roadie miles

[alexb618]

just curious, about how many km are you guys doing per week on your road bikes?

i am looking to get my fitness up a bit before hitting the hills and doing around 20km 4 times a week and then around 80km all up on the weekends, generally flat terrain but at a moderate/high intensity

should i bother continuing with this or just hit the hills straight away?

 

[4heckssake]

Alex,
I would say you are ready for some hills.
you are doing more k's then me and I manage to struggle up Norton Summit once a week on my 'training ride' on my roadie.
Norton Summit, Greenhill, Belair, the southern veloway all provide good climbing challenges without being like the Alps...pick one closest to home and try and do it regularly (once a week on the roadie is enough for me with a couple of dirt rides for fun)...you will see the improvement in a short time.
4hecks.

 

[DaGonz]

just curious, about how many km are you guys doing per week on your road bikes?

I was about to say As little as possible, but then I added up some weeks, which range upwards of 200-250km's on road I prefer to count the hours though 'cause when you start mixing hill climbs and off road stuff in to your mix, km's means little.

i am looking to get my fitness up a bit before hitting the hills
...
should i bother continuing with this or just hit the hills straight away?

what are you trying to achieve? and why arn't you just hitting the hills now? (ie what are you concerned about?)

there's a couple of hills I like to do in sydney where I can blat up one side of the valley, down, and up the other side. Rinse, repeat untill shagged, go home via the bakery for a tasty treat!

The valley isn't especially deep (160-180m's vertical either side) and you can get a good 2-3 hours riding in wihout being *too* far from the car and without biting off more than you can chew. Want a harder work out? just push a bigger gear or higher cadence!

*shrug*

Cheers
Gonz - who quite enjoys the odd hill climb...

 

[bazza]

hill climbs i found have improved my fitness hugely and that was only after doing one once a week for 3 weeks and i could get up the hill fairly well after that. works wonders. give them a go. and like they said if you need more intensity/challange just push up in a bigger gear.

 

[alexb618]

ill get cracking on the hills then - i just don't want to try and ride something which is probably too much for me only to have to turn around and come back/throw up/pass out half way

though now i think about it thats all part of the game isnt it

i am not the fittest guy, just want to avoid catastrophic failure if possible, it wont really help the motivation

 

[bazza]

ill get cracking on the hills then - i just don't want to try and ride something which is probably too much for me only to have to turn around and come back/throw up/pass out half way

though now i think about it thats all part of the game isnt it

i am not the fittest guy, just want to avoid catastrophic failure if possible, it wont really help the motivation

you can't if you just keep choggin along in granny gear.

 

[demo man]

Hrmm....

I should try this hillclimb phenomena you speak of. Sounds like hell (fun)!

Mt. Stromlo has a great road climb to the top. I should do that when i'm on the roadie, and the days when i feel like the MTB hit the trunck trail to the top instead!

I can graduate to Black Mountain after some time, and do extra work on the Mt. Ainslie steep-but-short.

fuck i love Canberra!

 

[Syphanx]

If your ever down South NSW, i.e. near waterfall, you should have a crack at Otford Hill, it's honestly like climbing up a wall... ridiculous, i've seen people walking their dogs up in faster than people ride :O!

 

[DaGonz]

If your ever down South NSW, i.e. near waterfall, you should have a crack at Otford Hill, it's honestly like climbing up a wall... ridiculous, i've seen people walking their dogs up in faster than people ride :O!

On dirt, I quite enjoy the climb up ingar fire trail. The first part is a bit of a chore to the gate, but the rest is just a nice grind. There are also some BFO climbs out Tumut/Talbingo way that I wouldn't mind doing again now that I'm a bit fitter On road, the climb out either side of Galston Gorge is quite pleasant. as were the climbs up out of the RNP to waterfall...

Cheers
Gonz - who will admit he might be a bit odd...

 

[I-AM-TEH-FASTEST-11]

I do between 100 and 300, depending on the week. I usually throw out 80-120 on a saturday a 40 during the week and a 60 in the mix somewhere. It really depends on what I'm doing for the week, I've been working more on power recently so high K's aren't important.. so I stick to about 150-200km in a week.

I would head straight for some decent hills, try and throw in about 60km with about 10-15km of serious hill climbing (that doesn't include your small climbs whilst riding to/from/around the big climbs). Try and find 2 large hills and create a ride that incorporates them both.

meh hope that kinda helped...

