rbent Forum - It pays to get those base miles in....

aikigreg

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recumbent ninja

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It pays to get those base miles in....
Nov 10^th, 2014, 4:37pm

2010 was my last decent year on the bike due to numerous health issues which are more or less being managed now. At that point, I was doing 4-5k miles a year. After that it wasn't much. Last year I started coming back a bit and did 1800 miles. This year I'm back to just under 4k and should break that this year. However, due to work constraints, my mileage has been almost nil since August. I'm still not really being successful at weight management like back in 2010. Short rides once a week are all I'm getting if I'm lucky.

A couple weeks ago I bought a vk2 with tailbox and took a short ride with my wife. There's some seriously contended strava segments that a lot of semi pro riders have conquered at my trinity trails/benbrook/aledo rides. One particular sprint zone is 1 mile long and quite flat. I felt good and went for it. With the VK2 I didn't even crack the top 50 with a 1:54. That's a 28mph average.

Yesterday I took the M5 out and felt super good. I took the sprint in 1:46, which is still only good enough for 38th place. 30.1mph average with 32mph top speed. I now sit 12 seconds off the leader.

So some strength and speed is still in the legs, where I was SURE I had no chance of coming close to my PR of previous years. Just goes to show you how important hose base miles can be.

SO if you're chasing speed, just keep riding.

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reever

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Re: It pays to get those base miles in....
Reply #1 - Nov 10^th, 2014, 6:12pm

Greg, you are awesome! Generating that kind of speed all by your lonesome is so much more impressive than a member of a GROUP of semi-pro DF riders that are drafting off of each other--until he slingshots out to win the little sprint. Yes, DF guys, we've all seen the sprints in the Tour de Jour. None of those guys, with the exception of triathletes, are out there on their own for long without withering like raisins.
With all that said--WOW--those KOM speeds over near the DFW area are so tough!!!

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dd5339

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Re: It pays to get those base miles in....
Reply #2 - Nov 10^th, 2014, 6:18pm

Greg,

I hear you on the base miles.. While I can't get long rides in during the week, I manage 15--20 mile rides in before work and then commute by bike three days out of the week.

Just recently I started doing hill repeats as I need to work on the power and hills, imagine my surprise after uploading Strava to see that I'd beat a Giant/Shimano sponsored pro by 9 seconds... Am hoping to keep the mileage and training focused and go into next year ready to go after my double century.

Semper Fi

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aikigreg

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Re: It pays to get those base miles in....
Reply #3 - Nov 10^th, 2014, 9:22pm

Nice! You'll be ready.

Reever, it's a start, but there's still 37 more to go before I can do any bragging. I'm just glad I kept some of my gains this summer. No doubt though that dfw has some of the strongest riders anywhere between the rando riders and local racers. I hope next year to be even closer to being able to keep up.

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Monkeywrangler22 Five Star Member rbent member Posts: 1308	Re: It pays to get those base miles in.... Reply #4 - Nov 11^th, 2014, 6:18am I'm still trying to increase my overall speed, without seeing a lot of improvement though my Strava-ing has improved. However, I have added weight training, am trying to ride at least every weekday (about 15-20mi avg dist), and have added in a day for hill workouts.
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aikigreg

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Re: It pays to get those base miles in....
Reply #5 - Nov 11^th, 2014, 2:22pm

I only got faster two ways: by riding further, because one you can do 100 miles at any pace, you can push a lot harder for only 50.

or by riding with faster riders. Trying to keep up, gassing out, then recovering.

I know there are more intelligent ways to do it, but I've rarely used them. Smiley

Quote from Monkeywrangler22 on Nov 11^th, 2014, 6:18am:

I'm still trying to increase my overall speed, without seeing a lot of improvement though my Strava-ing has improved. However, I have added weight training, am trying to ride at least every weekday (about 15-20mi avg dist), and have added in a day for hill workouts.

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reever

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Re: It pays to get those base miles in....
Reply #6 - Nov 11^th, 2014, 9:46pm

Okay, here's my off season workout strategy. I go to a park near my house where I can ride a figure 8 that is 9/10 of a mile long. I either ride an hour and see how far I can get in that hour, or ride 20 miles and see how long it takes me to finish. I alternate rpm days as well. One day is uncomfortably high rpm's to work my heart out and the next is lower (75-90) pushing bigger gears to get some muscle work on the legs. Once I finish my ride I'm in the YMCA swimming 1/4 to 1/2 mile in my mask and snorkel......never have gotten that breathing stuff down.

