Need help with base miles!!

Forget the fallicy of needing to do endless base miles twiddling 42x17 with your legs moving like bees wings. If you're comfortable with riding say 2 hours then ride at a hard but steady pace that allows you to maintain the effort throughout but doesn't leave you dead at the end. If you go out and do 4 hours then it's the same deal - ride hard but at a pace you can maintain. Don't slack but don't kill yourself either... Use whatever gear you need for the effort and cadence required.

As for other trainer workouts, the perenial 2x20 just below threshold is one that'll bring improvement. Knock it down a notch for 3x20 or 3x25 and see how the last interval goes. Those are great training sessions and once you start to get somewhat comfortable with them (due to increased fitness and better pacing) chuck in some shorter intervals for added spice.

Coggan/Allen's training and racing with a powermeter book (or whatever it's really called) is worth it's weight in gold. Lots of examples and ideas... There's lots on this forum too - the search function is your friend.

Hit the "Cycling Training" and "Power Training" sub-forums for detailed advice.

Thanks for the advice guys. It was really detailed and helpful!!

Depends on your goals, but I would start with picking up a copy of the "Cyclists Training Bible".

Aerobic base -building effort is determined by heart rate, not cadence or speed.

You need a heart rate monitor and a fitness test to determine your anaerobic thresh hold. Strongly recommend Sigma Sport heart rate monitors.

Your metabolic level steady state (MLSS) is 10 beats below your AT. That is where you will develop the most base fastest.

How you acheive a specific cadence and speed are irrelevant in training. I like to acheive them by getting use out of, the gears on, my cog set that don't get used much the rest of the year.

Don't try to piece together a program off the internet. P.M. me and I'll help further.

"The field mouse is fast, Ricky, but the owl sees at night."
Grandpa Chip

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Depending on your tolerance for the trainer (I can't hang with Swampy), I'd focus on shorter efforts (no more than 1.5 hours) that focus on your 20 minute power (e.g., average speed). Inflate your tire to the same pressure every time, and tighten the trainer the same amount. If you do that, you'll be in the ballpark and can use the trainer's power curve to approximate wattage. The way I used to do it was "no slower than".

Videos are very helpful--the sufferfest ones are great, and you may want to look into trainer road, or golden cheetah 3. Both of those will convert trainer speed to power with an ANT speed sensor.