Getting The Most Out of Your Rides - Advice?

[...simplicity...]

Hi. All,

Sorry it's a bit of a long one. Having got into cycling in 2010 and subsequently taken my bike on a variety of slow paced, 60-70 mile a day cycling holidays since (I'm off to Scotland at the end of the month), I thought I'd come on here and ask a few questions about getting the most out of my recent road training. As stated above, I generally use my bike for cycle touring and commuting, but have recently obtained a Boardman Road bike that I've had out over the summer. I'm currently riding 40km in and around 65 minutes, and was hoping the community might help with the below:

1. What would be the 'correct' way to train to become a strong 'all round' rider - e.g. good climber, good time trialist, good endurance etc... I have played football all my life, but have now started to ride my bicycle a lot more, and can feel my body slowly changing (hamstrings are a lot tighter, I have less flexibility when playing football, I have lost a lot of upper body strength, and have gained muscles around the knees that I never had before). As stated above I am currently going out 2/3 times a week on quite high intensity 40km rides which I'm completing in and around 1hr 10 minutes, with a couple of climbs thrown in for good measure. Would I be better off lengthening the rides and reducing the intensity? And if so, what would a reasonable distance be? I'm quite interested in taking on some substantial tours in the near future, so would like to prepare my body in alignment with taking on 70-100 mile days with my fully loaded bike. I guess what I'm asking, is what would the community recommend as the best training to get into a 'good all round' shape.

2. Does anyone subsidise their training with gym work? I undertook a triathlon a few years ago and was told that plyometrics and core exercise would ultimately strengthen most activities you undertake - so things like weighted lunges, squats, weighted step ups etc... Does anyone else have any experience of this, and how have they found it effect performance on the bike?

3. How should you tackle different types of climbs? I know this is quite subjective, but there must be some research on the most effective way to tackle certain types of climbs? For example, should you stay seated and get in a high cadence rhythm on a steady climb, and get up off your seat and work a really low gear on short steep inclines? I have a preference to mimic Froome and stay in my saddle and just crank down on the lowest gear I can stay on. Interested to here the communities thoughts, and if so, any tips they might have. E.g Should you go full pelt at a climb at the base or does this in the long run waste too much energy at the beginning?

4. What position should you be riding in most of the time? I tend to sit fairly upright with my hands curled around the brake hoods, and only really go down when I can feel the wind or am really going at it with some speed. Should you aim to ride most of the time down on the bars?

5. How much resistance should you be feeling on the pedals? I know this sounds like a really stupid question, but bear with me. I have a tendency to try and get in the lowest gear I can manage on any particular scenario, in the belief that this will provide me with the highest speed. However, it would make sense to me that sometimes it might be more beneficial to drop down a few gears with the aim of being 'smoother' and thus saving energy for later in the ride? How much resistance should you be feeling to know you're in the 'right gear?' I hope this will make sense to most riders, but I generally have a slight fatigue/aching just above the knee/lower quad, when I think I'm gearing too high. This is normally felt if I misjudge an incline, or have to stop at a light and find myself pulling out in a low gear. But with both of my bikes (touring and road bike) I generally find myself using the lowest 2 to 3 gears for 90% of my riding. Am I wrong to think retaining the lowest gear is the best way to go faster? Would I be better off dropping down a lot more and managing my ride better with very little resistance? Do the pros generally ride in the highest gears at all times?

I realise these are quite pedantic questions, scatter gun questions, but as a fairly new (road) rider, concerned in performance, I'd be really interested to hear people's experience of the above. I can't help but think just joining a local cycle club might be the best course of action

Happy riding and thanks in advance for your help.

M

[...simplicity...]

And, just to add - when I take my bike out on holiday (fully ladened with tent, stove and the rest), I do take the time to enjoy the scenery and the ride, and generally cycle at a fairly slow pace. This article has been spurred on by me recently taking my Boardman Road bike out and finding myself quite interested in maximising performance.

[Norman H]

That's an awful lot of questions.

As regards training, in general, and for upcoming tours. On occasions when I didn't have as much time to devote to fitness as I would have liked, I found that quality, in large part, can compensate for quantity. That's not to say that longer endurance rides are not important. They are particularly useful for sorting out issues of comfort (think saddles and riding position) and hydration and nutrition. It's not that difficult to reach a basic level of cycling fitness where your endurance will be almost directly governed by speed. 100 miles is not beyond the reach of most people .The super fit will be able to achieve it in six hours but others, less fit, will perhaps require eight or ten hours.

Personally, I like to take in the sights when I'm touring and typically cycle 40-60 miles a day. If I'm less than 100% fit at the beginning of a tour I generally find full fitness returning by the second week.

As far as gym work is concerned, it's mostly beneficial in correcting the issues that too much cycling can produce. A good sports physio should point you in the right direction here.

Climbing technique is a question of what works for you. Short sharp inclines can be powered up but truly alpine climbs can only be achieved by setting a pace that you can sustain long term. I prefer to climb seated with only occasional out of the saddle bursts to relieve tired muscles. I also find a heart rate monitor useful to prevent me getting too carried away.

If you are spending most of your time on the hoods, it could be that your bars are too low or you might benefit from compact drops.

