Training & Nutrition - Help

Well, I am 13 and have always been into biking but never got serious until now. I just took a 6 mile bike ride that was mostly uphill and I completed it in 40 minutes, which I thought was pretty good, but I was gonna die after of it. I have no idea on how to make a training plan. I really just want to work on cardio because I'm defenitely having problems on hills. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Tim Clark

The only (real) way you get faster on hills to to climb hills. Hill climbing is more about muscular endurance, rider weight and posistioning than raw cardio, but cardio does help. What are your goals? Want to race, ride a big hilly ride, make it up the road in less time, what?

I really want to get into racing, like really badly, and I want to be able to work up my speed so I can keep up with the biking groups. Also, I really want to be able to take a 50 mile bike ride by the end of the summer.

I am not a professional biker, but I bike a lot.
First thing I had to learn is Cadence. I needed to maintain 80 to 100 RPM for several hours. That is not so easy and it burns a lot of calories. (Think food) There are people with over 100 RPM. I cannot sustain that. A racer must.
If you do this day after day, your strength will increase and the hills will seem less of a problem.

How do I know how many RPM's I'm maintaing?

The right way is a RPM sensor on your crank and a display like your speed indicator.
See your LBS.
However, I just go to a stationary bike in a hotel, health club or at home. These machines have RPM indicators. I do 100 to 80 RPM and later try to keep that range on my various bikes without trying to be precise. You will see the difference between 100 and say 60. As I said, I am not trying to be a professional. The serious bikers push the cadence to 125 and even 150 RPM. Please be careful with that. It takes practice.