 

[ScottD]

I have recently been doing anywhere bewteen 200-340 a week. Hills are where you make up all your time in road races and tri's. I live in a really good area to do hill work so during the week generally do 1 big ride of 90km+ and then 2-3 smaller rides at a higher intensity of about 40km each. ON saturday mornings our club does a ride of about 70km at a decent pace, usually averaging about 32km/h. Then on sundays its longer and slower usually a 4-5 hours ride with some hill reps about half way.
Once you get the hill work right then its time to improve other aspects of riding.
For DH high intensity is what your looking for so maybe do 1 minute of holding 40km/h+ to start off with then work your way up to 5 minutes with 45km/h plus.

 

[alexb618]

to update i am yet to get stuck into any decent hills on my roadie. its a 76+ gear inch singlespeed so not really that useful on more than a slight incline.

plan is to either 'gear' that bike or get hold of another. if you are in adelaide and know of any vintage italian steel for sale please pm me.

at the point now where i have lost a lot of weight from riding a big gear on the flats (around 250k a week) but the actual aerobic fitness level seems to have hit a wall quite quickly.

friend of mine did norton summit for the 1st time on the weekend, doesnt seem to think it is as bad as people make out so i look forward to having a crack at it. time to save for gears.

i guess i could get out on the dirt more but to be honest it is much more convenient for me to get on a road bike, thus thats where ill be doing most of my riding. i think most people can relate to this?

 

[Turner_rider]

Hrmm....

I should try this hillclimb phenomena you speak of. Sounds like hell (fun)!

Mt. Stromlo has a great road climb to the top. I should do that when i'm on the roadie, and the days when i feel like the MTB hit the trunck trail to the top instead!

I can graduate to Black Mountain after some time, and do extra work on the Mt. Ainslie steep-but-short.

fuck i love Canberra!

Canberra, you're dreamin..... Tassie's the place to be for riding hills. Australia's best XC rider is proof

 

[gustfront]

I probably do around 160 to 200km a week on the road bike and one day is a heavy hill session. Akuna Bay/West Head/McCarrs Ck, try to get at least half a dozen hard hill efforts in. You learn to love 'em after a while.

Try www.cycle2max.com for probably the most comprehensive cattledog of road hill climbs and times from all over Australia.

Two rides a week are MTB rides usually Manly Dam because it's quick and easy although sometimes across to Garigal/Cascades on the weekend. Once a week I'll do hill repeats on the big hill at Manly Dam; anything from 3 to 9 repeats from Curl Curl Creek to Wakehurst Parkway entrance depending on my mood for suffering. That hill is not so good for ascending at the moment - needs to bed in a little.

I find a couple of decent hill sessions a week really builds strength. Making one of them a MTB session is important because hill climbing is different on a mountain bike.

 

[pedal pusher]

i wish i had the time to do 200k a week im lucky to get 60

 

[alchemist]

It doesn't take much - I do a little over 100km a week riding to and from work

 

[Binaural]

Just moved house, and my work commute has lifted to 220km a week from 150. Rode it for the first time today and if keep it up I am going to have thighs like teak after a couple of months. Might have to upgrade from an old XC MTB to a road bike if it gets too hard

 

[Archibald]

who said "Belair"??
old belair rd or belair rd?
from memory, neither road has enough room for cars let alone adding a cyclist to the mix!!

 

[Garrath]

When I'm actually in Melbourne, 80km on Sunday (sometimes Beach Rd, sometimes Mt Dandenong) and maybe 60km during the week thats if I'm not MTBing.

Speaking of Mountains - I have to brag. Currently living in the South of France for 6 months so I bought my MTB along. Rode the Dually up Mt Ventoux -26km of uphill fun, no let revise that, 19km of really enjoyable uphill. The last 7km well that is when you enter hell. It gives you a big appreciation for the pros.

The plan was to ride down one of the dirt trails, but it was really f*&King cold and I only had fingerless gloves. As it was coming down via the road was hard enough on the hands, of the agony.

 

[floz]

I really miss riding around in the hills. Broken Hill is only 3 hour drive away, Adelaide 4 and the Grampians about 5.
Heat, sand and wind are as challenging as it gets here in Mildura.
There are some awesome loops you can do in the Adelaide Hills. You don't need to be super fit, you just need to be able to pace yourself - at a about 5 bpm below having heart failure is good for me when I lived there, as I couldn't help myself due to the novelty of actually going up a hill.
Long, sustained hill climbs either on or off road are good for learning how your body copes with extreme physical exertion, and is useful when you apply that knowledge during a race.