Training on a Budget

I can't think of how to spend it, but I can definitely think of how NOT to spend it:

1. Dura-Ace - It's very expensive, and the parts that you replace regularly, like the cassette and chain, are less durable and more expensive than Ultegra or lower.

2. Carbon Fiber - Carbon fiber stuff breaks easily and is difficult/expensive to repair. Some definite No-no's are carbon handlebars and stems, and wheels. If you want a durable bike, get one that's made out of steel. Modern steel bikes can be built very light with the right mix of components.

3. GPS - it's nice to know that you'll never be lost, but cycle smart, the old fashioned way. Memorize your routes, stick to the roads you know, and plan alternate routes ahead of time.

4. Expensive helmets - All helmets are required by law to pass safety standards set by the government.

5. Fancy tires/tubes - ultralight tires can wear quickly and puncture easily. That means you will be spending more money at a faster rate. Some expensive tires are worth it, however. I've had good experience with Gatorskins but others differ. Use the formula (price/expected mileage) to find the optimal tire.

6. Driving to your training location - not very obvious, but if you train 5 times a week, driving to your favorite training ground will use up a lot of gasoline over time. I would only recommend you do this if you can't get to your training location safely without a car.

7. Gu/Bars/Processed Hydration - These things are expensive. I'll use them during races, but I eat normal food/water while training.

8. Bib Shorts - I think bib shorts feel nice, but they didn't blow my mind or anything. My performance hasn't increased dramatically because of them. I only have them because I got this deal where I got them for $45 each. However, most of the time Bibs can cost $100-$300, and you can buy 2-5 pairs of regular shorts for every pair of bibs.

Of course, you are free to buy all this stuff if money isn't a problem for you, as they do have some benefits. As to how to spend money, I'm still pretty ambivalent towards getting training equipment. The only electronic equipment I use is a simple cyclocomputer, but I can see how a power meter and heart rate monitor can give you invaluable information. But at $1200-$3000 for such equipment is still questionable. Guess I'll just have to wait for the patents to expire for the generics to come out...

genedan said:

I can't think of how to spend it, but I can definitely think of how NOT to spend it:

1. Dura-Ace - It's very expensive, and the parts that you replace regularly, like the cassette and chain, are less durable and more expensive than Ultegra or lower.

2. Carbon Fiber - Carbon fiber stuff breaks easily and is difficult/expensive to repair. Some definite No-no's are carbon handlebars and stems, and wheels. If you want a durable bike, get one that's made out of steel. Modern steel bikes can be built very light with the right mix of components..

1.explain in detail your findings on Dura Ace wearing out sooner than lower end groups. as one who doesn't neccassarily 'buy' into high end everything pretty much because i can't afford to, i'd like to know my 105, at a mere 3000 and shifting, holding, not showing any signs of wear other than for road grime, is definately not worth sticking my nose in the air at comparatively which i don't think it is.

2. get skills, don't wreck, ride out front, why carbon fiber was invented as frame and component material.

1. The Ti sprockets on the Dura-Ace cassette won't last as long as the steel sprockets on Ultegra. Plus, the Ultegra cassette is 1/3 the price of Dura Ace. You pay $200 extra for about 50 grams of savings if you buy Dura-Ace, and there won't be a noticeable performance difference.

2. It doesn't matter how skilled you are at bike handling. If you race, at some point, you will definitely crash. Think about the pro peloton. These guys do CX and MTB in the off season, and go around a velodrome taking turns at 70km/h. They have the handling skills that the rest of us will never have. Yet, they still get into pile-ups through no fault of their own. Given enough miles, bad luck will most probably happen.

Remember, Carbon Fiber is great if you want to pay for it, but this thread is about saving money.

well then, my extra money is used on hookers and blow. 🙂

Hookers and blow don't seem very sport specific, but I suppose they MAY assist in recovery...

