Just now is my stomach feeling alright lol.... i dont account that on riding a bike at all.... just in the fact that I ate like ****.



Question: Is it a natural progression to get faster with riding, or do i actually need to "train" to become faster? Im sure im going to get to a certain place without becoming a bit more serious but im wondering how long you guys notice your getting faster for longer etc.



Rode with fresh legs today on a similar ride (just longer) to what I did on Thursday. It was nice to see some extra speed... and my seat post didnt eject itself into a -30 degree nose up this time LOL.
Bike Ride Profile | Afternoon Ride near Kingston | Times and Records | Strava

 

I know.






another noob move: took hard plastic water bottles that my wife has for work. with the carbon cage the bottle is scratched to **** and it rubbed my frame on the chip-seal road I was riding on.

Ps. Full carbon is a dream to ride on those imperfect roads. Absorbs SOOO much more than I anticipated.

 

I don't know. I try to ride with faster groups all the time, pushing myself at least three of my four weekly group rides.

 

There havent really been many group rides here yet, still lots of road dirt and salt on the shoulders...plus riding by what should be the water is really cold still with the wind coming off the still frozen lakes.

 

Picture from todays ride...
Temperature dropped about 4 degrees going from inland to the waterfront road. Wasnt anticipating that one.


Chilly by Shlammed, on Flickr

 

Key to speed is interval training and strength training - core and legs. My favorite, single strength excercise is side lunges. If you want to do them right, which is to keep everything square, go see a real physical therapist. All of the YouTube examples I've seen are sloppy.

 

lol @ luggage

 

Yeah, I'd move. However, you get to watch hockey on TV when I have to watch basketball theater.

 

Smallest bag my phone would fit in.
:-(

 

Jersey pocket?

 

In a zip lock bag, if rain.

 

In a ziploc all the time. You sweat a lot.

 

Does anyone else have the Hunger right now? I've been riding a ton this last month or two (not all on strava) and can't seem to eat or sleep enough. I'm trying to get ready for my first 'enduro' MTB race in Moab coming up in May. Ever since I've been riding 6 days a week, I eat like 5 meals a day and go to bed at 8pm, and am still beat.

It is nice though- I can do rides with 4000 feet of climbing like it ain't no thang

 

Google "overtraining". Fear it. 8 weeks of consecutive hard days is a lot. Iirc, every 5th week should be light, if riding 6 days a week, and the days are hard efforts. Generally, only rarely should consecutive days be hard training. Recovery is your friend.

I would also suggest tapering hours ridden in the last 2 weeks proceeding an endurance event.

 

No jerseys.

 

Thanks for the advice- that's going to work well... I'm traveling for work and have other stuff going on the 2 weeks before the event. This is my last hard week.

I've been doing two hard days/week with sprints and such. The other days are just lots of time in the saddle. I had good base fitness prior, just stepped it up to the next level since signing up for the event.

The race is 4 timed downhill stages on MTB & they add your times- shortest overall time wins. You have to pedal to the top and between stages. So you need to be able to sprint during the timed sections, but have endurance to climb back up and not get tired over the whole day.

 

Good job. Needing lots of food is normal, it was the awakening tired that concerned me. Interspersing hard and easy is good as well. Best of luck on your race. Overtraining is kind of like tendinitis, once you get it, it takes extreme rest to fix, hence the cautionary tone.

 

Bought my wife a new bike.

Laurens Bike by Shlammed, on Flickr


Had them change the 23c tires for a more supple 28c. Carbon fork, seat stays and seat post as well to smooth out the ride.

Hope she likes it.

 

Nice bicycle, lol @ stem.

 

Yeah, I have some setup to do.

Change it before I give it to her so she only knows it as a proper setup. Printed the brochure to show her too and that shows proper setup.