Since I first hopped on my Cervelo Dual about 6 months ago, I have become a fairly fast rider. Not Cat 1 fast, but fast considering how long that I have been riding. Now, I am almost always one of the fastest riders with whoever I ride. This means that I end up riding with slower riders often.
It is really frustrating riding along with your heart rate in the 110-120 range for about 20-30 miles. Sometimes I ride with beginner female triathletes. Sometimes I ride with old men with beer bellies. Sometimes I ride with guys that are athletic, but not cycling athletic that are on either hybrid bikes or really, really old road bikes. Either way, I don’t feel like I’m getting a good workout with I ride with these people.
What are some things that I can do to ride with these people but yet still get a decent workout in?
Seriously, maybe plan a loop course with them, circle one with, then challenge yourself to lap them, ride as many loops until you catch them, then ride the last loop as a cool down with them.
This may be a good way to challenge them each week to see how many loops they can complete without you catching up with them.
Click it into a big gear. Makes the slow pace much harder. When riding with my wife, I put her on my wheel and turn over a very big gear. After 20 miles or so in a big gear, my thighs are thrashed, no matter how slow we are moving.
Try hand pushing them up hills. I’ll use one hand and push them very hard… this gets a huge pump in my legs(like a weightraining effect) and it gives them a chance to “feel” what it is like to climb faster; using gearing that they couldn’t tackle on their own… Also, talk to them and motivate them to “pedal smooth, think circles, concentrate on breathing, and so on…”
Before you know, they will be as fast as you(or maybe faster!!!)
I do this already. Since I have a tri bike and I ride with a decent amount of roadies, I end up pulling a lot. That is why I became such a strong rider.
As for the hills, when I’m in the big chainring, I just pedal at about 40RPM’s and I still get up the hill faster than them and with a lower heart rate. Maybe I should try sprinting up the hill and waiting for them at the top next time.
Sprint to the top of hills and double back and ride up with the group again. My brother does this to me all the time. Drives me nuts so I push harder to stay with him and we both get a great workout.
Teach people how to draft and always pull. Run first so you don’t start fresh. Drop back and bridge people back up to the pack if they get dropped. As soon as you get to the top of a hill, ride back down and come up behind the last rider ride standing one time and seated one time. I’ve done all this stuff but mainly I ride my key workouts with people of equal or greater ability or I ride solo.
I know it doesn’t answer the question, but maybe you need to ride by yourself if your group rides are preventing you from achieving the ends that you want. For family and time reasons, I do almost all of my training by myself. It does wonders for mental toughness.
I’ve done all this stuff but mainly I ride my key workouts with people of equal or greater ability or I ride solo.
I want to ride with people of equal ability, but it is difficult. I’m in a TNT training group that is all female except for me. Some days I ride on my own, but some days I ride with the rest of the group. I also started a cycling group at work where we ride on Tuesdays during lunch. There are some guys that are some big boys on bikes. Usually, when I ride with them, we go out and back, and once I make sure they know there way home, I take off and sprint the entire way back.
Thanks for the replies though. I will keep these in mind when I ride next time.
If you get a flat or have to pee, tell the group to continue and you can hammer to catch up. Even if you don’t flat, you can do a simulated flat repair and see how fast you can get – may pay off in a race.
I know this has been stated, and is a bit obvious… but maybe you should not be training with those groups. how about 1 ride a week that is your ’ social’ ride, make it easy, like someone else said, do it after a distance run and you will be more tired.
you have to ask yourself what you are trying to get out of your training. is it optimum fitness and race shape? if so, you are training with the wrong people. do more or all of your cycling solo, if you can’t find some fast training partners or groups. just tell us where you live, I’m sure someone in your area will tell you what’s up.
or, if you are in it for the comraderie, the TNT goals, that’s great, so if that’s the case, all of the above tips in the other posts seem pretty logical. try spinning at a fast cadence, keep it in the small ring. bike when you are tired, try an atkins diet - all of these things will slow you down!
I guess it makes the ride not a group ride, but for the lunchtime out and back, agree with everyone the course and the turn around TIME. everyone, no matter how far they’ve gone turns around at the same time, say 25 minutes.
Head out and turn around at 25 minutes. You go farther out and get a longer, faster, harder workout (if thats what your trying for), try and beat them back to the office.
Gimme a break Cerveloguy. You and your “don’t ride a tribike in a group”. Come on bud. We ride all the time in groups with roadies and tri guys all together, wheel to wheel, rubbing shoulders. Only the guy in the front gets to use the aerobars. It works if everyone holds a proper line. Not everyone can own two bikes and as such triathletes with one bike would always have to ride solo using your philosophy.
Eric, nothing wrong with riding at 120 bpm 5 days per week. Just go solo two other days per week and do intervals at >170 bpm to burn off some fuel. For your group rides, drop it into a a really low gear (39x21) and spend the time trying to spin at >110 RPM. I guarantee you that you will improve your cycling and still be able to ride with your buddies and get a good technical workout.
“You and your “don’t ride a tribike in a group”. Come on bud”
Remind me not to ride with you guys. I’m sure you’re fast but…
Hate to tell you, but that’s why I have two bikes. It would be just plain stupid for me to take the P2K on a group ride. Even if not riding on the aerobars I’d have to sit up in the middle of the group on a steep angle, shifters away from the brakes and drafting close. That’s dangerous to my fellow riders. That’s why I’ve got my road bike. It handles much better and is safer in this type of situation. We’ve got a few other riders in the group who have both types of bikes but all leave the tri bike at home.
Fact is, a lot of roadie groups wouldn’t even allow a tri bike to ride with them.