I ride at the park for a few reasons....1) if I have a break down I'm near home 2) the ride is completely uninterrupted so my heart rate never takes a dip 3) bowel or bladder issues....pull into the Y 4) the swim just after the ride lets me burn a few more calories and work on my Michael Phelps physique (ha) 5) since the wind is ALWAYS howling out here in Abilene I can attack it just as if it were a hill once every few minutes....sort of like intervals 6) there are some DF riders that come around occasionally that I like to hunt down like dogs.......

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Adults should have fun so kids will want to grow up!

For every mile of road there's two miles of ditch.

I'd rather be sorry for something I did than for something I didn't do.

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Monkeywrangler22

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Re: It pays to get those base miles in....
Reply #7 - Nov 12^th, 2014, 8:34am

Quote from aikigreg on Nov 11^th, 2014, 2:22pm:

I only got faster two ways: by riding further, because one you can do 100 miles at any pace, you can push a lot harder for only 50.

or by riding with faster riders. Trying to keep up, gassing out, then recovering.

I know there are more intelligent ways to do it, but I've rarely used them. Smiley

And therein lies my problem. I fall in that nebulous void of riders--too fast for the slow folks, and way too slow for the faster riders. There just isn't anyone at/near my pace to ride with around here. I can already do a century, though currently I doubt I have one in my legs as I have not had any long rides on a solo bike for most of the year. I just don't have the time for longer rides except maybe once on weekends. It also doesn't help that I am just about "done" after 40mi on the DF. Once the Encore gets here, Smiley

at least I can try to start doing longer rides in comfort.

So until that time, I have to just do the weights, and ride as often as possible, if not as far as I would like.

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TonyWard

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Re: It pays to get those base miles in....
Reply #8 - Nov 13^th, 2014, 8:22am

Quote from Monkeywrangler22 on Nov 12^th, 2014, 8:34am:

Quote from aikigreg on Nov 11^th, 2014, 2:22pm:

I only got faster two ways: by riding further, because one you can do 100 miles at any pace, you can push a lot harder for only 50.

or by riding with faster riders. Trying to keep up, gassing out, then recovering.

I know there are more intelligent ways to do it, but I've rarely used them. Smiley

And therein lies my problem. I fall in that nebulous void of riders--too fast for the slow folks, and way too slow for the faster riders. There just isn't anyone at/near my pace to ride with around here. I can already do a century, though currently I doubt I have one in my legs as I have not had any long rides on a solo bike for most of the year. I just don't have the time for longer rides except maybe once on weekends. It also doesn't help that I am just about "done" after 40mi on the DF. Once the Encore gets here, Smiley

at least I can try to start doing longer rides in comfort.

So until that time, I have to just do the weights, and ride as often as possible, if not as far as I would like.

Three words....PBA. Well maybe that is only one word. I have gotten faster since riding with them...... though I suggest you bring the DF. I went from doing the East Side ride to riding with the B2 group (~40 miles @ 14-15 avg) and topped out doing some of their DBRec rides (50-80 miles @ 16+ avg). Also rode with them Wednesday nights on rides approaching 18 mph avg a few times. It has been a lot of fun. I need to find a way to get back on it again.

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mleuck

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Re: It pays to get those base miles in....
Reply #9 - Nov 26^th, 2014, 10:30pm

[quote author=aikigreg link=1415659033/0#5 date=1415737357]I only got faster two ways: by riding further, because one you can do 100 miles at any pace, you can push a lot harder for only 50.

or by riding with faster riders. Trying to keep up, gassing out, then recovering.

I know there are more intelligent ways to do it, but I've rarely used them. Smiley

I used to ride longer distances at a slower pace and did pretty well speedwise but since I've acquired an addiction to White Rock Lake my speed and endurance have increased by pushing harder for 40-50 daily. Nothing gets the legs going like a 22+ average around the lake

You want to ride fast you have to train by riding fast, no other way IMHO

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« Last Edit: Nov 26^th, 2014, 10:31pm by mleuck »

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