Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - how to work on SPEED!!!!

just got home from my 2nd good ride (ever). it was a 40 mile road ride and im over all pretty happy with my preformance. but i only averaged about 11-12mph. im not a huge guy 5'10'' 240. i just want to bring my speed up. is there any tricks that can help me or is it just going to take a lot more time on the road??

A couple of things;

Get a pair of good road bike shoes (or very good MTD shoes) and matching "clipless" pedals

Install a bike computer with Cadence function.

Increase you cadence by staying in lower gears. You should work towards keeping a 90 to 100 rpm cadence.

Try to ride 25 miles every other day until your strength and comfort on the bike permit you to go further & faster. Put as many hours in on the bike as possible.

Michael

Good suggestions.

Riding more will, to a certain (small? large?) extent, increase your speed as it increases your efficiency (aerobic capacity). But that's not because of the "riding more". It's because, actually, of tactic #2: ride faster. When you ride more, you tend to ride with others and/or groups. They then set the pace and you have to follow. You ride faster when you ride more with others.

Sorry, there is no "magic pill" for riding faster. If you train slowly, you'll ride slowly. If you train fast, you'll ride fast. You just have to

ride more, faster.

If you are in decent condition (NOT just starting out), vary your riding intensity to extremes of hard+fast with slow+easy recovery for some training rides. You'll need to get outside of your comfort zone. Don't do intense rides too often; they are be stressful and fatiguing. Overtraining is counterproductive.

Three things combine to provide speed: Strength, Quick Cadence and Cardio condition. Each time you ride, pick one of those to work on. Then, stretch into your uncomfortable zone for that concern. Each ride will see you doing either, high rpm spins to work on extending the top end of your cadence, higher resistance intervals within your current cadence limits to work on strength, or a lesser combination of the two that will bring your heart rate into your training zone for extended periods of time to work on cardio fitness.

There are many books on cycle training. Check your local library. They'll be able to set you up with a basic work approach that will result in gains.

thanks for the info!!!

+1 on intervals. I have not done 40 miles, but Ive done 28, and at 80 lbs more than you, I averaged 14, and that was only because I was battling gusts. Intervals are HUGE for speed training. All out sprint, recover, all out sprint, recover. Repeat a lot and this will help immensely.

EPO, seriously if you can find a good size hill climb it, a lot. Intervals help and as Eddie says ride lots. Plus recovery is key you need to rest.

ride with people faster than you. If you have trouble pushing yourself ,on your own, then this will force you push yourself

+ rest/sleep