Originally Posted by
ypsetihw
I did about 10 "A" rides last year where we do a rolling paceline of about 20, with another 20 or so riders hanging on. We usually get the bunch up to speed for Strava segments, with lead out sprints over 30mph. The group ride is basically the casual screw off ride for a bunch of local racers, and if I asked around I bet I could get some good mentoring. I'm pretty comfortable in close quarters, but I know the race will be more hectic.
A couple events I plan on doing for the pre-season are as follows: April 24th there is a race skills clinic being put on by our local club, with in-race mentoring, cornering and sprint practice, and bumping/wheel touch drills. May 1 there is a practice race which is a 6 mile circuit with a small climb and primes on lap sprints, so good crit practice too.
Currently I'm lifting, upper lower body split 4 days a week, dieting and cycling a fat burner trying to lose about 10 lbs, and doing intervals on the recumbent, treadmill, and turbo trainer to keep the cardio up but give me variety. I'm doing some sort of workout 5-6 days a week with only 1 or two rest days, and I'm even usually doing a short spin just to turn the legs over on rest days. On the trainer I'm using the GCN training videos which range from 15-60 minutes, with a mix of hills, intervals, "spin classes," and general tempo rides.
I'm hoping to be Cat 1 by the end of the season, but reached this level training mostly with heart rate and cycling-specific functional exercises. I also coach a lot of people with heart rate only, but now that "smart" trainers are becoming more affordable, a lot of them have also started training with power.
In terms of HR effectiveness, as long as your heart rate hits your intended target, you're guaranteed to have a positive training effect. You can use past races to determine your maximum heart rate which will give you more accurate HR training zones. Timing the rate and depth of your heart rate immediately after a work interval can represent your body's ability to clear lactic acid, and it can tell you when it's time to stop a workout. HRV is also just as accurate as using TSS to measure your recovery status and likelihood of illness or overtraining.
If done with correct technique, single leg squats and step ups can help you develop power for sprints and repeated anaerobic efforts. I often use this to track anaerobic progress. Back when I was a Cat 5, I was lucky that weightvest.com sponsored me and sent a 150 pound weighted vest over so that I could load my single leg squats safely.
I forgot to mention that if you live close to a sports training facility or a college campus with an exercise physiology lab, you can also schedule a lab-measured VO2max and lactic threshold test. This will tell you exactly what heart rate corresponds with your thresholds. This is how the Pro's used to (and probably still) track their progress.