Would new cyclists be stronger in year 2 if spent year 1 training only (not racing)?

Typical Analytical
Typical Analytical Posts: 165
edited February 2019 in Training, fitness and health
What the title says with a clarification that I really mean stronger only, i.e. not faster or better or more competitive, etc. because obviously bike handling, experience, etc. all count but I'm just throwing a theoretical out there regarding fitness only.

Comments

  • webboo
    webboo Posts: 6,087
    It’s a bit of an arbitrary question because unless someone was a gifted individual. The chances are that racing would take the form of seeing the back of the bunch for a brief while, then riding on their own.
  • MishMash95
    MishMash95 Posts: 104
    From my experience, I'd almost say I don't really think it matters what you do in your first year. The most important key is consistency and recovery. The downside of racing is that you can't really control what happens. Sure, it can be a really high-end threshold session, but equally, it can be a lot of surging and then pootling, which doesn't necessarily target any specific zones.
    Equally, it can leave you feeling too fatigued to want to ride more, leading to poor consistency.

    However, I think you should just do what you find fun, definitely no harm in doing a few races, probs not worth doing a whole season, but 4 or 5 events can give you a flavour and plenty of opportunity for skill development and intensity.
  • MiddleRinger
    MiddleRinger Posts: 678
    Just to clarify, are you asking if a new cyclist would be stronger if they did some training...? :lol:

    Errrrr... Yes!

    (racing is not necessarily the best way to get stronger)
    ~ ~ How fast is fast enough? ~ ~ ~ ~ Tempo Cyclist - Tasmania ~ ~
  • cooldad
    cooldad Posts: 32,599
    I doubt many 'new cyclists' plan their racing career before buying their first bike.
    I don't do smileys.

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  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    ‘Stronger’ is a pretty arbitrary definition. You need to clarify what you mean.
  • OnTheRopes
    OnTheRopes Posts: 460
    Imposter wrote:
    ‘Stronger’ is a pretty arbitrary definition. You need to clarify what you mean.
    Exactly what I was going to say, you need to define stronger.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,165
    What racing were you thinking of in the first year as a cyclist?
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    You'd have to be a pretty good cyclist to race in your first year of cycling.
  • zeee
    zeee Posts: 103
    cougie wrote:
    You'd have to be a pretty good cyclist to race in your first year of cycling.

    That's me screwed this year then :(

    And to answer the OPs question I think no matter how fit/strong you get, without race craft and experience you will struggle. I'm racing this year just to get the experience then hoping to be competitive next year.

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