"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - longest indoor ride you can sustain mentally? can you break them up?

I live in Atlantic Canada and getting out for rides during the week is not an option (I work 8:30 to 5pm dark in the mornings and dark after work) during the day unfortunately and weekends can really depend in the road conditions

I don't mind the cold as much as if the roads are still ice covered.

Since my gf crashed and can't ride outside I'd been logging allot of trainer time.

so far 2 hours seems to be my mental limit where I'm losing my concentration cadence is dropping and I'm generally uninterested.

I know as the season progresses I'm going to need to do longer rides

so when outside isn't an option how do you cope with 3 hour rides? or longer

is it OK to split up the 3 hours over 2 rides? would this be detrimental?

I read War and Peace while on the trainer once.

In all seriousness, 2.5 hours tops. I try to watch movies to make the time go by quicker.

I can rarely last over an hour. It's. Just. So. Dull.

I can go three hours. I used to do two sessions, but this year I'm finding it easier to do one 3 hour instead of two 90 min or two hour sessions.

2 hours at once. Generally a max of three in a day, broken up between two sessions.

One hour is pretty easy for me these days.

Longest I've done was last season...2 3hour sessions, one on Saturday and one on Sunday...UGH!

Now most rides are 90-120min...no boredom, just lots and lots of pain, I'm cursing my coach by the end ;)

This Saturday I'll be on the trainer for somewhere between 3.5-4 hours....It's going to hurt! But, will hopeully pay some dividends come spring time :)

I did three hours yesterday and it wasn't too bad. Movies help. TV shows are better, especially comedies. I don't think I'd want to do more than four hours.

I can last longer on the trainer than the rollers (although I did do some three-hour roller sessions last winter) because I don't need to concentrate as much and can do other stuff like send emails and read bikeforums.

I'm curious to hear what others have to say about breaking up the workout.

2-2.5 hours and I'll usually get off the bike at about the 1 hour mark to stretch a bit. I have managed 3 hours a few times but it was really hard to get through the last half an hour..it's more mental than physical.

You guys doing 2 to 3 hours, is it just pedaling or are you doing tempo sessions?
I do 1.5 to 2hrs but it's broken up with sst work; longer intervals.

This Saturday I'll be on the trainer for somewhere between 3.5-4 hours....It's going to hurt! But, will hopefully pay some dividends come spring time :)

when you say hurt? do you mean from intervals ?

not sure what type of riding your training for but I was under the assumption that most 3-4 hour rides would be base building centric ?

can you clarify for me out of curiosity

... and hopefully for some of you, you won't get burned out too soon. I mean, we're just into the winter. I can't think of spending all that time in a week on a trainer now. Day after day.
But, God bless you snowy creatures.

2-2.5 hours and I'll usually get off the bike at about the 1 hour mark to stretch a bit. I have managed 3 hours a few times but it was really hard to get through the last half an hour..it's more mental than physical.

mentally loose it and just get sloppy and slower.... I don't finish feeling mentally drained but I do feel physically drained

Yes hurt from intervals...varying length and some SST work...

The long trainer session is the final ride of my current build block. Since I'm stuck indoors I still need to get in some longer endurance type rides...

My last, almost 3 hour trainer session consisted of 20 minute, 5 minute, 20sec intervals and ended with 20 minutes of over/unders...This is all done to simulate the pace changes in a race...

You guys doing 2 to 3 hours, is it just pedaling or are you doing tempo sessions?
I do 1.5 to 2hrs but it's broken up with sst work; longer intervals.

I am one of these people who believe that I am better off finding a way to keep going, as opposed to staying married to some structured plan.

Hence, I have found that using my musicianship has been invaluable. I can easily kill an hour just by focusing on matching cadence with musical pieces (and this can be quite intense when the tempos get high). If I want to make a "zone workout" out of it I have only to choose a wattage range and then make gear adjustments to fit the song or songs that last the length of the interval.

Lately, my best 20 minute L4s have been done with two separate takes on the same session of Monk's Straight No Chaser (ten minutes each)..RPMs vary from 94-80 over time.

and my best 30 minute interval has been from two lengthy coltrane improvisations from the vanguard sessions (15 minutes each) the first is around 100rpm, the second, around 90. I think of the tempo changes as terrain.

drum solos are almost always surges. they feel a lot like the little painful surges in races.

2 hrs. and i'm using a computrainer.

my weekday routine is 1.5 in the a.m., 1.0 to 1.5 in the p.m. during big volume weeks (for me that = > 12 hrs.). for me it's mentally easier to compartmentalize 90 minutes at a time than just churning through a long workout.

beyond 1.5 hrs. and i'm counting minutes

unless you're gsteinb, doing more than 90 minutes at a time in december is a good way to develope a sincere hatred for your bicycle by march, and 3+ is plain silly. imo, better to get on with a plan involving some structure, take care of business, and go about your life.

... and hopefully for some of you, you won't get burned out too soon. I mean, we're just into the winter. I can't think of spending all that time in a week on a trainer now. Day after day.
But, God bless you snowy creatures.

