Cycling fitness (for my own accountability)

[black2002ls]

Oh, and...I suck at setting goals. My goal for this week was 30 miles. I am currently at 26.4 and at least 2 more days to ride. I will OBLITERATE that 30 miles this week! My goal of 200 miles by Sept. 12th should be no problem at all! In fact, I will probably blow that one away as well!

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[black2002ls]

How about supplements and hydration?

Currently I am eating breakfast at ~6:30A, lunch at noon, a powerbar at 3-3:30 (20g protein) riding at 6:30-7P and eating dinner after my ride. Generally steak chicken or salmon accompanied by some kind of vegetable and starch.

Hydration I generally drink about 2/3 gallon of water a day. On the bike I have been taking straight water with me. When I was riding before I would take a bottle of water and a bottle of sports drink cut with water (typically a ~1:1 ratio after the ice melts).

I have noticed my appetite has increased considerably as has my level of hunger through the day. Pretty sure I need to throw in a morning snack.

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[AnthonyS]

Sweet, you are blessed with a cyclists physique already. I'm never going to be that small. I may a achieve a sprint cyclcists physique but sadly I will never make 3000 watts of power and sprint at nearly 50 mph..... damn.

Anyway your goals are great! You are just getting back into things so you will get better at setting goals. Take whatever you ride this week and add 5 to 10% next week; viola. Goals conquered.

Intervals will make you way faster way quicker. If you want to PM back and forth I can explain interval training on the bike or I can even give or loan you some books.

As for nutrition, you are gonna be hungrier and need to eat more for sure. For hydration anything 1 hr or under water is the only thing you need. After an hour the glycogen reserves in your body are pretty well depleted or really low this is when you need sports drinks or food. I prefer real food actually, a healthy food. I can't stand gels that some people use or other fake foods.

As far as upgrading your bike or getting a new one, that is always tough. It depends on what you want to upgrade and why. Bike technology has really come a long way in the past few years. The new 11 speed components are a huge improvement in shift quality and weight for the most part. But honestly,, there is always some old dude on a 25 year old steel bike going faster than I am anyway.

[black2002ls]

This morning's ride. Leftvthe house at 6:45. It is MUCH better riding AM than PM. We spun about 10 miles last night and it was brutal. This morning:

20.5 miles, 1:26 total time moving, 14.2 mph avg, avg cadence was 84.

We will see how I recover through the day. I plan to hit it again tomorrow morning.

When I was riding a few years ago, I took GU chomps with me on rides. They were pretty tasty.

Funny you should comment on the old steel frame bikes. Pretty sure my dad's trek is a steel frame. His shift levers are frame mounted as well. I am on a Speciallized Allez, I don't recall what year it is. I bout it in 2013 and I want to say it was several years old (maybe a '08 model). One reason for "upgrading" would be getting fit to the right bike. Instead of fitting the bike to me. Also, as you mentioned, newer components have some advantages. I am not sure what level allez it is, It has a triple chain ring in the front, which I am not real fond of. I never use the small ring, and run into a lot of crosschaining trying to get to a gear to keep my cadence up. Though, I haven't really researched ratios to see if there is mucg benefit in it for me. IF I upgrade, it will be a reward for reaching a milestone, or a replacement if something big goes out on my current ride.

Intervals, I will shoot you a PM. I know that is going to be my best workout during the week. As I typically only get 1-1.5 hrs of saddle time and it is HOT. Also, as the days get shorter, so will my available training time. I did a couple of intervals last night. About .2 mile at full pace (24-25 mph) and .3 mile at ~14 mph.

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[jdgregory84]

Rode my bike today for the first time since buying it about 8 months ago. Just a single speed SE Lager I got used off craigslist. Haven't really exercised at all in a few months and was bored. Rode about 2 miles around the neighborhood and damn...my legs were pretty sore afterwards. Guess it's time to get back to it. Hills on a single speed are a real bitch.

[black2002ls]

I slacked a little this morning. I think I was still feeling it from yesterday morning.

12.3 miles, 14.3 mph average, with a mid 80's average cadence.

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[black2002ls]

A recap of the week.

What I achieved:

73 miles total (putting my at 100 miles over the first two weeks back at it)
Average of about 14 mph
Mid 80's average cadence

What I have learned:

It is better to ride in the cool mornings than the afternoon heat!
I need prescription sunglasses (anyone have a link for good prescription sport glasses)
Sweat streaming into your eye is not only extremely painful, it makes it hard to ride
I enjoy the ride

I still need to set my goals for this week. I plan see how my ride tomorrow goes, I am going to try and switch from distance oriented rides during the week to HIIT rides M,W,F.
This could reduce my overall miles during the week. I want to make sure that my goals are reasonable. This was also my first week complete a full workout regimen. I am riding every day but Tuesday and Thursday. I hit the gym for upper body, core workouts and light leg training.

[fordracing19]

I need to ride my bike. It's been a few years. It just suck have to ride straight up a rock hill from my driveway.

