I'm kind of contrarian here. I want to make a detailed training plan to go from where I am to a not-all-day century with (to me) significant hills in July. Friel gives a basic strategy and justificaiton for some types of workouts, but not a detailed plan, but I find it enough. He has a very clear view on training zones, where I find Edwards a bit confusing, especially her detailed method for constructign training plans and evaluating workload of individual rides. THAT is too much detail for me.

I think my endurance is pretty good, but my climbing and speed need work compared to some riding peers, namely Mrs. Road Fan. I appreciate how Friel aligns those deficiencies with the need to improve aerobic and muscular endurance skills, and aligns those with a specific sequence of interval workouts to be interspersed with a sequence of LSD rides to build long ride strategies.

So what if Friel comes from a competition heritage? I'm interested in improvement in capability, which should lead to weight loss.

Bike for Life is a great source of enthusiasm and inspiration, but I find it short on concrete advice.

I look better in shorts that those guys he has in his pictures, anyway, at least from the waist down. Plus no guns allowed in our house!

Road Fan