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Conference noted::bicycle

Title:	Bicycling
Notice:	Bicycling for Fun
Moderator:	JAMIN::WASSER

Created:	Mon Apr 14 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	3214
Total number of notes:	31946

29.0. "Training suggestions???" by OVDVAX::CATHERS () Sun Mar 02 1986 18:15

	I have been riding seriously (more or less) for 2 years.  My riding
style is fast (or at least as fast I can go) touring, in mild weather
with distances ranging from 15 - 35 miles during the week to 50 -100 miles 
on the weekends.  

	I have a couple of questions about training in general and winter
training in particular.

	1) I've been using rollers for the past two winters.  I've found
that most comfortable combination is to ride in a 42x14 at a cadence of 115-120.
This gets the speedo up to 27mph which makes the bike fairly stable.

	Does that match with those of you out there that have more experience
with rollers?  

	2) I also ride a RacerMate Piggy Back wind trainer (and occupy my
mind with NOTES in the process).  A typical work out might be  a warm 
up for a bit in a 52x22 then ride several reps of 52x20 x 12 minutes with
2 minute rests in a lower gear inbetween reps.  This keeps my heart
pumping between 140 and 165 which seems to be my training range (i'm 30 and
my resting pulse is between 50 and 55).  I do these work outs 3 days a week.

	What type of workout schedules do you all use?

	Thanks
	Tom C.

T.R Title User Personal
Name Date Lines

29.1 FRIDAY::WOESTEHOFF Mon Mar 03 1986 20:29 32

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
29.1		FRIDAY::WOESTEHOFF		`Mon Mar 03 1986 20:29`	32
	I use a wind trainer and I generally don't like to talk about which gears I use. The reason is that there are many variables, i.e. tire pressure, how tightly the bike is attached, which wind trainer you are using etc. Wind trainers are great for strength. Rollers have a good reputation for developing balance ( riding straight ) and bike handling skills. I like doing a workout that John Howard reccommends in some magazine article I read a few years ago. Here's what I do: 5 minutes warmup in an easy gear. 10-15 minutes in my cruising gear where I am working fairly hard but can maintain the pace for a long while. Now I start a series of intervals. I shift up one gear and go all out for 1 minute. I then shift down 2 gears to almost catch my breath (15 sec.) Then it's back in the cruising gear for 45 sec. and then back to the high gear and go all out again. I'll do about 10-20 of these depending on where I am at in my training. After the intervals, I'll cruise for 10 minutes and then cool down in the easy gear for 5 minutes. There is really no substitude for riding on the road and wind trainers are boring but you won't lose much of what you gained last summer. To help with the boredom, I have a VCR and play tapes of bike races and triathlons. Rock and roll on the stereo helps also. Hope this helps. When spring comes, you'll be glad you stayed with it all winter. Keith

I use a wind trainer and I generally don't like to talk about which gears I
use. The reason is that there are many variables, i.e. tire pressure, how
tightly the bike is attached, which wind trainer you are using etc. Wind
trainers are great for strength. Rollers have a good reputation for 
developing balance ( riding straight ) and bike handling skills. 

I like doing a workout that John Howard reccommends in some magazine
article I read a few years ago. Here's what I do:

  5 minutes warmup in an easy gear.

  10-15 minutes in my cruising gear where I am working fairly hard but can
        maintain the pace for a long while.

  Now I start a series of intervals. I shift up one gear and go all out
  for 1 minute. I then shift down 2 gears to almost catch my breath (15 sec.)
  Then it's back in the cruising gear for 45 sec. and then back to the
  high gear and go all out again. I'll do about 10-20 of these depending on
  where I am at in my training. 

  After the intervals, I'll cruise for 10 minutes and then cool down in
  the easy gear for 5 minutes.

There is really no substitude for riding on the road and wind trainers are
boring but you won't lose much of what you gained last summer. To help with
the boredom, I have a VCR and play tapes of bike races and triathlons. Rock
and roll on the stereo helps also.

Hope this helps. When spring comes, you'll be glad you stayed with it all
winter.

                                           Keith