How to ride faster?

Quoted message said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of the
ride.

No, it's a matter of working on your technique (especially cadence -
it is common to find that you can go faster in a slightly lower gear),
and ride the bike a lot.

In my view, pushing long gears does nothing much for fitness, builds
strength slightly, slows you down compared with using the right gear,
and screws your knees up.

If you want to build strength, ride up bigger hills (but spin!). If
you want to improve speed, ride more, and see if you can keep the
cadence above 95rpm. I find that my comfortable cruising cadence is
around 100rpm.

One man's opinion.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Just zis Guy, you know? <[email hidden]> wrote:
:> On Fri, 20 May 2005 08:42:27 -0400, [email hidden] wrote:
:>
:> >This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
:> >speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
:> >longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of
:> >the ride.
:>
:> No, it's a matter of working on your technique (especially cadence -
:> it is common to find that you can go faster in a slightly lower
:> gear), and ride the bike a lot.
:>
:> In my view, pushing long gears does nothing much for fitness, builds
:> strength slightly, slows you down compared with using the right gear,
:> and screws your knees up.
:>
:> If you want to build strength, ride up bigger hills (but spin!). If
:> you want to improve speed, ride more, and see if you can keep the
:> cadence above 95rpm. I find that my comfortable cruising cadence is
:> around 100rpm.
:>
:> One man's opinion.

Learning to pedal properly makes a huge difference in speed. You must not
just mash on the pedals, but also pull. Doing so involves both the quads
and hams (powered through the hips) in moving the pedals.

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed?

Eddy Merckx's response would be -"ride lots"

Quoted message said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of the
ride.

The guys in my club like to ride around 20mph and I'd really like to
be part of the pack. I'm always bringing up the rear at around 16mph.

First (as Eddie and another poster said), "ride lots".

Second, don't spend all your time in "club mode". Get in some much
shorter, but more intense rides. I've found that doing nothing but
long rides tends to make your terminal velocity lower (that is, long
slow rides train you to ride slow). Your legs and lungs have to get
used to the stress of supplying more power, and the only way that'll
happen is to give them the chance to do it regularly.

And remember what Greg LeMond said.... "it doesn't get any easier -
you just go faster".

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of the
ride.

The guys in my club like to ride around 20mph and I'd really like to
be part of the pack. I'm always bringing up the rear at around 16mph.

train smarter, become fitter. If necessary, get a lighter bike. Improve
cycling technique - become more aerodynamic, pedal smoother, more
efficiently. Fit an engine...

Cheers, helen s

Roger Zoul said:

Just zis Guy, you know? <[email hidden]> wrote:
:> On Fri, 20 May 2005 08:42:27 -0400, [email hidden] wrote:
:>
:> >This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
:> >speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
:> >longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of
:> >the ride.
:>
:> No, it's a matter of working on your technique (especially cadence -
:> it is common to find that you can go faster in a slightly lower
:> gear), and ride the bike a lot.
:>
:> In my view, pushing long gears does nothing much for fitness, builds
:> strength slightly, slows you down compared with using the right gear,
:> and screws your knees up.
:>
:> If you want to build strength, ride up bigger hills (but spin!). If
:> you want to improve speed, ride more, and see if you can keep the
:> cadence above 95rpm. I find that my comfortable cruising cadence is
:> around 100rpm.
:>
:> One man's opinion.

Learning to pedal properly makes a huge difference in speed. You must not
just mash on the pedals, but also pull. Doing so involves both the quads
and hams (powered through the hips) in moving the pedals.

I agree, pedal in circles, learn to spin, spend time on the bike, all of
it is important. Do paceline drills with your club. Also get a set of
rollers, it's like riding on ice but if your form is correct you'll stay
up. The trick with rollers is that they force you to pedal smoothly and
evenly, and when it's too nasty to pedal out side you can pedal inside.

--
Roy Owen

Keep the leather side up,
and the rubber side down.

Bob said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of the
ride.

The guys in my club like to ride around 20mph and I'd really like to
be part of the pack. I'm always bringing up the rear at around 16mph.

There's a big difference between 16 and 20 mph. Technique and equipment
alone won't be enough. You'll have to work on the engine. If you're getting
dropped on the hills, losing some weight will make a difference.

Interval training is often touted. But why torture yourself? There's always
going to riders faster and slower than you. If you're riding for fun and
fitness, just do a pace that's within your limits. Do solo rides, or find a
group that you can keep up with. Ride at a pace that's fast enough to
increase your heart rate and breathing, but not so fast that you're
exhausted and gasping for air. Over time your speed will gradually increase.