The thing is that with a good structured plan I find that the 90min sessions go by pretty quick...Of course they consist of 20min of warmup and 10min of cool down...So it's really only 60 minutes of ass kick riding ;)

That and there's recovery weeks thrown in to break things up.....

unless you're gsteinb, doing more than 90 minutes at a time in december is a good way to develope a sincere hatred for your bicycle by march, and 3+ is plain silly. imo, better to get on with a plan involving some structure, take care of business, and go about your life.

What if your structured plan includes a three hour ride and it's unrideable outside?

I used to be able to do 2 hrs, but it seems like 1 hr is my max these days. I need to figure out how to up the motivation - maybe I should buy a power meter.

5-5.5 hours. I watch movies and finish with bike video stuff. Like Bourne movies (2 of them) plus a Classics DVD (that was the last time I did this, I think it was 5.5 hours and I stopped because I was cramping pretty bad and bonking). Hm. I want to get the LoR trilogy, also want to get Star Wars.

2 hours goes by quickly if I have stuff lined up - my helmet cam clips (3 DVDs - 2-ish hour, 1+ hour, <1 hour) - or a "Classic" on DVD (Ghent, P-R, LBL, etc).

I usually climb off the bike due to time guilt, not because I want to stop. "Time guilt" = really need to get other things done.

I eat more energy bars and gels on the trainer than I do on rides outside.

cdr

I've been following spinerval DVD's and designing a few of my own workouts based off of suggested routines in the base building book for Chappell

I don't think I will burn out time will tell

You guys doing 2 to 3 hours, is it just pedaling or are you doing tempo sessions?
I do 1.5 to 2hrs but it's broken up with sst work; longer intervals.

Both, though most of mine as of late have been structured tempo workouts

2 hrs. and i'm using a computrainer.

my weekday routine is 1.5 in the a.m., 1.0 to 1.5 in the p.m. during big volume weeks (for me that = > 12 hrs.). for me it's mentally easier to compartmentalize 90 minutes at a time than just churning through a long workout.



what type of racing do you do? how long are your events?

I like the idea of breaking it up but I'm also concerned that if I'm breaking it up too often when I have a 2.5 hour race that my fitness will not be there because I haven't been doing the long endurance workouts to ride over 2.5 hours hard

@GA ^something like 3x20s, 6x10s, 12x5s, w 5' recovery between, objective being some other shorter/more efficient workout that would get you a similar TSS as a 3 hr. ride.

Ok


2 hrs. And i'm using a computrainer.

My weekday routine is 1.5 in the a.m., 1.0 to 1.5 in the p.m. During big volume weeks (for me that = > 12 hrs.). For me it's mentally easier to compartmentalize 90 minutes at a time than just churning through a long workout.

Beyond 1.5 hrs. And i'm counting minutes

unless you're gsteinb, doing more than 90 minutes at a time in december is a good way to develope a sincere hatred for your bicycle by march, and 3+ is plain silly. Imo, better to get on with a plan involving some structure, take care of business, and go about your life.

what type of racing do you do? how long are your events?

I like the idea of breaking it up but I'm also concerned that if I'm breaking it up too often when I have a 2.5 hour race that my fitness will not be there because I haven't been doing the long endurance workouts to ride over 2.5 hours hard

i'm a cat 2, RRs and crits with a couple of stage races.

crits 75 to 90 minutes,
road races are typically +/- 3-ish hrs.

Slightly off topic. I've got 4" Kreitler rollers...they are the full alloy drums (the expensive ones) I added a Tacx mag unit to get some resistance but it sounds like two pieces of rough metal being rubbed together. First I thought mag systems were second only to fluid in the being quiet category...and baring that how much more resistance would going with the 2.5" drums give me?

Ok

it's meant as a compliment

i'm a cat 2, RRs and crits with a couple of stage races.

crits 75 to 90 minutes,
road races are typically +/- 3-ish hrs.

is it safe to assume you do not find breaking up the rides over 2-3 shorter ones has any effect on your endurance?

my category for next year is gonig to be an average of 32km/h and no more than 80km distance distance wise so roughly 2.5 hours tops.

I'm hoping I can bring enough fitness to the table to place well in the first few races even though I won't be peaked

it's meant as a compliment

gotcha. It read as if you thought that what I was doing was unstructured and a waste of time. bygones.

I can do 1-2 hours no problem but after that it's a real chore. The few 3 hour sessions I've done have all been "indoor group rides" which makes the time go by much faster and keeps you honest.

gotcha. It read as if you thought that what I was doing was unstructured and a waste of time. bygones.

Same here. I'm just doing whatever workout is in my schedule from my coach, and if it happens to be indoors, so be it. I think we all have different tolerances for indoor riding, though, and for me it's not the torture it is for others.

