Road Cycling Essentials

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Had a good social 58 miles this morning with a few local guys that have formed an informal club. Not especially pacey as we had to keep waiting for a few of the slower ones, but first long ride with my new S-Works shoes and Specialized Romin saddle. Both were awesome - so pleased I've finally, after 2 years, found a saddle thats still comfy at 4 hours :)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/69209090
 
Sagalout said:
so pleased I've finally, after 2 years, found a saddle thats still comfy at 4 hours :)
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Brilliant isn't it?. When you have finally found your own "holy grail" of saddles. My weapon of choice is a Specialized Alias 143. Still cannot believe how comfortable it is on the auld sit bones after going through umpteen different Fi'zi:k's and Selle Italias over the years. :cool:
 
SDK^ said:
I'm also using a Specialized Romin and it's pure bliss. A 4 hours ride today and still fresh :)

What power meter are you using?
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Powertap - bought it about last October and its fantastic - best bit of training kit I've bought :)

680 watts peak isn't that high - its all about how long you keep the power up my 1hr power is 225 watts at the moment, up from about 190 in November. Hoping to try and get it to about 250-260 by the start of TT season at the end of April

This graph shows how todays ride was well down on normal power: Black line is todays ride, the main line is my best power for each interval, so my 10 min power was quite good (because we had a little race up a 10 minute 15% climb) but the 3 hr power was low, probably because the pace was fairly low and had a bout 10 riders sharing the load at the front.

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I've heard nothing but good about powertaps. To you set your training plans / intervals according to power output then? At the moment mine is purely based on speed, endurance and HRM which is less than ideal.

Also, I think I could only go second hand, and they don't come up that often. I'm looking at TT frames at the moment for this year's triathlons. An average build is going to be about £2k and a powertap set-up is about half again, isn't it?
 
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Yeah, training is by power now, which is good on the road as it makes you coast less and removes variables like headwind.

I bought a Felt TT bike for £1000 all in in the Wiggle sale. The powertap I got from wiggle built onto a DT Swiss rim - I think it was about £800. I use it on both bikes, and just have wheel covers for TT duties that I got from a company in the US
 
Struck me that I've got less than 6 weeks until my 57 mile sportive and I've got way too much holiday weight.

Has anyone got any decent links to diet* and food ideas for sportive training? I'm after more recipe and meal ideas rather than "you need iron and whole wheat carbs".

Also just put together a basic weekly training schedule. Lengths may be longer but I'm pretty busy this week so tried to keep them realistic else I just won't go in the first place:

Mon: Gym (1hr, 45 mins bike, 15 mins cross)
Tue: Cycle (1hr)
Wed: Day off
Thu: Cycle (1hr)
Fri: Gym (1hr, 45 mins bike, 15 mins cross)

I'd also normally play 2x45min games of squash during the week but both my partners are busy too.

* Diet as in general food intake, not a weight-loss diet.
 
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Russinating said:
Struck me that I've got less than 6 weeks until my 57 mile sportive and I've got way too much holiday weight.

Mon: Gym (1hr, 45 mins bike, 15 mins cross)
Tue: Cycle (1hr)
Wed: Day off
Thu: Cycle (1hr)
Fri: Gym (1hr, 45 mins bike, 15 mins cross)
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No weekend ride? Personally I think you need to get some long rides in, unless you already have a good endurance base. You should be doing at least a few 40-50 mile rides before the sportive, at similar climbing intensities.
 
I will be, but they'll be on an ad-hoc basis rather than scheduled. This weekend for example I've got guests all weekend so won't have a chance and one weekend a month (at least) I'm at my girlfriend's who lives 80 miles away (I'm planning on riding there and back in the summer).
 
Russinating said:
Any supplements to that or just plain porridge?
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07.00 Breakfast 1 is half a malt loaf, glass of fruit juice, glass of berocca
Ride
09.00 Breakfast 2 is 700ml skimmed milk, 50g calcium cassinate, 150g porridge
11.30 Lunch 1 chicken salad wrap or chicken breast with brown rice
Swim / Gym
13.30 Lunch 2 Soup & flapjack or chicken breast and brwon rice
16.30 Snack 700ml skimmed milk, 50g calcium cassinate, 150g porridge
Ride
19.30 Main meal - whatever I fancy.

I'm not very imaginative when it comes to fuel (stick me in a michelin starred restaurant and it's different) so I can eat that day after day for weeks on end.
 
Thanks for that. Just read this as well which seems basic but that's probably all I need for now (but is it still up-to-date/correct?).

My diet this week will be:

Ride (1.5 miles so barely worth mentioning)
09.00 Breakfast - 500ml semi-skimmed milk with All Bran/Fruit & Fibre/Bran Flakes or similar
12.30 Lunch - Toasted bagel with medium fat cream cheese and bacon (3 rashers)
13.30 - 17.00 Snacks - 100g dry roasted peanuts
Ride back
17.30 - Gym/ride/squash
19.30 - Main meal, which like you is whatever I fancy (though I'll be subbing in brown rice and pasta for white)

I'm not really doing that much at the moment, and I'm only slight (5ft 8", 11st, slender (32waist, 30/32 chest) with a pot belly) so that sounds about right to me, but please feel free to advise otherwise :).
 
Russinating said:
Struck me that I've got less than 6 weeks until my 57 mile sportive and I've got way too much holiday weight.

Has anyone got any decent links to diet* and food ideas for sportive training? I'm after more recipe and meal ideas rather than "you need iron and whole wheat carbs".
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I can't comment on your weight because I don't know you, but when I'm cycling and running a lot my diet pretty much just involves trying to pack in as many calories as I can eat. I just try and keep them good quality, so cut down on the crisps and really fatty stuff like kebabs. I still need things like chocolate to fill in the gaps though.

I'm sure at a competitive level it would make a difference with a high quality diet, but for my day to day regime I get by fine as long as I get my vitamins in.
 
Russinating said:
Struck me that I've got less than 6 weeks until my 57 mile sportive and I've got way too much holiday weight.

Also just put together a basic weekly training schedule. Lengths may be longer but I'm pretty busy this week so tried to keep them realistic else I just won't go in the first place:

Mon: Gym (1hr, 45 mins bike, 15 mins cross)
Tue: Cycle (1hr)
Wed: Day off
Thu: Cycle (1hr)
Fri: Gym (1hr, 45 mins bike, 15 mins cross)

I'd also normally play 2x45min games of squash during the week but both my partners are busy too.
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Sagalout said:
No weekend ride? Personally I think you need to get some long rides in, unless you already have a good endurance base. You should be doing at least a few 40-50 mile rides before the sportive, at similar climbing intensities.
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As per Sagalouts comment - you really need to get a least one ride of the distance done before the event.
Which sportive are you doing?
 
Yeah I totally understand that, and definitely will. My weekends are just too erratic for me to schedule anything regularly for them (I also work full days on weekends sometimes). I did 40 miles before Christmas which was my first long-ish one, but I didn't do any training before that at all other than my usual commute.

Doing this one: www.fightintheforest.com (50 mile route). Seemed like a nice one to start with, and with a 25 mile route amongst other non-cycling routes hopefully not too scarily competitive.
 
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Looks a good ride that :)

I'm signed up for the etape du dales again, and before that the Lakeland Loop, which I found really hard last year due to getting complacent and not preparing properly
 
So I was going to Dorset for the weekend but was going to come back early for a Sunday training ride with my training partners in the Surrey hills. Unfortunate they both rode into the side of a car this morning (two written off bikes and one broken collar bone) so now I'm doing the 57mile Ride to the Pies from Blandford Forum on Sunday.

Anyone doing it or done it before?
 
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