Art Harris

Quoted message said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of the
ride.

The guys in my club like to ride around 20mph and I'd really like to
be part of the pack. I'm always bringing up the rear at around 16mph.

I have some ideas, but first a couple questions. How long have you been
riding, how many days a week do you ride?

I ask this because, ime, sometimes it's just a matter of duration (time in
the saddle), sometimes a matter of consistency (frequency of riding) and
sometimes it's just a matter of perception (getting used to a higher
speed).

jj

Roy Owen said:

The trick with rollers is that they force you to pedal smoothly and
evenly, and when it's too nasty to pedal out side you can pedal inside.

When would that be? I've ridden a sports recumbent bike with slick
tyres in freezing sleet with ice and snow on the ground :-)

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Quoted message said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of the
ride.

The guys in my club like to ride around 20mph and I'd really like to
be part of the pack. I'm always bringing up the rear at around 16mph.

I'm someone who has actually made this transition. When I started doing
club rides 10 years ago, I thought I was a reasonably strong rider (rode
50-60 miles easily), but I found, like you, that I could only maintain a
16-ish mph pace compared to the 20-ish pace of the club rides. Now I can
maintain 20+ mph for a couple of hours. It took me a few years.

Forget all the talk about technique, it's meaningless. Cycling is
cardio-vascular limited. You need to increase your c-v capacity. That
involves stressing the system. Some people recommend doing intervals --
successions of short, high intensity efforts -- I've never had the
discipline to do those regularly. What I've done is mostly high
intensity rides (~2 hr) 2-3 times a week. A high intensity ride is one
where I stay in an elevated heart rate (>85%) for the whole ride,
hitting max rate many times. I find it difficult to do that when riding
alone, so I usually just try to stay at my anaerobic threshold.

Everybody has biological limits, but you won't find them without
training very hard. There are no shortcuts, it's a lot of pain. Riding
at your c-v max is not very pleasant, and you have to push yourself into
that region over & over again. Funny thing is that after a while (weeks,
months) you become less sensitive to the discomfort, it's an interesting
process. After a few years it seems that the body craves that level of
physical stress.

I don't think "training", in the sense of deliberately trying to make
yourself faster, is misguided if you're not a racer -- it's really fun
just to go fast. I love the sensations that come from being at the very
limit of my capacity, especially riding in a close pack, despite the
discomfort. As hard as it gets at times, there are still moments of pure
elation and always a sense of accomplishment afterwards. It's hard, but
worth it.

Peter Cole said:

Quoted message said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of
the ride.

The guys in my club like to ride around 20mph and I'd really like to
be part of the pack. I'm always bringing up the rear at around 16mph.

I'm someone who has actually made this transition. When I started
doing club rides 10 years ago, I thought I was a reasonably strong
rider (rode 50-60 miles easily), but I found, like you, that I could
only maintain a 16-ish mph pace compared to the 20-ish pace of the
club rides. Now I can maintain 20+ mph for a couple of hours. It took
me a few years.

Forget all the talk about technique, it's meaningless. Cycling is
cardio-vascular limited. You need to increase your c-v capacity. That
involves stressing the system. Some people recommend doing intervals
-- successions of short, high intensity efforts -- I've never had the
discipline to do those regularly. What I've done is mostly high
intensity rides (~2 hr) 2-3 times a week. A high intensity ride is one
where I stay in an elevated heart rate (>85%) for the whole ride,
hitting max rate many times. I find it difficult to do that when
riding alone, so I usually just try to stay at my anaerobic threshold.

Everybody has biological limits, but you won't find them without
training very hard. There are no shortcuts, it's a lot of pain. Riding
at your c-v max is not very pleasant, and you have to push yourself
into that region over & over again. Funny thing is that after a while
(weeks, months) you become less sensitive to the discomfort, it's an
interesting process. After a few years it seems that the body craves
that level of physical stress.

I don't think "training", in the sense of deliberately trying to make
yourself faster, is misguided if you're not a racer -- it's really fun
just to go fast. I love the sensations that come from being at the
very limit of my capacity, especially riding in a close pack, despite
the discomfort. As hard as it gets at times, there are still moments
of pure elation and always a sense of accomplishment afterwards. It's
hard, but worth it.

As soon as I finish this bacon cheeseburger, I'm going to read that again.

Sigh.

