Discussion
Did my first sportive today, a 90km (56 miles) in a little over 3 hours which included some marvellous climbs. Very keen to get under 3 hours for my next effort. I'll do more training etc etc but what are the top recommendations I can make to the bike to assist? I'm fully carboned framed up with 105 group set and mavic aksium wheels.
Oh and please don't start banging on about carbs, electrolytes and all that rubbish. You can get round that sort of distance perfectly easily with a bottle of water and a flap jack....
Oh and please don't start banging on about carbs, electrolytes and all that rubbish. You can get round that sort of distance perfectly easily with a bottle of water and a flap jack....
to be honest as you are averaging close on 20mph over three hours, you are already pretty much on it. a sub hour 25 mile TT is considered to be good so 56 miles in three hours is good going.
some focused TT training wouldnt hurt, depends how much further and faster you want to go, particularly before nutrition becomes an issue. you could go faster sure, but not much longer at an increased pace without some structured training. as ever chris carmicheal's books are worth hunting, as is the "time crunched cyclist".
some focused TT training wouldnt hurt, depends how much further and faster you want to go, particularly before nutrition becomes an issue. you could go faster sure, but not much longer at an increased pace without some structured training. as ever chris carmicheal's books are worth hunting, as is the "time crunched cyclist".
Sorry, profs. Had presumed pablo had done the maths, and took his 'close on 20mph' at face value. That, as an average over 3 hours, would surely be regarded as flying, no? I did my first 100 miler (OK, 95.8 miler) last week and squeezed in at a 15mph average speed, which wasn't much slower than some of my results on far smaller rides. I've been aiming for breaking the 17mph average barrier for a long time, but since my riding partner was posted to Germany, I've struggled to get anywhere near our fastest time together of 16.7mph. Mostly I ride 20 to 25 mile distances, with the odd 10 and 45-ish route to spice it up, and almost always fall in to the 15.1 to 15.8mph ballpark. I think that winter and a (non-cycling related) injury are partly to blame, but I seem to have plateaued at this kind of pace for now. Not too disheartened though, as I'm loving the quieter country roads around Essex/Herts/Cambs/Suffolk.
Edited by yellowjack on Monday 11th April 00:28
20 mph average is good yes.
It's a strange one really, I just seem to have benefitted bigtime from commuting, I think a combination if saddle time which is just getting your legs used to mashing up and down for hours on end and weight loss!
I'll be attempting the 3 lap richmond park challenge again this week, be interesting to see if I can better last years best average of 19.8 mph.
It's a strange one really, I just seem to have benefitted bigtime from commuting, I think a combination if saddle time which is just getting your legs used to mashing up and down for hours on end and weight loss!
I'll be attempting the 3 lap richmond park challenge again this week, be interesting to see if I can better last years best average of 19.8 mph.
Do you want to go sub 3 hours for that course, or sub 3 for a similar distance? Assuming the former, you can probably crack it by climbing faster. Either (a) lose weight without compromising power or (b) do hill reps til you're ready to puke, then do some more. There aren't many short cuts to becoming a better climber.
Don't knock the electrolytes. In the summer, when you'll be properly sweating, once you sweat out the salts you need to keep your body running you will find yourself in a whole new world of grief.
Don't knock the electrolytes. In the summer, when you'll be properly sweating, once you sweat out the salts you need to keep your body running you will find yourself in a whole new world of grief.
Instead of losing weight to make you quicker on the climbs, try gaining weight, and not getting slower on the climbs. Then you'll go faster down the hills.
I've managed part of this, I just need to climb quicker.
All joking apart, if the bike is set up well for you, and you fuel and hydrate yourself well, then only other thing to do is spend time in the saddle. On hills.
I've managed part of this, I just need to climb quicker.
All joking apart, if the bike is set up well for you, and you fuel and hydrate yourself well, then only other thing to do is spend time in the saddle. On hills.
1 Join a decent sized club with plenty of good roadies and join their chaingang training sessions.
2 Get a racing licence and ride some road races.
3 On your sportive get in with a fast group who are riding together for a good time. Identify a serious team of road racers who are using the event for training, the speed difference between guys who race and guys who don't tends to be a few mph.
4 Distance allowing, carry enough food & water not to have to stop to refuel.
No need to spend loads on new eqpt, your bike sounds good enough to win a road race if you had the ability to do so. There is much, much more scope for improving yourself and the way you ride.
If you really want to, lighter wheels like Mercury Halos or Prolite Braccianos & possibly better tyres would be the most cost effective upgrades.
2 Get a racing licence and ride some road races.
3 On your sportive get in with a fast group who are riding together for a good time. Identify a serious team of road racers who are using the event for training, the speed difference between guys who race and guys who don't tends to be a few mph.
4 Distance allowing, carry enough food & water not to have to stop to refuel.
No need to spend loads on new eqpt, your bike sounds good enough to win a road race if you had the ability to do so. There is much, much more scope for improving yourself and the way you ride.
If you really want to, lighter wheels like Mercury Halos or Prolite Braccianos & possibly better tyres would be the most cost effective upgrades.
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