eggbeater505

I was wondering what excercises (like running) would help to increase my stamina. I find on my rides i am worn out easily or begin to lower my pace. Would swimming be an answer ? Any advice would be super helpful.
Thanks!

RWTD

IMO the best way to build endurance for cycling is by cycling building a base of milage and then gradually increasing the milage/distance covered from there.If weather is affecting your cycling then I would think the most similar aerobic activity to cycling probably a trainer or spinning would be the best to use this same strategy on(but any aerobic activity would be better than nothing) .For any strength issues you may want to consider a weight training routine.Also make sure your diet and rest/recovery are on track as they can greatly affect your performance as well.

Chris L

Just go for longer rides. Stamina is something you need to build up. It's not something that you can just do in one day.

RiPHRaPH

intervals baby...intervals.

RWTD

I agree if what you are talking about here is speed then intervals is what you should focus on to build up anaerobic endurance

RiPHRaPH

life is really an interval - if you think about it. sometimes you need to go hard all day, take it easy all day....hard for the morning only...

when i wanted to avg 18+mph over my 30+ mile rides, i rode @ my then current 16mph and mixed in intervals that brought my speed up to 18mph (if you want to do 18mph...you have to train @ 18mph) ---and eventually, i was riding @ 18mph more often than @ 16mph. BTW it is a lot harder to take it from 18mph to 20mph...

20mph has always been the holy grail for road riding. and i am no exception. i have only gone on one ...one ride where i avg'ed 20mph over 50+ miles. that was a fast group ride where i had an incredible day....

RWTD

Not knowing a thing about his fitness level or much about his objectives as I am not even sure of what he is meaning by "stamina" I would qualify that a good base aerobic fitness level is desirable before or in addition to focusing on intervals for speed if that is his objective .

Greg

Viagra.

oxologic

Real funny Greg, cheered me a little but still not enough.

sebring

I was in the same boat. I bought a trainer and use training videos plus mix up on my own. I'll watch a movie and just pedal through the whole thing. You can either do a warm up than stay in one gear for the rest of your time, or just keep a steady cadence while switching through gears. I did this fairly regularly for about a month then the last 2 trail rides were so much better than what I was doing. I also try to get out and jog to mix it up a bit, your body will get used to working out the same way all the time. Swimming is excellent for overall cardiovascular improvement. Cross training is an excellent way to improve. Also circuit training with weights is good too.

Dougmt

What worked/works for me is day in day out riding. In my ealy/mid twenties I would throw the kid in the bike seat and go fo 30-40 mile rides without noticing it. The pursuit of $$$$$ and resultant lack of exercise turned me into a fat ass that could hardly walk a mile without needing ibuprofen. Last summer, due to an implosion in the pursuit of $$$$ I ended up working in Glacier NP. As a family we rode everywhere... bikes were our only form of transportation. I averaged 15-20 miles a day, everyday, for 3 months. Much of it uphill. The difference was amazing. There is a stretch of rode leading to our campgroung that was about a 8% grade finishing in about a 10-12% for about a block. In the beginning it was everything.... meaning almost passing out when I got to the top, I could to just to get to the top in the end I could sprint the entire distance in my biggest gear. (the bike creaked and groaned alot)'
I started the summer a pudgy, out of shape 265# or so fat arse. Three months later, while I had only lost about 30 pounds, I had legs like lance and an unbelievable (to me) ability to keep going. Remember when you were a kid? Thats how I felt.
It's almost three months later now and unfortunately I let everything go. Stress... a different envinroment and just plain being lazy has led to the inevitable... I've got back on the bike finally but I'm a long way from where I was 3 months ago. So ultimately, and in my opinion, the trick to increasing one's stamina is to simply do it... ride the bike MORE, ride it harder, increase your distance. I think time on bike really makes the difference. Look at the touring cyclist... many average 100 miles a day loaded and I've yet to see a fat long distance biker.
Doug

Machka 

Running works somewhat different muscles but can help you to remain in shape if you aren't riding, and can be effective to help you lose weight if that is a problem. Swimming mainly works the upper body. Weightlifting might help build up some muscle strength too. There are other winter activities that can be somewhat beneficial too such as snowshoeing and crosscountry skiing.

However, if you want to increase your endurance and stamina in cycling, start riding longer distances at a pace you can handle. I don't know what your longer rides are now, but the "recommended" increase in distance (or intensity for that matter) is 10% per week - a nice gradual approach reduces the risk of injury. So if, for example, your long ride on the weekend is 50 miles, next week do 55 miles, and so on.

Combine that with shorter rides in the evening consisting of intervals, sprints, recovery rides and so on. Riding about 5 times a week is decent for this time of year - as we get closer to the season, you might want to add another day.

roadbuzz

Any aerobic exercise will contribute. But for cycling you also need to build muscular endurance in the cycling muscles. Cyclists call it "base", and developing it "base training." Cyclists training for road racing ride lots of easy miles for 2 or 3 months, each year, before trying to develop power and speed.
Here's a helpful link.

Pat

Well it is nearly impossible to beat cycling for aerobic conditioning.

I think your problem might be pacing. You can get a heart monitor and get an idea what your pace is from that.

After years of cycling, I can tell pretty much just by how I feel. You actually go aerobic when your breathing gets deeper. A good pace to go is just hard enough so you can not hold a conversation. You should be able to sustain this kind of pace nearly indefinitely (after you get your base in). Riding harder will increase your power.

As for fast pace, I can go up to where it hurts and back off to where it doesn't. That is still in a good hard workout area and I can sustain that for well over an hour. Of course, riding hard enough to have some pain is a good thing for conditioning and if you ride with competitive friends or mean dogs you will get plenty of this.

One thing about aerobic conditioning is to do it almost each and every day. You really will not get in good condition by just riding 2 days per week. Most people do best with one day off and two recovery days. Personally, I seem to do best riding every day. If I feel beaten up, I just ride a bit easy.

If you can't ride every day, do something aerobic - walk fast, jog, get on a wind trainer and do it for about 45 minutes+ (the longer the better though).