Just zis Guy said:

Roy Owen said:

The trick with rollers is that they force you to pedal smoothly and
evenly, and when it's too nasty to pedal out side you can pedal inside.

When would that be? I've ridden a sports recumbent bike with slick
tyres in freezing sleet with ice and snow on the ground :-)

Guy

Any time when it's cold/windy/wet. I've ridden high preasure road tires
(700x20C) in the winter through snow and ice but I don't like it. 13
yrs ago I drew the line at 28 degrees F, now its at 60.

--
Roy Owen

Keep the leather side up,
and the rubber side down.

jj said:

I have some ideas, but first a couple questions. How long have you been
riding, how many days a week do you ride?

I started last July. But then winter came and I switched to running
inside on a treadmill.

I ride 2-3 times/week. Usually 20-40 miles per ride.

Quoted message said:

I ask this because, ime, sometimes it's just a matter of duration (time in
the saddle), sometimes a matter of consistency (frequency of riding) and
sometimes it's just a matter of perception (getting used to a higher
speed).

jj

Invalid Bob said:

What can I do to improve my speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a
bigger gear for longer and longer times and I'll eventually be
pushing it for the duration of the ride.

Speed is power and it doesn't make much difference which gear you use
in a reasonable range. The gear is not what will make you faster but
physical fitness will. If you are not otherwise athletically active
then you probably don't even run out of breath when you try harder.
That would be an indication of fitness that approaches your lung
(aerobic) capacity.

Quoted message said:

The guys in my club like to ride around 20mph and I'd really like to
be part of the pack. I'm always bringing up the rear at around
16mph.

Not knowing your age or build makes an assessment of your limitation
difficult. However, as you get into better bicycling condition, you
will find using a lower (higher pedaling cadence) gear easier to ride
while your durable speed will increase. The main thing is to put on
enough miles. If you go on longer rides (over 50 miles) you will
naturally select an appropriate gear. On short jaunts most of
pedaling rate and gear selection is optional but when you get into a
longer routine, that goes away.

You will probably get suggestions that you should "spin" and ride low
gears. That is like the experienced rider suggesting that you relax
when descending mountain roads. Relaxing (ease) in descending is
something that comes from being skilled at it, not the means of
getting good at descending. The same applies to spinning. It is
difficult (at least at moderate speeds) if you can't attain moderate
speeds for lack of conditioning. Get in shape first by going on rides
that test your distance limit.

[email hidden]

Bill Sornson <[email hidden]> wrote:
:> Peter Cole wrote:
:> > Forget all the talk about technique, it's meaningless.

I think I disagree with that, to an extent. You never trust the experts, do
you Peter? 🙂

Cycling is
:> > cardio-vascular limited. You need to increase your c-v capacity.
:> > That involves stressing the system. Some people recommend doing
:> > intervals -- successions of short, high intensity efforts -- I've
:> > never had the discipline to do those regularly. What I've done is
:> > mostly high intensity rides (~2 hr) 2-3 times a week. A high
:> > intensity ride is one where I stay in an elevated heart rate
:> > (>85%) for the whole ride, hitting max rate many times. I find it
:> > difficult to do that when
:> > riding alone, so I usually just try to stay at my anaerobic
:> > threshold.

Seems that if can force yourself to do >85% for 2 hours 2-3 times a week,
that doing shorter intervals would be easier. It takes a lot of discipline
to ride as you describe. I'm currently trying to do exact what you
describe, though. However, I'm looking at my average HR compared to my max
(guesstimated based on monitoring with a HRM) over the length of the ride.

:> >
:> > Everybody has biological limits, but you won't find them without
:> > training very hard. There are no shortcuts, it's a lot of pain.
:> > Riding at your c-v max is not very pleasant, and you have to push
:> > yourself into that region over & over again. Funny thing is that
:> > after a while (weeks, months) you become less sensitive to the
:> > discomfort, it's an interesting process. After a few years it
:> > seems that the body craves that level of physical stress.

I sure hope that's how it works out for me.

:> >
:> > I don't think "training", in the sense of deliberately trying to
:> > make yourself faster, is misguided if you're not a racer -- it's
:> > really fun just to go fast. I love the sensations that come from
:> > being at the
:> > very limit of my capacity, especially riding in a close pack,
:> > despite the discomfort. As hard as it gets at times, there are
:> > still moments
:> > of pure elation and always a sense of accomplishment afterwards.
:> > It's hard, but worth it.

I agree!!

