Training for a bike race without a proper bike.

[edward5709]

Hi,
I am at boarding school at the moment and dont have the chance to train on my bike.
Does anyone have any tips for training for road races without a real bike? At my school we have stationary gym bikes and lots off weight training machines.
Many thanks

 

[edward5709]

Originally Posted by polkadot .

Hi there,

I'm assuming that since you are at boarding school you aren't racing on the road yet, so any races you do will be relatively short circuit races, in which case, you could get quite fit and strong for racing just by using your school's gym.

Although static bikes aren't brilliant in terms of set-up of poistion and saddles, as long as you can change the resistance on them, you could do any sessions designed to be turbo sessions on them.

This website has some great workouts:

http://www.turbotraining.co.uk/indoorCyclingWorkout.php?nav=search

If you can get on the static bike 3-4 days, ideally you want to do a couple of endurance sessions and a couple of strength/power sessions. I don't know how old you are but if you are 12-14 then keep these to a maximum of 45mins, so you may need to reduce some of the workouts, if you are older then you can do longer.

Core stability such as sit ups, press ups back raises will be really good, as these will help you control your bike, help technique and cornering etc. Leg weights such as squats and leg press would also develop your strength, BUT only if you are 16+ as you could damage yourself and these should only be done supervised.

I assume you have a bike to ride in the holidays, so my advice would be as soon as you get back on it do so to get used to cornering and handling your bike as this is really important for racing too.

This is a bit of snapshot, but hope it helps.

Hi thanks for the speedy response,
I am 15 but am going to be 16 in june. yes 3-4 days a week would be easily do-able for me.
I have a road bike at home so as soon as I have a holiday ill get back to training on that, and I have also just started doing some leg weights so I guess ill just carry on with them.
Cheers

 

[edward5709]

Thanks for a quick reply, I am turning 16 in june. And I have been lifting leg weights recently so ill keep that up.
And I can easily do 3-4 sessions a week probably even more.
cheers

 

[jpr95]

The weights won't help you much with cycling, save for working the upper body muscles that are involved with cycling posture (neck, shoulders, deltoids, biceps, triceps, lower back and abs). Even working those will only shorten the adjustment period once you actually start riding in a racing posture, not eliminate it completely. I would cut back on all weights and hit the cardio much harder. Mix it up on the stationary bike--do a couple days a week of intense intervals, a couple-three days of longer spins just slight pushing yourself, and a couple days off to rest.

There's no real replacement for being on an actual bike, though. Variables in wind, road surface and other conditions cause you to use muscles of your body in ways for which you just can't train any other way. Minute adjustments in your steering and balance need to be second nature, but only come as a result of miles on a bike.

 

[edward5709]

Hi, yes well I will take that into account, but I do also work on my upper body strength aswell as my legs. Surely if you had larger leg muscles you would have allot more power though? but i dont know. And when you saw 'intense intervals, how long should I be doing that for and would that be at about 80%plus? And how long would you saw is long?20 miles?or longer?
Cheers

 

[danfoz]

If you are training for a bike race make that stationary gym bike your best friend... at least an hour a day, four or five times a week.

 

[jhuskey]

There is some good from weight training since a strong core is essential in cycling and it depends on what you are aiming for. A sprinter needs that explosive speed and upper body strength can help, also when cardio stops so does calorie burning but weight training burns calories even when you sleep. I am guessing that your weight is not an issue. I am guessing since I can't remember what life is like at that age. I agree cycling training is about road miles but doing something is better than nothing so go for the high intensity intervals on the stationary and do some rolling road miles and climbing as soon as you can.

 

[edward5709]

Cheers for the good advice everyone!
And no my weight is not a issue