Improve base, increase strength(low rpm intervals), and increase threshold power(2x20 intervals).

You can improve one or both of two things:

Add 10 watts to your power (this is accomplished by riding more)
and/or
Improve your position/equipment a bit


Anyway yes, this should be easy, even without riding "all the time"
Just ride "more"

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

power meter.

I bought one a month ago and am using it the capacity of keeping my watts above x on my hour loop in town. Went from high 18's on average (very low 19's when I didn't hit many lights) to high 19's and very low 20's. In a month. I really wish I had bought one years ago, you have no idea how much of a bitch you're being until you have non subjective number in front of you.

Apologies for the thread hijack, but this response reminded me of something I was thinking of earlier. If strength is not the limiter in cycling, as the force being applied to pedals is nowhere near maximal, why do low rpm intervals. I have seen this suggested in a lot of places, but never understood why, because of the point above.

Thanks

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On the internet, you can be anything you want. It is a pity so many people choose to be stupid.

Because maybe they elicit some hormonal changes that maybe have side effects that happen to be good for endurance.

However you can reach world class levels of cycling performance without touching a weight or doing low rpm intervals. Is isn't The Answer.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

It's quite realistic, provided that you aren't at some plateau of 19.5mph for several years running. If your terrain is hilly a lot of people can improve simply by putting 10% more effort uphill and 10% less downhill. Another tip for hilly terrain is to commit to keeping in the big ring longer. A lot of people drop to the small ring too soon and give away precious momentum.

.

Without knowing your training regimen currently it is hard to give advice that is worthwhile. From my experience going from 15.5 average last year to 21 mph this year I can tell you that almost everyone I knew during that year was not training with enough intensity on the bike. I am not talking about low RPM power or intervals (those are fine), I noticed that overall people were simply not approaching 98-100% of their maximum output at any point in their training.

Not sure about you, but sometimes I run out of gears while riding uphill. This forces me to do low RPM intervals. Sometimes quite long low RPM intervals.

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/kj

http://kjmcawesome.tumblr.com/

I did pretty much exactly that as a MOPer. Biked all winter (not just biking, but about 50% bike training) and took my HIM bike from 19.5mph to 21mph. Granted, my 21mph was an overbike so I suffered on the run, but I think 20-20.5mph would have been realisticallyd doable.

I don't think there's any secret - you just have to put in consistent increases in volume and/or intensity and peak at the right time before race day, so don't burn out by going too crazy in winter.

I did the trainerroad HIM program but I'm actually certain I could have done any type of riding that had the same total TSS score (I have a powermeter, so that's a measure of training volume) and it would have been the same.

The only 'trick' I did which isn't really a trick, but definitely helped fight stagnation, was using a Wahoo Kickr and incrementing it by 1-2 watts per week without dramatically changing up the volume/intensity. You won't even notice that 1watt increment, but after 12 weeks, it def gets you a real FTP bump. (Unfortunately your training workouts will be that much harder as well!)

There isn't a secret. The only secret, is that there are more efficient way to using your time and getting the most out of recovery... while balancing swimming and biking and evaluating your results to determine target power levels, pacing strategies, etc. Some hire coaches to get that balance and information. Others do the research, are highly self motivated and do it themselves. Noting wrong with either option...just depends on what works for you.

I rode 2-1/2 times more miles than last year AND was a lot more consistent. Consistency is important because the workout you do today, determines the training load you can handle next week... and so on.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

>Consistency is important because the workout you do today, determines the training load you can handle next week... and so on.

x2. Consistency and patience are not sexy, but are enormously important.

Assuming that your diet is correct and able to get enough rest and sleep, I would Start doing strength training in the gym, riding hard when you feel good and you will get faster. A power meter would be a waste of money as it's no magic wand that some one can wave at you and then "poof" you get faster.

Strength training isn't a magic wand either.
One thing a power meter is useful for is testing certain ideas. Like, is weight training a necessary condition to improve aerobic performance?

The athlete below is very skinny, started the training period shown from a point of near zero fitness having just given birth, was also time constrained. Zero weight training was done due to those time constraints. Zero big gear intervals.



Despite these limitations, aerobic power (shown as 45min NP in green) improved to quite a high level given the limited training volume (~15 hours a week). High enough to win an amateur state TT championship and a dometic pro road race.

Also super interesting was 1 minute power reach world class levels.

This isn't a unique flower or anything either. Many TopLocal men do zero weight training and can do ~380 watts for an hour with skinny legs.

So, I'll repeat - weights might provide some benefit, but they are not priority 1, or even 2, they are not essential.

Power meters are not essential either, but they are a much easier way to measure progress than speed is. Detecting a half-mph improvement is really hard.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

... how skinny is this athlete? Better reinforce that data point just in case she reads this.


Maybe that doesn't need to be pink.


I think there are other beneficial adaptation to strength training, especially for triathletes that also need to run and swim... but if time constrained, compared to your ability to absorb training load, it's not a limiting factor to performance.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

Get a coach.

Average speed for a training ride is a useless number. It will keep you from warming up properly and keep you from riding the harder courses.

So people can get faster if they ride 15 hours per week.

Fascinating,

I'm going to go write this down, in ink.

Anyone with the name FluxCapacitor is bound for success. My advice is set your bike up on your trainer and ride a lot. Big gear training is good, a coach is beneficial for balancing training between all three sports but not necessary here, and if you are a data driven person person get a power meter, otherwise it's not necessary.

For some reason not everyone thinks that is laughably obvious.

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

15 hrs/week averaging 75ft/mile and you will increase avg. speed +2mphavg at least

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I do not hunt to kill. I kill to have hunted.

I think the thing is that we are all trying to avoid it in one sport or another. We are all trying to kid ourselves that somehow what we are doing in sport X is enough, when deep down we know it isn't.