Where to go from here?

kfinlay · September 2009

Hi All,

I'm Kev and I live in Fife Scotland. I'm a noob here to the forum although have lurked for a few weeks trying to pickup advice and info.

I'm generally quite fit from weight training and cross training but certainly not bike fit. I've recently started road biking and do a 9 mile loop which has a good mix of flat and hills - so far only did 3 runs at about 33mins ave 15.9mph - don't laugh too loud pls.

My question is do I continue to try and do this loop faster and climb the hills better (1 is about a mile long others only a few hundred yards) or build on the amount of miles I'm doing? Just looking to generally improve and all going well build on this after winter with a possible view to complete the MacMillan Trust French Alps trip - 3 days 2 mountains a day finishing on top of Alpe D'Huez although I'm sure you guys know this already. Just now the main thing limiting me is I can only cycle 2 times a week - Thursdays and Saturdays but hope to be able to fit in an extra day later- this would need to be a Friday or Sunday. I also work out 3 times a week Mon - Wed - Fridays - just giving you this info so you can hopefully give the most appropriate advice

Any help/advice welcome

amaferanga · September 2009

IMO you should forget about getting faster for now (16mph isn't actually slow) and get the miles in. Look to increase the distance of your weekend ride(s). Is there a particular reason why you can't swap one of your workouts for a bike ride or at least do an hour on the bike at the gym?

bompington · September 2009

+1 for build the miles. Loads of nice roads round Fife, including some good hilly ones.
-1 for bike at gym - it's not worth the boredom!

kfinlay · September 2009

I'm away from 6.30am till 8.00pm, Mon, Tues and Wednesday, then 7am till 2pm on Sunday, off the rest of the week. I work out in my garage on my own equipment so I can fit things in without trailing to a gym. 8.30pm is a bit late for going out on the bike but I am considering part cycling to work as there is a park and ride about 10 miles from my work in Edinburgh even one or two days when not training would help. I'm thinking get the miles up to around 40-50 then build on my hill climbing and speed from there. Hopefull fit in a bigger ride once or maybe twice a month.

Pross · September 2009

Again, I'd go for a longer, steady approach. Also, as stated 16mph on rolling roads is not a bad starting speed. Your aim for riding in the Alps needs you to build up stamina rather than speed. If you've got the stamina and a low enough gear for the mountains you'll be fine. If you want to build speed once the base stamina is coming on then start to introduce some interval training into the sessions but concentrate on building the distance in the first instance - no point in getting to the foot of Alpe D'Huez in record time and then not be able to finish the distance

STEFANOS4784 · September 2009

You now need a 4k carbon bike 8)

dov2711 · September 2009

Nice to see another Fife member on board. Im also newish to ther forum and making a happy return to the saddle after way too long away.

I wasnt aware of the the particular fundraiser you mention but will look into it as not next year but the year after I was of a mind to do something similar for a worthy cause.

kingrollo · September 2009

bompington wrote:

+1 for build the miles. Loads of nice roads round Fife, including some good hilly ones.
-1 for bike at gym - it's not worth the boredom!

+1 for -1 bike at the gym - has very little to do with cycling. IMO core exercise would be a better use of time at the gym.

Mothyman · September 2009

they reckon increase distances by 10per cent max...although not sure how often to do it...I broke this rule when going from 10miles to 33 miles last week...didnt seem to do me any harm...

xraymtb · September 2009

16mph is a decent beginner speed - a lot of people take months or longer to get an average that high. Try extending the ride a bit or even turning around at the top of the longest climb and riding back down to do it again.

If you can build the stamina and keep the ave speed where it is you will be making a good start.

Garz · September 2009

bompington wrote:

+1 for build the miles. Loads of nice roads round Fife, including some good hilly ones.
-1 for bike at gym - it's not worth the boredom!

This is your recipe for success!

kfinlay · September 2009

Thanks for the advice guys, It's pretty windy again today but not worried about that, I plan on doing the 9 mile loop today then on Saturday go for a bigger run, I'll need to plot it on Bikely or something if I want to know how far before I go or just wait till my Cateye Strada shows the distance when finished.

bompington - your right lots of good roads, not usually that busy either so I'm planning things for longer rides now. One major target is to get over Falkland hill, with luck before Christmas!

dov2711 I'm just up the road fro you in Cardenden although I was brought up in Kirkcaldy - lived in Redcraigs most of the time. The fundraiser is with MacMillan Trust and my workmate just completed it over the last weekend - about 60 of them and said it was extremely well organised and a simply amazing experience. You need a min of £1600 sponsorship plus about £200 registration.

STEFANOS - my LBS is a KUOTA dealer, lovely bikes but way out of my price range. Got one of those VITUS Alios bikes from Chain Reaction Cycles for £300, put a new Fizik saddle on it and it goes like a good un. I know it's nothing compared to what some guys on here have but it suits my ability, is a great starting bike, comfortable too. If I'm still as keen next year then I plan on buying a much better bike and using this as my winter/training bike as may even enter the odd sportive.

Will let you know how I get on this weekend

cheers

Where to go from here?

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