Road Cycling - Qs about improving and spinning

Hey everyone,

My girlfriend and I are new to road cycling. We don't have any plans to race, but we would like to eventually join up with a club and take some long rides. We need to increase our average speed and the amount of time (or distance) we can go. What is the best kind of riding/training schedule for this? We can bike 3 weeknights--those need to be shorter rides--and one day on the weekend, which can be a longer ride.

Also, I am trying to work on my spinning. How do I know when I am spinning well? Is it a case of "you'll just know"? Are there any tricks to spinning? (I do have clipless pedals.)

Thanks!

If you can get out 4 times a week, you'll be well on your way to improving your speed and distance. I wish I could get out 4 times a week! Don't worry that some of your rides have to be short. A 10 or 15 mile ride will be adventageous to you if you use some of that time for interval training. As far as your spinning is concerned, concentrate on spinning full circles with your feet and think to yourself "be smooth". That will really increase your bike speed. Also, don't fall into the macho trap of thinking that you don't have to use a lower gear on the hills. Get into a gear that you're comfortable spinning at your normal pace. Make riding a fun pastime for you and your girlfriend. You don't have to beat your best time on every ride - if you try that, riding will become a chore rather than an enjoyable pastime. Welcome to the wide world of roadies!

I'm also going to try to get out and mountain bike 2x per week, which means just one day of no biking. I hope that's not too much. (I'm not quite sure how I'm fitting this all in, either! I've got a job with an hour commute each way and a dissertation to finish up. Maybe not having kids helps?)

I'll work in some interval training once we've gotten some more miles in. We've probably done only about 100 miles total on the bikes so far.

One great way I found to improve spinning and overall posture and technique is to learn how to ride rollers. Riding rollers practically forces you to spin correctly, steady the head and body and quiet the hips - otherwise, you fall off. Mastering rollers translates into a much smoother and comfortable experience on the road, especially if you are riding with a group.

55/Rad

Spinning well will take years of riding, building endurance to ride a fast 50 to 70 miles with the schedule should be very doable. I would recommend once a week doing a ride long ride and watch your speed increase. Happy riding!

Practice riding for short distances at a cadence higher than you are comfortable with. Gear down so you aren't pushing the bike any harder, but where you are pedaling 20 or 30 rpm more than you usually do. Any imbalance or unnecessary upper body movement will become apparent. You can only spin that fast if you are smooth. Then when you gear back up concentrate on maintaining that smooth motion.

With that said, concentrating too hard on an even pedal stroke may not be effort well spent. Your muscles are designed for standing up and pushing your feet away from you. Putting a big effort into pulling the pedals back up may just waste your effort. Different riders have different experiences here.

Rollers are great too, but save that for winter time.

I keep reading comments about pulling up and I don't understand the reasoning behind this. It is not efficient to pull up (according to the experts-pros) you push through at the top of the stroke and pull back at the bottom of the stroke and unload the foot that is coming up. I have never tried to pull up in any fashion and have not felt the need to.

I keep reading comments about pulling up and I don't understand the reasoning behind this. It is not efficient to pull up (according to the experts-pros) you push through at the top of the stroke and pull back at the bottom of the stroke and unload the foot that is coming up. I have never tried to pull up in any fashion and have not felt the need to.


I've been practicing one leg pedalling to keep a smooth pedalling action. However, I cannot say I can tell the difference if it improved my pedalling. But I can say that when I feel I need a little more "umph" or give my quads some rest, specially in a break away (club race only) I pull up and use my hamstrings. I also feel a big difference when I climb hills. It's like a reserve muscle waiting to be used IMO.

Maybe it's like standing up when you climb-not efficient but helps for short bursts, I'll give it a try on my next ride.

Also if you learn to ride a Fixed Gear bike with a low gear ratio, your spinning will increase. When you cannot stop pedaling, you really have no choice but to spin fast, or go slow.

Worked for me, although it made me stop riding my geared bikes as often as I used to.

Phil

Hey everyone,

My girlfriend and I are new to road cycling. We don't have any plans to race, but we would like to eventually join up with a club and take some long rides. We need to increase our average speed and the amount of time (or distance) we can go. What is the best kind of riding/training schedule for this? We can bike 3 weeknights--those need to be shorter rides--and one day on the weekend, which can be a longer ride.

Also, I am trying to work on my spinning. How do I know when I am spinning well? Is it a case of "you'll just know"? Are there any tricks to spinning? (I do have clipless pedals.)

Thanks!

your training schedule is perfect for increasing speed. during the weekday, go out for about 1 hr each ride. for 30mins of that 1 hr, keep your cadence high (whatever is "high" for you, which means a nice hard workout for 30 mins at a fast speed). that's basically a 15 minute warmup, a 30 minute "tempo" (that's what they call going at a high cadence), and a 15 minute warmdown. do this consistently for a month and you'll rock. for weekends, do a longer ride, 1.5hrs or 2 or 3 or whatever you can do, and incorporate tempo (high cadence for at least 15 minute spans) when you can.

try to do all of this on mostly flat terrain.

lastly, i don't recommend doing rolling hills, climbing, etc. keep your goals singular and your training geared toward those goals, and you will see results. if all you have in your area is rolling hills, then you should be training to become a better climber instead... just be singularly focused. mixing up training regiments for different goals will not give you the improved results you seek.

sd