Just starting, now to competing - soon, maybe, how?

IgnisDraconis

G'day all,

I'm new to road cycling and am just after some general advice. I'm a student in Canberra who just bought an Avanti Monza to get fit and, soonish, start competing at club level. I know its not the most awesome bike going around, but I'm chuffed.

I've got two questions for anyone willing to lend me some advice:

1. What routine should I ideally adopt to increase my fitness so as not be too embarrased when I join a club, and
2. What upgrade/additions would be advisable to a poor student to make my bike more suited to competing.

Thanks for any advice you may wish to offer!

Albert 50

You do not say if you have any base fitness from other activities. Being a student maybe you are relatively young so fitness should improve fairly quickly in any case.

My best advice is to slowly increase your distances & intensities. Some hard days followed by some easy ones for recovery. I'd say head for the undulating hills, which will give you some short interval training, without getting to technical till you build up to reasonable distances & fitness level.

Cheapest way to upgrade is wear parts out first, which will mean you have done plenty of ks, then look at better components.

If you have a bike computer that is a good way to track your progress .If not some base models are as cheap as chips from X-mart stores.
Good Cycling

daniels

For training advice I'd recommend the "Cycling Training" forum on this website. Heaps of good advice there, although it can get a bit technical at times so take away what you can without getting too overwhelmed.

The "Its killing me but...." thread is really good (its generally near the top with lots of pages of replies)

mikesbytes

The guys down at the club should be able to give you some good advice, as you will be able to discuss in detail your fitness background and what you would like to get out of cycling.

As per Albert50, upgrade the parts as they wear out. I'm assuming you have road shoes and cleated pedals, if not you should be saving for some. Once again the guys down at the bike club will probably know of a good buy somewhere in Canberra.

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Training Log

jock.c

Just following on from mikes post...

your local road racing club usually has one or two members who are accredited coaches. Some charge, some don't.

They'll also have set training rides run by the club or regularly done by a few club members.

You'll probably need to join the club to take advantage of some of their facilities. If you hold off joining until October I think you get a 15month licence for the price of an annual one. That's the way it works in NSW anyway.

Start here: http://www.canberracyclingclub.org....info/member.asp