[AnthonyS]

I need to ride my bike. It's been a few years. It just suck have to ride straight up a rock hill from my driveway.

The most brutal part of my ride is going up hill the last few miles to my house. Wear it like a badge.

[black2002ls]

The most brutal part of my ride is going up hill the last few miles to my house. Wear it like a badge.

At this point, that is the only concerning part of my planned 21 mile ride! The middle 1/3 is full of rolling hills

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[AnthonyS]

At this point, that is the only concerning part of my planned 21 mile ride! The middle 1/3 is full of rolling hills

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Well don't do what everyone else does! Maintain a steady effort. Use your gears and pedal hill. Don't get worried at everyone passing you on the way up if you pace yourself right you will sail by them on the way down and you will still have energy for the 2nd and 3rd hills. Constant effort up and down and a fast cadence are your friends. Riding hills with a power meter or a heart rate monitor will let you know when you are cooking yourself too. Once you are baked it's over for the day.

[black2002ls]

Well don't do what everyone else does! Maintain a steady effort. Use your gears and pedal hill. Don't get worried at everyone passing you on the way up if you pace yourself right you will sail by them on the way down and you will still have energy for the 2nd and 3rd hills. Constant effort up and down and a fast cadence are your friends. Riding hills with a power meter or a heart rate monitor will let you know when you are cooking yourself too. Once you are baked it's over for the day.

I have been learning how to shift to keep cadence steady. When I was riding before, I'm pretty sure I just suffered through it. I often had trouble shifting up front. Found a broken spring on the front deraillure this year.

I have been looking at HRM's today. I am thinking about picking up a wahoo tickr. I like the fact that it is ant+ and Bluetooth. I can watch it on my bike computer and log it in Strava for future reference.

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[black2002ls]

Well, my first run at a HIIT workout today. Its hard to judge the workout level I need to be in with just cadence and speed. I need to get a heart rate monitor to make them more effective. 15 minute easy spin at ~12 mph and ~70 cadence. Then I kicked up to the low 90's at 18-20 mph for 5 minutes (I couldn't sustain the entire 5 minites strait. There were a few spots where I coasted). 15 minute easy spin and another 5 min segment. Finished out the ride like it started. During the ride I felt as if I had a better workout than just focusing on distance. In the end, my ride was nearly identical in speed and distance to last Monday.

I did go the full hour in the saddle. Save for a brief stop late in the ride to turn my light on for safety. Up to this point, I would ride 6-7 miles and stop. So that in itself is an improvement. Tomorrow is gym day, so no saddle time. 4 days straight on the bike, I need a rest.

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[AnthonyS]

Well, my first run at a HIIT workout today. Its hard to judge the workout level I need to be in with just cadence and speed. I need to get a heart rate monitor to make them more effective. 15 minute easy spin at ~12 mph and ~70 cadence. Then I kicked up to the low 90's at 18-20 mph for 5 minutes (I couldn't sustain the entire 5 minites strait. There were a few spots where I coasted). 15 minute easy spin and another 5 min segment. Finished out the ride like it started. During the ride I felt as if I had a better workout than just focusing on distance. In the end, my ride was nearly identical in speed and distance to last Monday.

I did go the full hour in the saddle. Save for a brief stop late in the ride to turn my light on for safety. Up to this point, I would ride 6-7 miles and stop. So that in itself is an improvement. Tomorrow is gym day, so no saddle time. 4 days straight on the bike, I need a rest.

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HRMs are tricky too. They take a minute or two to catch up to your effort, but everyone I know that has a Wahoo raves about it. I like bluetooth and Ant+ compatability too. A lot of the machines at my gym pickup a bluetooth HRM so viola.

Next time try the same 2X5' intervals but hold the entire 5 minutes. Your mind is going to go into a dark painful place about 2/3 of the way in each interval if you are doing it right. This is what makes a 2x12 or 2x15 so hellish.. A 2x15 is 10 minutes in a really dark dark awful place. But this is how you get FAST. You'll soon be riding 16 or 17 mph average and not batting an eyelash especially as the temperature drops.

I once was coming home after 25ish in the saddle. I got passed by a fat guy on a 29er, I shit you not. My pride kicked in and I said NO WAY! So I started trying to hang with fat boy. Well fat boy was riding 22 mph on a 29er! The knobbies on his tires sounded like a fucking drumroll. Best I can figure is fatboy was once a serious cycling racer. I trailed him for 3 miles at that speed already tired and felt like I was going to die. The good news is that it was only 10 minutes total.

One day in the not too distant future if you ride intervals you will be able to hold 20mph for an hour. The gold standard of cycling fitness is 24 mph at one hour or an honest 40km/hr time trial.

[black2002ls]

Ordering the wahoo today. Should have it tomorrow or Thursday.

Is anyone interested in riding a 45 or 60 mile ride Oct. 3rd? I am strongly considering the wish100 in McKinney.

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