I saw no reason to ride outdoors last week. I had very specific wattages to hit, and it was nasty as hell. Getting the workout in was simply easier and more palatable indoors. Plus I save a boat load of time not getting decked out in full on winter gear. I watched season one of Nurse Jackie, and something else that I forget now. I started the just ended season of Dexter this morning. I don't have much motivation to ride outside when the high is in the 20s.

15 hours. All on the rollers, and mostly single sessions. 2 days off.

I can't hear my TV over the massive fan I bought.

i just finished a 2 hour trainer ride. It wasn't too bad.

...
my category for next year is gonig to be an average of 32km/h... You guys decide this ahead of time?

I regularly did 2hr sessions on the rollers last winter. Not any more though. I've since moved to a location with better winter riding.


I can't hear my TV over the massive fan I bought.

Same. I'd either watch a movie with subtitles or listen to an audio book on headphones.

Slightly off topic. I've got 4" Kreitler rollers...they are the full alloy drums (the expensive ones) I added a Tacx mag unit to get some resistance but it sounds like two pieces of rough metal being rubbed together. First I thought mag systems were second only to fluid in the being quiet category...and baring that how much more resistance would going with the 2.5" drums give me?

2.5s will give you much more resistance.

Mags, old ones anyway, are noisy as heck. See if some grease will help - the magnets move a bit and the clacking (at high frequency) causes much of the racket. Grease helps sooth the impacts. Also see if the shell is loose or cracked or something.

In all seriousness, 2.5 hours tops. I try to watch movies to make the time go by quicker.

Ken,

I live where you live. It has NEVER been so bad outside that I would ride indoors for 2.5 hours instead of riding outside. Maybe you can do it, but I can't. The only time I have ridden indoors for more than one hour was when I had time to ride the Gators were playing an NCAA basketball game. Even then it was hard to do.

Riding indoors sucks.

i'm leaving soon to go do 1.5 hrs. before dinner.

the thought of it makes me want to work longer. almost.

I started the just ended season of Dexter this morning.

Can't hardly wait.... August 2011... August 2011...

Slightly off topic. I've got 4" Kreitler rollers...they are the full alloy drums (the expensive ones) I added a Tacx mag unit to get some resistance but it sounds like two pieces of rough metal being rubbed together. First I thought mag systems were second only to fluid in the being quiet category...and baring that how much more resistance would going with the 2.5" drums give me?

http://www.kreitler.com/wattage.php

Short answer. The 2.25" rollers are a big deal. ~240 watts at 20mph and ~400 watts at 30mph. It's almost worth having both the big ones and the little ones. I have the big ones, too, although with the plastic end caps, and I use the fan. Having said that, I can see just running the small rollers and being much quieter. Sometimes if I just want to just spin for a bit I'll unhook the fan and just spin. It's hard to get much of a workout doing that, but it's fine if you just want to play with form.

And about 1 1/2 hours is all I can do without getting off the bike and allowing a little circulation. For some reason any stationary is a real pain in the ass.

Ken,

I live where you live. It has NEVER been so bad outside that I would ride indoors for 2.5 hours instead of riding outside. Maybe you can do it, but I can't. The only time I have ridden indoors for more than one hour was when I had time to ride the Gators were playing an NCAA basketball game. Even then it was hard to do.

Riding indoors sucks.

How quickly you forget about how miserably wet and cold last winter was. Plus, I wasn't able to get out during lunch as much as I am this year (it seems like when I care less about what the boss thinks, I can ride more).

Thanks for that link! Based on their chart the 3" drums may ne the perfect compromise.

based on that chart, my power on the e-motions with 0 resistance is similar to 4.5" kreitlers, even though the rollers are 3".

Oh and my recommendation for EDR:

larger speakers, more powerful amp.

I don't wanna turn into a wuss by riding in dry/warm conditions only, so I don't use the trainer at all. =]

Now if you have snow/ice concerns.... that's a different story - studded tires may come in handy.

How quickly you forget about how miserably wet and cold last winter was. Plus, I wasn't able to get out during lunch as much as I am this year (it seems like when I care less about what the boss thinks, I can ride more).

Somehow I got 1400 outdoor miles in last January.

based on that chart, my power on the e-motions with 0 resistance is similar to 4.5" kreitlers, even though the rollers are 3".

Oh and my recommendation for EDR:

larger speakers, more powerful amp.

I'll need one that goes to 11 ;)

The problem isn't that the noise bothers me it's that it bothers my wife.


I don't wanna turn into a wuss by riding in dry/warm conditions only, so I don't use the trainer at all. =]

Now if you have snow/ice concerns.... that's a different story - studded tires may come in handy.

I'd rather get the workout done with the proper intensity than going out and freezing my arse off. When you are shivering after each interval on you cool down that's not fun nor productive.


Somehow I got 1400 outdoor miles in last January.

My what a big number you've got there big boy :p

My what a big number you've got there big boy :p

I was in great shape last February and still did nothing with it in terms of results. I raced like an idiot all spring.

I'll probably do the same this next season.

What if your structured plan includes a three hour ride and it's unrideable outside?

Adjustments can be made in most cases.