Road Cycling - Lost all my endurance

Ever since I switched to a road bike, my endurance has dropped precipitously. I can't seem to last more than an hour or so, and I don't even go all that far. Yet on my hybrid, I was going 3-4 hours easy, long distances (not to say I waws riding easy, it just wasn't difficullt). I feel like my legs are just going to get worse, because my heart seems to give out long long before they do- I rarely get any real leg tiredness anymore. Anyone ever have this problem/know what's going on?

A couple questions. How long have you been riding the road bike? You will be using a slightly different muscle combination at will have to get used to it.

What kind of speeds are you riding at compaired to your hybrid? If you have increased your speed a couple miles an hour it is a BIG difference in power output.

How far were your hybrid rides? How far is your road ride?

If your heart/lungs are giving out, but your legs are feeling strong, shift up one gear. That will shift some load to your muscles and off of your cardio system.

A couple questions. How long have you been riding the road bike? You will be using a slightly different muscle combination at will have to get used to it.

What kind of speeds are you riding at compaired to your hybrid? If you have increased your speed a couple miles an hour it is a BIG difference in power output.

How far were your hybrid rides? How far is your road ride?

If your heart/lungs are giving out, but your legs are feeling strong, shift up one gear. That will shift some load to your muscles and off of your cardio system.

I have only ridden it maybe 10 times or so (I'm taking physics and organic chemistry over the summer, so sadly, not too much time for, well, anything.) I might go faster in spurts, but I die out so quick that I'm sure my average is in the toilet. I used to go 40-50 miles, now I'm lucky to go 20.

Give your body time to get used to the new riding position. It's possible that you're either hunched over too much or your handlebars are too narrow, which doesn't let you breathe. If that's the case, go to your LBS to get re-fitted.

Do you have any allergies? How has the weather been in your area? On hot, humidd days, I feel like I'm breathing through a straw.

Also consider your new riding habits. Are you riding in the same places you did before? Are you riding faster at first and fizzling out earlier? What is your diet like?

There are a million things that could be affecting your endurance. Just give it time, be consistent, and continue to work at it. You'll get faster.

It might not be related to your bike. Other life circumstances, diet, stress....i don't know, but worth considering. If you doubt it, take the old bike out next time.

If I were in bionic carpentry I'd be too worried too ride :0

A wild thought, but some folks when they get a road bike think they should be in the drops all the time.

I'm sure you are not doing this, but just in case - reserve the drops for downhills, etc., and ride on the bars and hoods 95% of the time for most folks.

What speeds are you pushing?
I can ride all day on my mtb but on my road bike, I just seem to go a lot faster and push a lot harder.

Ever since I switched to a road bike, my endurance has dropped precipitously. I can't seem to last more than an hour or so, and I don't even go all that far. Yet on my hybrid, I was going 3-4 hours easy, long distances (not to say I waws riding easy, it just wasn't difficullt). I feel like my legs are just going to get worse, because my heart seems to give out long long before they do- I rarely get any real leg tiredness anymore. Anyone ever have this problem/know what's going on?

Get a cheap heart rate monitor. You can get one with programable high and low target heart rate limit alarms for < $50 now days. Then do the following:

1) Start off easy. Ride the first 20min - 1 hour (depending on how you feel) very easy until you start fealing warmed up. Starting off to fast is a common rookie mistake. Ease into it.

2) Spend the next 1-3 hours riding at a moderate/high pace with the highest intensity building towards the end of your workout.

3) Spend at least 10-20 minutes cooling down. This allows the lactic acid to work its way out of your muscles and back into the rest of your body. This will help with better recovery (ie., you won't feel out of gas the next day).

4) Be sure to stretch out and have some food with protein soon after your ride.
This will keep your body from breaking down muscle as a source of energy.

Good luck,

- Buddy Lee

A wild thought, but some folks when they get a road bike think they should be in the drops all the time.

I'm sure you are not doing this, but just in case - reserve the drops for downhills, etc., and ride on the bars and hoods 95% of the time for most folks.

On the contrary I find it very comfortable to be in the drops all of the time. I think it's more of a personal preference. It all depends on how your body is on the bike and how you are designed. You may be losing endurance from the frame of mind that you are in while you are on your new road bike as opposed to the old one.

Get a cheap heart rate monitor.

This is great advise. I just got a road bike and experienced a similar problem. I realized with my road bike I was just pushing a lot higher gear, going a lot faster and basically riding like a madman - and as a result running a much higher HR and got tired faster. I think my problem was that I felt so fast with the new lite bike and aggresive riding position that I suddenly thought I was Alessandro Petacchi.

What I did was just take it easy for a week or so, ride easy and just put in some time in the saddle. Now I'm much more comfortabe and can ride faster and longer than I ever could on my hybrid.

Good Luck! :)

bikeferret,

When you changed bikes, could it be that your new bike crank arms are longer than those on your hybred? I have just recovered from a period where I upgraded to Dura Ace components. With that I also decided to try 172.5 crank arms vs. 170s. My results reflected yours quite closely. My endurance was down and didn't seem to improve much. I put over 400 miles on them with no sign of improvement. I recently switched back to 170s and all is SO MUCH BETTER!

I have only ridden it maybe 10 times or so (I'm taking physics and organic chemistry over the summer, so sadly, not too much time for, well, anything.) I might go faster in spurts, but I die out so quick that I'm sure my average is in the toilet. I used to go 40-50 miles, now I'm lucky to go 20.

this is so odd i doubt it's the bike. you sure you're not just pushing it harder? if you're spurting every now and then (intervals), then it's no wonder you get tired throughout the whole ride. did you spurt when you were on your hybrid? you just need to go back to riding ont he hybrid and consciously think about what's different.

sd