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Stan has ridden a bicycle for several years, and he isn’t getting better. He can go 25
miles comfortably, but when he attempts 40 miles on the weekend, he finishes exhausted. He
can average 15 miles per hour but if he bumps it up a notch, he gasps like a beached
whale. Stan has plenty of ability, but he’s going about training all wrong. He
doesn’t know the basic principles that make improvement possible—and in turn
make riding more fun. Let’s look at 10 rules for becoming a better cyclist.
1. Get Structured
The best way to become a better cyclist is to get on a regular training program. A good program tells you what to do each day, and it’s
organized around the following sound training principles. Of course, you can merely do the
prescribed daily workout, but you’ll make more progress if you understand how the
workouts are organized.
2. Build Slowly
If your longest ride ever is 25 miles, don't tackle a 75 miler next time out. The body can
handle increases in distance but it’s happier—and less likely to get
injured—if those increases are incremental and small. The general rule is to increase
mileage no more than 10% a week.
3. Vary the Pace
The better the rider, the greater the gap between her speed on recovery days and the speed
she goes when she’s racing or doing interval training. Pros can average over 30
miles per hour for a hundred miles. But on their recovery days, they just creep along.
Nearly anyone could keep up. They know that the fast rides provide the impetus for
improvement and the slow rides allow the body to recover and get stronger. The big
mistake? Going the same speed day after day. If you always ride at a moderate pace, your
body will have no way of knowing that you want it to adapt and get faster.
4. Vary the Volume
Just as you vary the pace, you should also ride different distances during the week. Stan
never felt comfortable riding over 25 miles because, with rare exceptions, he always rode
for 90 minutes. If he had gradually increased the time of his weekend ride, soon his body
would have adapted, and 40 or 50 miles would have become easy. At the same time, he could
have halved his weekday rides to promote recovery.
5. Do Intervals
Interval training—going very fast for several minutes, recovering with a period of
easy pedaling, then repeating the process—has a bad rap among cyclists. It’s
hard, they argue, and it’s so structured that it takes all the fun out of riding. But
a large body of research shows that the intensity of interval training is the most potent
producer of fitness. It’s also the most time-efficient way to get better. Intervals
do not have to be by-the-clock drudgery. Instead, simply go faster when the spirit moves
you—sprint over little hills, go hard to the next stop sign, try to catch the rider
up ahead. In Sweden, such random efforts are called fartlek, and they’re a
great way to increase your intensity.
6. Ride Hills
Climbing is a basic cycling skill. Unless you live on pancake-flat terrain, you’ll
have to go uphill often. Do a cross-state tour like Colorado’s Ride the Rockies and
you’ll be climbing several thousand vertical feet each day. So don’t avoid
hills, seek them out. Once or twice a week, pick a hilly route. If the only climb in your
area is a highway overpass, ride it twice from each direction. Climbing builds strength
and teaches you to apportion your effort to the top. And climbing a hill is work with a
built-in reward—you get to fly down the other side.
7. Ride in a Group
Cycling is a social activity, so seek out friends with similar goals. Learn to ride safely
and predictably in a paceline. There’s something about the speed and the feeling of
being pulled along while drafting in a big group of riders that can’t be duplicated
when you’re grinding away by yourself. The miles fly by and the feeling of shared
effort, of a group enterprise, is addictive.
8. Monitor your Intensity
Right now, the two best ways of doing so are with a heart rate monitor or simply by feel,
using a Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE). Heart rate monitors (HRM's) are relatively
inexpensive ($90 to $200). However, the numbers on the monitor require experience to
interpret. To train with an HRM, you have to find your true max heart rate with a graded
exercise test (often done in the controlled conditions of an exercise physiology lab),
then have a qualified person calculate your exercise zones based on that max heart
rate.
But there’s a simpler way. RPE works nearly as well once you become accustomed to the
scale of 1 to 10. One is no activity at all (you’re slouched on the couch) while 10
is flat-out, as hard as you can go. Five is moderate activity like a fast walk or easy
spinning on the bike. Six is experienced as brisk effort. At seven, you begin to breathe
steadily and rhythmically. At eight your breathing intensifies and when you’re gasping
and unable to carry on a conversation, you’ve reached nine. With a little practice,
you’ll be able to stay in a given RPE zone as you ride.
9. Take Rest Days
Training is built around a paradox—you don’t get better when you’re training
hard. You improve when you’re resting. That’s when your body rebuilds from hard
efforts. So take at least two days each week completely off the bike. Do some yard work,
light resistance training, take a walk—or prop up your feet and sip a cold
lemonade.
10. Keep it Fun
Training should never be drudgery. You’re riding a bike for fun and relaxation and to
improve your fitness. Explore different routes, alternate road rides with mountain bike
rides on dirt trails, ride alone and then in a group, try to break your personal record
for the local killer climb, sign up for an organized ride or low-key race. The world of
cycling is huge—there's never any reason to get stale.
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