Originally Posted by soccerismylife
It may sound primitive and unscientific, which it is, but I've found that the most effective training (up to a certain point) is to just ride more and harder. Every ride you go out for, (except for recovery rides of course) just ride as hard as you can for the given time. I've found that this works better than anything super refined and scientific. However, once you get to a certain fitness level, this will not work as well as before, but I don't believe that you have reached this barrier. So just go out and ride hard, long, and often.
Ya know one of the biggest "ah hah" moments I've had was when I first rode with a HRM and realized I didn't have to be busting my buns in serious pain to have a quality workout. Cycling should be fun and feel good, going above 85% max HR (for short bursts) on most rides for many of us is somewhat inevitable (i.e. that's what hills are for!) but it doesn't have to be all pain to equate to gain.