Originally Posted by ZeCanon

I really need to post up the Graph. Still haven't figured out how to make it make sense on the internet though.

There are adaptations which occur during long ride which occur nowhere else. These adaptations make you significantly faster. For a highly fit cyclist, this means rides in the 5-7 hour range. I'm not saying you need to go out and do 5 hrs a couple times a week, but rides that are long enough to push your endurance limits are highly beneficial.

The whole "train 20% longer than your longest race" thing is garbage. Yes, you can get fast but gains from high intensity work are fleeting, and your peak still won't be as high as it would be with a big base PLUS high intensity work.