furiousferret

I know some of you have been riding for years, and others for a few weeks so I'm sure there will be a plethora of opionions on this one. If you are starting to get more serious with your training, what is the natural progression of training? So far, I've noticed the one real difference from starting to train on a consistent basis is my heart rate recovers to nominal levels alot easier than it once did.

Past that I'm still stuck on a few barriers...the first is taking too many stops (I'm asthmatic, so some of it is just beyond my control) and not being able recover on the bike, and the other one is keeping my cadence at a consistent level for the whole ride.

For those of you that have went through this process, how long is the progression level until you feel 'fast' or competent with a group?

Snicklefritz

I started riding seriously in '02. I was in pretty good shape, but hadn't done any cycling. It took a few months before I felt like I could hang with the local club riders on 50+ rides with 3-6k of elevation gain.
Did that for about two years and then moved about an hour away to take a new job. Took all of '04 and part of '05 off. I caught bronchitis early in 04 around the same time as I moved. Turned out the place I moved to was known as allergy central. Within a few months, I couldn't ride my bike across the street ithout hacking my lungs out. Even though I never had asthma before, I was all of a sudden on all these asthma medications. It was awful. In the fall of '04 I tried to ride a little bit, but wasn't able to do much other than recovery rides. In spring of '05 I started training again, this time, very seriously and with a coach who is also a physician. Had a crash that took me off the bike for about 2-3 months. Started again in august of '05 and felt like a freakin' slug. I was soooo slow. My coach had me spend several months building up a good aerobic base. Then started racing in january of this year. My absolute power output over the last year has increased by 30%, absolute Vo2max has increase by almost 15%. Times on all the major climbs in the area have increased considerably, even above what they were before I got sick.

so I'd say when I first started out, it took a few months to get in decent cycling shape, but I was already very active at that point. After getting sick, and essentially doing nothing for a year, it took about 4-5 months to get to where I could actually train hard, and then a few months after that I was racing and doing decently all things considered.

Depending on the nature of the training, the things you are most likely to see first are: HR recovery and also an increase in HR at LT. Changes in LT can be seen after a few weeks. After a few months you may see changes in Vo2max depending on what type of workouts you are doing.


Taking a lot of stops is ok. Maybe it is your body telling you that it needs more recovery time. I used to have that back when I was having allergy/asthma trouble. A year ago, I couldn't get up Mt. Diablo without stopping halfway up and resting and this was using a triple. Now not only do I climb without stopping, I'm riding it in a double, and I've shaved 1/2 hour off my previous best time! Major changes are possible, it just depends on what kind of work you want to do, and how much you want to suffer along the way.

It can take time to get used to riding without stopping. It would be interesting to know about what intensity you are riding at. If you're really pushing the pace and are above LT, then yeah, you might need some breaks if you are not using to working at that level. If you're just riding along easy, it could be that your lungs are just getting annoyed. I know, I've been there. I don't know what to tell you about the medical side of this, but if you really want to start a cycling program, you migth benefit from an MD you really understands athletes. PM if you need info on where to find one.

Snicklefritz

one more thing: in my post what I meant by "suffering" was the whole idea of putting a lot of time and effort into training and pushing past mental barriers. Clearly if your lungs get clogged, or you have an asthma attack, hurt you knee or whatever then you shouldn't ride. I know from what I went through when I got back into it that it was really hard to do Lt workouts. It just sucked at first. Then after a few months I got used to it. They are still hard, but doable whereas before I would be begging for an early death after the first one.

2Rodies

I started riding when I was 28 (1988), prior to that the only athletic activity I was involved in was slam dancing. I rode maybe 40miles a week and my big ride was a 25 mile ride from San Luis Obispo to Morro Bay and back. In 90 I moved to Thousand Oaks Ca and joined a club. I started to ride more and ride harder by the end of the year I was racing. In 93 I was hit by a hit-and-run driver and nearly killed. Broke a lot of bones and was off the bike for nearly two years. During this time I ate like I was still racing and riding 250-300miles a week. Needless to say I got fat, 185 at the time of the crash nearly 240 two years later. I bought a new bike and started to ride 3 or 4 days a week. I lost all the weight I gained in about 6 months. I built up to about 125-150miles a week and pretty much stuck to that program. I didn't really do any specific workouts but I did do a lot of climbing. Angeles Crest and the Santa Monica mountain climbs were part of my Saturday rides almost every week. My diet was reasonably healthy, but I ate desserts all the time and would drink beer. We moved to Austin in May of '04 I was 175lbs and in fair shape.

I started to ride with the 360 Cycleworks Sunday ride in June of '04 and was getting my butt handed to me. The type of riding and the summer heat were really different from what I had done in So Cal. The constant rollers, instead of long tempo climbs, 65-70% humidity instead of 30-40% max that I was used to in Cali. Over the summer I got a little faster and I lost 12lbs but I really couldn't make any big progress in my speed. I joined the race team at the beginning of '05 and quickly realized that I was not fast enough to really be a factor. I got a coach in June of '05 and since then I've seen some massive improvements in all aspects of my cycling. My Vo2max is up, as is my overall power at all cp levels, I'm 10lbs lighter and my LT is 7bpm higher than it was when I started. More importantly my coach has me riding less but more intensely. This helps because I don't have to ride as much and gives me much more time with my family.

furiousferret

I pretty much ride as hard as I can and stay at about 150-170 hr, with the exception of my climbs where I do take it easy before I suffer on the hills. I dont really have a choice, both are 1000+ ft gain over less than 2 miles.