There’s a lot of wisdom amongst the members of this forum. I’d like to hear what are some of your lessons learned, recommendations, and thoughts regarding the bike. This can and should include what’s worked, what’s been less effective, and what you’d wished you knew when you started out.
Asking from a place of an experienced Olympic and 70.3 triathlete and life-long endurance athlete seeking to learn and share nuggets of wisdom.
Nothing beats T.I.T.S.
Ride lots, mostly easy, sometimes hard.
Ride lots, mostly easy, sometimes hard.
Ride lots, mostly at a solid effort, sometimes HARD.
Nope. Mostly easy. The training stimulus is the same, which means you have more energy to spend on important things.
Get a power meter.
Always have a plan B for nutrition/hydration. Ex. if you launch your calorie bottle know exactly what you plan to do at the next aid station.
Chamois cream is your friend.
The best aero position is the one you can hold for the duration of the event.
LSD - Long Slow Distance - is important, but so is riding fast. You need one really fast ride each week, and you learn how to ride fast by, guess what, riding fast! One of the best ways to do that is training with people who are faster than you.
Nope. Mostly easy. The training stimulus is the same, which means you have more energy to spend on important things.
Nah, I agree. Steady, solid effort.
Petering around riding easy a big chunk of the time is simply not conducive to creating the load most people need to actually improve in cycling.
I mean, that’s all good for people I’m racing against, but if your aim is to truly improve…
LSD was never meant to be “slow.”
Long, steady distance.
Nope. Mostly easy. The training stimulus is the same, which means you have more energy to spend on important things.
Nah, I agree. Steady, solid effort.
Petering around riding easy a big chunk of the time is simply not conducive to creating the load most people need to actually improve in cycling.
I mean, that’s all good for people I’m racing against, but if your aim is to truly improve…
Exactly. So many AG’ers putter around in group rides in Z1 thinking they are building bike fitness. None sense.
Second the power meter, they are too cheap these days not to own one.
Power Meter
Understanding Training Zones and how they can be used to increase you ability to race well (fast) in the race distance you are aiming for.
Don´t burn matches on the bike - that will cost you dearly on the run. This is not as simple as it sounds and many fails here, being eager to push Z4+ on every little climb.
Practice race-day fueling and execute the plan on race-day
HTFU
So many AG’ers putter around in group rides in Z1 thinking they are building bike fitness.
Do they? I’ve mainly seen the opposite; most AG athletes going too hard on their group rides (trying to keep up or just simply pushing hard to drop their mates) and hardly ever seeing zone 1…just my experience.
I was always very entertained by the guys who would drop me on training rides and such, only to beat them on raceday in every leg of the race. Most triathletes just love to be mildly overtrained. I’ve heard it called the “fatigue security blanket”.
So many AG’ers putter around in group rides in Z1 thinking they are building bike fitness.
Do they? I’ve mainly seen the opposite; most AG athletes going too hard on their group rides (trying to keep up or just simply pushing hard to drop their mates) and hardly ever seeing zone 1…just my experience.
I second this. So many that just smash any hill and they barely pedal on the flats/downhills. Absolutely useless.
You can’t make up for the wrong saddle with any kind of cream or padding.
Lesson 1: Learn the difference between good/necessary suffering and bad/unneccessary suffering. (usually due to problems at the contact points or with nutrition).
Lesson 2: There is no such thing as too easy of a gear. For many of us a 36/36 is very helpful. I’d say even more so for triathletes as for roadies.