Power is force x distance over time. The distance of the pedal stroke is the same but if the time changes, the amount of force changes. So if your trainer is trying to make a steady power, if your pedal stroke takes longer, the amount of force needs to be higher. By the way, don't think of this in terms of a fabricated training program. Think about this in term of a century ride. Your trainer has nothing to do with riding on the road, especially after a few hours and when you're tired. The way to actually get strong is to break cycling down into its key elements: macro and micro. You need to build each element in an isolated manner and when your ride or event comes, all of those phases meet in the middle. Once you reach a certain level of fitness, you don't get better by "just riding."
Yes, this I understand. My confusion comes from whether I should be focusing my energies on the workout's cadence target, or just haul ass to the wattage. Physiologically, I seem more capable of just spinning faster to reach my watts, than the mental anguish of the same watts at lower cadence.
Wattage is useless on its own. I did a talk to a club of 300 triathletes about this and they were flabbergasted. If you're going to get better, you need to raise your aerobic threshold. You don't do that with power. You do that with heart rate. Power is only useful if you have a specific goal and you've determined that if you can do x watts for the distance, then you will win. Using power to simply train is useless. It has been so over hyped the last few years and leads to nothing but overtraining in many cases. EDIT: Let me clarify this: The right way to use power is to break things down into blocks: I need to do x amount of watts for this distance, then x for this other distance, or x watts for this many minutes. If you just say I'm going to 3 hours at x watts, it doesn't work to get you stronger. All it does is lead to overtraining. Every now and then, I am asked to help some of the junior national team kids in their paths to becoming professional cyclists. We talk about a lot of things but one of things that I stress to them is that their "bucket" is only so big. You can hold a bucket under a tap all you want but it won't get any more full no matter how long you hold it there. The key to cycling is to make your bucket bigger. I also have a "building a house" analogy that I think they understand as well.
Potentially silly question, but how would I go about improving my cadence ability? I currently fall into a natural rpm in the mid 70s, so should I be dropping into a slightly lower gear and build up my ability to maintain that for a longer period until it becomes natural, or should I maintain my current gear selection but just pedal faster? First option seems as though it would increase my aerobic ability, and the second would increase strength.
Cadence is by and large a function of two things: neuromuscular response and flexibility. If you can't touch your toes, it's unlikely that you will be feel good pedaling at high rpms. That can be improved, as can the neuromuscular stuff. There are several good exercises for this, none of them very fun. 1) Pick a long flat road with a slight tailwind or downhill. Try and cover as much distance as possible over 5 minutes in a 39x17 gear. Repeat 3 times per workout, two times a week. 2) On a slight downhill, sprint as hard as you can (seated) in a 39x15 for 20 seconds or until you hit and hold max rpm. Do this 8 times three or four times a week. 3) On long rides, every 10 minutes or so, do an 8s seated acceleration in whatever gear you're riding in. On a 5 hour ride, this is a good 30x per ride. After 6 weeks of this, you'll notice a marked improvement in your ability to pedal faster and use more gears efficiently. And then you'll notice that long, hard rides like group rides become much easier as you're no longer gear limited.
Any simple approaches to raising the aerobic threshold that don't require buying a book and hiring a coach? Also, my 13 year old son is interested in cycling. His school allows for "independent study" PE - which means they can do whatever they like outside of school for PE credit. I was thinking of becoming cycling coach certified and we could ride during the week (in addition to weekends). Point is, do you have any tips for kids his age to start in this sport? I like to ride in the high 90s rpm. I've noticed I can hold a (seated) cadence of around 120 without bouncing in the saddle. Somewhere you said you can maintain a cadence of 180 - how can you do that without bouncing all over the place? In other words, what do you do form wise to enable a higher cadence without turning into a hot mess?
