A Bicycle Question. Getting in a shape other than pear shape...

I asked this over on MTBR.com but I like you guys better so I'll post it here too.

I've been cycling for two weeks and really enjoy it so far, even the soreness. I need to increase my mileage to be able to complete the local MTB trails. They are all fairly flat and require pedaling most of the trail.

My question is, what is the best way to increase distances/stamina. I started out just getting around the block. (Yes, I'm that out of shape.) Now I can do 5 to 6 easy miles or 3 to 4 hard fast miles, 4-5 days a week. I'm mostly riding on pavement at this point. Am I better off riding the fast, 3-4 miles, or the longer distance at a slower speed?

I'd like to be able to do 20+ miles in the next couple of months and 40-50 by the end of the year, but I'm not sure of the best way to get there.

best way I found.. do your long rides, but throw a few sprints in there.. not enough to wind yourself to the point you want to stop and barf.. but enough to get you breathing heavy and your heartrate up. In time, the sprints will start to get longer and longer.

Hills are another good endurance builder.

Ride with friends. Getting one's butt whomped is very motivational. Worked for me.

I wish we had hills.

How long should the sprints last? At this point I'm good for about 30 seconds, at full output, before my legs feel like they are on fire. Obviously they need to be longer, but how long should I be pushing for realistically.

wheelsmithy wrote: Ride with friends. Getting one's butt whomped is very motivational. Worked for me.

The local MTB group is going for a ride this weekend in the NF. I'd love to join them but they are going for 40 miles. I've got a ways to go before that happens. That's another reason why I want to work up to the distances.

mad_machine wrote: best way I found.. do your long rides, but throw a few sprints in there.. not enough to wind yourself to the point you want to stop and barf.. but enough to get you breathing heavy and your heartrate up. In time, the sprints will start to get longer and longer. Hills are another good endurance builder.

This would be my suggestion also, but I admit I LOL'd at the thought of Hills in your area. Sorry I spent too many years on a bike in Charleston and the only real hills are called bridges. 30 secs is a place to start for sprints and build up to a minute and then even a couple minutes at a time. You can build stamina and improve your cruising speed as well.

Toyman01 wrote: I wish we had hills.

I wish we had flats. Everything around here is either up or down, mostly up.

All I'll add is to suggest you vary your routine enough to keep it interesting. Different routes, different surfaces, different distances, different paces; lacking elevation changes, at least you can mix up some other factors to develop endurance (and not get bored in the process).

Rather than riding a loop, ride to a point and back. Then keep moving the point further away. If you're timing yourself, try to make the second half faster than the first.

Work up slowly. You should do both real easy pedaling days and sprint days. Keep adding the miles on.

My training schedule is like this for the summer:

Monday: Run

Tuesday: Easy miles working up from 20 miles (I started a little higher up in the endurance chain)

Wednesday: Trail Run

Thursday: Sprints.

Friday: Off

Saturday: Long distance ride

Sunday: Trail Run with the wife.

The concept is the same. Just keep working up the miles and keep with the ideas of 2 weeks pressing and then 1 week lax to recover some.

For the sprints: It should be a minute or 2 in the higher gears.

Toyman01 wrote: I wish we had hills. How long should the sprints last? At this point I'm good for about 30 seconds, at full output, before my legs feel like they are on fire. Obviously they need to be longer, but how long should I be pushing for realistically.

As long as you can do them without needing to fall off of the bike and rest. The idea is not to exhaust yourself. but to build up stamina. It's one of those things when suddenly you realize you are sprinting for minutes instead of seconds. It creeps up on you.

A 12 mile MTB ride is a pretty substantial ride. 40 would be insane for a newbie.

Hills build stamina/strength, so since you don't have hills, do sprint intervals as suggested. Singletrack climbs are the hardest of all climbs.

As you build your mileage base by getting out there regularly, you'll find that you can go farther and farther. I promise that will happen.

In reply to bmw88rider:

Running is out, my knees won't take it. The bike doesn't seem to bother them too much.

I'll keep doing what I'm doing for now. I did 5 miles with my kids Saturday with some short bursts. I did a 3 mile easy run yesterday and a 4 mile as hard as I could go today. The mileage is coming up so I'll just keep working at it.

Ask this on a bike forum. I get 48 views and one reply.

Ask on a car forum and get all kinds of good advice. There are a surprising number of bikers on here.

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the sheer volume of knowledge, this insane group of people has and their willingness to share it in a constructive fashion.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

In reply to gamby:

I'm a good ways off from doing 40. I'd like to see 15 mile rides by the end of May though.

You may not have hills, but you have headwinds and big gears. The fun word for going fast when you feel good is fartlek, some other language for "speed play."

In reply to travellering:

Speaking of headwinds.

