Cycling training

[MarillionFan]

Losing a bit of weight would help for the hill climbing.

I've dropped 7lbs in the last ten days but was not good over the weekend or last night as had a few beers/wine/whisky

[Mich the Tester]

I've dropped 7lbs in the last ten days but was not good over the weekend or last night as had a few beers/wine/whisky

I can drop 7 lbs in the bog after a good BBQ, so you've got some way to go. keep it up!

[DaveB]

whs ++, especially on the food bit; just stop eating deep fried food altogether is my advice, and other than that eat a lot, with a lot of variety. I stopped eating deep fried food for a few months several years ago, and when I tried it again I didn't like it anymore. Still don't like it.

Plus; if you try tabata intervals on the turbo trainer/exercise bike, you'll find that it improves your VO2 max (maximum oxygen uptake) and your heart rate recovery much quicker than constant pace cycling; you still need to do the long slow mileage, but add in two sessions of tabata intervals per week. Google tabata, but basically it amounts to this;

20 seconds flat out, 10 seconds rest, 20 seconds flat out, 10 seconds rest and so on; repeat 8 times, then rest a few minutes, then do it again. I'm assuming you're already fairly fit here; usual qualifications apply, if you feel sick, dizzy etc, then slow down a bit or stop and rest. you could also built up from 2 sets of 4 tabatas to 2 sets of 8. It's a short, intensive training session that's suprisingly effective.

As an alternative to Mitch's suggestion you can try this. It's easier to time and keep track of what you've done.

Start in 1st gear on the middle or small cog on the front. Do 3 mins peddling at a comfortable cadence. Change up a gear, do three minutes at the same pace, change up, repeat untill you get to your top gear but maintain the same cadence the whole time. Afte the last 3 minutes come back down the gears a minute at a time just keeping your legs turning. It's a nice 30 minute work out with built in warm up and recovery. Whenn you feel you can mange it just increase the timing to 4 minutes etc.

[Mich the Tester]

As an alternative to Mitch's suggestion you can try this. It's easier to time and keep track of what you've done.

Start in 1st gear on the middle or small cog on the front. Do 3 mins peddling at a comfortable cadence. Change up a gear, do three minutes at the same pace, change up, repeat untill you get to your top gear but maintain the same cadence the whole time. Afte the last 3 minutes come back down the gears a minute at a time just keeping your legs turning. It's a nice 30 minute work out with built in warm up and recovery. Whenn you feel you can mange it just increase the timing to 4 minutes etc.

Yep, good as well. key to all these ideas is that you're not just going at a constant pace, but making your heart and lungs pump faster and slower, faster and slower; it's a bit like weight training for your cardio-respiratory system.

[TimberWolf]

I've dropped 7lbs in the last ten days but was not good over the weekend or last night as had a few beers/wine/whisky

When I had a bike (it got nicked a few months ago) I was surprised at how much more arduous it was to climb a hill when carrying shopping on my back. The shopping bag can't have weighed more than 10kg, which is only about 10% of weight + rider. Effort (work) goes linearly with weight, for both on the level and hill climbing, so doubling your weight doubles the effort, to first order. But I never experimented to see whether it was the weight or the awkwardness of the bag that also contributed heavily. It felt more than 10% harder though. Even carrying a few pounds is noticed.

[Mich the Tester]

When I had a bike (it got nicked a few months ago) I was surprised at how much more arduous it was to climb a hill when carrying shopping on my back. The shopping bag can't have weighed more than 10kg, which is only about 10% of weight + rider. Effort (work) goes linearly with weight, for both on the level and hill climbing, so doubling your weight doubles the effort, to first order. But I never experimented to see whether it was the weight or the awkwardness of the bag that also contributed heavily. It felt more than 10% harder though. Even carrying a few pounds is noticed.

I don't know, but think of it this way; sprinters (runners) often pull a weight of about 10% of bodyweight on a sled for about 30 to 40 metres at top speed to train their explosive strength; it doesn't sound like much, but do it 10 times with plenty of rest in between and you'll really feel it the next day.

[doodab]

When I had a bike (it got nicked a few months ago) I was surprised at how much more arduous it was to climb a hill when carrying shopping on my back. The shopping bag can't have weighed more than 10kg, which is only about 10% of weight + rider. Effort (work) goes linearly with weight, for both on the level and hill climbing, so doubling your weight doubles the effort, to first order. But I never experimented to see whether it was the weight or the awkwardness of the bag that also contributed heavily. It felt more than 10% harder though. Even carrying a few pounds is noticed.

Weight only makes a difference when accelerating or climbing a hill. On the flat at a steady pace it doesn't matter.

At the sort of speed suity is managing at the moment rolling resistance is his biggest problem. If he's lucky it will be aerodynamic drag by the time he's doing it for real.

[Mich the Tester]

At the sort of speed suity is managing at the moment being overtaken by slugs is his biggest problem. If he's lucky it will be granddads in drag by the time he's doing it for real.

ftfy

[TimberWolf]

Weight only makes a difference when accelerating or climbing a hill. On the flat at a steady pace it doesn't matter.

At the sort of speed suity is managing at the moment rolling resistance is his biggest problem. If he's lucky it will be aerodynamic drag by the time he's doing it for real.

No. Rolling friction is directly proportional to weight.

Ignoring Aero drag, which as you say will not dominate until above about 14mph, the formula for power in cycling is:

g * Mass * Velocity * (Frictional co-eff + hill grade)

[suityou01]

Weight only makes a difference when accelerating or climbing a hill. On the flat at a steady pace it doesn't matter.

At the sort of speed suity is managing at the moment rolling resistance is his biggest problem. If he's lucky it will be aerodynamic drag by the time he's doing it for real.

On the flat I can average 15mph. The hills are the problem. This is all on a big heavy mountain bike with big knobbly tyres, at some point I will switch to a road bike.