:>
:> As soon as I finish this bacon cheeseburger, I'm going to read that
:> again.

Yeah, skipping that bacon cheeseburger might be a better place to start! 🙂

Or not.

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of the
ride.

No, it's a matter of working on your technique (especially cadence -
it is common to find that you can go faster in a slightly lower gear),
and ride the bike a lot.

I agree with you on the cadence deal, and riding alot.

Quoted message said:

In my view, pushing long gears does nothing much for fitness, builds
strength slightly, slows you down compared with using the right gear,
and screws your knees up.

Right on - and ruins your endurance.

Quoted message said:

If you want to build strength, ride up bigger hills (but spin!). If
you want to improve speed, ride more, and see if you can keep the
cadence above 95rpm. I find that my comfortable cruising cadence is
around 100rpm.

But don't try to over do your cadence. My fast cadence is slow compared to
some others, I think my fast cadence is only 75-80 rpm. Every rider is
different. Let your body tell you where it is comfortable.

Quoted message said:

One man's opinion.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Quoted message said:

jj said:

I have some ideas, but first a couple questions. How long have you been
riding, how many days a week do you ride?

I started last July. But then winter came and I switched to running
inside on a treadmill.

I presume you realize that treadmill running is not normally a good
transfer to cycling, which requires different muscles and training loads?

Quoted message said:

I ride 2-3 times/week. Usually 20-40 miles per ride.

By rough calculation, that means to me that you've only ridden the bike
about 50-70 times since last July. If you're able to ride 20-40 miles with
your friends at an average speed of 16mph that's nearly phenomenal!

Just keep doing what you're doing, but do it more often. Aim to get out and
ride with your friends as often as possible and before you know it you'll
be pacing them. Have you considered asking them to teach you how to draft?
That's one way to increase your speed. Another is to do intervals on the
downhill portion of a false-flat, then keeping up the speed as long as
possible as the road levels out.

Good luck.

jj

Quoted message said:

This is probably a stupid question, but what can I do to improve my
speed? Is it just a matter of pushing a bigger gear for longer and
longer times and I'll eventually be pushing it for the duration of the
ride.

The guys in my club like to ride around 20mph and I'd really like to
be part of the pack. I'm always bringing up the rear at around 16mph.

If you want to get faster without spending a lot more time on the bike, I'd
suggest getting a heartwatch and doing intervals. Steady-state riding
probably isn't going to push your body enough to really improve, especially
if you don't have a heart monitor (or a gnarly climb that you can time) to
judge how hard you're actually working. I used to think I just wasn't very
good on the "flats" while I could do very well in the hills. Turned out that
I was just really poor at judging my effort on the flats. When I got the
heart monitor, I found that I could ride half an hour at 165 bpm... while on
the flats, I was at maybe 140. Now, riding the flats with a heart monitor, I
can motor quite well. I know where the limits are, what I *should* be
capable of. And when you know that, you're there. Confidence is everything.

Intervals are simply the best way to get speed and strength in a limited
amount of time. As mentioned before, if you don't push yourself, hard,
improvement is going to be a much longer, slower process. You can get there
either way. You need to figure out for yourself what your motivations are,
and what you're trying to accomplish. There's nothing wrong at all with
cruising along at 16mph; there's nothing that says you can't have just as
good a time doing that as you can with a faster group that's sprinting at
every city limit sign. But unless you're one of those rare, naturally-gifted
types, you've got to work hard to get there. If you don't enjoy the process
(of working harder), what's the point?

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

jj said:

I presume you realize that treadmill running is not normally a good
transfer to cycling, which requires different muscles and training loads?

It wasn't even a good transfer to running outdoors :-)

Now I run on weeks when business travel makes it so that I can't ride.
I figure trying to do both activities would only ensure I don't do
either very well.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I ride 2-3 times/week. Usually 20-40 miles per ride.

By rough calculation, that means to me that you've only ridden the bike
about 50-70 times since last July. If you're able to ride 20-40 miles with
your friends at an average speed of 16mph that's nearly phenomenal!

I'd put my number of times riding at about half that. It was a
miserable winter and sometimes I have to travel and can't ride during
the week.

Quoted message said:

Just keep doing what you're doing, but do it more often. Aim to get out and
ride with your friends as often as possible and before you know it you'll
be pacing them. Have you considered asking them to teach you how to draft?
That's one way to increase your speed. Another is to do intervals on the
downhill portion of a false-flat, then keeping up the speed as long as
possible as the road levels out.

Good luck.

jj