Have I hit my plateau?

stueyh

I've been a regular MTB'r for the last 3 years and last spring bought a road bike. My regular route is an out and back 15 miles slight uphill one way and 15 backdown. After about 2-3 months on the road bike I was averaging this route at about 17-18 mph. Thing is I've not really increased this since and when I do push hard I find that I can hold 20mph for about a mile or 2 but then have to back off as my feet are burning and my hands have pins and needles.
Thing is I can understand that I may not be a great climber as I'm more rugby player than Contador but on the MTB I'm pretty quick on the flat and can cruise the same out and back at 15-16mph with knobblies.

Is it just the case that I won't go any faster or should I get my position looked at?

I'm using mtb spd's and shoes and I wonder if stiffer soles and Road pedals would help? Any ideas?

Cheers for any advice.

Gav888

I could be wrong, but if your feet are hurting and your hands have pins and needles I would say its more of a fitment issue than your hitting a plateau. MTB fitment isnt as important as a road bikes.

Best to get a bike fit done to rule that out to be sure. If you are setup on the bike properly then have a look at shoes / bars etc. Go for the cheapest option first, which will be an online fit systems, if that doesnt help your riding pop into a LBS for a fitting and go from there.

Bronzie

Do you do any interval training? If not, it's unlikely you've reached your "full potential".

FWIW, I get pins and needles in my hands when I'm giving it everything in a time trial. Probably just the build up of lactic acid I think.

le_grimpeur

You've reached a plateau. If you carry on doing what you're doing, you will soon reach another (higher) plateua. A simple thing to do to improve your average is to go as fast as you can for 20 seconds, recover, then another 20 seconds. Repeat as much as you feel like. Going full pelt for a mile will also mean longer recovery time, which will reduce your average. or if you like the longer stretch, try 1/3 of a mile, and do four of them


If you get on well enough with your LBS, you could simply ask them first about pins and needles and position rather than ask about a bike fitting.

stueyh

Cheers for the tips folks.
I reckon it must be bike position and perception of being fast. I just assume that Id be happily trotting along at 20mph with minimum effort on the roadie where i can do 16-17 on the mtb.

My legs a bit further bent than my mtb position and I haven't messed around with saddle height, fore/aft much. I reckon maybe i just need to train more efficiently and change things about a bit with setup and see how I go.

Cheers again.