How much of cycling is athlete, and how much is machine?

October 8, 2007 8:13 AM

I just got back from a 2-day, 150 (241.4 km) mile bike tour, and I'm feeling pretty good about myself (albeit a little sore, all over). To improve myself long term, so that I'm ready for the Hotter'N Hell Hundred for next year, what should I do?

For the past 9 months, I've been riding three days a week at 20 miles (32 km), and doing 60 miles (96 km ) every Saturday.

I've been getting progressively better, from initially averaging 10 mph to about 16.5 mph. On the first day of the tour, I managed about 16.5 mph, climbing just about the whole time. On the second day, I did about 15.5, which makes a fair amount of sense, considering fatigue and all of that.

But, here's the rub. I had a pretty good amount of practice under my belt, and if not in speed, definitely in endurance.
But, I was still trailing my pack the entire time. Some of the other riders said my bike was the culprit, some said it was my leg strength/athletic ability. The group even had a guy who had only been cycling for 8 weeks who was still able to speed past me.

I'm currently riding a Specialized Sirrus base model.

I know I need to get stronger, and I also know I need a better bike, but which will help me more immediately?

posted by The Giant Squid to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (13 answers total)

Developing speed and endurance are fairly independent of one another.

In other words, short, intense rides to improve your upper limit for speed, and your upper limit for aerobically produced speed, will carry over to long rides. But they won't do anything to make you comfortable over long distances.

And doing long rides at a comfortable speed will make it easier do long distances, but it won't make you any faster. This is the point that frustrates people the most, because the idea that "time in the saddle = faster riding" seems intuitive. But it's not really accurate.

So, periodically do some short rides and intervallic stuff to build up your speed. The dirty fact of the matter is, if you really want to get faster, you'll have to bury yourself 'til it hurts a few times. But you do that in short bursts. And then rest. And after the rest, you'll come back able to do that higher speed without feeling like you're going to puke. Hooray, progress! The speed payoff will be there even on long rides.

And the other thing is, make sure you're taking advantage of drafting during the group rides! Practice this if you can by pacelining with some friends occasionally (or as often as you like; I'm a solitary rider for the most part so I have to force myself to go with a group). Then it'll be second nature when you're riding the HnH, or whatever big group ride, and the savings are enormous.
posted by Wolfdog at 8:30 AM on October 8, 2007

Part of it is definitely your bike. I have a Sirrus too, and while it's an amazingly awesome bike, it's not designed for speed (or even really long distances), it's more designed for commuting (which it excels at).

It's most likely heavier than a regular road bike, plus you're in a more upright position while riding which might make you a bit slower due to drag (this could be remedied a little by swapping the handlebars).
posted by drezdn at 8:38 AM on October 8, 2007

Yeah, part of it is your bike. But if you were doing 16.5 mph over 75 miles, you should be pretty pleased with that.

If you've got the money on hand to step up to a real road bike, do it. You will find yourself zipping along noticeably faster. You're definitely putting in the kind of mileage where I'd say you deserve a road bike. This will be an immediate boost to your speed (and/or energy output per mile).

If you choose to stick with your current bike, the cheapest upgrade you can make is to put some really good road tires on it. Next cheapest (and also providing good bang:buck ratio), get clipless pedals and cleats (do this if you buy a road bike too). After that, drop bars—but to do that, you'll need to upgrade your brake/shift levers which doesn't have a great bang:buck ratio (and it still won't be quite the same as having a purpose-built road bike). A cheap alternative is to take a pipe-cutter and remove the outer 2" from each side of the handlebars, which will put you in a slightly more aerodynamic position.

Improving your body, of course, is always good, but takes longer.
posted by adamrice at 9:52 AM on October 8, 2007

I think the comments so far are on track. It's mostly lack of speed-focused training, but your bike is definitely a factor.

I agree that you should strongly consider getting a "real" road bike. Tire and shoe/cleat upgrades would help out your current bike (if you haven't already done that), but switching to drop bars would be rather expensive and possibly not even possible. And at least you can easily transfer the pedals to a new bike.

