Originally Posted by
mindaugas
wow, nice advice guys this helps a lot. I know I shouldn't be paying attention to my overall speed a whole lot, and no I don't think 22mph is fast, I think I need VAST improvement. But I have all Winter and my trusty OCR3. I did ride for an hour yesterday and did 20mph. I practiced attacking groups I'd see in the distance but I only got up to 27mph. And some muscle on my left leg right above the knee protested violently over that. I commute every day but its 7 miles round trip and I do it without clips. The bike weighs 30lbs though so that's something
(jk).
Be careful! Don't modify things drastically and don't go out and start hammering sprints; you'll injure yourself and end up with permanent injuries!!! Seriously! I've seen it happen over and over again, year after year to A LOT of people who get too gung ho. You'll want to spread things out and plan ahead. You've got plenty of time, at least 6-months until the race-season starts again next year.
For now, you'll want to get in lots of miles and build up some endurance. Work on spinning easy gears smoothly. Then transition into strength/power-building over the winter. Followed by speedwork in the spring. Work up to sprinting by doing long-intervals. Progress to shorter and shorter intervals and after you've got 1-minute intervals down, start doing sprints.
Here's a couple of good books I've found to have really helped me train and race:
Food for Fitness is great for nutrition ideas
The Lance Armstrong Performance Program: Seven Weeks to the Perfect Ride
The Lance Armstrong Performance Program by Armstrong/Carmichael (1984 Olympic Cycling team, USA Olympic Coach 1992-1996) gives a year-long training-programme with optimized periodization
Serious Cycling and
High-Tech cycling by Ed Burke, PhD, USA Olympic Coach 1984-1988, 20-year Director OTC-U.Colorado, is great for a scientific approach.
Greg Lemond's Complete Book of Bicycling by Greg Lemond (mutiple TDF winner) is also good
Bicycle Racing 101 Originally "Bicycle Road Racing" by Eddy Borysewicz - USA Olympic Coach 1980-1984