How did you improve your cycling

[Veebee]

My advice get a powermeter and a coach

 

surely it can be done without both

[eddy]

surely it can be done without both

 

Sure, it can. But this is the fastest and surest way of doing it.

[Johny Bravo]

Diet

As in what you eat. You can't out-exercise a bad diet so make sure you're eating properly.

 

Cross training

Try add in some trail running, swimming, gym work, etc.

 

Race

See how well you can do in your start group. Make an effort to improve your seeding. Ride with people who push your pace.

110 percent agree. Cycling alone wont get you to lose weight. Also mixes things up a bit.

[SwissVan]

currently weight 97. I think 85 or below if I can get there would be good. Lean is good, skinny is not...

 

I don't mean to be rude, but i think you need to reassess what being skinny is and which sport you want to improve in (Rugby or cycling, im sure you said cycling ?). 75 kg for a 1.82 m male is not skinny, only in obese societies.

Do your self a favour and check your BMI using your desired weight of 85 kg. See screen shot below of an example i found on the UK NHS website using your age listed on your profile.

 

Ultimately even at your current weight you should be able to achieve your goal riding speed, but it will mean training clever and the best way to do that is with a reputable cycling coach program. Coupled with further weight loss and you will be klapping the cradle routes by the end of the year.

 

 

Sorry just twisting the knife a bit more

 

[Dgas]

Sure, it can. But this is the fastest and surest way of doing it.

I got a power meter a few weeks ago, now need to get a coach and a training plan. But already I can see the benefits, I have sort of worked out what Watts I can climb at without dying at the top. I have started reading the books on training with power. It definetly us the way to go if you are serious.

 

Heart rate varies according to how you are feeling on the day, power meters tell you what you are pushing no matter how you are feeling.

 

I use a indoor trainer at least 3 times a week, ride that and watch the power. Concentrate on keeping the power constant throughout the ride and try and improve. Also interesting to see the correlation between cadence and power. I have picked up my cadence rather than pushing on the pedals.

[Oufy MTB (Roadie)]

For me, riding with a Heart Rate monitor and make sure I spend most of the time in Zone 4 and 5. In Zone 3 and below I can ride 24 hours non-stop so it is the intensity that is important. In other words, you moet trap dat jy ........

[Patchelicious]

I got a power meter a few weeks ago, now need to get a coach and a training plan. But already I can see the benefits, I have sort of worked out what Watts I can climb at without dying at the top. I have started reading the books on training with power. It definetly us the way to go if you are serious.

 

Heart rate varies according to how you are feeling on the day, power meters tell you what you are pushing no matter how you are feeling.

 

I use a indoor trainer at least 3 times a week, ride that and watch the power. Concentrate on keeping the power constant throughout the ride and try and improve. Also interesting to see the correlation between cadence and power. I have picked up my cadence rather than pushing on the pedals.

The added benefit of increasing the cadence is that your power curve will improve. The sausage as they call it. At a lower cadence it is harder to keep the power on the rotation smooth, the dead spots are more pronounced, and when you slow it down you tend to pedal in squares.

 

Interesting to play with this and practice pedal techniques on the Wattbikes.

[Frosty]

sorry it is road

I am 1.83m, and if I get to 75kg I would look sick...

I was 85kg in July last year. I'm 77kg now and I am also 1.83m tall. No special diet, just smaller portions, less junk/processed food and 2-3 midweek training sessions and voila... 8kg less.

 

In terms of getting faster, there's more than one way to skin a cat, so while a power meter is the in thing, if you don't know how to analyse the data you're getting an expensive gadget.

 

If you ride in a group/club then find better riders than you and try keep up with them and eventually help with the pace making. I have often pushed a few club members over a short climb, to ensure they can stay with the group on the other side. You push them a little less each time and before you know it they are getting over the climb by themselves.

