Road Cycling - getting started- help

Hi- Just bought my first road bike (trek 1000). Are there any professional cyclists on this board or "well trained" cyclists. I want to get in to competition and would like some advice. Like what type of riding should you be doing when just starting out, how many miles, how many days per week, how much intensity. I am in very good anaerobic shape, i am in "ok" aerobic condition but no where near the aerobic shape i need to be in. Any advice would be helpful and any other advice you want to share would be appreciated.....thanks

tjs...

These aren't easy questions to answer. Training for racing requires a lot of discipline, planning and time.

For now, since you're just starting, focus on getting miles. They're called "base miles." You need to build up your endurance before you do anything else, and get used to spending a lot of time in the saddle. The key is consistency. Ride as often as possible, taking at least one day off a week to rest, and no more than two days in a row. Ride as far as is comfortable as first and then, every week, increase your weekly mileage by 10 percent. [Don't overdo it; 200 miles a week is a lot.]

After you've built your base miles for six weeks to two months, you can start doing some more focused and structured training. You can ask people here when you get to that point. You can also get some pretty good books. I recommend Greg Lemond's Complete Book of Cycling and Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible.

I second velocipedio's advice.

Keep in mind, though, training books and advice can be intimidating, even discouraging, to the novice as they're usually written for the advanced amateur/pro athlete. Hundreds of miles per week, programmed training, strict diets, expensive equipment can overwhelm the budding desire to compete.

Keep it fun and you'll ride more often. Challenge yourself to ride farther at the same pace. Find a riding buddy or club to ride with. Read Bike Form regularly.

Good luck!

Originally posted by tjs01
Hi- Just bought my first road bike (trek 1000). Are there any professional cyclists on this board or "well trained" cyclists. I want to get in to competition and would like some advice. Like what type of riding should you be doing when just starting out, how many miles, how many days per week, how much intensity. I am in very good anaerobic shape, i am in "ok" aerobic condition but no where near the aerobic shape i need to be in. Any advice would be helpful and any other advice you want to share would be appreciated.....thanks

I am a fast recreational cyclist. I have ridden a bit with racing teams in training session and in a few races.

First off. If you are in "ok" aerobic condition, you are hopeless on a bike in any competitive sense. Bicycling is extremely demanding aerobically.

Training

As another poster said, put in your mileage base. Don't even think of pushing big gears until you have a mileage base in and in the old days that was considered about 2,000 miles. I would suggest either ride every day (most take 1 day off to recover, I never felt the need for that, I just ride slow on recovery days) or you do something that is aerobically demanding if you can not.

Get a book and read up on cycling, training for cycling and basic racing.

The best book for surviving on the road with vehicles is Forester's book "Effective Cycling". This one is cheap and it is more than worth every penny.

Join a club preferably one that has different "classes" for riders in different condition. The veteren riders will pass on their knowledge and you will learn much more about the sport than you will solo.

If you are thinking of racing competitively, you will eventually have to join a racing club and train with them. Doing it solo is just a big obstacle. However, racing in cycling is a whole 'nother ball game then triathalons or running. At triathalons or runs, even duffers can go out and "compete" in races. In bicycle races, the field size has to be limited and even at the lowest level, these guys are fitter than say 90% of the field in tri and running events. You may well find that you can get all the competition you can stand in a local club on fast weekend rides. Racing in cycling is nearly a full time job and to do it successfully, even at the entry levels, requires superb conditioning, dedicated training, mastery of tactics and talent. I don't want to discourage you. I am just saying that competitive cycling is really not for 95% of all serious cyclists.