koolerb

I just did my last race of the season and results weren't good. Felt like I was back to where I started this spring so feeling very introspective this morning.

Here's where I'm at. I bought a bike last year and put about 1500 miles on it. I did a little bit of group riding but not much.

March/April this year I did spin for about a month before the snow melted, and hopped on the road bike as soon as I could. Was feeing pretty good so started entering some races just to see how I'd do. I did 5 races total this year, first two I finished way at the back; next two had some improvement; and the last race yesterday I was right back to where I started, finished way back.

I did a little more group riding this year but still trained mostly solo. There are fast riders in both of the groups I've been riding with, fast enough to drop me, so those are the rides that I feel have been the most productive. I've been riding about 90 miles per week all season with a few weeks off for vacation, and work travel.

Early this summer I was faster than I was late last year but just plateaued right there and didn't get any faster from then until now. Hills are my Achilles heel. That's where I always drop off the back and separate from the group. Once I get separated its really hard catching back up. If I do, I can't get caught back up after the next one. I'm not sure if I'm not training enough, or not training right. At this point I'm not sure if I just don't have what it takes, or if I just need to be patient and keep working, or if I need to change up what I'm doing to get better results.

How many miles per week are you guys riding?

revchuck 

First thing to do is read everything in the "New to Racing?" sticky above.

Miles are not how you measure your training. It's what you do during those miles that count. To determine what to do during those miles, do some research; the most recommended book on training is The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel. Reading through that will give you some understanding of what you need to do and when you need to do it.

FWIW, I rode 99 miles this week. That's a pretty light week, especially since I'm not doing any specific training, just riding around. I usually end up with about 150 miles/week with intervals of some kind in there, with a recovery week with fewer miles every fourth week. Last winter I had a couple of months where I rode 250 to 320 miles a week - obviously something that's not going to happen during winter in upstate NY. This winter my base period will probably have 200-250 miles/week. The high mileage weeks build endurance to base the intense workouts on. The interval workouts are targeted toward the areas I need to improve in...which is about everything in my case.

koolerb

Thanks rev. Up until now my training has been pretty unscientific. Three solo rides a week; one climbing, one flatish, and a third what ever I feel like doing that day. Have also been trying to get in one group ride every week. I guess its time to start doing some reading .

carpediemracing 

The bits in bold caught my eye.

Riders tend to be in better shape at the end of the season. They also have a season of fitness in their legs, a season of experience, etc. This means that, for the same level, the races can be harder. In other words, if you've been racing against the same riders the whole time, it may be that they've been training a bit more, they've been racing a bit more, and therefore they have a slight edge on you in terms of progress.

Next, although I'm a champion proponent of low training miles/hours, 90 miles a week is not very much for a new racer. Of course it depends on how you do it. I think I averaged under 40 miles a week this summer, which, at my pace, is about 2 hours or so, but, as the Missus says to me, I have 30 years of racing base on my legs. Well 32, not that anyone is counting. I know that for many weeks I was doing 20-25 miles a week, i.e. one ride which was actually a (sanctioned training) race. I do believe in bigger off season hours to develop and hone position, cycling specific muscles, etc. These help you develop the ability to hold a more aero position, utilize your glutes more, etc. This is why a new rider tends to sit upright and then gets a bit lower/longer as they get more cycling fit.

Also it would be better, probably, to mix up some bigger weeks and smaller weeks. 150 miles, 75 miles, 150 miles, 75 miles, something like that. Your body adapts to stress so if it isn't getting stressed it won't adapt much. Same thing every week isn't that much stress, unless you really stress it. Mixing it up some might help.

