help to increase speed over 100km?
ianbar
Posts: 1,354
hello, i am quite new to cycling started pretty much a year ago. i am set to do the big g cyclosportive in july. this year i am doing the 100km route. i have been riding 3-4 rides per wee averaging near or just over 100 miles per week the last month or so. my last 2 longer rides were 45 miles 13.1mph 2200 ft climbing and 55 miles 12.9mph 2800ft climbing. have been trying to hit the local climbs a lot more recent weeks and feel progress has been made but no massive increase in overall speed. is there any advice for some training techniques to increase my overall speed? i am 6'3 and near to 16 stone(i know weightless will help) and i have been trying to get on the drops more to reduce the wind resistance. thank you
enigma esprit
cannondale caad8 tiagra 2012
cannondale caad8 tiagra 2012
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Comments
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The first thing to consider is 55miles= 88km. IMO:to ride 100km comfortably one would need to be capable of pushing 100+,this would be before any increase in speed is expected.0
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I always focussed on riding distances and felt my averages didn't improve much. This winter I've been doing 20 mins max, spin for 10 and repeat. First time I did this I could only manage to hold 20mph (on the turbo) after a few times I could hold 25-26 mph with a sprint at the end of each 20mins. I've also been riding with a club a few times and the average is 18-20mph and although its in a group, its held for a longer duration and is on the road. The outcome of this is that I can hold 17-18mph fairly easily on my now over a couple of hours (and was reflected in how I felt at a sportive two weeks ago) - I figure you have to train faster to ride faster - just increasing the distance all the time isn't going to make you fast.
Having said that my brother challenged me to ride up to his house this summer - thats 186 miles in a day - I may need to get some distances in again!!0 -
In my opinion if you can ride 55 miles, you could easily do another 7 miles to take you up to 62 miles (100 km) for your sportive. We all get hung up on average speeds, especially looking at these forums. Your average speeds of around 13 mph are fine and will get better the more you ride. I see that the 100 km is the Medium ride for that sportive, so I would guess 13 mph would be a fairly reasonable average for that ride as a lot of the fast guys will enter the long ride. Just go and enjoy your sportive.0
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Perhaps do some shorter rides at a higher speed? Maybe 20 or 25 miles. Try and find flattish routes, and then sustain a speed for a while. Then when you go back to the 55 or 60 mile ride take it easy for the first half and treat the second half as though it were a 25 mile 'fast' ride.
If you don't have a heart rate monitor then they can help you get a dispassionate view of how hard you're working.
Paul0
