be a ******** suggestion.

 

[grudas]

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-insight-03-105-2014-free-lifeline-advanced-kit/

this for ~£860ish..

good?

cant see anything wrong with the bike, it looks great too..

 

[touch]

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-insight-03-105-2014-free-lifeline-advanced-kit/

this for ~£860ish..

good?

cant see anything wrong with the bike, it looks great too..

Frame looks very much like my Ridley Orion. Lots of other people saying that Verenti are re-badged Ridleys sold by Wiggle as well.

If it is, it's a very nice frame to ride.

(the 4za finishing kit is also made by Ridley)

 

[grudas]

Frame looks very much like my Ridley Orion. Lots of other people saying that Verenti are re-badged Ridleys sold by Wiggle as well.

If it is, it's a very nice frame to ride.

(the 4za finishing kit is also made by Ridley)

yeah that's what I've read! but I do like the look of the frame, full carbon etc for ~860 sounds like a banging deal with full 105! I just build a full alu with that spec.

 

[ShiWarrior]

ok, so im gonna do some shorter rides with a min of HR Zone 3 (141) with no maximum

then on Sunday ill do another 40 miles , seem ok?

 

[grudas]

ok, so im gonna do some shorter rides with a min of HR Zone 3 (141) with no maximum

then on Sunday ill do another 40 miles , seem ok?

it does sound ok but for .e.g my younger brother used to commute 5 miles/each way to work and he had no problems doing 40ish mile rides without training at a good pace(16-17mph/avg) ? I don't understand how your fitness dropped so much since xmas?

 

[touch]

ok, so im gonna do some shorter rides with a min of HR Zone 3 (141) with no maximum

then on Sunday ill do another 40 miles , seem ok?

If your legs are still sore from today, dont do a zone3 ride tomorrow.
A short, easy ride would be better to help recover. Maybe once round your village lap.

 

[ShiWarrior]

If your legs are still sore from today, dont do a zone3 ride tomorrow.
A short, easy ride would be better to help recover. Maybe once round your village lap.

I wasn't going to go out tomorrow at all, only work
Friday after work I probably go out on the bike


maybe do what you suggest on Friday?

 

[R0B75]

it does sound ok but for .e.g my younger brother used to commute 5 miles/each way to work and he had no problems doing 40ish mile rides without training at a good pace(16-17mph/avg) ? I don't understand how your fitness dropped so much since xmas?

I was going to say much the same, your (ShiWarrior) fitness level should be higher. I'm pushing 40, a stone overweight and an ex smoker who has only been riding on the road properly for just over a year. 2 years ago, when I was even heavier and very unfit, I had no trouble banging out a 40 mile ride, and where I live is quite hilly too. Personally I'd get checked out by your doctor to make sure there are no underlying issues causing fatigue. Or maybe if you ride every day you need to rest properly and let your muscles repair themselves.

 

[godinman]

I don't think I've ever been out on a ride and done less than 150bpm average. Probably missing out on some key benefits...

I went for a run last night, 25 mins of 178-184bpm, I want to get into running so I'm going to swap this for my v02 max cycling day as I'll still get most of the benefit from it, that leave one day doing hills and then a long weekend ride. Should be reet.