Mighty,

try for a long slow distance ride. and i mean LONG. 3 hours long. You can't be working too hard if you want to last 3 hours


And slooooow...no higher than 65% of your MHR slow. It feels as if you aren't working, but by the end you should be pretty fatigued. This will help build your cardio base.

a lot of people go as hard as they can every ride or workout and end up overtraining or plateau-ing. You need variety in your rides and training, slow, long, intervals, fast, speedwork etc. High intensity rides should only be done 1-2 times a week if you are starting out. (and assuming you have a decent cardio base).

the heart rate monitor helps, gives you something to focus on, to make sure you are where you should be for heart rate.

just my two cents

Han