Maybe impatient, but how do I get faster???

[polly4711]

Besides just getting miles, what are other ways to gain speed?

[Cataboo]

Get a better bike? Better wheels?

[crazycanuck]

I'm trying to find the thread a while back where someone asked this same q.

You can upgrade your bike BUT what about your legs? Have you tried doing intervals or short sprints? What about hamstring exercises & other strength training?

In terms of hills & intervals-make your own training type plan? I'm sure that being in the US, it would be at your fingertips...

[Grog]

Intervals.

Hills.

[coz i can]

Definitely intervals and specific sprint work, e.g. standing start sprints after a 30 minute warm up at decent pace, sprint 6-7, about 200m, in the drops as fast as you can outof the saddle, recover about 1km spinning repeat repeat repeat. Strength work will help too but intervals and sprints still offer resistance training:)

[Mr. Bloom]

Definitely interval training.

[7rider]

Besides just getting miles, what are other ways to gain speed?

Ride with faster people. Ask lots of questions and apply their answers.

[alpinerabbit]

Find a hill that takes you 10 minutes to climb, and do it one or two gears harder than you would otherwise. Cadence can go way down, no worries, and HR should be somewhat below your AT(anaerobic threshold) if you know it (or take a good guess).

I was advised to go as low as 40 rpm (but I ended up going no lower than 60), and perhaps 10 bpm above my "forever" heart rate. That's the "lactate balance point", a heart rate where you feel like you are working, but could go on forever, it's maybe 10-20 beats higher than base endurance and 10-20 lower than AT. For me, that means I do the intervals at max. 160, and my "forever pace" is about 150.

Do that hill 3 times, or do 3x10min on the trainer or spin bike. Do this once a week and work up to 20 min intervals.

[kenyonchris]

Ride with faster people. Ask lots of questions and apply their answers.

+1 on this for sure. I am amazed that yes, I CAN keep up when I ride with some of my uber-rider friends (all of which, to make it worse, are uber-men). They totally lose me going downhill (everyone can, even when I pedal till I run out of gear, I'm light), but I catch up on the climbs. On the flats, I match my cadence to theirs and practice pedaling in a harder gear at the same cadence before I have to drop to an easier spin to keep up.

When I ride with my friends that are weaker riders, I help them build strength and speed and also help me stay motivated by playing "catch up"...we do a six mile loop composed of long slow easy climbs with short flats. I start and set the average pace at whatever is doable but moderately hard. At the end of the first loop we stop, note the average speed, then the next person leads and tries to up it by .4 or .5 mph (depending on how low the first lap was). We repeat this for four loops, the person pulling sets the pace. I do this with two people (me and someone else), for more a shorter loop repeated more times would work, so that everyone gets to pull and set the pace before the group gets tired and the average drops. Its fun and works for me and my competitive, goal oriented friends.

[smilingcat]

just a comment before you start with interval training or doing hill repeats. Make sure your have a good base. Meaning you can comfortably ride a 20 mile ride or even do a 50 mile easy ride at a reasonable pace. If you are older and have been sedentary, make sure you get a cardio check first with a doctor.

If you don't have the base conditioning, doing intervals or hill repeats can hurt you. And always listen to your body for aches and pains. Some are good some are REALLY BAD and you have to learn to differentiate them.

Lastly, unfortunately there is no magic bullet to make you go faster. Just hard work and training. :(

Others have made great suggestions.

[papaver]

true. Work on your base first (ride many many many miles at a relatively easy pace). After that do intervals. But base comes first.

[Jiffer]

- Ride often. The more you ride, the stronger you get.
- Do intervals.
- Ride with people a little faster than you.
- Ride hills.
- If you have any extra pounds to lose, weight loss will help you up the hills, but won't propel you as much DOWN the hills either.
- The right bike fit can make a big difference in speed.
- Make sure you're pedaling efficiently.

[maillotpois]

Ride with men.

[Miranda]

These are excellent suggestions!

I recently got faster myself with a few things...

1) this is *huge*...a bike that actually fits.. like it is a painted off extention of my body (my old roadie girl was about 2 sizes too big for me!:eek:)

2) lighten up... extra #s hurt: on body, my new ride is carbon plus lighter gruppo etc.

3) a ride buddy... everything is just easier to do (or NOT to chicken out on) w/some company along:)

4) intervals big time...

Besides road & mtb, I'm also cert thru M.D.A. as a Spinning instructor (teach year round)... nice thing about inside work in the mix is that I think you can push yourself even harder cuz you don't have to worry about "...how will I get home if I 'over-do' my interval???...". Inside, simple: ya just get off your bike and walk to your car near-by in the gym parking lot;).

Just remember to be patient with yourself on this one... and don't get discouraged... everyone's level of "pushing it" is different. It's your ride... make what ever you do work hard just for YOU.

5) Be realistic... and just keep at it.

Example: I have some health issues I know will *always* hold me back to a certain degree. So does my new riding pal. Sometimes, you have to decide what's "fast enough for you" and be happy with it. Keeping up with the cycling Jones' is over-rated, IMHO.

Good Luck!:)

[polly4711]

Thank you all for your wonderful input. I am young (22) and June 3rd will be the one year of owning my bike. I will have put on only around 800 miles in the one year that I've owned it... I was also out for a while due to a car accident.

I know that I do need to work on my base and continue getting miles. I was a rower in my undergraduate years, and I think that I need to get back to some of the training that we did there (intervals, long days, sprint days, lifting, cross training, etc) rather than just going out and riding my bike.

I think that I have a lot of you all's advice underway and need more time for results :
1) currently on WW's lost 4 lbs in one month.... slowly but surely wins the race right?
2) currently riding bike as much as possible... i'm now even commuting to school daily (about 30 total.... but that's better than nothing)
3) My bike fits me wonderfully.... I am totally in love with it, and that's why I didn't even buy a commuting bike
4) I just found out that a bike store does hill intervals every wednesday as a loop... so I can't get lost, and hwere they do it is within a few miles of my apartment, so I can always walk home....


Now I just need to gain the courage to go on more group rides. I ride in an area with lots of cyclists.... maybe I just need to play catch up rather than letting them fly by me.

thanks once again!

[Grog]

Congrats on your achievements, Polly!

You might want to ride quite a bit more miles if you want to improve your speed. Push your limits a little bit, go where you didn't think you could go, and go there more often. You'll see the difference!

[coz i can]

I am sure from rowing you already know this but dont forget when factoring in all of the important training sessions, to include recovery days. They really make a world of difference. And also remember what Greg Lemond said, (NB i Paraphrase here), you just get faster, its the pain that stays the same:)

Good luck and hang in there. Its worth every ride (and the pain) - most importantly - enjoy!!

[TxDoc]

Besides just getting miles, what are other ways to gain speed?

A base of miles is always useful for endurance - but you need speed training to become faster.