Thanks for the feedback on things to save on. I have heard a buddy from the bike shop mention that most of those expensive devices won;t really shave the time until you hit CAT 2,3 level speeds. At the entry level where we don;t have all the toys, bells, and whistles, it makes sense to go with durability. Reviews also state that Ultegra parts are not copying the dura ace patterns and work almost as good.

Still looking for answers to the other questions. Perhaps how you do interval training. And what would agree it is the training of choice for criterium racers. Please be specific.

roadhouse said:

well then, my extra money is used on hookers and blow. 🙂

-1 to Roadhouse for spending frivolously on poor recovery choices. Funny, yes; helpful, no.

I train on a pretty tight budget so here are some things I have found useful:

1.) Cyclocomputer with Cadence. One of the keys to effective training is always knowing your cadence and finding your "sweet spot". Cadence helps you control your pedal stroke and keeps you in a nice, comfortable rythm while improving your form. Cost - $50-$100

2.) A Heart Rate Monitor. Not as effective as training with power, but knowing your HR while training is like knowing your cadence. It helps you become more in tune with your body and gives you a keener understanding of your limitations and provides you with the feedback necessary to expand your thresholds and improve using real data. HR Monitors, as you mentioned, are less expensive than power meters. Cost - $50-$100

3.) An application or spreadsheet you can use to track and graph your performance over time. This is a nice freebie you can pick up online (or at the ipod app store for those with ipods or smart phones). An app can give you graphical analysis of your performance over time given different variables so you can see what conditions are optimal for you vs. what conditions cause you to have a bad day. It all goes back to knowing your body and how it reacts to different stresses. Cost - $0

4.) A book. I bought Chris Carmichael's "The Ultimate Ride" and keep it as a reference because in here he explains things like "Interval Training" and how to train using Heart Rate as your guide. It even explains how to set up your bike properly if you can't afford to get a pro fitting on a regular basis. Cost - ~$15

5.) Membership to a cycling club. If you have time, join a local cycling club. Here you can pay a nominal fee and gain the opportunity to ride in groups. Generally you can pick the rides and groups and try to ride with the fast cyclists and other training racers to get comfy in a peloton and pace line. Other cyclists in the club will also be able to add their own invaluable feedback and advice while on the road. Cost - ~$25

Of course, prerequisites include having a proper bike, clothing and safety gear. It does help to invest in a couple different cycling outfits.

Tip for bike food/nutrition:

Buy maltodextrin at a ubrew beer supply place. Should cost less than $5/lb. It's the same stuff used in all the commercial mixes, but you can make your own dry mix and flavour it as you like (or leave it unflavoured), add salt to it, whatever. If you really want to get fancy, you can make your own gels too, or bars.

Intervals are simply periods of work followed by periods of rest. The effort levels and durations vary depending on what system you are attempting to train. While gadgets can help, all intervals can be performed by basing your effort on perceived exertion. It might take some practice to figure out how hard to go without blowing up well before the interval ends, but you'll get the hang of it. The beginning will always feel a little easy. The key is to be steady and blow right at the end.

It sounds like you have picked up some of the jargon regarding the levels. Here's a quick summary of the typical interval durations for different training levels.
L3 - 60-90 minutes continuous.
L4 - 10-30 minutes. 5 minutes rest in between. The most common workout is 2 x 20 minute w/ 5 minute in between. Don't forget to warm up for 15-20 minutes. That goes for all levels.
L5 - 4-8 minutes. Rest for the same time as the interval. Total work is typically 25-45 minutes.
L6 - 30 seconds-2 minutes. Rest for 1 to 2 times the interval length. Total work is typically 12-20 minutes.
L7 - 10-15 seconds. Town lines are fun to sprint for.

Don't forget your rest days! They're crucial. A strong base of L3/L4 will prepare you for the harder efforts.

