Hello All,

I am new to cycling and plan to try a couple 150 - 250 KM fast rides by the end of this summer. Presently doing all my training on an indoor trainer (3-6 hours a week). Since I am relatively new to this sport I really do not know very much about cycle training. I try to vary my workouts to keep boredom at bay. But I really do not know if I should be doing other workouts to be able to complete my goal rides.

At the moment I have two main workouts:

10 min warm up
Spin for 60 Minutes (~90 rpm) (~135-150 BPM)
5-10 Min Cool Down

or

10 min warm up (~90rpm)
5 Min Largest gear - Medium resistance (~80-90 RPM) (~160 -165 BPM)
5 Min Drop to small front Sprocket - Medium Resistance (~90-100 RPM) (~140-150 BPM)
I will repeat this 5 times then a 5 - 10 Min Cool down.

My Max Heart Rate is 188.


My questions are: Am I gaining very much from these workouts that will help me acheive my goals?

Also I want to work on my pedaling style. What drills can I try on the indoor trainer to give me a smooth pedal stroke?

I would appreciate any advise thank you very much for your time.

Stuck

I'm going to leave the first part to those with more knowledge. Sounds like a pretty decent workout though! I assume weather is keeping you off the road, but as soon as you can get out and get some long slow miles in!!

On the pedal stroke, try using one leg at a time. Concentrate on making smooth circles and constant power. Do each leg several minutes at a time then see how it feels with both. It should help you with your smoothness as well as equality in power for both legs. (I'm really technical, huh? )

I'm sure you'll get lots more advise, but I love the one leg thing and it really has shown me where I need work.
Here are some things to read.

http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=5797
http://www.kevinlippert.com/workouts...&CAmenuOpen=on
http://www.tbfreewheelers.com/Tips/circular.html
http://www.coachthomas.com/support_drills.html

C-

You should get out on the road as fast as possible. There's no bad weather, only bad clothing and ditto excuses no to go out. You need as many K's as possible to be fit enough to ride +150K's. Training indoors is alright during wintertime to keep your basic shape (fitness), but riding on an hometrainer doesn't help you much, once the heat is on. Racing power and strength is only gained on asphalt. And you need to do intervals. Lots of them ... If you not already riding in a club, then find one and join it. It helps a lot having friends that are expecting you to "come out and play".

It sounds like your putting in a lot of time on the stationary bike. But like you I am stuck inside and don't know how much time on the bike will be nesseccary to get up to speed. My friend who has been racing 5 years now rides 2.5 hrs indoors 3-4 times a week. So I guess you really should just keep records and try to push past them as many times as you want / can.

For me though I want to make coming back to riding fun and take it easy and aim for 6 mo.s with no over doing it. In july I will have to raise the bar a little. It is almost always a time issue. Currently I am back to cycle training only 1 month. so I am riding

Schwinn Air Dyne:
5 min warm up
45 min legs only 300rpm
10 min cool down arms only

legs are getting stronger, feel great.

Thanks for the advice on one-legged drills. You can really see where my pedalling is weak. I will use these drills in the future.

Thank for the links too.

Sindoe,

I would prefer watching the road than the wall but the roads at the moment are very trecherous. Since I am new to this sport and I do not have much experience riding in foul weather. Rain & cold is not a problem but snow, slush, ice plus we have cobbles just to spice it up a little. I just don't want to risk it so early into my training. I will be looking into cycling clubs since I do all of my training alone.

Thank you for the help and hopefully I will be on the roads soon.

Stuck


"Great is the victory, but the friendship is all the greater." Emil Zatopek

All of the advise posted is well worth taking on board.

Here are a couple of extra ideas :
To cycle +150k's you need to be fit in general : so you should try to get some aerobic fitness work in as well : join a gym, swim/run.
Once the heart and lungs are being exercised, at our level, it is immaterial what causes them to be tested.
I agree that you need to get out on the road as soon as possible as well.
But baring that - and to divert you away from just doing indoor
cycling sessions, you need to get gym/running work in too.
Also watch your diet - weight is an important factor - the more weight you carry the harder your body needs to work.
So try to limit your calorie intake : you'll feel the benefit of it in the last 50k of +150k event.

I suggest that you throw in atleast one workout that includes some time spent at higher rpm's. Try to spend just a little time spinning the cranks a bit faster. This will develop some fluid leg speed...and enable you to become much more economical when spinning in a group at high speed. Don't be afraid to spin at 110-120 rpm's every now and then.

Limerickman,


Thanks for the reply, As for the aerobic fitness I think I am ok. (completed Marathon in November) But I did not exercise at all in December just sat on my a## and ate everything in sight and put on 10 Kgs. (ouch!!!) I have already dropped 4 kgs since Jan 1. Looking to drop another 10Kgs which means no more McD XL menus for a while. The weather here should be crap for another couple months so I probably won't be able to to enjoy the great outdoors with any regularity for a bit. I will try some basic yoga to develop my strength and flexibility, instead of weight training

thank for the advice.


Regards,

Stuck

What model do you aspire to for your pedalling?

Consider the downside though - theres' no evidence to support the call for one-leg drills and while you are doing one leg at a time you could be getting the more specific task of pedalling with two legs over with.

Until further notice, one leg pedalling = more pain for less gain.

Wow Thats some yo-yo diet Good luck!!!!

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Just don't pull out of your pedal on the upstroke. With all that emphasis on one side of your bike you are sure to end up with a mouthful of gutter for your troubles