Question 5
Cadence is a personal thing. Some spin a low gear and others grind a high gear but I'm confused as to what you term low and high gears:

I have a tendency to try and get in the lowest gear I can manage on any particular scenario, in the belief that this will provide me with the highest speed. However, it would make sense to me that sometimes it might be more beneficial to drop down a few gears

Also:

This is normally felt if I misjudge an incline, or have to stop at a light and find myself pulling out in a low gear.

I'm also having trouble reconciling some of your statements. You say you are completing 40km rides in around 65'. That's better than evens, if I've got my maths right. So I would say that you aren't doing much wrong. However, you say that you are mostly in your lowest three gears. I don't know what gearing you have on the Boardman but let's assume a 34T inner ring and a bottom three sprockets say 21-24 -27. That would put your cadence at around 180 or above!

[...simplicity...]

Thanks for the response. Sorry, when I refer to low gear, i mean the toughest gear I can ride in - should I refer to this as the highest gears then? With regards to my fitness, as stated above I've done some 1000+ mile tours myself, so know what it's like to ride yourself into fitness when touring. My experience mimics yours, as I've gone out on tour before with a very low level of fitness but found by the second week my body has adjusted.

However, I'm currently riding 40km in 65-70 minutes, but just feel my performance has now hit a wall in terms of getting the time down, so thought I'd come on here to see where I might be able to pick up some time. I'd love to be able to ride 40km in under an hour on my current route!!! I think the questions on climbing, gear choice and pacing are the areas I could really benefit. I was also curious to see how others, maybe club riders might train? With regards to my touring fitness, I'm pretty comfortable with my fitness and pacing, this was more an interest in improving performance on my road bike.

Thanks again

[Norman H]

Yes, biggest ring/smallest sprocket = highest gear

40km in 65-70 minutes isn't too shabby.

If you want to take your road riding too the next level I would recommend joining a local club. Local bike shop owners tend to be well informed about the local club scene. To gauge what level you're at, try entering a local 10 mile time trial.

[FarOeuf]

what's your goal?

if I were starting out again with bicycles (generally) and I could give myself a single piece of advice it would be to get a bike fit done; a Retül bike fit. After ten years of riding (mainly long distance, 300-400km rides, and touring) I've just found out that 10mm of shims on my left foot/pedal make a big difference to fit and comfort. Also 30mm shorter in the stem. I've also found out that the bike size I thought was ideal, is actually too long in the top tube (by 20mm, but that does make a difference). Shorter cranks are more comfortable too.

if you want to beat roadies then you just need good power to weight. ride lots, do proper hills, and lose weight, the bike itself doesn't matter. riding a bike that's heavier (touring mode) is better, it's all resistence training. spending a huge amount of money on lightweight whatnots is just cheating yourself. ride with weight, and then take the bags off on Sunday's and go racing.

audax is good for putting cycling in perspective. getting into the 200km+ events and you'll find some seriously fit riders, generally the older they are the fitter they are!

[...simplicity...]

Yeah, one of friends has just had a bike fitting and was preaching to me how much difference it has had on his riding. The only thing - a good fitting will cost you in and around £175.00!!! I think I'll join a local club and see what advice I can't gather from there first.

What would your preferences be on climbing then?

1. If you had a series of 'WW' climbs, is it preferential to attack steep inclines by maintaining speed on the downhill in a high gear, and then slowly drop down until you are up off your saddle...and repeating?

2. If you were tackling a long 5-10% incline, then would it best to settle into a gear you are comfortable in while seated and just spin your way to the top on a fairly high cadence? I understand some of it is preference - but with my tendency to stay in the saddle, when my gears dictate I need to get out of the saddle, I find it tiring almost instantly.

I'm also really interested to know if anyone has done any multiple stage racing on here? Watching the racing on television, I always wonder how hard the pros are actually pushing it during a stage? I understand the concept of a time trial - in that most teams will have the figures they should be maintaining based off of their training data - but with a 200km stage, how hard are the riders actually pushing themselves? The commentators regularly talk about 'going over that red line' - so I've always assumed, unless the riders are tackling climbs, or breaking away, the majority (in the peloton) are just spinning away quite comfortably.

Again, sorry for the scatter gun approach, and thanks in advance for your responses.

[...simplicity...]

FarOeuf - I would say my goal is to be able to get fit enough to chuck my road bike in the car and tackle 150-200 mile rides and manage the ride to some degree of comfort. For the last few years the only touring I have done is with my steel 531 Mercian, fully ladened with tent, stove and the rest - aiming at anywhere from 50-100 a day. I absolutely love slower, self sufficient touring, but I would quite like the option to like I say chuck my bike in the car, drive to a destination and do some of the suggested routes I have stored up all over the house!!!

With regards to weight v power ratio - that was one of the things I was concerned about in my original post. A friend told me that if you do a lot of high speed, high gear work, then your mass increases - like a track rider. However, to maintain power and lose weight, it's better to ride longer in a lower gear? I'm around 6ft 1 and weigh around 12.5 stone, but have most of my mass in my legs and buttock From the postings then, I'd assume the simple answer is - to maintain or increase power while losing weight is the best thing to focus on?