My one hour pre work ride is too easy. 1 hour - what to do ?

tobh

Hello

I'm a newly converted road rider (from the MTB).

I've taken to doing a a one hour / 20 mile pre work loop at home in Essex. The first few times I did this I felt it straight away, but of late I can fly round this course at avg speed of 17.9mph (this morning) and go to work feeling as though I've not touched the bike.

Being from Essex there are few hills (500ft of climbs in that 20 mile) so I'm not especially pleased at this speed, but can out ride anyone else I meet on route or have ridden with..

I'm looking for some advice on what to do next ? Should I find my one big hill and go up and down it for an hour, or just keep trying to go faster round my normal loop.

This hour is all I can do in the week (work and family mean I cannot do more) so I need advice based on this hour... At the weekend I am doing 30 - 50 mile rides with an avg speed of 17.2mph (on a recent 47 mile ride) and again these are not stressing me. I wish I could do longer again but I can't...

I also run (but am rubbish) and I go to the gym 2 or 3 times a week..

What can I do ? I love nothing more than riding till I cant ride no more..

T

redddraggon

Go faster

will3

If you're looking for more exercise, do it on your MTB with the knobbliest tyres you can find.

Anonymous

You obviously aren't pushing yourself!

Go faster or further!

Do it on your MTB!

tobh

So.

Faster ?

Or hill training ?

Or give up the road biking and get back on the MTB ?

Pokerface

Do both - go faster and go uphill!

What are your goals? Do you want to race - if so - work on getting your average speed up over that hour. Just fitness? - Then go ride up that hill as many times as you can.

Traditional wisdom says that a combination of hills and speed work is needed. They are different skills, so do hill work one day and speed work the next.


Mix in intervals - flat out as fast as you can go for 20 minutes. Rest, recover and repeat.

chrisw12

Something to try, perhaps

try some of the following intervals

20 secs as hard as possible then 10 sec rest. Repeat this 8 to 10 times. Ride easy for about 5 mins then repeat.

or 30 secs on 30 secs rest. repeat say 5-10 times.

Simple short tricks to make a hour easy ride into a hard ride.

Anonymous

tobh, I don't understand to be honest what you're saying...

Just, well, pedal harder!

It can be difficult getting inspired doing the same route day in day out too.

My commute is 36 miles and it can get very tedious so I throw in intervals or vary the route as and when I can.

Bhima

chrisw12 wrote:

Something to try, perhaps

try some of the following intervals

20 secs as hard as possible then 10 sec rest. Repeat this 8 to 10 times. Ride easy for about 5 mins then repeat.

or 30 secs on 30 secs rest. repeat say 5-10 times.

Simple short tricks to make a hour easy ride into a hard ride.

Agreed. That's a good one. I started out doing this and then, as I felt fitter, I increased the times to make it harder.

robrauy

Perhaps also consider getting a heart rate monitor and read up on zones. This may give you a better idea of how hard you are pushing yourself each time you go out...

JULIANBRAMLEY

I sometimes do 20 mins warm up 20 mins absolutely flat out, then 20 mins warm down.
Got to be good for a bit of speed.

liversedge

I commute 26 miles each way and this is a nasty one to try;

1. go all out from the off and slowly feel your strength go until you limp into work.
2. ramp it up slowly from the start and end up all out as you get home.

Altetnatively, if you're only doing an hour ride it at threshold all the way every day :-)

shakey88

How about putting a few weights in your rucksack(20 kilos should do it)and maybe letting some air out of your tyres.
Let me know how you get on

billy whippet

go fixed or single speed

Tino4444

You should get up earlier and do more than 1 hour. Ride faster.

Tino

shogunsteve

30 seconds of sprint for every 3 minutes of riding.

itboffin

billy whippet wrote:

go fixed or single speed

+1

that'll shock the system