Advice for riding faster, please

Hello

I want to ride faster. I ride about 2000 miles a year, at about 10 mph. I have a knee replacement on my left leg and right foot problems, but I can ride for 50 miles in a day. I would like advice on how to increase my speed. Thanx in advance.

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Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on May 1, 2016 at 5:07am
http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/10-cycling-tips-to-get-faster

At one time I wanted to ask the same question here. I looked at a few articles and this one is the most helpful one for me.

10 cycling tips to get faster by Kevin Lee

* Improve your fitness

* Buy new wheels

* Train with stronger cyclists

* Find a workout recovery strategy

*Eat well

* Work on your position

* Use variety in workouts

* Yoga for flexibility and core strength

*Try a cycling coach

Alan, I hope some of these basic tips will help you ride faster. Good luck.
Permalink Reply by john89 on May 1, 2016 at 9:12pm

Improve Your Fitness

The first and easiest way to become a faster cyclist is to improve your fitness. This can be done simply by getting on your bike more often. Just ride! Start by finding a way to commute to work, attend a group exercise class, or squeeze in another ride on the weekend.

Buy New Wheels

A nice set of carbon wheels are typically lighter, more aerodynamic and create less drag than the heavy stock version that came with your road bike. Of all the equipment to buy, you'll get the most bang for your buck with a new wheel set. But that doesn't mean you have to get rid of your old wheels. Use the heavy wheels to train on—it will make the carbon versions seem even faster on race day.

Try a Cycling Coach

Find a good coach to develop a personalized training program. This can help a cyclist to set attainable goals and tweak training programs as problems arise. A coach can also help to plan your training around a particular race and offer other services such as nutrition plans or specific drills to improve pedaling technique based on your individual weaknesses. Find a good coach in your area. 

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on May 2, 2016 at 2:44am

I think carbon wheels are probably a little overkill for what you are looking to do. If you'd like to improve your speed on the bike, there are training classes you can take both on a trainer or on rides that will help you by having you do interval training. There's also Sufferfest which allows you to train at home on a trainer (also interval training). This is a training plan on Bicycling Magazine you can try as well. Time on a bike with a bike computer to monitor your speed and cadence can also help. I try to do the same ride regularly so I can gauge if I am  improving and also it encourages me to push myself a little harder so that each time I improve a little more. I hope this helps! Let us know how it goes. 

Permalink Reply by Mike Schwab on May 2, 2016 at 3:25am

INTERVAL TRAINING.  Every 5 minutes (?stop signs?), pedal as hard as you can for 30 seconds.  Duration: 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Repeat twice a week.

Permalink Reply by Filka Bean on May 2, 2016 at 10:22am

With your joint situation, I would make sure my bike was fit 100% properly and I would work on shifting gears to maximize efficiency without adding strain...  Spinning out and grinding gears both sap energy that otherwise would be moving you faster.  As far as equipment goes, maybe the only thing I would invest in would be a computer to help track speed (and progress) but honestly you can do the same with a watch and a notepad, right?

Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on May 5, 2016 at 3:39am

+1

Permalink Reply by Bryan on May 3, 2016 at 9:45am

are you talking about pedaling faster, or making your bike faster? You don't want your cadence too high! I'm not an expert by any means so maybe I'm way off base here, but If you're consistently pedaling at 90rpm or so and in high gear all the time and not getting the power out of the bike you'd like , seems to me like you'd want to look at a smaller cassette, right? Depending on what sort of bike you have, it might just be geared for leisurely riding, and you can only pedal so fast without hurting/tiring yourself. I was riding a cruiser for years and when i switched to a road bike, i was stunned at how much speed I got for the same amount of effort pedaling.

Permalink Reply by Shawn Evans on May 4, 2016 at 2:44pm

Thanks for the useful information!

My bike's slow, too. It's not a cruiser, but I didn't buy it at a high-end bike shop, either, so it probably has 'leisurely gearing'. Why doesn't anyone tell people this??

I'll bring it to the shop tomorrow to get that part replaced.

Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on May 5, 2016 at 3:33am

The gear set is not the only reason a road bike is faster for the same amount of effort and I would say that it's unlikely to be even related (unless the only gears you have are super tall, but I've never experienced a bike like that -even a "cruiser").

general things (other than gearing) that affect effort to speed are

  1. wind/air resistance (really significant above 10 mph)
  2. rotational weight (heavy wheels and/or tires)
  3. rolling resistance (tire rolling resistance [which is a complex/compound issue of cause and effect but basically smooth soft tires are better than hard knobby tires {for hard surface riding}], friction of components like wheel bearings)
  4. overall weight (bike, rider, other materials in transport as appropriate)

Another important thing is fit. I see so many people with the seat too low to generate any power and that will also strain ones knees! There are so many factors in bike fitting and so many experts out there too that will fuss over details of position and hand placement, etc. but most will agree on the basics so start there.

Permalink Reply by Fai Mok on May 5, 2016 at 8:37am

I wouldn't use speed to gage your training performance as it is deceiving.  For example, if you are riding at 20 mph(which is fast for some people), it doesn't translate to you working hard if you have a good tailwind.  Invest in a heart-rate monitor as I did last year.  I helped me a great deal on my training.  You can better judge your workout by looking your heart-rate.  The expensive option is to get a power meter or power pedals.  Unless you have money falling out of your pockets, I would stick with the HR monitor. 

Permalink Reply by rickosaurus on May 5, 2016 at 9:41am

Skinnier tires inflated higher can help.

Permalink Reply by alan miller on May 8, 2016 at 12:18pm

I have started to interval train. I speed up to 14mph for a tenth of a kilometer (every kilometer). I also have been mixing up distances, so instead of doing 20 miles all the time. I'll do 10 miles as fast as possible and then the next day ride a 25 mile cruise.

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