Kernackered

jimmerslimmer

I've been riding a road bike for about 18 months now after a gap of 8 years. Mainly commuting too and from work due to family commitments at weekends; I enjoy riding at a fair lick and I typically ride 14-16 miles most days. I've lost weight, on the whole I feel pretty good aerobically and generally I get the daily long steep hill done without too much trouble and without resorting to the granny. But I don't feel like I'm getting stronger( quite the reverse), my legs often feel tired (it seems like they're loosing muscle form) and once in a while if I meet some roadie I get slaughtered when we hit any short stubby hill or a head wind.

Tonight on the way home I had both - it was a bit of a pisser as I waited for the guy to catch me up only for him to go past me and me struggle to catch his wheel before he galloped away once we got to a steeper section of hill... needless to say I never got back on his wheel.

How can I get stronger ...

Doobz

It could be that your over doing it and you just need a break. I find sometimes if I train every day I start to feel a bit weak. But then once I have a day or two off with very light spinning I feel awesome when I get back on the bike.

Realistically though it could be so many different things like diet and fluid intake etc but the above is just my 2 pence.

Bikerbaboon

could also be that your not eating after a ride try a protine shake or some choc milk after a ride and b4 you get in hte shower just to give your legs something to get on with.

Ric_Stern/RST

jimmerslimmer wrote:

I've been riding a road bike for about 18 months now after a gap of 8 years. Mainly commuting too and from work due to family commitments at weekends; I enjoy riding at a fair lick and I typically ride 14-16 miles most days. I've lost weight, on the whole I feel pretty good aerobically and generally I get the daily long steep hill done without too much trouble and without resorting to the granny. But I don't feel like I'm getting stronger( quite the reverse), my legs often feel tired (it seems like they're loosing muscle form) and once in a while if I meet some roadie I get slaughtered when we hit any short stubby hill or a head wind.

Tonight on the way home I had both - it was a bit of a pisser as I waited for the guy to catch me up only for him to go past me and me struggle to catch his wheel before he galloped away once we got to a steeper section of hill... needless to say I never got back on his wheel.

How can I get stronger ...

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it isn't strength that you're lacking, but aerobic power. this is trained for cycling, on the bike, in a manner of different ways (e.g. hard endurance rides of about 90-mins, through to shortish intervals of about 4-mins).

My guess (not really knowing how you train) is that your daily commute is not sufficient training stimulus to allow you to be as good as the roadie, who is/are more likely to train with higher intensity, and/or greater volume. Therefore, some increase to your training regime is required (e.g., more higher intensity work, or more volume, or some combo of those two).

Given that your training volume isn't huge, it's highly unlikely that you aren't consuming sufficient protein. Most people (in the western world, including vegetarians) consume more protein than required, and probably eat more than that is required to ride e.g. the Tour de France.

Ric

Alex_Simmons/RST

Ric_Stern/RST wrote:

At the risk of sounding like a broken record,

Might have to explain that to the iPod generation....