Wil6 Posted September 5, 2011 Share So I decided to do the Trans Baviaans this year after a successful (in my own opinion) first season as a novice in road cycling.Did most of the major road races like the Amashova , 94.7 and the Ofm classic in preperation for Argus 2011. After the Argus 2011 I bought my first mountain bike and started to clock in hours and hours of endless rides on my MTB.Made the Baviaans comfortably and took two weeks off to rest.Saddled up my road bike again this past weekend for a 100km fun ride and thought to myself now I am going to be better than ever.It was not to be! Man I was slow!With a 4kg lighter bike surely I would finish with a great time.My burning legs nearly gave up on 80km.Made the race and was moertoe after the race. If start to do interval training and speed work again, will my speed pick up drastically or will it take some time?Any advice for me please hubbers? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rattlesnake Posted September 5, 2011 Share I have found that all the endurance training (i.e. hours in the saddle) only does one thing - increases endurance. You can'tconly do endurance training and expect the speed to be there when you want it in a race. I learnt this the hard way, the only way to get faster is to incorporate specific speed, tempo and climbing days in your training routine. Focusing on cadence is also extremely important. I have found that 1 cadence focused day a week and one tempo / speedwork day a week have increased my average speed over a relatively short space of time. How much, depends on your current fitness levels, the fitter you are, the smaller the incremental increases in speed. There is tons of stuff you can read on the internet on speed, cadence and tempo riding. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoBigBen Posted September 5, 2011 Share Don't know about TB but I remember it took me a while longer than I thought to recover from Sani2C non stop .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_stig Posted September 5, 2011 Share Wouldn't the fact that you work at very different cadences for road and MTB racing also perhaps account for this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The expat cyclist Posted September 5, 2011 Share You took 2 weeks off to rest you say. Define what you mean by two weeks off to rest? I am asking as people think different about what rest really is... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wil6 Posted September 5, 2011 Share Wouldn't the fact that you work at very different cadences for road and MTB racing also perhaps account for this?My average cadence was 99rpm for the 100 km.When I did my endurance rides on the mtb I focused on maintaining a high cadence.But this weekend I ran out of breath the whole time and at about 60km I think the lactic acid kicked in and my legs started to weaken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wil6 Posted September 5, 2011 Share You took 2 weeks off to rest you say. Define what you mean by two weeks off to rest? I am asking as people think different about what rest really is...I rested,only did two 1 hour rides in that two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNT1 Posted September 5, 2011 Share You took 2 weeks off to rest you say. Define what you mean by two weeks off to rest? I am asking as people think different about what rest really is... Yeah. If you took two weeks completely off the bike, and rested from all activity, this sounds normal. You should Ideally have taken one week complete rest, and the second week active rest/recovery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The expat cyclist Posted September 5, 2011 Share For me rest works like this: I hang the bike in the garage and I don't even look at it. I go to bed early, I dont sit on th couch, I lie down! I bath rather than shower. I find the closest parking spot to the store. I ride the escalator and avoid stairs. This for the first week. Second week. LSD's. 1 hr rides max for the first 3 days. 90min for 2 days, 1 day off, 1 day 2hr. And then some low volume high intensity stuff in week 3. It works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wil6 Posted September 5, 2011 Share Cool thanks for the advise.Will start normal training again this week and will be interesting to see how I do this coming weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Posted September 5, 2011 Share I race both disciplines and they do help each other, but what I find even after racing mountain bikes through winter is that you will lose what’s called leg speed. So my first Fast road ride with the club a few weeks back was hell. Give its some time to get the leg speed back as they are now conditioned to Mtb pace and workload. It does come right . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeTurbo Posted September 5, 2011 Share I think your cadence is too high. I'd get worn out pumping at 99rpm. For road, it should be around 80. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wil6 Posted September 5, 2011 Share I think your cadence is too high. I'd get worn out pumping at 99rpm. For road, it should be around 80.That's the cadence I am comfortable with.Always worked for me on road and recently mtb, so don't think that's the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoBigBen Posted September 5, 2011 Share I think your cadence is too high. I'd get worn out pumping at 99rpm. For road, it should be around 80. I was always of the opinion that cadence is a personal matter, not the same for all riders .... #watweetek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bclark Posted September 5, 2011 Share Will spinning classes not help? Brent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron Posted September 5, 2011 Share Will spinning classes not help? Brent It will help your basic fitness , but at the end of the day if you want to be a better cyclist you need to ride your bike, there are no shortcuts. Hard fast club rides or Races will improve your leg speed thus getting your cadence up and ultimately improving your lactic acid threshold ( so your legs don’t feel like lead at speed ). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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