Originally Posted by
69chevy
Reading these forums, and seeing advice floating around makes me wonder...
I ride hard every time I go out.
I don't do recovery rides.
I don't eat or drink some fancy formula to fuel my ride or recovery.
I don't crunch numbers or have a plan to ramp up my performance, yet as the year goes on, I get faster and faster.
I'm starting to think that a lot of available information is based on a person trying something and it "working", without any idea of what the outcome would have been without it.
If I have a headache, and eat skittles... when the headache goes away, do the skittles get the credit?
Exercise science isn't one size fits all. What works for one person won't necessarily work for another, and there are definitely fads and changing opinions among cyclists and coaches on the most efficient way to train.
That said, just riding hard all the time will get you to a point where you plateau or realize you aren't getting better at certain specific types of riding.
When you go out and ride hard, are you ever doing above-threshold intervals, or are you just riding at the fastest steady pace you can manage for your intended distance?
It's also important to remember that everyone has different goals. If you want to just ride a lot and get gradually faster, don't change a thing. If you want to enter races and eventually move up the category ladder, you absolutely can't just ride around like that and expect to hang on.