The USAC coaching curriculum is largely useless. The best coaches in the world mostly fall into two categories: doctors with a high degree of specialization in kinetics and former professional cyclists. The best thing that you can do for him is get him into a club of kids his age who enjoy cycling. Personally speaking, I don't think that a kid should start cycling seriously before 16 or 17. I have lots of thoughts on this but I'll save them for another time. As far as cadence, it's a trained thing. I can't remember exactly but think that my highest observed rpm was 196 rpm. I trained for that because leg speed is an important component of track racing. Remember when I said that a key to cycling is breaking it down to key components, training each component in an isolated state and then putting all of those together somewhere in the middle on event day? I have data files that show sprints on the track in a 51x15 gear at 155 rpm and 42 mph at the end of scratch races and madisons. And these were highly contested sprints. No one bounces. A good training technique for this is that second exercise I outlined above. As far as what you can do to raise your aerobics threshold without hiring a coach? I don't really know. A lot of grass roots coaches don't know what they're doing. The best coaches coach the best athletes. The best athletes also get the best testing to nail down their physiological parameters. Unless you get access to that, it's hard to get what you need to get really good. That said, why do you need to get really good? I used to train 25 to 35 hours a week (plus two 40+ hour weeks a year). If you're recreational, it's hard to get 12 hours. What works for a pro won't work for a weekend warrior. There needs to be volume to take advantage of the information. There are lots of great tips and tricks that can help you get better within certain parameters, and I've given a few. To really get good, you need have to a volume component in there that is just too hard to get if you actually have to work for a living. Also, keep in mind that I was at almost 6 w/kg the best cyclists at the time were at 7. I was world class in a couple of select events but I was never top, top tier. My highest world ranking in my best event was 19th. While I was never that physiologically talented, I went pretty far with what I was given and I think that I would have gotten even further if not for some bad injuries. However, there were no shortage of people better than me. There were lots of reasons why they were better.
The only reason I want to get certified is that is required by my son's school. They want to know there is something resembling qualified instruction going on. He does enjoy cycling and goes out often with his mom and me. Given how popular cycling is in SoCal, I'm sure there are kids' groups but I'm not aware of any. I have very rarely seen anyone below 20 years old out on a bike...unless it had a surfboard or basket attached. Weird. Why do I want to get better? It's not as rewarding if you're not seeing regular improvements. Besides that, I want to crush my friends on Strava. :^)
hey now... You can see that I tried the ol' Sherpa advice of high cadence for my early-morning Sufferfest "tempo day". 105 rpm (σ :6.2 ) cadence for an hour. Legs are like jelly, but my quads don't hurt a bit!
Holy mother of God. Sufferfest program for today was "Half is Easy". Yeah, but the other half was absolutely brutal. 28% was in my anaerobic zone of power with 100+ cadence. On the flip side, I'm super proud that I stuck with it! https://www.trainerroad.com/cycling/rides/2787269-Sufferfest-Half-is-Easy (look how my cadence falls apart at the end of each 00:00:15 sprint.... gotta work on that. Coming down from 300W @ 100 to 190W @ 85, for only fifteen seconds is hard. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I'm desperate for a power meter to arrive (I have a Brim Brother's unit on order), because when I'm not on my trainer with measured watts, I have a terrible time determining "perceived effort" and invariably post weak efforts. Nonetheless, it was a good weekend of climbing, along with a new, more modern (Italian, of course) whip: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Good kit.. Cheers, RE ..(Pilot Mt.?).. ..(great day to clip in..it is February!?!..I love North Carolina)
^ Yes, that was Pilot Mountain last Sunday (Feb 28). Temps were mid-60's at the start of the climb. My buddies are needling me to ride the Triple Bypass this weekend -- https://ridewithgps.com/routes/10898078 Sweet kit, eh? The sleeves have some additional logos, and the rear of the collar sports an Italian, US, and North Carolina flag. I had a bunch of them custom made by https://www.owayo.com/cycling.htm I think they were shipped from Germany, but I'm not sure where they were manufactured.
How much for a medium..Heck,I don't care,if you have one I'll pick it up next Wednesday.. Cheers, RE ..kits up ok here,innit? Image Unavailable, Please Login
Ralph - Now that is a whip!! I do have a race-cut jerseys in medium (full zip)... that's what I ordered from the manufacturer. I've got several still in the bags. Want to come by Ricambi (Winston Salem) next week and I'll give you one? FWIW, they're pretty snug -- I'm about 66kg -- and fit me perfectly. Or, if you want to meet in some better riding areas (Lewisville, Farmington, etc) I'd be happy to bring you a jersey and go for a ride! I played hooky this afternoon and cranked out 35 miles on the new Pinarello. Lordy lordy... it is so nice.
Sold,and thank you sir,but that old thing? However,for an old hooper it's still got pretty. Flo's rule.. I'll have to swing by in the pm,on our way back from NCSU vets getting LouLou chemo..she's doing great. I'm a click under 150 so Med perfect..I actually went on a swim today,izz inna pool..felt OK. Looking forward to seeing you.. Cheers, RE
Anyone do endurance riding/ touring? Something like this in a place as beautiful as Iceland looks like such a blast (but grueling). These guys ride all over the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAP53yJQJRQ
I always had a fantasy of riding from Monterey down to San Diego with just a credit card, flip flops, shorts and a t shirt stuffed in my jersey pockets and just stay in a couple of hotels on the way. That's about as close as I would come to that stuff.
