Pakiwi

I have been riding for 10 months now and am training for a century in the end of September.
I am a Clyde that weighs in at 215 lbs 5'6". FTP is 185 and I am mixing my training between time on the trainer and miles on the road.
When I first started back riding the hills around here, my legs would get tired as I my cadence dropped below 60. Now I am starting to get stronger and my legs can keep going and generally keep spinning at a good cadence but it feels I am running out of air. I'm guessing this is an anaerobic limitation.
How do I improve so that I can tackle the hills and improve breathing capacity.
I know as the weight comes off. 20 lbs already I will require less effort.
In the mean time how do I overcome this limitation or at least train so I am stronger on the hills.
I have a 13 mile loop ride that is pretty much all hills up and down at 1800 ft climbing with the hardest being between 14 and 20 % gradient.
Also any recommendations for reading greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Allan

beatlebee 

Good on you for loosing the weight. My advice is simple, just ride lots and enjoy it. Track your miles if you like, or hours and RPE. If you get fatigued after many days of riding, take a day off or ride really easy. Repeat, repeat, repeat. After a year, start to look into more formalized training if you like.

linnefaulk

Ride as much as you can at an easy pace. Easy enough to carry on a conversation. As you get more time logged, you can add intervals, 30-60 seconds of intense pace with a rest period.
But most importantly, ride as much as you can.

CharlyAlfaRomeo

10 months isn't very long in terms of building cycling strength so for now you really just need to ride as much as you can at a comfortable pace.

Try not to do a lot of climbing every time you're on the bike. Find a relatively flat loop and increase your distance on it at a pace at which you could keep up a conversation. Constantly doing hard rides starts to return negative gains in a hurry.

Losing more weight is going to make a difference not only in your power to weight ratio but likely in the amount of air you can pull in. A lot of that extra weight is sitting on your lungs making it harder for the. To expand (notice how most eating contest winners are skinny, there's a reason for that and I bet it relates to lung capacity too).

Once you can ride comfortably for 2-3 hours, don't worry about speed or distance, then start to think about some more specific training. Read something like Joe Friel's Training Bible, indentify your major weaknesses (your FTP is low right now for instance) and find out how to train to improve on those weaknesses.

The racer's forum here on BF has a sticky with some good training methods you can peruse but knowing what you need to improve is vital and then sticking to a regular plan will be too.

Forgive me if there are any spelling, grammatical or syntax errors in this post, I wrote it off the top of my head on my phone. I'll clean it up later.

Pakiwi

I know 10 months isn't long but I want to be effective at improving. Not to aim at something specific but to be fitter, stronger and efficient as well as enjoy it. Most of my rides are at a challenging pace so getting a flat loop will be on the cards.
I did pick up joe Friels book.
Thanks for the information.
Also i am 44 and almost 13 years since my last century.
Loving being back on the bike.
Allan

Carbonfiberboy 

The above suggestions are about being effective at improving. It's a slow process. Adaptations take time. The most important adaptation is the one you're worried about. It's most affected simply by the time you spend on the bike. So that's what to work on: miles/week and miles/longest ride. Work on increasing those things. They'll be the easiest to increase if you're having fun doing it. If you want a metric, try to increase your weekly mileage by 10%/week. It won't take long for that to get away from you! Don't be afraid of hills, but don't only ride hills. Go explore new roads on your bike. One thing I used to do: ride away from home until I was tired, then ride back. Be sure to take food with you for those sorts of rides.