Thread: climbing hills
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Old 10-05-11, 03:02 PM
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halfspeed
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Originally Posted by AdelaaR
So wait ... you've only been riding for a few months and already you ask yourself what type of competing cyclist you want to be? I like your positive thinking
You can't just choose what you are going to be ... it depends on your genetic glass ceiling.
But ... if you've only been riding for a few months you should be still way under that ceiling and so it's going to be hard to tell.
What I advise you to do:
Train on muscular strength through winter on legs, core and upper body ... make sure to sleep and eat enough and take a day of rest or two from time to time ... then come spring start doing interval training.
You can do this outside by doing fast hill repeats or inside on a trainer.
Train well above your current ability but make sure not to hurt yourself either.
Then ... start doing some time trials against yourself: pick a destination some 10 miles from your house and ride that same ride at least once a week as fast as you can ride ... you'll start getting faster soon enough. If you still feel reasonably fit after you arrived ... you simply need to HTFU and ride faster or further.
Do that for a year or two and you might be closer to your potential ... giving you more outlook on what type of rider you are.
Strength training does surprisingly little for bike performance. Planks are good for the core which helps you hold an aero position, but leg exercise won't make you faster and upper body work just adds "non functional" weight. The advantage of strength training in winter is that it adds some weight bearing exercise to your regimen which is good for the bones.
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