How often do you ride? (Newbie training to race)

hey tehpr3chr,

Glad you're getting into the world's best sport! When you're first beginning it's important to just put in the miles. I wouldn't worry too much yet about intervals, or more specific training. Try to join a club in your area and get out with some of the older guys now and then. Also consider taking at least one day off the bike per week, perhaps even two. You only recover and adapt to training loads when resting. Eventually -- maybe after a year -- it would be a good idea to pick up a book like Friel's 'Training Bible' for cyclists, and put together a specific, periodized plan for your training year. Until then, enjoy yourself! :o

Catabolic Jones said:

hey tehpr3chr,

Glad you're getting into the world's best sport! When you're first beginning it's important to just put in the miles. I wouldn't worry too much yet about intervals, or more specific training. Try to join a club in your area and get out with some of the older guys now and then. Also consider taking at least one day off the bike per week, perhaps even two. You only recover and adapt to training loads when resting. Eventually -- maybe after a year -- it would be a good idea to pick up a book like Friel's 'Training Bible' for cyclists, and put together a specific, periodized plan for your training year. Until then, enjoy yourself! :o

i should have put in that i've been riding for over a year...i'm just now getting serious about training harder and getting faster to race...also, i used to weigh 325...i weigh about 210 now 🙂

tehpr3chr said:

i should have put in that i've been riding for over a year...i'm just now getting serious about training harder and getting faster to race...also, i used to weigh 325...i weigh about 210 now 🙂

my friend, if you've lost 115 pounds then you obviously have a lot of determination and will make the improvements you desire. however, i agree with catabolic jones about rest days being very important.

you know what? i'm a road bike newbie too. i've been riding a mountain or hybrid bike for 20 years but i want to get into road racing now also. i just bought a cannondale tri bike yesterday for $350. i think it's about 10 years old or so, and orange. looks good to me. i'll put some maintenance dollars into it as i go, but it's certainly faster than my hybrid bike.

i'm moving to the lower hudson valley and there are some good clubs there it looks like. where are you located?

the northeast georgia region...i started mountain about 2-1/2 years ago..maybe 2..wrecked really bad doing that and switched to something potentially more dangerous, lol..i got my giant ocr2 brand new last year and began riding in the spring of last year...my average speed at that time was about 12.5(funny, huh)..i'm pretty much at 18 now on about a 12-15 mile ride by myself, which i know increases to like 18.5-19 in a group...i've ridden pretty much every day since last thursday for this run, and need a break....should i take tomorrow or tomorrow and friday? i'm riding 21 miles saturday morning for sure...

Recovery is just as important as the training itself, but resting is different to recovery (I agree we need at least 1 rest day a week).

Recovery rides are slow rides to get you legs moving. By warming up with a recovery ride you should find you recover quicker from the previous day (I say should cause everyone's different).

Increase the distance or intensity of your training rides over time and you will see the benefit

Brizza said:

Recovery is just as important as the training itself, but resting is different to recovery (I agree we need at least 1 rest day a week).

Recovery rides are slow rides to get you legs moving. By warming up with a recovery ride you should find you recover quicker from the previous day (I say should cause everyone's different).

Increase the distance or intensity of your training rides over time and you will see the benefit

i think i'm gonna take an easy ride today and try to find a bit longer and more direct route than the one i take right now...it's more hilly, and longer....i'll just spin out on all the climbs instead of getting out of the saddle for em...i rode yesterday and did crappy, but i did have a headwind strong enough so i had to steer into it most the time...i'm a scales junkie as well, which is bad, but i've learned that i can lose 4 lbs. a week and gain 2 back and that be fine...i lost 4.5 this week(down to 212) and weighed 214 this morning, but that's coo...weight loss isn't supposed to happen fast....it's unhealthy if it does...i figure i'd like to weigh about 180-190 in time for the six gap race here in georgia...

I'm no pro, just an old 40 something that used to race back in college. Started training again last August and have dropped 35 lbs (170 -> 135) an am 5'6.5". Anyway put in about 6 hours a week during the winter on my trainer and now about 10 hours a week (175 miles) outdoors. Agree if you can get your average up to 20 mph over at 20-30 mile course riding solo, you should be ready to run a cat 5 race. Given it's not the off season where you should be doing mostly endurance building, alternate your "hammer" and "recovery" days and start throwing in interval training about 3 months prior to any planned racing. Some say to take a day off a week and others not, but for this 40 something body I definately need that one day off a week. Also note the length of the cat 5 races in your area (probably 20 - 30 miles) and make sure you are doing training sessions longer than the expected races. Expect your training time to increase as you approach advancing to cat 4 to remain competitive.

Finally join a local racing club. If you can find a good one their experience, support and group training sessions will help you both in physical abilities and bike handling skills in a pack.

tehpr3chr said:

I was just curious how often/far you racers ride. I ride 12 miles every day of the week, unless it's raining or I am very busy, in which case I ride my trainer for an hour. On Saturday mornings I ride with a group of guys around 23 miles. I want to work up to close to 30 miles a day by the end of this fall, and will try to keep training during the winter. I want to enter one category 5 race at the end of next year and at least place in the top 10. The next year I would like to race on a regular place and hopefully begin moving up in class. I know that the average winning speed for a cat. 5 race is 23-24 mph. I'm nowhere near this right now, but know with practice I can do it. I really wish I could find someone to ride with where I live, and it would make riding a longer distance much easier. I guess it's better in a way, though, because you generally don't race "with" anyone, you just race alone, unless you're on a team that is. I want to be at least averaging 20 mph by the end of this fall. Right now my average on the Saturday morning ride is around 18mph. Any suggestions/comments?

Just gotten back into cycling myself after a few years off. I've forgotten how hard it is when you don't have the miles in your legs. Been off the bike again the last 2 weeks after taking a tumble over some tram tracks but before that managing to average 15 mph by myself over about 45 miles. Would also like to get into racing next season, now gotta pull my finger out and get some decent training done.