Recent content by bikeguy

Looks like you overextended yourself. Nothing you can do except take it easy and the soreness and fatigue will pass. Once you get really fit, there will be little you can do that will make you sore.

Doesn't seem unreasonable, of course some people think a 40 meter hill makes a course "hilly".

Uhh.. yes, absolutely. Minor flapping of clothing slows you down considerably.

2 things 1) Your 5 minute power isn't high, but it's decent. 2) You need to go on long rides several days per week of 3 hrs plus. Your endurance is awful. Long rides will improve it, and probably drop your weight. Of course long rides may not be possible due to time constraints in which...

As often as you can without getting unduly stressed. 2x a week sounds good to me, I'm not even going to be doing that this week. If you're racing, then 1x per week is fine. -bikeguy

The efforts should be enough that they make you suffer, but not max efforts. Max efforts should only be reserved for occasional tests or for races. You should be breathing hard and experiencing mild/moderate pain at the end of the intervals. If you have a PM then this would be 85-95% of your max...

Hi, welcome to the forums! I think your time and place is very good considering the difficulty of the race, 5.12 m/s avg up a 8% gradient for 23 minutes is already very good power. I figure your W/kg @ 4.8 w/kg is right where my power is at. 19 minutes would put the lead cyclist in at 5.9...

Since my power goals have been met, now on to some concrete racing goals. Now that in my first crit I was able to lead the pack around for a few laps instead of sitting in like I've done during all the road races I've done up to now, I plan on winning a race, which doesn't seem unrealistic. An...

I just rode my first crit sunday, 41 km, 24 laps, 3 90 degree turns and 2 sweeping curves. Approx 40 riders. Once other piece of advice is about wind. We had a strong wind during the crit and you can shield yourself from it by riding on the side of the group that is opposite to where the wind...

Work on these three things: riding lower (larger seat to handlebar drop), riding narrower (legs close to down tube, keep elbows in) and of course the most important training hard. Try riding 2x20 min at a very hard pace twice per week or 6-8 efforts of 4-6 min at a very hard pace again 2x/3x per...

Kick the f****** dog(s) in the face. That's my solution. Swerving at them with the pedal pointed at their face also might work. Ok, these days since I'm usually riding over 25 mph the dogs don't even try. -bikeguy

Sounds like you did well for your teammate anyway. I'm doing a crit this sunday, again my first time on the course. 40 km. Did 3x20 min time trial effort plus with other rider yesterday. It was brutal, I went home ate, lay down and fell asleep. -bikeguy

200 kc of carbs is dangerous for a training endurance athlete, you could go unconscious from that! Eat more carbs, 65 to even 85% carbs for endurance athletes. -bikeguy

Yup, I often hang back off group rides to get more wind. Yesterday's ride was nasty though we had a 40-50 kph sidewind at times, the kind that makes your cheeks push in when you're riding, so no hanging back was required. Sounds like your crit was intense, did you place well? -bikeguy

Absolutely, no doubt in my opinion. Riding at the back of a bunch is easy unless they accelerate very hard but only then for a few seconds. Take pulls at the front of the group or train sometimes by yourself. Short intervals (10 sec to 60 sec) are great training for crits and the accelerations...