To back up something Liza said - if you are going out to race you should always warm up, either on the course or on a trainer - you want to get yourself going to the point that you feel your legs burn at least a couple of times and try to finish your warm up 1/2 hour or so before the race starts. I find that I usually need to warm up in stages. I spin for a while just to get the body moving, then I take it up to my zone 3 for a while, back down, spin for a while, take it up to my zone 4, etc. It takes some time before I feel comfortable getting my hr up high and my legs moving, so its essential to have a good warm up in before I go out and try to race.
Cyclocross is a short time/high intensity kind of racing that makes a good warm up even more essential.
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Thread: Cadence & Riding Cold Days
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09-18-2007, 05:46 PM #1
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09-18-2007, 06:37 PM #2
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You didn't mention what kind of cadence you maintain, and I don't have anything to add to what others said about staying warm. But to build a higher cadence, ride rollers. Winter's coming anyway.
Do cadence intervals. 1 minute at 100 rpm, 1 minute at your normal cadence... 1 minute at 110, 1 minute at whatever's comfortable... keep going until you've reached the cadence where you're bouncing all over the place and feel like you're going to come off the rollers, then pyramid back down 10 rpm at a time. And back up and down at least one more time during your workout. You'll be smoother and pedal faster in no time.
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