Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Dec 2004
- Posts
- 17,124
- Location
- Shepley
And another here for anxiety. I really notice the difference when I'm not riding regularly.
Road Cycling
- Thread starter Zefan
- Start date
- Status
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Apr 2004
- Posts
- 4,790
- Location
- London
Anyone here used an intermediate training plan before?
I've been saying the last two winters I'd look at getting one, I find it odd that they are sold at a fair amount of £ when they aren't tailored to an individual and was wondering if there's some good free guides to building your own and what you should be aiming for? It doesn't help that I don't have any specific goals in mind, I just want to continue building power - the last two years I've basically gone in circles
I've been saying the last two winters I'd look at getting one, I find it odd that they are sold at a fair amount of £ when they aren't tailored to an individual and was wondering if there's some good free guides to building your own and what you should be aiming for? It doesn't help that I don't have any specific goals in mind, I just want to continue building power - the last two years I've basically gone in circles
Soldato
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2009
- Posts
- 14,068
- Location
- France, Alsace
I find it helps me with stress and clears my head a lot. I only started road riding last year, like August. Before that I used my MTB, but hadn't for over a year really. I did a stint of 6 months where I hammered it daily and lost 2 st, then ate my bike and everything around 
I had a couple of fairly decent rides today. On the way in this morning, other than nearly puking on the border guard, I hit a 20sec off my PB on a 2min segment, which is nice.
On the way home did a slightly longer route, hit 4 PBs and took a second spot on one segment.
https://www.strava.com/activities/516957564/zone-distribution
Now just done chest and tris in the gym, finished off with a 10km watopia.
It's so much nicer when you're not freezing your sack off outside.
I had a couple of fairly decent rides today. On the way in this morning, other than nearly puking on the border guard, I hit a 20sec off my PB on a 2min segment, which is nice.
On the way home did a slightly longer route, hit 4 PBs and took a second spot on one segment.
https://www.strava.com/activities/516957564/zone-distribution
Now just done chest and tris in the gym, finished off with a 10km watopia.
It's so much nicer when you're not freezing your sack off outside.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 16 May 2005
- Posts
- 31,298
- Location
- Manchester
Sign up to TrainerRoad and jump on one of their plans. Pretty cheap.
Really though it comes down to a few things:
1) Paying attention to what goes in you.
2) Measuring what you do.
3) Comparing the above two things, working out a correlation...
4) As per weight lifting, progressive overload/increasing.
Even "building power" is a bit too generic. What do you want to build the power for? Everything? Or a focus on short sprints, hill climbing, building endurance for audax-style riding..etc.
Soldato
- Joined
- 7 Jul 2009
- Posts
- 16,234
- Location
- Newcastle/Aberdeen
Well, there's plenty of resources and pre-made plans out there. But they're all pretty targeted. If you just want to generally improve then you could do a lot worse than riding regularly. But if you feel like you're not making any progress, you've probably reached a plateau and need to add more training volume or intensity. It's annoying because, if this were running, I'd recommend Jack Daniels' book which explains all of this very well and gives you the resources to construct your own training plans. But since it's not... there's Joe Friel, which I haven't read. Some people love it, some say it's quite dated. There's are others, but evidently none that really stand out. Feel free to try them, but be critical about them.
I would suggest a book though, rather than paying to access some pre made plan without any context. That, or a coach.
Soldato
- Joined
- 30 May 2009
- Posts
- 4,638
- Location
- Maidenhead
Cheers, have had some real positive comments which I didn't expect, means a lot!
Cycling has well and truely hooked me, absolutely love being out and riding (minus the commutes some days
Shame it took me until 21 to get into, 16-17 could have been fun, but was never in the know about anything I know now, races would be fun.
Wait a minute!
Still jealous you got into it at 21! I have so much progress to make and I'm 27. Still, like others said, better late than never. People here have really helped me find the motivation to cycle and this weekend was amazing. Gained so much motivation. Now to shift my remain 7kg before the summer and then I can really start to build on my power!
Not really sure if this is better here or in the MTB thread but... does anyone here try and mix up some bridleways in their road riding?
I'm considering giving it a bash and if I enjoy it buying a bike that is setup for the job which would also take over from the hybrid for winter duties. Obviously I'll try it out for a bit using either my MTB or hybrid before laying out on a new bike (although a new winter bike is on the cards anyway)
Anywho my question is, what do you use for mapping? I've put a few maps together using plotaroute.com but you need to be cautious because Google street view shows that some of the paths that look like bridleways are actually private roads and fenced off! I know OS maps would be the most accurate way but I'm lazy and want a tool to create routes I can just drop onto my Garmin.