Training for effective weight loss varies with the individual. Many tout L2 as the "fat burning" zone. I find for myself that I drop weight when I am in more intense training phases. For me, hard training days suppress my appetite, while I can be ravenous after a long L2 ride even if I eat properly on the ride. It really depends on you and your willpower. But it is pretty simple. Doing the work requires energy. Take in less than you put out if you want to lose some weight. While some zones may use a higher percentage of fat as the fuel, you have to look at the big picture of your entire day and what, how much, and when you are eating. If you only have a few pesky pounds to lose, it might take some serious fine tuning of your lifestyle. In the end though, I think it's better to train for cycling performance rather than look for that holy grail training zone for weight loss.

Most of all, have fun with it. I think it would be silly to waste a beautiful day by being inside on a stationary bike or trainer. Again, you will become familiar with the exertion levels to do say a 2 minute or a 15 minute interval with practice.

The little information I offered on intervals doesn't go into frequency, periodization, planning a season, or other concepts. I might suggest that you spend a bit of the hard earned cash on book on training. That might be a good bang for the buck if you want to improve your cycling. It'll give you a good baseline of knowledge so you'll understand the discussions online.

I hope that helps a bit. Oh, and you can never have too many sets of bibs. And 105 is absolutely just fine.

zank said:

...It sounds like you have picked up some of the jargon regarding the levels. Here's a quick summary of the typical interval durations for different training levels.
L3 - 60-90 minutes continuous.
L4 - 10-30 minutes. 5 minutes rest in between. The most common workout is 2 x 20 minute w/ 5 minute in between. Don't forget to warm up for 15-20 minutes. That goes for all levels.
L5 - 4-8 minutes. Rest for the same time as the interval. Total work is typically 25-45 minutes.
L6 - 30 seconds-2 minutes. Rest for 1 to 2 times the interval length. Total work is typically 12-20 minutes.
L7 - 10-15 seconds. Town lines are fun to sprint for.

Don't forget your rest days! They're crucial. A strong base of L3/L4 will prepare you for the harder efforts. ....

+1, great advice and tuning into RPE while using a stopwatch to set interval durations is definitely the best 'budget' approach to structured training.

FWIW, the training levels given above are basically Andy Coggan's power based levels which is what I use but as zank points out you can get there by focusing on the length of the intervals with the assumption that each is ridden at 90% to 100% of your best steady effort for the target duration and also as zank points out so that if you 'blow' it happens at the end.

It seems like some of your other posts used different definitions like Z4 being 'anaerobic' which it clearly isn't in Coggan's system since by his definitions you can sustain a mid to high level L4 interval for a full hour on a good day. L6 is the start of primarily anaerobic efforts in Coggan's levels but L5 work has a substantial anaerobic component though it still primarily focuses on high end aerobic processes.

Anyway, great advice above, but I figured some translation might be in order between your current 'zones' and the 'levels' defined above.

-Dave

Deafwolf said:

Thanks for the feedback on things to save on. I have heard a buddy from the bike shop mention that most of those expensive devices won;t really shave the time until you hit CAT 2,3 level speeds. At the entry level where we don;t have all the toys, bells, and whistles, it makes sense to go with durability. Reviews also state that Ultegra parts are not copying the dura ace patterns and work almost as good.

Still looking for answers to the other questions. Perhaps how you do interval training. And what would agree it is the training of choice for criterium racers. Please be specific.

Actually, weight savings are more beneficial to those who go slower up hills - the fast lads have lots of power, so power to weight doesn't take a big hit and they're proportionately on a hill much much less time.

The Dura Ace stuff is great. 7800 is every bit as good as 7900 and can be had for lots less. That said Ultegra is great too. Save the Ti sprockets in the DA for 105. Ultegra is more expensive that 10 and basically the same thing. Use a SRAM cassette if you need the 28.

But... it's not about the bike. It's nearly all about the rider and with that in mind, if you fancy blowing about $1000 then something like a Powertap with a rear wheel is the way to go. It's not just great because you're now just by monitoring your efforts with a power meter, the main part for me is being able to very accurately track your training over time in great detail with minimal effort.

