speed

that person wot rides a b

i know it sounds stupid, but how can you ride faster? this summer, i tagged along for the senior section of my tri clubs's chaingang, which was a pretty vicious ride, and, for a junior, i think i did quite well.

however, i rode with the 'slow'(er) group, and that was still very fast (average 20mph for most sections, including a reasonable hill). once on this hill, the fast group overtook us, and i tried to join in with them for a while after the decent. we were doing through and off, and even though i was going flat out on the falling line, i was dropping like a stone.

i set myself of holding 22 mph for a 10 next season, and was wondering if anyone had any tips just to simply go faster. (training wise, new equiptment is out of the question.) my base fitness and pain tolerence is fine, as i do some rowing, it's just my top end speed that i need to do better.

any help much appreciated.

MikeWW

New to this myself (but at the other end of the age spectrum) so plenty will be on with alternative/better ideas but...
Increasingly with my base fitness significantly improved I'm moving more to "over pace and under distance" in terms of training. The local guys generally ramp things to say about 27mph for periods so I think you need to train at periods sat around 30 mph if you can. It seems that its fairly easy to sit at steady speeds for significant periods but its not the way to get fast

that person wot rides a b

interesting idea about over pace and under diistance compared to other methods i've heard about keeping pace over longer distances. i think i should mention here that one of the reasons why i can't keep pace/get up to spped in the first place is the simple fact that i weigh in at only 55kgs, rather light for my build. thanks again.

MikeWW

My sons about that weight and seems to have no problem getting up to speed. On the hills he is able to leave me and most people for dead. How much training are you doing?

stevewj

assuming you are averaging 20mph for the whole ride (with shelter) and that it is at least 20miles long, you are in the range of a 21/22 average for a ten solo as it is. Do as many miles a week as you can fairly steady until March including long climbs solo in the big ring with as high a gear as you can only dropping down a gear when cadence drops below 40. Then swap the hills for short intervals e.g. 5 x half mile up gentle slope increasing the gear each time from 53x16 up to 53x12 for the last one as hard as you can such that the last one is the same time as the first but you are stuffed doing it. After four weeks add a longer e.g. 5 x 5mins hard effort at 2mph above average race speed. All recovery is a steady ride back to the start of the next effort. Works for me.

chrisw12

Why don't you ask the people in your club for advice? I'm sure that you being a junior there'll be a few people who will give their time to help you.

I'm not saying that being funny, it's just that 30 people on here will post 30 different ways to skin a cat and no one will agree. If you ask one of the fast experienced guys in your club then they'll probably take you under their wing and give you sound advice that will be direct and relevant for you. As the club got a cycle coach?

As for tips, I'll give you two quick and easy ones. I know you said about training and not having any money, but a simple way to go faster is to get a good position. Spend a bit of money in getting decent tyres, you'll have to buy tyres anyway so when you do, buy good ones as ime this can make a noticeable cheap difference.

Anonymous

1. Ride with the fast group.
2. Get dropped.
3. Repeat step one until 2 stops happening.

markos1963

NapoleonD wrote:

1. Ride with the fast group.
2. Get dropped.
3. Repeat step one until 2 stops happening.

Thats what I've been doing, sounds simple but its very effective.

Bhima

NapoleonD wrote:

1. Ride with the fast group.
2. Get dropped.
3. Repeat step one until 2 stops happening.

4. Drop the fast group.