[Dgas]

The added benefit of increasing the cadence is that your power curve will improve. The sausage as they call it. At a lower cadence it is harder to keep the power on the rotation smooth, the dead spots are more pronounced, and when you slow it down you tend to pedal in squares.

Interesting to play with this and practice pedal techniques on the Wattbikes.

The Computrainer also has a feature that shows power throughout the pedal stroke. Supposed to be quite accurate. The Computrainer is a bit cheaper than a Watt bike. Have a Tacx at the moment but planning to get a Computrainer quite soon.

[eddy]

I don't mean to be rude, but i think you need to reassess what being skinny is and which sport you want to improve in (Rugby or cycling, im sure you said cycling ?). 75 kg for a 1.82 m male is not skinny, only in obese societies.

Do your self a favour and check your BMI using your desired weight of 85 kg. See screen shot below of an example i found on the UK NHS website using your age listed on your profile.

 

 

This assumes that we are all Ectomorphs.

 

There are some musclebound body types who will have a BMI of 25-30 with single figure body fat percentage. They are NOT fat

[SwissVan]

This assumes that we are all Ectomorphs.

 

There are some musclebound body types who will have a BMI of 25-30 with single figure body fat percentage. They are NOT fat

 

Not at all, take a look around you at the mall tomorrow and tell me how many mesomorphs you see, unfortunately i suspect you will see more obesity than damn lucky baastid mesomorphs

 

The BMI thing is a general indication and not a golden rule 

[Bianchisti]

well thats just the thing, while group riding is better, I do not want to rely on a group to make me think I am a better cyclist.

 

On the contrary, riding with a stronger group can make you realise how weak you are. I'm talking about that moment you go out the back, you try your best but the gap just gets bigger and bigger. We've all been there.

[Fat Boab]

An ex-pro friend of mine suggested to me, when I was moaning about being dropped on hills on training rides, try and stick with them a little longer each time before sitting up, vomiting, passing out, or whichever mode fatigue triggers. It worked pretty well. Not recommended for base-training though.....

[RyanD]

I read everything I could find on effective training and the points that keep coming up is to have a plan and stick to it. If you are doing a base ride keep it in zone 2, be strict. Another point to remember is that only after two hours on a ride like this will you begin to use fat for fuel and it is something your body has to learn to do.

 

Joe Friel has a three part article on intervals and this info is golden in understanding what you are trying to achieve, you begin to understand the different intervals and what they are trying to achieve. Concepts such as work interval WI and rest interval RI along with total work interval TWI. I can pull off two effective intervals a week when race fit. Don't overdo them. If you do them properly it is easier to do your slow rides slow as you know you have earned them and that you will work hard during the next interval.

 

I had my vo2 max measured at Prime in Durban. This gave me solid info on my training zones, get fit and have it measured.

Rollers helped my pedal stroke, they are also a great tool to do a zone three ride for an hour and a half if the weather is poor. Any improvement in efficiency is good.

 

Lastly I constantly remind myself that the difference between pros and committed ametures is that pros go really easy on easy days and really hard on hard days, we tend to feel like we are training Ineffectively if we are riding in zone 2 and end up doing a moderate effort, avoid that trap.

[Patchelicious]

I read everything I could find on effective training and the points that keep coming up is to have a plan and stick to it. If you are doing a base ride keep it in zone 2, be strict. Another point to remember is that only after two hours on a ride like this will you begin to use fat for fuel and it is something your body has to learn to do.

 

Snip*

This is what every single coach I have ever spoken to says:

 

We as amateurs do the easy stuff (LSD) too hard and the hard stuff (intervals) too easy...

 

When you do LSD stuff do it in the right zone. I find it harder to be strict of the easy rides than to be strict on the hard stuff. If you end up riding too much Z3 stuff, you plateau.. well according to them. Live in either Z2 for base rides or Z4/Z5/Z6 for various intervals, recover Z2.

[L.T.G]

for me TITS and ......I started running 

https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/148695-runningit-sucks-but/

I feel like this every time I do 

but it has helped