Finally you state the obvious but without hard numbers to back it up it's hard to realize just how important drafting is (meaning not getting shelled). On hills it's mostly power to weight ratio but you can optimize your drafting the rest of the time. In the 2011 Cat 2 Tour of Somerville I averaged something like 180w for the race which averaged 27.5 mph. I got delayed by a crash on the last lap and time trialed in on my own (mainly to let the Missus know that I was okay, else she's start worrying exponentially as time passed). I think I averaged 280w for the last couple minutes and my average was about 24 mph. I'd have to check my files (on a different machine) to verify the numbers but they're about right, although I think I averaged lower for the race, possibly higher for the slow bit on my own. But taking those very conservative numbers let's isolate them:

180w = 27.5 mph (pack)
280w = 24 mph (solo)
FYI my FTP (1 hour sustainable power level) was about 220w

For me to go 27.5 mph on my own would have taken much more power, maybe 350 watts, maybe closer to 400w. This would have kept me about 100-150m behind the field.

For me to catch the field - I'd have about a mile and change, the laps are really long there - I'd have had to have gone something like, what, like 30-32 mph. Now we're talking 500-600w for me. Of course it was the last lap so the field was probably averaging closer to 32-33 mph with a peak of about 40 mph so I'd have to go an impossible speed like 35-37 mph for a mile. I can't do that for sure.

So for me to stay in the field I might have to push really hard to accelerate out of a turn, or to close a gap, but I'm going to do that anyway whether I'm in the field or not. The key is that once I'm dropped there's absolutely no way I'd be able to get back on.

Therefore the key is not to let the gaps go, not to get out of position regarding drafting others, and to absolutely maximize your shelter when you can afford to sit in. This way you hit that hill with more reserves. It's not interesting to race so conservatively but if you can stay with the field over the hill then it's worth it. Plus you learn how to sit in anyway.

FYI my FTP limits me to about 16-17 mph solo rides, many of them being 15 mph or so. However I can hold my own in races that average 26-27 mph with surges up to 30-35 mph (depending on wind the surges might be as high as 40+ mph). It's all about sheltering, using energy when I need to, and saving everything I have for when it counts.

A good example is the M45 CT State Championships from this year (June 7, 2014) in the clip below. I'd done 6 rides in 5 weeks (4 Tues races, 2 Sat training rides - my Strava is here). I arrived at the Sat race with about 15 minutes to go before the start, lined up with no warm up, and ended up winning the field sprint for the bronze in the state.

You can see that:
1. In the race I chose to shelter at first (to warm up etc).
2. I don't partake in the initial flurry of moves.
3. I decide to bridge a gap because I thought the race would be over if I didn't (so it's like the whole "I have to make the move else I'll get shelled and I'll never catch up"). In that effort I did 489w for 30 seconds, with a peak of over 1000w.
4. I wait for half of the last lap before making a single move because I felt that it wouldn't be worth it to expend the energy.
5. Finally I do my own sprint since I'd essentially committed to that strategy when I chose the wheels for the bike.

I had to psych my self up for it because I wasn't confident of even making the sprint. Obviously it ended up well for me, it was one of my better races this year (meaning in terms of result vs training/schedule), but it's possible to do it on less than ideal miles/hours.

koolerb

Carpedieumracing - You gave me a lot to think about in that post and even more to think about in the video.

"FYI my FTP limits me to about 16-17 mph solo rides, many of them being 15 mph or so. However I can hold my own in races that average 26-27 mph with surges up to 30-35 mph (depending on wind the surges might be as high as 40+ mph). It's all about sheltering, using energy when I need to, and saving everything I have for when it counts."

17-18 MPH is where I'm at riding solo depending on terrain. For example, yesterday I fell out of the group early so was on my own for most of the race. To steal one of your lines from the video, I wasn't racing yesterday, I was timetrialing. 42 miles with about 2800 feet of climbing I averaged 16.8 mph. Riding in the main group was super chaotic at the start with lots of braking going on, really aggressive, I thought there was going to be a crash. I dropped to the back of the main group but ended up dropping off the back completely and once I fell out I couldn't catch back up, they were going fast. I'm thinking getting more comfortable in the group and staying in it is as important as conditioning, maybe more. I learned some of this in races earlier this year but guess I forgot yesterday.