Get the training right and it really is a minimal effort, maximum gain situation.

Of course, those who have followed my posts on here will be expecting my next line.

Powercranks are the best thing since sliced bread. Infact they are better than anything since the invention of any bread, sliced or unsliced. Horrifically taxing on your legs when you first start though.

Powercranks and a power meter... now we're talking. You could ride a sh1t-heap on two wheels and go fast.

Good news is there are cost savings to be made in virtually every area of cycling. First thing I would do is learn to assess the need for products vs the marketing hype for some products. Only areas I would suggest spending a little more are..

-Good saddle
-Good shorts
-Good shoes and clipless pedals
-Best helmet you can afford
-A good light windbreaker

The rest with a little research can be found or done (maybe with a little more time) at less expense.

roadhouse said:

well then, my extra money is used on hookers and blow. 🙂

hahaha what ? you too? :p

So today's group ride, which was mostly me riding solo, would be a good example of riding at L3?

I arrived late this morning and missed the intermediate group. So I took off with the advanced riders and lost them at the hills. I caught up at their rest/gathering point after the hills and kept in the paceline for the return on the flats.

The effort was definitely continuous and hard to boot.

If that is correct, I have been riding L3 pretty much all the time. I don't have the patience for L2. But I will have to this Saturday so I don;t over exert before the Dominguez Hills crit on Sunday.

Again, thanks for the excellent posts. +1 feedback for all good entries. I hope this helps others as well as myself.

So I put me budgetary advice (received from all the helpful suggestions) to work. Yesterday (Monday) I went out to the bike river trail along the Santa Ana River bed. I was riding south towards the beach and against the wind. I just recently replaced the battery to the watch of my Polar HR monitor. (I got it for $30 on Ebay, an older model). Riding to the trail, I consistently maintain a HR of about 155. My resting HR is 60. My max HR (220-38) is 182, although I have pushed it higher than that. While riding the flats into the wind, I struggled initially, but elevated my HR to 170-175 and held it for close to 2-minutes at a time with a 2-5 min rest. I did about 5 of these intervals before turning off the trail and taking surface streets home, once again at HR=155.

Distance traveled: 15-miles
Time: 52 minutes

Planning some easy riding for a few days. Doing the intervals again on Thursday, then rest, and easy 30-mile group ride on Sat, and then a crit race on Sunday at 7am.

(Actually only rode a moderate intensity 4-miles on Tuesday due to schedule changes)

Would you change anything?

So 3 hard/race sessions a week mixed with easier recovery rides. HR monitor (good score BTW) to make sure you don't overdo things. Sounds pretty sweet to me. Have fun in the Crit!

Kind of bumping this post because it has some great ideas. Good for financial reasons, but also to be a bit more eco-friendly.

A few more tips:

-buy everything second hand. Or be nice to rich/sponsored buddies who might download their old stuff to you 🙂
-you can find everything you need for training online without books- this forum+time+your brains= success
-buy clip-on suspenders at the dollar shop- take the drawstring out of your non-bib shorts and use the suspenders. So good!
-keep your chain and drivetrain clean and oiled- it lasts way longer
-carpool whenever you can to races, tours, training rides, etc
-plan your food shopping and get everything at the grocery store- convenience stores, gas stations and cafes get crazy expensive when you are training, or traveling around to races
-save all your old tubes with holes and go on a patching spree once in awhile

and +for a power meter. Expensive, but sooo worth it. You kinda need WKO or Golden Cheetah and the Coggan book (oops, forget point 2 above!) for the full effect though, so that adds to the price.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by roadhouse [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

well then, my extra money is used on hookers and blow. [IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif[/IMG]

Tom Boonen has already proven that either of these do not improve cycling performance. Word has it that too much blow can lead too issues that reduce performance while riding... 😉