Road Bike Training

Before you start any sort of training, you will first need to get yourself a decent road bike. If you already have a bike you wish to train on, then make sure it is in full working order. Your local bike shop (Halfords doesn't count) should do a basic service for around £30.

If you don't already have a bike, the people in your local bike shop should be able to help you out, if you really want to get into road cycling, make sure you let them know. If a bike doesn't feel right or you simply just don't like it, don't be pressured into buying it!

Here is a quick list of things you should check before going out on any training ride:
-When the brakes aren't applied, the wheels should spin freely without rubbing on the brake pads
-When you apply the brakes, you should only have to pull the leaver 0.25" - 0.5"
-The chain should be well oiled
-The saddle should be at the correct height
-The gears should change cleanly and smoothly without jumping or skipping

Okay enough of the preparation, lets get down to the training!

I can't stress this enough, but your improvements will come when you are DOING NOTHING!
However, this doesn't mean you can just stay in bed all day, then when your wife asks you what you're doing, say "Road Bike Training".

Don't understand? I'll explain.
When you stress your legs through exercise, you make microscopic tears in the muscle tissue, if your muscles are given enough time to recover, the tears will repair and a tiny bit more muscle will be produced to compensate.

If you trained every day, all that would happen is your performance would increase, your legs will become dead weights, and you will have to take extra time off the bike to recover, and your gains will be minimal. This is called overtraining and you want to avoid it like the plague.

So plan 3 recovery days, where you will either do no training at all, or very light easy cycling. If you have a heart rate monitor, you should not exceed 65% of your maximum heart rate. If you don't have a heart rate, you can use what is known as the RPE Scale(Relative Perceived Exertion).

Your recovery rides should be done at 11 on the scale or less.

This is the RPE scale, and I will be referring to it throughout this lens:

* 6 - resting
* 7 - very very light
* 9 - very light
* 11 - fairly light
* 13 - somewhat hard
* 15 - hard
* 17 - very hard
* 19 - very, very hard

Here's a handy hint, if you multiply the RPE number by 10, that will be roughly your heart rate at that level.
For example, Very Hard = 17 * 10 = 170bpm.

You should set aside one day for a long, slightly harder ride, the weekend is the best time for this. This ride should be done at 70-80% of your maximum heart rate, or around 13 on the RPE scale.
This will help you develop both your muscular (slow twitch) and aerobic endurance. This is called your 'base fitness' and you should try and build this up over the winter months.

A 'Long Ride' is relative to your experience, it doesn't matter whether it is 5 miles or 500 miles, as long as you increase the distance steadily, about 10% per week is about right, you will improve.

Once you can comfortably cycle 40-50 miles, the only thing really stopping you is adequate nutrition. (I will be writing another lens about this soon, keep your eyes open!)

For your remaining three days, you should be doing very intense road bike training.
You can either do interval training on the road, or on a turbo trainer.
If you have never done interval training before, I will warn you now: it hurts A LOT, but in the end it is worth it.

Your intervals should last 3-5 minutes, with 1-2 minutes recovery in between, the entire session should last 30-60 minutes. (If you feel like you can do longer, you aren't pushing yourself hard enough!). The intervals should be done at 85-90% of your max heart rate, or around 17 on the RPE scale.

If you are wanting to get in shape quickly, or want that extra edge over an opponent, or need any sort of guidance, I highly recommend you visit the guys over at MyCycling. They are ex-professional cyclists, and they have a great website set up. I've linked to them below, if you can't find the link, go to specsavers :P