New to the game - looking for tips.

I know it's not ethical but what I did before my old bike broke ( im awaiting on my new hybrid bike, tomorrow whoo ) I started to change routes to and from work and also say I was going up a hill in first gear i'd change it to fifth gear and alternate so for example id go up a hill in the hardest gear one day then the next the easy gear. As I didnt want my legs getting used to the route home. Other things I did was time myself flat out and not change a gear for say 1 mile.

Even if it was hilly I'd keep to this gear. A bit like intermediate running sprint then jog then sprint then walk type thing 🙂 give your body the shocks it wouldnt expect.

Christ theres been times i've wanted to just get off the bike and walk but why do that when i could stop pedaling for 20 seconds and drift then carry on 🙂

My legs are now massive doing it this way and my stamina has greatly improved even the mrs has noticed in the bedroom department too 😉

Not ethical? Did your training routine include kicking a puppy?

There is far better advice to be had. To me, it sounds like your are still building your base fitness and probably do not need a regimented training program.

Keep active, you will need to get the heart rate up more than 2 times a week. You can do this on or off the bike, other cardiovascular activites will be beneficial.

When you feel up to it, start mixing in some high intensity efforts. Intervals and group riding are good for this. Check in the Power and Cycling training areas for the gory details.

In the words of one of our more prolific but recently absent posters... ride lots.

But seriously a study sometime back on aerobic fitness showed 4x/week led to vastly improved conditioning over 3x/week. It also indicated that while 5x/week led to a fitness improvement over 4x, the increase wasn't as drastic as goin from 3 to 4x. What does that mean? most folks interested in competing could benefit from 5x but 4x/week showed some very nice benefit. An hour or more is ideal, but we all obviously have schedules and obligations. Do what you can and keep having fun, whether you are racking up 5 hours a week or 25. Even the toughest riders need some time off the bike once in awhile Beyond that cycling can be as easy or complicated as we make it. But one paradigm seems to hold true with most successful plans: Overload, Consistency, and Moderation,

Not to bust yer bubble but two times a week may show some improvement starting from ground zero, but it's not an ideal frequency to find your true potential. However before any formal training plans I would recommend squeezing the fitness that comes along with 4 weekly 1.5-2 hour rides. You will be very surprised how good one could get on that load - certainly strong enough after a few months to participate in entry level racing and have some fun if you want. To be competitive will probaly involve some additrional speed workouts, etc. and add some mileage.

As far as materials, Joe Friels Training Bible is a good place to start. And just start reading threads in the Training section of the forum. You'll see as many different approaches to training as their are members.

There are no magic bullets to training, you want your body to get stronger on the bike, you'll need to spend time on the bike. IMO with the exception of core exercises like planks, ab work, etc, which are helpful for riding comfortably in agressive positions, there is absolutely nothing that needs to be done off the bike to get faster on the bike. Zilch, nada, de rien.

Thank you for replying - I like certain points from each reply - so thanks again - I will try out some different techniques.

Just a quick question really.... summer is near up here in the UK but I want to continue into the winter.... weather permitted and work I may not be able to go out when it suits me. Are these exercise bikes, like the ones in gyms, beneficial and simulate a real ride?

Also, I rode from my home to a nearby city and which was a 25 mile road trip.... I was thinking about having this route as a 'Saturday ride,' - is it best not to get into a routine or vary the approach to hills etc like Simon Roberts stated?

Thanks

Thank you for replying - I like certain points from each reply - so thanks again - I will try out some different techniques.

Just a quick question really.... summer is near up here in the UK but I want to continue into the winter.... weather permitted and work I may not be able to go out when it suits me. Are these exercise bikes, like the ones in gyms, beneficial and simulate a real ride?

Also, I rode from my home to a nearby city and which was a 25 mile road trip.... I was thinking about having this route as a 'Saturday ride,' - is it best not to get into a routine or vary the approach to hills etc like Simon Roberts stated?

Thanks

Quoted post said:

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

Thank you for replying - I like certain points from each reply - so thanks again - I will try out some different techniques.

Just a quick question really.... summer is near up here in the UK but I want to continue into the winter.... weather permitted and work I may not be able to go out when it suits me. Are these exercise bikes, like the ones in gyms, beneficial and simulate a real ride?

Also, I rode from my home to a nearby city and which was a 25 mile road trip.... I was thinking about having this route as a 'Saturday ride,' - is it best not to get into a routine or vary the approach to hills etc like Simon Roberts stated?

Thanks

Exercise bikes are just fine - just make sure the seat is setup (heightwise, fore/aft-wise) closely to your actual bike.

As far as mixing it up, that is fine, but you should really focus on the basics at the beginning - focus on getting up the hill efficiently, with good riding technique, and a comfortable cadence ( i.e. dont try to spin a low gear to fast or torque a high gear too much - once you have some basic fitness these are good teqniques to incorporate into drills for specific training goals). In the beginning just getting on the bike 4 or 5 tomes a week is the important part. Think about a nice hunter sauce reduction on a juicy steak. It wont really matter what the heck you do in this final stage of the menu if your basics (meat, potatoes and veggies) are not properly prepared. The sauce may be great but the whole meal's gonna taste like [censored].

Who knows, pretty soon, 25 miles may become your every day ride, and 40-50 miles may become your saturday ride.[IMG]/img/vbsmilies/smilies/wink.gif[/IMG]