Performance drop in the middle of long training rides - Page 2

Aaarrrggggghhhh!!!!

3:00:03

Damn those traffic lights!

Wow Ed, you are making progress. No doubt all the great input here helped, and the adjustment to your aerobar position, but I'd not be surprised to hear you had a little tailwind today either!

Bikeguy, your comments are right on target. When pushing into a headwind, elevation gains, or on poor road surfaces, the best thing is to forget the speed, downshift and just keep cadence and output to a comfortable level. On a loop route, just relax knowing how much fun it will be going downwind on the return leg.

I most certainly did have a tailwind (I said so a couple of posts back) but I think the changes are also helping quite a bit. I feel much less tired after the rides even when I've been pushing harder and kept my HR higher.

I will definitely try to HR-cap my rides when I'm going back into a headwind and see what overall effect that has on my performance. I think it should probably be a good thing overall. SImilarly I wish my route was circular, but sadly it's straight north-south and in the opposite direction to the prevailing winds.

Cheers once again,

Ed