Building general fitness / cycling stamina

[roger06]

Hi

I've been pondering this a lot on my rides to and from work and would be interested in your opinion for general fitness and cycling stamina etc - not for competitive or sports riding etc - for someone in their forties.

 

[ianrauk]

Juts cycle as often as you can.
It really is as simple as that.

 

[Mrs M]

Just keep doing it

 

[Racing roadkill]

Cycle as often as you can, as you start to find it getting easier, start looking for more demanding routes ( not necessarily longer, just more 'terrain' etc.).

 

[Globalti]

As you get fitter your muscles will be placing increasing strain on the skeleton and joints so listen to your body and if anything begins to hurt, take it easy. It has taken me five years from the move from mountain biking to road cycling to reach what I think is a good level of fitness and endurance for a 60 year-old. Even now I'm treating a tendon niggle that I got from overdoing it last week.

 

[Sittingduck]

I can't select multiple options...

 

[roger06]

I can't select multiple options...

Try now!

 

[roger06]

Interesting replies, thank you. I ask 'cos I've now been cycling a 12-13 mile round trip to work for about 5 - 6 months. It has only just become the 'norm', in that I genuinely enjoy it and I no longer look at my motorbike and think it'll take me half the time on that.

However, despite some kind people telling me I've lost weight, I don't really feel any fitter and often found my ride still quite hard work. A couple of weeks ago though the wind was behind me and I decided to go for a PB ride home and really went for it, riding as fast as I could and practically dropped down dead on my drive! PB was achieved and since that the cycling seems to be a lot easier... I was wondering therefore, whether I had just reached a plateau and need to break through that (if that makes a word of sense!)

 

[BrumJim]

I think there is a problem where your body ensures that you can only just manage your commute.

In order to make the ride easier, you need to cycle longer distances, then certainly psychologically, and possibly physiologically too, the commute seems to be a doddle.

I certainly improved my fitness by trying to ride as hard as possible, but I feel that getting fit at the weekends by doing long, hard, and hilly rides (although not all three) augmented by the regular commute, is a good way of improving fitness, then maintaining it.

I speak as a 44-year-old, fitter than I have ever been.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Generally speaking, you'll get good at whatever you specifically train for.

If you want to get generally more bike fit, just get out and ride. If you want to work on your speed, practice intervals of faster pace, if you want to work on your climbing, do hill reps. If you want to be just generally fit then mix it up with some hiking/running/swimming/other sport - that's probably the all-round healthiest option.

Easy answer, as long as you're enjoying it and getting out on the bike regularly you'll naturally build up your speed and the length of ride you can easily manage, no real need to worry about training plans unless you really want to optimise your potential.

Generally speaking I spend more time trying to work on my technique (cornering, descending, smooth pedalling, cadence, and since I got a mountain bike a whole heap of off-road stuff to think about) than I do on fitness, which seems to look after itself.

 

[Red17]

Shouldn't there also be a weight training option?

 

[xxDarkRiderxx]

As others have said just cycle as often as you can, and it is important to find a pace that you are comfortable with. I have instructed my wife (who has never been a keen cyclist until recently) to ride at a pace that you feel you could do all day, this will probably mean riding slower but she has found she can now ride for two hours and cover 20-30k without realizing it.

 

[Globalti]

I don't really feel any fitter and often found my ride still quite hard work. A couple of weeks ago though the wind was behind me and I decided to go for a PB ride home and really went for it, riding as fast as I could and practically dropped down dead on my drive! PB was achieved and since that the cycling seems to be a lot easier... I was wondering therefore, whether I had just reached a plateau and need to break through that (if that makes a word of sense!)

This makes absolute sense. As others have written, your body has resoponded to the demands you've placed on it and you've reached a plateau of adequate strength and fitness for the job. Now you need to push yourself harder in order to break through that plateau, as you discovered when you beasted yourself.

The best advice I can give is to find a cycling buddy who is a little stronger than you and go riding with them. A good, compatible cycling buddy is worth their weight in gold.

 

[Sittingduck]

Push it hard effort and incorporate intervals. Mix that with long steady rides - imho that will see a good improvement, come the Spring.

 

[ColinJ]

Push it hard effort and incorporate intervals. Mix that with long steady rides - imho that will see a good improvement, come the Spring.

Nearly all the rides that Globalti and I do in this area are like that.

Pretty much any long local ride will include big hills which often include severe gradients (15-20+%) so even without planning to do intervals, we end up doing them. A 20% climb is always going to be hard and a long 6% descent is always going to be easy. The flatter bits in between may be very hard, ok, or very easy depending on how fast we ride and what the wind is up to that day.

I like the variety and I feel that it improves fitness faster than just plodding along at a steady speed on the flat.