Hi From Chicago - reached a plateau in training?

Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum, and thought that I would take this opportunity to say hi and to introduce myself. I recently moved to chicago and at the same time got back into cycling. I am reasonably fit (ie, no extra weight, and some decent muscle tone) thanks to my genetics, but unfortunately I have been relatively sedentary these past few years. I thought that cycling would be a good way for me to get back into shape (I used to run, bike, play tennis, swim, etc. but that was a long time ago). Lucky for me, Chicago is, like, completely flat, so getting back to cycling ended up not being that difficult. I have only been riding for a few months, but am able to pretty easily ride ~125 miles/week. If any of you are from Chicago, you know the lakefront bike path. I try to ride it most mornings before work and before it gets too crowded. On weekdays I ride ~25 miles (13-14mi/hr) and on weekends, I try to add miles. This has been working really well for me the past couple of months, and I am feeling fitter, healthier, and more energized that I was before taking up cycling. However, despite the fact that I try to really push myself on my rides, I feel like I have reached a fitness plateau. Now I wish that we had some hills around here for me to incorporate into my workouts. However, since we don't does anybody have advice on how I can continue to get stronger/faster?

Welcome!!

How 'bout intervals? Sprint to the street sign or light pole, then spin easy, then sprint to the next object? Trains your muscles to work differently.

CA

You're probably right that I should try intervals. How long should these be, and how many should I do. I pretty much exclusively ride on bike paths b/c the city streets are crazy and have stop signs/lights everywhere. Of course, everyone else also rides on bike paths, so they tend to get very crowded - even when I get out before 6am. Therefore, it is hard to plan intervals. What I do is if the path is relatively clear and there is a slower rider somewhere ahead, I sprint to pass (then keep the pace up for a bit so as to not seem overly obnoxious). I'll also push myself hard to certain landmarks and then slow it down for a couple minutes to recover. But by doing this, my rides end up being essentially tempo rides with out any real, or meaningful, intervals. Also, I don't have a bike computer, so to really do interval training, I guess i need a stopwatch of some sort . . .