Hi From Chicago - reached a plateau in training?

[chicagogal]

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?

[Blueberry]

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

[chicagogal]

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 . . .