lightheir wrote:
He says very clearly in the end - you're getting all the equivalent of hard intervals on the group ride attacks that you are expected to participate in.
Yeah, about 12 levels down the cycling eliteness scale, that's my approach. Get lots of solo, low intensity volume in during the week, do the simulated road race group rides on the weekend. In those group rides you can get whatever kind of interval you want. If you want "sweet spot"/threshold, just sit in. If you want VO2 max efforts, attack off the front. If you want neuromuscular training, go for the town line sprints.
There are downsides vs. pure intervals. You can't control the group, just your position in it. With true intervals you get to see progression over the same workout. Vs. group rides you have to use things like MMP curves to see how your power at different durations is progressing.
When approaching pure TTs, I'll still throw in intervals because in a group ride it's hard to ride right at threshold for long durations unless the group is magically right at your threshold pace and stays consistent.