Cycling Book

I started riding in March, and was doing 25 miles straight away. the second week I was doing 2X40 mile rides every weekend. Last week i did a 50 mile ride with a club. That took way less than 3 hours. and I am no racer.

All that without any training program. all i do is get out there and spin at 90rpm or higher.

I wouldn't think a 50 miles ride in 8hrs would require a structured training program. How long can you ride at the moment?

bike_man0079 said:

Has anyone used the workouts in the book Fitness Cycling by Chris Carmichael and Edmund Burke and how did you set up your program using that book.

I am having a problem setting up my program-HELP!!!!!!!!!:eek:🙁😕

HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😄🙂

PS-My goal is to ride 50 miles in 8 hours or less.

Thanks and GOD Bless!!!!!!!!🙂

I can only currently ride 5 miles in 1 hour.:o
I want to ride longer,further, and faster.😄

FREDBLACK said:

I started riding in March, and was doing 25 miles straight away. the second week I was doing 2X40 mile rides every weekend. Last week i did a 50 mile ride with a club. That took way less than 3 hours. and I am no racer.

All that without any training program. all i do is get out there and spin at 90rpm or higher.

I wouldn't think a 50 miles ride in 8hrs would require a structured training program. How long can you ride at the moment?

5 miles an hour? are you sure? what kind of bike are you riding? is your speedometer correct?

i mean no offense but wow.

cheapie said:

5 miles an hour? are you sure? what kind of bike are you riding? is your speedometer correct?

i mean no offense but wow.

OK, maybe about 5miles in 30 min. and yes my speedometer is set correctly.:p

I currently ride a mountain bike and I can't get a road bike because my mom won't let me get one because their to expensive and only if I get serious about the sport.🙁

bike_man0079 said:

OK, maybe about 5miles in 30 min. and yes my speedometer is set correctly.:p

I currently ride a mountain bike and I can't get a road bike because my mom won't let me get one because their to expensive and only if I get serious about the sport.🙁

To help you get some speed - get some slick tyres(or as they type in the US of A - tires) for it. Make sure they're high pressure tyres and get tubes to suit. Pump them up to 100 PSI and then go out and ride for 30 mins or 1 hour and then see how many miles you've done. It'll be more!! 🙂
There will be other ways to get your bike up to speed but that's the best starting point.

Mate

speed and strength are things you can build up. don't despair. one thing you could do is ride for an hour three times during weekdays (say Tues, Wed Thurs) concentrating on nothing but cadence (that is RPM, or the number of times your pedals spin in one minute.so spin your pedals 90 rounds per minutes all the way and as often as you can, and use a gear that you can spin comfortably. on uphill your caence will drop, but go to lower gears and try to keep sinning as fast as you can)

on weekends go on longer rides on (Saturday and sunday. early in the morning is good. less traffic and youll be back early and have the rest of the day todo other stuff) go as far as you can go, at a slower pace than weekday rides (also concentrating on spinning fast).

after a whil or so, or when you feel more comfortable, start trying to do your weekday rides a bit faster (for example try doing same cadence in a gear that is one step higher than the one you were using. dont this until you feel comfortable because you dont want to injure your knees).

and start adding an extra 10% minutes to your weekend rides every weekend or two (so if you were riding 2hrs go for 2hrs and 12 minutes and so on), go.

You'll get there.

at this point, doing Friel or Carmichael training is overkill the best thing you can do at this point is put some miles into your legs. you'll find your'e stronger after every 300-400 miles.

After youve done 800- 1000 miles (for me its 1000km, coming up somtime next week), it might be time for interval training. but worry about that then. at this point, build your legs and endurance. and good luck. And it might not be a bad idea to get yourself a set of skinny (23 to 25cm) road bike tyres and put them on your bike as our mate suggested above.

And by the way, is your mountain bike very heavy (did you buy it at a department store? or at a local bike shop) if you have a very heavy bike, that might be the reason that you are unable to go as fast as you would like to.

bike_man0079 said:

OK, maybe about 5miles in 30 min. and yes my speedometer is set correctly.:p

I currently ride a mountain bike and I can't get a road bike because my mom won't let me get one because their to expensive and only if I get serious about the sport.🙁

I bought my mountain bike from Wal-Mart, it's a Shimano, 18 speed basic model, nothing fancy.:p Thanks for the help, I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!!!!!!😄.

Thanks and GOD BLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🙂

FREDBLACK said:

Mate

speed and strength are things you can build up. don't despair. one thing you could do is ride for an hour three times during weekdays (say Tues, Wed Thurs) concentrating on nothing but cadence (that is RPM, or the number of times your pedals spin in one minute.so spin your pedals 90 rounds per minutes all the way and as often as you can, and use a gear that you can spin comfortably. on uphill your caence will drop, but go to lower gears and try to keep sinning as fast as you can)

on weekends go on longer rides on (Saturday and sunday. early in the morning is good. less traffic and youll be back early and have the rest of the day todo other stuff) go as far as you can go, at a slower pace than weekday rides (also concentrating on spinning fast).

after a whil or so, or when you feel more comfortable, start trying to do your weekday rides a bit faster (for example try doing same cadence in a gear that is one step higher than the one you were using. dont this until you feel comfortable because you dont want to injure your knees).

and start adding an extra 10% minutes to your weekend rides every weekend or two (so if you were riding 2hrs go for 2hrs and 12 minutes and so on), go.

You'll get there.

at this point, doing Friel or Carmichael training is overkill the best thing you can do at this point is put some miles into your legs. you'll find your'e stronger after every 300-400 miles.

After youve done 800- 1000 miles (for me its 1000km, coming up somtime next week), it might be time for interval training. but worry about that then. at this point, build your legs and endurance. and good luck. And it might not be a bad idea to get yourself a set of skinny (23 to 25cm) road bike tyres and put them on your bike as our mate suggested above.

And by the way, is your mountain bike very heavy (did you buy it at a department store? or at a local bike shop) if you have a very heavy bike, that might be the reason that you are unable to go as fast as you would like to.

I would be inclined to think that your bike is a bit too heavy for serious road riding. but training on that thing, you'll probably be flying once you buy yourself a decent roadbike (by decent I mean any entry level roadbike, btw. doesn't have to be top of the line $10,000 bike). If you havent got much to spend, and are really keen to get a good bike, get yourself an entry level roadbike (take a look at FeltF90, Giant OCR3, TREK 1000, Scott Speedster s60 are a few options. all brands have bikes in that range.). Here in Australia these start at AUD1000 (USD750). I'm sure in the States, they are even cheaper than that. wait till closeout season and buy last years model for a bargain price. good luck.

bike_man0079 said:

I bought my mountain bike from Wal-Mart, it's a Shimano, 18 speed basic model, nothing fancy.:p Thanks for the help, I REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!!!!!!😄.

Thanks and GOD BLESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🙂