I'm considering giving it a bash and if I enjoy it buying a bike that is setup for the job which would also take over from the hybrid for winter duties. Obviously I'll try it out for a bit using either my MTB or hybrid before laying out on a new bike (although a new winter bike is on the cards anyway)
Anywho my question is, what do you use for mapping? I've put a few maps together using plotaroute.com but you need to be cautious because Google street view shows that some of the paths that look like bridleways are actually private roads and fenced off! I know OS maps would be the most accurate way but I'm lazy and want a tool to create routes I can just drop onto my Garmin.
Good to know there's some of us that don't quite fit the MAMIL label
24 here but really got into it start of last year so I guess 23 for start. I really wish I had got into it when I lived in San Francisco area for a year... thoroughly enjoyed riding out there when I last visited on business!
All I would say here is you'll want to check out what the bridleway is like first. I thought I'd do some bridleways on my hybrid with a mate on his hardtail back in January... Turned out to rather muddy to the point you just wheelspan in many areas and were carrying extra kilos of mud! I had just nicked an Evans MTB/Cross route from a previous event.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 17 Aug 2012
- Posts
- 6,593
- Location
- Tamworth, UK
Wow, didn't realise we had such a mixture of ages. I feel like the child now. Guess I shouldn't take 21 for granted. 
But it is a great sport, I got into mainly after I split from my ex and needed something to keep my head occupied on something and it really helped even if it was just commuting for 6 months!
Glad to see so many good stories come from cycling!
Guess I shouldn't take 21 for granted. But it is a great sport, I got into mainly after I split from my ex and needed something to keep my head occupied on something and it really helped even if it was just commuting for 6 months!
Glad to see so many good stories come from cycling!
Good to know there's some of us that don't quite fit the MAMIL label
Unfortunately I am the typical MAMIL. I'm a fat 45 year old but I don't care, I enjoy riding my bike and its getting me fit and thats good enough for me.
I just enjoy going out first thing in the morning and riding out in the countryside with hardly a car in sight and enjoy the view and the peace and quiet. Simple pleasures are a valuable thing in life.
Last edited:
I dont grind up hills, just on the flats but you are right, I should spin a bit faster as it takes less energy.
Same here
51 in July and love riding my bike, getting fitter and losing weight slowly and steadily.
But I do wish I'd started riding years ago.
As for hills, I grind up them no matter what gear I use.
Last edited:
I use bing maps to check out a route on OS maps then plotaroute to copy to my garmin.
Most of the time I just go without a map and find my own way around. Just find a path and follow it to see where it goes.
I don't have any private land or access issues to worry about though.
There is no point spending any money on a plan that is an off the shelf "fits everyone" plan. Like you say a plan should be tailored to the rider, so the best option is to spend your money on Joe Friel's cyclsts training bible and draw up your own plan.... It's a lot of reading and a lot of time to do it properly but it is the best option out there other than paying a coach, in my opinion.
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 16 May 2005
- Posts
- 31,298
- Location
- Manchester
Ugh..Just checked and I'm almost 100 miles down compared to this time last year. Given that I couldn't ride through some of Feb/March last year due to an operation that is disappointing.
Don't sweat it pal. 100 miles = one really nice weekend with lots of cycling
The year is young!
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 16 May 2005
- Posts
- 31,298
- Location
- Manchester
Don't sweat it pal. 100 miles = one really nice weekend with lots of cycling
True enough. I just was hoping to stay ahead
My climbing is at least a little higher.I did get caught out with a Sustrans traffic free route on my hybrid once. Steep hill, slippery wet mud... it wasn't fun tbh! Part of the reason I want to look into it is to see what type of bike I could use. I've got an old MTB which isn't worth much which I might tweak to turn it into a machine for just this use. I was going to sell it but I'd be lucky to see £40 for it. Then again if the off road stuff is less rough I might go down the cross / gravel bike route.Good to know there's some of us that don't quite fit the MAMIL label
All I would say here is you'll want to check out what the bridleway is like first. I thought I'd do some bridleways on my hybrid with a mate on his hardtail back in January... Turned out to rather muddy to the point you just wheelspan in many areas and were carrying extra kilos of mud! I had just nicked an Evans MTB/Cross route from a previous event.
I hadn't thought of using Bing maps, I'll give that a go. Unfortunately here what look like public rights of way on plot a route are often through private land and fenced off.
There don't seem to be any long sections of bridleway just odds and ends cutting through fields. Would be nice to use them to link up sections of road rides though.
- Status