Quick fast spin

[Markymark]

Im getting my first road bike next month after 2 years (approx 5k miles) commuting on my hybrid in central London

Ironically it's double the price and will be ridden a fraction if the miles ( still going to commute on my Sirrus sport).

I read here lots of people talking about longer rides and I'm looking forward to my first metric 100 ( only managed 45miles thus far).

But does anybody ever do short runs of say, 2 or 3 mile burns for speed or should that be saved for a track? Basically, is that being reckless/antisocial?

 

[TissoT]

What I tend to do is go for a 25/30 mile evening ride and have sprint intervals ...10 min sprints every 5 miles !

 

[Goonerobes]

What I tend to do is go for a 25/30 mile evening ride and have sprint intervals ...10 min sprints every 5 miles !

Good plan I think I'll try that, although it may well be 5 minute sprints every 10 miles to start with!

 

[Gravity Aided]

Sounds like a plan. A little more "down time" betwixt the sprints . If you sprint at 20 miles per hour, you'd be covering four miles per sprint, and only have a mile in which to recover. You might try a "ladder-30 sec sprint, one minute off, 45 seconds sprint, one minute off, one minute sprint, one minute off, 1:30 on, and one minute off, then work your way back down the ladder. Or you might sprint every time you see a hill, or a dog, or a red house. This is known as speedplay, or fartlek, in the original Swedish. Fred Matheny, in his book Beginning Cycle Racing, also suggests gear ratio changes among the sprints. I think that may well be useful as well. I also try different routes, and it often seems like I'm going round Robin Hoods' Barn to get someplace, but I am getting a different workout via a different route.