What's FTP?


Thanks

carpediemracing 

Power

FTP is "functional threshold power" which is the power a rider can sustain for an hour. It's mainly theoretical since it's so tough to go 100% of your ability for an hour. It would be your own "hour record" if you will. Most riders will do an 8 minute or 20 minute test and take a % of it (95% of 20 min, not sure how the 8 min one works). There's also a ramp-up test (MAP) where you ramp up your effort 10 or 20 watts every minute or two. Then you take something like 85% of the last power level you could hold.

Typically I find that many "regular" riders have 220-280w FTPs, so Cat 4-5s. 300-350w is pretty high - a Cat 3 that got busted for doping had something like a 340w FTP doped and he could win Cat 3 races solo and do reasonably well in the 2s. I think anyway, I don't remember the details.

Crazy high is 400w or higher. Jens Voigt I'm guessing averaged over 400w for the hour, maybe 420w. His declared goal was to hold 370w but a technical advisor admitted in an interview during the hour record that Jens had averaged over 400w for the first 30 min. He went faster in the second 30 min so he went even harder.

Group Riding

Riding in the group, and doing it effectively, it way more important than overall fitness. Fitness (and weight) are limiters when it comes to specific situations - hills are the main one, but others include strung out single file in a crosswinds (because no one can draft anyone well if the wind is hitting everyone from the side), sustained high speed (requires a high minimum power level even if you're drafting well), etc. My fitness is substantially below most of my teammates yet I can outrace many of them. THis is because I have realistically 1000+ races under my belt and many of the new guys would be happy to break 30-50 races in their new racing lives.

In training rides, where there are more hills and where fitness counts more than drafting, I regularly get shelled. Even the year I upgraded to Cat 2 I had problems staying with the local shop's easy Monday ride. Sure, I could put in some good speed on the flats, but any sustained climb and I was off the back. A 50+ woman even asked me if I was "really trying" when she rode me off her wheel. I was a bit surprised but I assured her I was absolutely redlined for the 10-15 minutes before I finally blew up (the climb is about 20-25 minutes).

Crits and other 0.5-1.2 mile loops usually limit the climbing to manageable levels and therefore drafting is super significant.

For riding in the field you need to work on what I call the Sphere. It's the area around your bars and front wheel that you need to protect to feel comfortable. For new riders it's usually 3-4 feet, if not more. For me, on a road bike, it's well within a foot fore-aft, closer to 1-3" with riders that seem smooth, and it's about 3-6" left-right. To put things in perspective I've put my front tire between the rear derailleur cable housing and the spokes of a rider in front of me (riders that I didn't know but that I trusted to hold a line). I let one know, the others I didn't mention I was doing this. I wouldn't do this during a race but during a group ride where things are steady/predictable I felt okay doing it.

Keep in mind that the helmet cam has a wide angle lens so riders are further away than they look. Also the cam is on my helmet so it's pretty far forward relative to my bike. If you don't see the rider's rear tire in front of me then I'm pretty close to that bike.

On the other hand when I did a season of racing on the track with a fixed gear, so no coasting and no brakes, my Sphere ended up kind of at the beginner level. I was amazed at how consistently I was about 8 feet behind the next rider. I simply could not close up the gap, something kept me from doing it. It took me a while but finally I could get within a couple feet of the next rider, maybe a foot was my best. I practiced riding behind a motorcycle (on the track) which had a roller on it, and I tried to spin the roller with my front tire. I only succeeded once but that was obviously closer than a foot or two.

For new riders I recommend reading the skills clinic thing I threw together for the Bethel Spring Series. To reduce Sphere size you need to get used to bumping side to side, which is pretty easy to work on, and touching your front wheel fore-aft, and that's really, really hard to work on. At Bethel we didn't work on wheel touching because you're guaranteed to fall, so it's best to practice/learn on grass or dirt. The side-to-side bumping is really helpful though and if I were you I'd work on that as well.