A $500-$800 aluminum-frame used road bike shouldn't be that hard to come by, but please do get a quality bike fitting done afterward. You'll hate the bike and hate riding it if you aren't comfortable on it. And you want to be comfortable on it if you'll be doing 4-6 hour rides.

PS: I'm curious what ride you did. I would email you, but there's no address in your profile. If you don't mind, email me at the one in my profile.
posted by turbodog at 12:31 PM on October 8, 2007

The usual quoted phrase is, "It's not about the bike." :)

That said, over a longer ride the drop bars alone will boost your average; a new properly fitted bike should give you at least a couple of mph.

But that's a game that's expensive and quickly leads to diminishing returns. Especially when you start cutting weight at the high end--it's far easier to shave off a pound off of *you*. So, if you're going to do these rides a lot--sure, get something that isn't designed as much for city riding. But the most effective way to increase your on-bike performance is to improve the engine.
posted by RikiTikiTavi at 2:43 PM on October 8, 2007

Hmmmm. Lemme guess...MS150?
posted by Autarky at 2:56 PM on October 8, 2007

Intervals. It looks like most of your training is endurance. High intensity interval training is the most effective way to boost your power and speed, plus it seems to be a very effective way to burn fat and improve cardio fitness because you raise your resting metabolic rate for a full day afterwards.

While interval routines can be meticulously planned and quite sophisticated, the idea is quite simple. After warming up, alternate between at or near your maximum output and low intensity recovery for a few minutes at a time for about half an hour or less. The key is to make sure your legs keep moving during the recovery and cooldown, and also that your high-intensity intervals are all out. If you are going at a pace you can only sustain for 4 minutes, do 4 3 minute intervals with 2 minutes or so rest in between. Or something like that. There are all kinds of routines out there, but they will all certainly help with speed and power.

Also, your bike is definitely slowing you down. Consider an upgrade. You're more than ready for it.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 3:07 PM on October 8, 2007

As long as you have appropriate road tires (slick, fairly thin, and high pressure), the mechanics of the bicycle won't effect your speed much. However, 16.5mph average speed probably means cruising at over 20mph for much of the trip (well, I'm a city rider, so..), so aerodynamic riding position (i.e. road bike) will have an enormous impact.

You know you're in second place for the month, right? Just as soon as you enter it, that is :P
posted by Chuckles at 4:12 PM on October 8, 2007

Response by poster: Chuckles: I think I'd probably be in second place for the year as well.

Thanks to all for the answers. I suppose the next question is: Will the winter be best spent doing, say, spinning classes, and perhaps I should pick mid-range, say $1500, road bike up in early summer?

Something like the Roubaix by Specialized? If so, how much improvement can I reasonably expect over, say, a 60-75 miles interval?

And also, while I'm tacking questions on, what's the biggest performance booster on the road bikes? Is it rider position? Bike weight? Or hubs and lower-friction hardware?

By the way, I'm riding on Specialized Armadillos, and they've been ideal, as I hate hate hate changing tires, and live next door to a pretty 'break-glass-bottles-on-the-ground' friendly neighborhood.
posted by The Giant Squid at 6:15 PM on October 8, 2007

Response by poster: Autarky: Yes, the MS-150. Of course.
posted by The Giant Squid at 6:16 PM on October 8, 2007

Here's a very interesting analysis of cycling training with power measurement. In particular a chart of time savings over 40km for various changes in rider (i.e. weight loss, but only as it relates to aerodynamics!), rider position, and equipment.
posted by Chuckles at 6:48 PM on October 8, 2007

Oh, and.. The full year results at Weendure are not useful, because most Mefites only started recording millage in the last few days of July.
posted by Chuckles at 6:50 PM on October 8, 2007

I am writing this as someone who rides a Specialized Track bike, and who loves doing so. But make sure you can try out the bike first as many people do not like the geometry of their road bikes. Look a Fuji, it will feel faster and likely cost you a little less.
posted by BobbyDigital at 8:36 PM on October 8, 2007