Veebee Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 While I am sure this has been discussed many times, but a simple question, how did you improve your cycling ? We are not all born with the genes to be a great athlete, so many hours of training is required to improve ourselves. I have been riding for about 9 months now and have made some decent improvements in my overall fitness and cycling abilities. From starting of at an average of about 16km/hr on a cradle loop, I am now able to maintain 22-23km/hr around there doing 2 loops or more. But it seems that I have now hit a bit of a brick wall in terms of improvement. I started of at 105kg, currently at 97kg and continue to work on my weight reduction. Goal is 85kg there about. I currently ride between 150-200km [6-9 hours] a week. So question is, what should I concentrate on next to make me a quicker / better cyclist ? What training on/off the bike will make the biggest difference and simply how do I become a rider of who can maintain an average of closer to 30km/hr on a 100km ride like the Argus/Tour Durban etc etc While I know power to weight plays a big part in this, I am never going to be 75kg and need to find other ways to improve. Do i just need more years on the bike or can improvement be done in a short amount of time ?
leaboy Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 from what i've experienced you need +- 2 years of cycling to become pretty competent (probably varies from person to person). I'm not a naturally fit person for what its worth.also consider doing HIIT sessions during your week, if ya don't already.also try riding with riders who are a bit faster than you.then just more T.I.T.S. and some more.
Long Wheel Base Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 Firstly, What does that 6-9 hours a week consist of? Do you add intervals or just ride ride ride? That is actually a decent amount of riding so id say you need to look at the quality of you riding.
J∆kk∆ls Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 Hi Vivek, Your weekly training seems fine for the goal you want to achieve.Find a cycling buddy that is fitter and stronger than you to help push and motivate better performance. Work on your core. This will stabilise your position on the bike allowing you to reserve energy that might be lost when pushing hard. Get a proper bike fit and keep riding.
SwissVan Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 While I am sure this has been discussed many times, but a simple question, how did you improve your cycling ? We are not all born with the genes to be a great athlete, so many hours of training is required to improve ourselves. I have been riding for about 9 months now and have made some decent improvements in my overall fitness and cycling abilities. From starting of at an average of about 16km/hr on a cradle loop, I am now able to maintain 22-23km/hr around there doing 2 loops or more. But it seems that I have now hit a bit of a brick wall in terms of improvement. I started of at 105kg, currently at 97kg and continue to work on my weight reduction. Goal is 85kg there about. I currently ride between 150-200km [6-9 hours] a week. So question is, what should I concentrate on next to make me a quicker / better cyclist ? What training on/off the bike will make the biggest difference and simply how do I become a rider of who can maintain an average of closer to 30km/hr on a 100km ride like the Argus/Tour Durban etc etc While I know power to weight plays a big part in this, I am never going to be 75kg and need to find other ways to improve. Do i just need more years on the bike or can improvement be done in a short amount of time ? Short answer (sorry I'm pressed for time today, work....)On a weekly basis you need to do some quality (higher intensity) work outs to develop the ability to ride at a 30km avg. Best plan, go for a performance test and program from a reputable coach.The performance test will access your capability and what effort zones you should train at to achieve improvement. Good luck
venom1 Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 Good Maintenance on my bikeMore saddle time Bike Fit (get conformable)Good Equipment (eg: decent wheels)Good Training Methods (eg: interval training)
obree Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 Is this road or MTB?How tall are you?When you say never be able to get to 75kg, why??
Patchelicious Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 Carry on and get to your goal of 85Kg. Weight loss is one of the single biggest ways of improving your riding.The training that you will put in to lose the weight will contribute to your fitness and power too. Maybe include some interval stuff to break plateaus. If you ride the cradle, this is easy, just ride the hills a bit harder than normal on your regular loop, recover between them. The terrain there is natural interval stuff Basically, carry on riding and eating well, the speed will come! Just persevere and be patient.
Escapee.. Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 A lot of TITS I dont agree with thisRiding your bike for hours and hours at low intensity wont get your speed up
Fat Boab Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 I'm a work-in-progress, so could be talking k*k, but what's working for me so far is lots of traditional base work (HR around 75% of max) AND bring in some intervals, where the world falls out of your bottom..... Even doing a comparatively small 3 week block of intervals amidst base-work recently has surprised me with the resulting increase in speed that I can 'cruise' at...
blondeonabike Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 Riding with a stronger group will help a lot.^^^^ Translated = Find a stronger group's wheel to suck.Lets call a spade a spade
Fruity Posted June 19, 2015 Posted June 19, 2015 I used to ride to work and back every day. The route was only 16km there and 16km back, although there were quite a few nice hills to work the legs. That, and just riding around the neighbourhood for a few hours every second day. It didn't take me too long to be in Batch A in the 40/45km mtb races (anything more than 45km and I wouldn't be a happy camper, I'm not built for longer distances), although I was riding a better bike than my previous one, so I think the bike also had something to do with it.
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