Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

Why not do a few club TT's and see if you like it? No need for a new bike. Maybe take the frame bags off :)

Yeah considering it. Going to try HC. Cross is more appealing than crashing at a crit

No, the time in the bracket is usually the rest interval duration, not a total time.

ie.

4min @ 130%
5min rest (depends what you're trying to do but this could be 50% or up to tempo)
4min @ 130%
5min rest (depends what you're trying to do but this could be 50% or up to tempo)
4min @ 130%
5min rest (depends what you're trying to do but this could be 50% or up to tempo)
4min @ 130%
5min rest (depends what you're trying to do but this could be 50% or up to tempo)

You don't buy a bike until you've found an event you like enough to warrant it.

Tracks have hire bikes, MTB parks have hire bikes, you can do TTs on basically any bike, road racing you can use any road bike and you already have one so that's sorted. You only need to worry about specific bikes it it's a limiter and most times they're not.

I've raced HCs on my road bike and TTs on the same bike.
In fact I've raced a 10mi TT and a HC on the same day on the same road bike.

CX is a bit trickier because road bike clearance ain't gonna work but if you have an MTB or can borrow a CX bike or MTB then that's easily sorted.

Yeah you can happily race CX on a mtb, or as in my case my commuting bike (Cdf) fitted 35mm+ tyres so I spent my first season taking the guards and rack on/off once a week. It was a bit of a faff but within a few weeks I’d decided cross was the best fun I’d ever had on a bike so next season I got a second hand cross bike off ere. Last night I finished 20th out of a men’s field of 26 so my ability never came into it.

If you can do 4 minutes at 130% with 1 minute off 5 times, are you Wout Van Aert?

Agree entirely but I only have the one “road” bike.
I also don’t ride with anyone who races so it’s all just a bit unknown to me.

@ewanmac yeah part of it’s appeal is how much everyone seems to like it but maybe that’s a selective bias hahaha

For me, the appeal of cross is that no matter what level you are at, you are always racing against someone else. Over a season you find your level and you can focus on trying to improve and beat people who previously were beating you. If you like racing, it’s arguably the most rewarding way to get a fix.

The same could be said for track racing as well though, but it hurts a lot more when you crash.

Yeah the softer landing is appealing.
I’ve posted in the CX thread maybe I’ll explore that avenue!

I have no compass with this! The deepest I've been is figuring out a vague threshold hr zone, a few tabata sessions and a couple 2x20. Just find interval shorthand a little impenetrable sometimes.

I think you'll find WVA could do that quite a lot more times.

Bare in mind I was having a bit of a laugh with that. But it's definitely very similar to stuff I've done in the past.

Yesterday I did 4 sets of 12 x 30s @ 130% with 5min between each of the 12min blocks.
Because I've done very little Vo2s in the last few years this is more manageable for me than the typical 2-6min blocks. It's 24min at 130% but because it's split up it's actually doable. From there I'd build into longer duration Vo2s.

Has anyone worked to increase their cadence and benefited from it?

I'm following one of the plans on Strava, and although I take everything on there with a pinch of salt, I noticed that it recommends doing climbing intervals at 85-90rpm and 'power intervals' (max efforts uphill or on the flat) at 95+ rpm. I did my intervals yesterday on an 8% climb, and pedalled as fast as I could while sustaining a 'good' power, but only managed to average at most 73rpm over any interval.

I think I'm naturally a slow cadence climber, and over 80rpm is probably unrealistic for me, but now I'm wondering if cadence drills would be helpful to increase it a bit.

When using my smart turbo I do try a high cadence. I’ve found over time that translates on to the road.
I ride 50/34 11-32, do you have enough gearing?
What % of ftp are your intervals at?

Yeah, I just did a 40m sweetspot session 96% FTP, 88% FTP 5m x 4 at 55 rpm out the saddle because my legs refused to spin faster today.
Bit of a grind....

Tried to increase cadence, but on the higher FTP, legs just would not get past 75rpm and perceived extertion was way higher than lower cadence.

I have 52/36 and 11-28. If I'm climbing, I never feel like I run out of gears in one direction or the other. I always have an easier gear available, but I feel like when I shift into it (to intentionally increase cadence), my form is messed up and my power drops.

Yesterday's intervals were supposed to be max. efforts (what the plan calls power intervals). I achieved my highest cadence (73rpm) in a 4 minute interval @ 407w - 127% FTP.

If I look at a flat intervals I have done in the past:
15 min @ 95% FTP - 81 rpm
5 min @ 114% FTP - 83 rpm

I think I'm going to forget about cadence for the remainder of this plan (the next three weeks), but once it's over. I'll try some drills

Weirdly I do all my turbo intervals around 105rpm but average cadences in the wild for racing and general riding are much lower. 85ish on long rides and 95rpm racing 4 min hills.

I don’t think I could even hold 105rpm for longer than a minute or two on the turbo...

🤷‍♂️

I spin 40x20ish in erg mode

I’d have thought perceived exertion would be higher with a higher cadence as you are recruit more aerobically no?
Or did you mean in your legs?

How about if you have a hill with a kick, think about riding it at x power on the flatter bit as it kicks try spin more rather than a muscular kick?
Improved core will help stability. Also make sure arms are loose I have to remind myself of that lessens any bouncing.

Always worth increasing cadence, as you can move between taxing your muscular and endurance systems. It's also very good to be able to kick with slow or high cadence particularly for racing but also if you're just put with mates.

Yeah I think that's worth a go because my cadence tends to continually fall as I sustain power through a steep section

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In my legs. The effort of keeping a cadence of 80+ seemed far more difficult than just grinding out the watts out the saddle.
I’ll happy be out the saddle for 20-30m plus, without much upper body fatigue.

I’ve not been on the turbo for over a month, so it might just be my legs forgetting how to drum out intervals.

Note the puny efforts of trying to hold a higher cadence in the attached. Power targets hit, but clearly not in the most efficient way!

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