My first ride was on a cruiser with one gear. I thought I was doing great, it was super easy until I turned around. Holy smokes that headwind was brutal. I've got a lot of surface area. I work like a sail on the down wind stretches.

Mad machine had it in the first reply, just take some points during your ride and attack something. Pick a point (tree, parked car, corner you know) a good bit ahead of you and go for it. If you've got hills, just look at the top of it and push your way up (20-30 sec or so) and build from there.

Trust me you are not the first one to say I ride because I can't run. :) It's all good.

One important thing is to stretch too. Don't forget that.

You should be able to get 15 miles by the end of the month.

Oh and the most important thing.....Enjoy it :) If it becomes a chore then you won't do it. That's why I have a road bike and a hardtail to ride depending on the mood.

In reply to bmw88rider

Regarding stretching, do it POST-ride. Sports medicine has the recent attitude that stretching cold muscles isn't a great idea.

Depending on terrain, 15 miles could be anywhere from a 1.5 to 2 hour ride. If you're getting out there with the frequency you say, you'll have that in you before too long.

Hydrate well (maybe get a Camelbak that can hold a lot of water) and eat something every hour. As you get into longer rides, you need to keep the tank topped off.

@ Toyman--you get answers here because we're not elitist snobs like on the bike forums.

I would also suggest doing some exercises to strengthen your core a few days of the week. It will help you from getting fatigued and losing your posture on the bike and ending up with all kinds of pains from leaning all your weight on your wrists. The invisible chair with your back against the wall, squats, planks (downward dog in yoga terms), some slow hang chin ups... whatever you can do.

gamby wrote: @ Toyman--you get answers here because we're not elitist snobs like on the bike forums.

There does seem to be a fair amount of that. Apparently you can't ride a old bike. They don't work apparently.

And for God's sake don't ride a cheap one. They will sneak into your room at night and kill you...and your children.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

I knew someone was going to say that.

I suck at exercise.

Caution, fat guy planking. Danger to floor.

Oh! Sorry about the hole in the wall...that you can drive a truck through. I was doing one of those chair thingies.

I've noticed my tendency to lean on my wrists on the longer rides. The gravel runs are the worst. Dropping 50-60 pounds should help with that, but that's going to take time. I guess I better add some of those to the list.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I would also suggest doing some exercises to strengthen your core a few days of the week. It will help you from getting fatigued and losing your posture on the bike and ending up with all kinds of pains from leaning all your weight on your wrists. The invisible chair with your back against the wall, squats, planks (downward dog in yoga terms), some slow hang chin ups... whatever you can do.

+1

I love riding my bike every chance I get but I've noticed it only works my quads and calves. Too much muscular imbalance can lead to joint issues/instability or injuries so, on top of my usual weight lifting routine, I make sure to throw in lots of moderate weight, high rep, hip hinge deadlifts and leg curls to hit the posterior chain.

I don't have many hills to ride on either. One thing I've started doing, since I noticed a marked increase in my pedaling stamina, is put the bike in the highest gear (21) and pedal from a dead stop to my top speed at 100% effort. Sets my legs on fire!

As others have said, just keep riding and keep the rides interesting. When I was training for some distance rides, I rode the same few trails. They got old, but setting time goals for segments kept it interesting.

Toyman01 wrote:

gamby wrote: @ Toyman--you get answers here because we're not elitist snobs like on the bike forums.

There does seem to be a fair amount of that. Apparently you can't ride a old bike. They don't work apparently. And for God's sake don't ride a cheap one. They will sneak into your room at night and kill you...and your children.

I take a fair amount of glee in riding a 20 year old mountain bike on knobbies thru a pack of the obviously out-of-shape guys in spandex on $3500 road bikes. Double fun for bunny hopping potholes out on the dirt shoulder those silly little race tires/rims can't go near.

The difference between the front of the pack and the back is all rider and good gear selection up until the point where it's cheaper/easier to lose a few ounces on the bike than your own ass

Toyman01 wrote: I wish we had hills. How long should the sprints last? At this point I'm good for about 30 seconds, at full output, before my legs feel like they are on fire. Obviously they need to be longer, but how long should I be pushing for realistically.

That seems about right. I've been trying to move this since I was in my mid teens, and I'm almost 40 now. In fairly certain thirty to forty seconds is a sprint. Exercise will reduce your need to sprint in the first place, and the aches and pains will subside. As you develop experience, you'll also learn how to keep your legs out of the burn by adjusting your pace and gearing.

Generally, you can easily ride in one day what you routinely do in a week. At my height, I was doing ten miles four times a week. I certainly slowed down around the forty mile mark when I decided to do a metric century.

Figure out what your mile goal is for a single ride, split that into four or five, and just work your way up to that. Twenty miles? Work your way up to riding five miles, four times a week, and you're pretty much ready.

Consider investing in a fitting at a competent bike shop. You'll be more comfortable if your bike fits.