Training

first off buy 'a cyclist's training bible' by joe friel, it is very informative and covers almost every aspect of cycle training for novices.

Well if you want to train that means that you must have a goal in mind. Maybe its to complete a longer ride or to do a time trial or do a first race. First you should just ride, have fun for a few weeks, just ride your bike and allow your body to adapt to cycling. riding 3 times a week over progressively longer distances would be ideal, dont do anything stupid like going straight out on a 70 mile ride or something, just do what you feel comfortable with, 20 miles might be fine, 10 miles might be fine it depends on your physical fitness to start off with.

when you feel ready to do harder training (again this will depend largely on your physical fitness to start off with and your natural ability) then you can start trying interval sessions or other harder efforts. an example of an interval session would be 5x3 minutes on a flat road with 3 minutes recovery inbetween efforts. really cycling is very unlike running in that no matter what training you do its very difficult to simulate the kind of physical effort that you will experience when doing a race. but if your not racing then interval training is the next best thing. when you start training hard do no more than 1 hard session a week, theres another thread about overtraining which describes what could happen if you do too much intensity too soon!

you can use a heart rate monitor to train if you want, im sure there are a lot of people on this forum who will explain how to use one. i wont because i am against their use and never use one. i believe that if you become obsessed with training in a certain zone then you will never adapt to the changes of pace that you might experience when racing. i wont go into why i dont like HRMs in detail but im sure a lot of people use them with a lot success and they might work for you.

finally, when you have been training for a while and feel ready you can try training with a group. id reccommend finding a slower ride to start off with so you can practice your group handling skills. in the uk we have groups called chaingangs which usually go off on weekday evenings, they are quite similiar to race efforts and provide an excellent form of training for those who arent racing. theres probably a similiar sort of thing in america but you should only go with these groups when you have been training for a while and have completed some interval sessions.

so take it steady, progress and dont do too much intensity too soon!

ewan52 said:

first off buy 'a cyclist's training bible' by joe friel, it is very informative and covers almost every aspect of cycle training for novices.

Well if you want to train that means that you must have a goal in mind. Maybe its to complete a longer ride or to do a time trial or do a first race. First you should just ride, have fun for a few weeks, just ride your bike and allow your body to adapt to cycling. riding 3 times a week over progressively longer distances would be ideal, dont do anything stupid like going straight out on a 70 mile ride or something, just do what you feel comfortable with, 20 miles might be fine, 10 miles might be fine it depends on your physical fitness to start off with.

when you feel ready to do harder training (again this will depend largely on your physical fitness to start off with and your natural ability) then you can start trying interval sessions or other harder efforts. an example of an interval session would be 5x3 minutes on a flat road with 3 minutes recovery inbetween efforts. really cycling is very unlike running in that no matter what training you do its very difficult to simulate the kind of physical effort that you will experience when doing a race. but if your not racing then interval training is the next best thing. when you start training hard do no more than 1 hard session a week, theres another thread about overtraining which describes what could happen if you do too much intensity too soon!

you can use a heart rate monitor to train if you want, im sure there are a lot of people on this forum who will explain how to use one. i wont because i am against their use and never use one. i believe that if you become obsessed with training in a certain zone then you will never adapt to the changes of pace that you might experience when racing. i wont go into why i dont like HRMs in detail but im sure a lot of people use them with a lot success and they might work for you.

finally, when you have been training for a while and feel ready you can try training with a group. id reccommend finding a slower ride to start off with so you can practice your group handling skills. in the uk we have groups called chaingangs which usually go off on weekday evenings, they are quite similiar to race efforts and provide an excellent form of training for those who arent racing. theres probably a similiar sort of thing in america but you should only go with these groups when you have been training for a while and have completed some interval sessions.

so take it steady, progress and dont do too much intensity too soon!

Thanks for you help. I had been use to rought runnin training. O competitions, we used to run in the desert for 2 hours, with 1/4 liter of water and sometimes there no water. Always pushing a little harder.
I really appreciate your help, I guess that I need to get a book.
Thanks a lot for the help, one more time. I really appreciate it.

you sound like your used to physical hardship. i was cautious in my advice as i didnt want to encourage you to go out and kill yourself and then never touch a bike again. if your in good condition already you may find that you can start doing longer distances and higher intensity more quickly then i first suggested. i would encourage you to find a group to train with as its more fun and you can push yourself harder, you may even want to have a go at racing, but be careful racing requires a lot of skill not just fitness.

the book is really good, get the specific one i mentioned, it explains all aspects of cycle training, although it encourages the reader to make use of a HRM which i dont use i still think thats its extremely valuable for any new rider.

Well, that is how life it is. My first ride was like 7 miles, including 3 miles up hill. I was going as hard as I could, but I agree that is a lot different from running. You need to have a technique, which you will gain with experience.