Speed, Knees and General Pace

[stewartbradford]

Evening all,

I've been looking over my pace for the past month on the bike and it aint improving. I've had the occasional ride at what I would say is a reasonable pace - avg of 18 mph, almost every ride I do is at an average of 14-15 mph. The area I cycle according to BikeHike has an accent of 146ft which aint much although the two big climbs are short so fairly steep.

I'm using a HRM and apart from the first few rides by heart rate now averages on almost every ride at the 170 bpm mark +/- 5 bpm. I've tried pushing myself harder or for longer but I am getting quite bad pains above my right knee (the left as well but nothing too significant). Spent the past few days off the bike completely just resting in the hope that it'd help but no improvement in the pain levels at all - tried going up with the saddle (it's not at the min. insertion point), tried backwards/forwards with the saddle as well as adjusting the angle with zero change.

Even ignoring the pain I just don't seem to have the energy to push on with the bike at any decent pace, distance wise I'm okay, I did a 12 mile last week and had no problems keeping going and could've done another 10 without much hassle - the pace would've dropped a wee bit obviously but not massively. I recover really quickly when I get off the bike, within 20 minutes of being off the bike I am in a position where I could get back on it and do the same distance again.

For reference I'm riding a hybrid, Claud Butler Urban 300, the tyres are street with light dirt - barely enough tread to hold the bike on line going over a patch of sand this evening... so I don't think a change of tyres would be a game changer in terms of pace... or at least I think there must be a way of getting better pace without throwing money at a new set of wheels and rubber.

Has anyone got any suggestions on upping my pace? Or any ideas on the pain? Possible areas to look at?

Thanks,

Stewart

 

[Crackle]

Knee pain can normally be classified fairly easily, solving it may take a bit longer. Have a look at this.

http://www.cptips.com/knee.htm

As for the training I'd head down the library and get yourself a couple of books out on training for various things from charity rides to racing, there's normally a program included which will yield results.

Improvement requires variation and a base of some long steady rides. That HR monitor should be used to ride in training zones and to monitor your general bodystate.

You don't say how long you've been riding or how many miles you do in a week/month etc.. that would be useful to know.

 

[montage]

Regarding knee pain, I say get a proffessional fit. If the pain persists see a specialist. Since I have had IT band problems I noticed a massive drop off in my power while riding.

 

[jimboalee]

Knee pain can normally be classified fairly easily, solving it may take a bit longer. Have a look at this.

http://www.cptips.com/knee.htm

As for the training I'd head down the library and get yourself a couple of books out on training for various things from charity rides to racing, there's normally a program included which will yield results.

Improvement requires variation and a base of some long steady rides. That HR monitor should be used to ride in training zones and to monitor your general bodystate.

You don't say how long you've been riding or how many miles you do in a week/month etc.. that would be useful to know.

I like that site.
He talks a lot of sense.

Have a look at his 'training' pages. They are straight out of a pro coach's handbook.

 

[Dan B]

Nobody else has mentioned cadence yet: are you mashing the pedals? Try pedalling faster in a lower gear instead - it seems weird and slower at first but will soon become more comfortable. Most people settle somewhere in the 80-100 rpm range

 

[jimboalee]

Nobody else has mentioned cadence yet: are you mashing the pedals? Try pedalling faster in a lower gear instead - it seems weird and slower at first but will soon become more comfortable. Most people settle somewhere in the 80-100 rpm range

Have a watch of the pros in the peleton.

They'll be cruising at about 26 - 28 mph on TOP gear, maybe 53 x 11.
They'll be rolling along with a cadence in the mid seventies.

If they lose the draft, they stand up for one or two revs to regain the wheel.

The less times the legs go up-and-down, the less friction on the shorts insert.

The leader who has all the headwind might be in 53 x 12 with a cadence of 80ish. He'll be pedaling it all the way round to get the 500 Watts required.

 

[stewartbradford]

Thanks for the link, a few bits in there that might be a factor - foot position on the pedals is definitely not straight; my toe is pointed out the way more so on the right leg than the left.

And also general bio mechanics might well be a bit part of it - I have slightly wonky hips, only remembered as I was reading through the site and he talked about leg length a light bulb went off in my head. It comes from having bad feet for the past decade and not walking properly for many years because of foot pain... could it all be connected?

Cadence wise I tried upping my cadence on the past few rides with no change at all.

I've been riding now for 6 weeks and do around 15-20 miles a week as I am trying to bed into the bike and start of reasonably slowly.

 

[Crackle]

For that mileage and time riding, I think those speeds are good. I'm slightly concerned on the knee because those aren't big mileages to be getting that pain. I think the priority is to sort out your positioning first, get rid of that pain before you start upping stuff. Reading and adjusting may solve it but as Montage said you might need to see a professional to get a proper fit. Are you anywhere near Preston, Paul Hewitt does a fitting service.

In the meantime I'd cut the speed effort and just do more riding at a steady pace, concentrating on spinning and I'd read up about making use of your HR monitor, running sites are very good for that. The HR monitor will help you measure your effort.

 

[Bill Gates]

Have a watch of the pros in the peleton.

They'll be cruising at about 26 - 28 mph on TOP gear, maybe 53 x 11.
They'll be rolling along with a cadence in the mid seventies.

If they lose the draft, they stand up for one or two revs to regain the wheel.

The less times the legs go up-and-down, the less friction on the shorts insert.

The leader who has all the headwind might be in 53 x 12 with a cadence of 80ish. He'll be pedaling it all the way round to get the 500 Watts required.

Don't agree. I suppose it depends on the rider, but most pro riders I see pedal at around 90-100 rpm. I know because I occasionally measure an individual rider's cadence when I watch TV. You should try it and see.

 

[jimboalee]

Don't agree. I suppose it depends on the rider, but most pro riders I see pedal at around 90-100 rpm. I know because I occasionally measure an individual rider's cadence when I watch TV. You should try it and see.

Which part of the race are you watching?

In the middle of the peleton, they hardly pedal at all.

 

[stewartbradford]

For that mileage and time riding, I think those speeds are good. I'm slightly concerned on the knee because those aren't big mileages to be getting that pain. I think the priority is to sort out your positioning first, get rid of that pain before you start upping stuff. Reading and adjusting may solve it but as Montage said you might need to see a professional to get a proper fit. Are you anywhere near Preston, Paul Hewitt does a fitting service.

Yeah it's the distance that's my concern, I can be on the bike for 2 miles and it'll flare up :S

Sadly no where near Preston, I'm on the west-coast of Scotland. I'll give my LBS a ring and see if they offer a fitting service just and see... how much do most places charge for it if they didn't sell ya the bike? I know of one LBS who would almost certainly offer such a service but probably charge a small fortune for it.

 

[Bill Gates]

Which part of the race are you watching?

In the middle of the peleton, they hardly pedal at all.

Yeah, freewheeling mostly. Watch when the hammer goes down or at the front of the peletonwhere the action is. The higher cadence applies for any pace that's aerobic or threshold or above, such as in a break.

On the other hand in a bunch sprint it's the biggest gear eyeballs out with all out effort using arms and shoulders and core strength.