I biked a 40k in an hour and 12 minutes. What is the best training to improve my time?

Question

I biked a 40k in an hour and 12 minutes. What is the best training to improve my time?

Answer 1

There are a huge number of unknown factors based on your riding experience, training history, and equipment.



Essentially the equation for determining cycling speed on a flat road is: Power - Drag = Speed.



Training will make the biggest difference in your time but it takes a lot of effort over a relatively long period of time. Equipment can make an immediate difference but costs a lot of money and won't make as big of difference. That said, depending on your goals, you should consider what both will offer you in improving your time.



Aerodynamic drag. Your body is the biggest source of drag when riding, so simply having your position assessed can make a big difference (30 seconds to multiple minutes). If you are riding a standard road bike, adding aero bars will be part of achieving the ideal position. Once your position is improved, you can consider equipment such as helmet, frame, and wheels, and other parts that are build to limit aerodynamic drag.



Power. Aside from basic position changes, maximizing the power you can sustain for the 40 km will make the biggest difference. Not knowing your training history, it is hard to provide you with many specifics, but in the end you need to improve your sustainable power output. Doing intervals for 60 seconds to 5 minutes may have some beneficial effects for 40 km TT, but they focus on your anaerobic capacity and improve the amount of oxygen your body can transport to working muscles (usually referred to as "VO2") rather than concentrating on sustainable power (sometimes referred to as functional threshold power or FTP). To maximize your performance at 40km you need to do longer intervals. The classic FTP-increasing workout involves doing repeats of 20 minute intervals, usually with 10 minutes easy riding between. You simply ride at the fastest sustainable speed you can for 20 minutes; do not sprint the first few minutes only to fade, but rather try to find a speed you can hold consistently for the whole effort. Depending on your fitness you may not be able to do multiple efforts of 20 minutes--even if you "can" it may not be a good idea if you haven't worked up to it. So start with 8, 10, or 12 minute intervals and work up to 20 minutes. Over time work up to two, occasionally three of the these intervals in a single workout.



If you haven't done any interval training before, then these workouts may be months in the future for you because you'll need to simply ride consistently, increase the hours/week you're riding, and add some intensity to your workouts. But with a 72 minute time for a 40km, it sounds like you've got some experience and may be able to begin working up to the 20 minute efforts. If you have any questions, consult a coach (and maybe your doctor) before engaging in any intense training.



Good luck and keep up the hard work!

Answer 2

There are a lot of unknowns to this question:

1) Cycling experience: If you are new to cycling then the most important thing is to stick with it. Cycling ability takes years to fully develop and you will see huge gains in the first two-three years of serious riding.

2) Fitness: Ride more often. If you are riding two days/week and not doing any other aerobic/fitness training you will be hard pressed to get better quickly. To break 40k in 1 hr, you will probably need to ride ~7-10 hrs per week. That said, adding a short ride (to work, the store, school, around the block, whatever) on days you don't train will help quite a bit.

3) Intensity: Interval training is the standard method of training for time trials. Start by warming up for ~15 minutes then do a 5 minute effort at about as fast as you can ride without slowing (much) at the end of the 5 minutes. Take 2 minutes to recover (pedal softly but keep your legs moving) and then repeat the 5 minute effort. Do three 5 minute "intervals", cool down, and congratulate yourself. Once the 5 minute efforts become relatively easy, move up to 10 minutes, then 15, 20 minutes. You do not need to do these more than once per week!



More intensity- if possible find a group ride in your area and ride with the group. Learning the etiqutte is sometimes intimidating but be open and up-front about your experience and ability and someone will help you out. Riding with a fast(er) group is VERY helpful for improving fitness because you can go hard and then recover in the draft of the pack. Just remember not to use all of your energy at the beginning of the ride!



4) Bike changes. To go fast, you want skinny tires (a road bike with 700x23 or 700x25 tires). To go faster, you need aerobars of some sort. If you are sitting very upright you will be "catching a lot of air" and really slowing yourself down. Look at some pictures of racers and see if you can emulate their position. Ideally, go to a local bike shop and have a fitting done.



5) Lose weight. IIf you have some spare body mass (can you see any definition of your abs?), losinog it will help especially if you have to climb hills.



Don't be discouraged by short-term setbacks. It really does take time to become a great cyclist. Most of the dominant pros are 27+ years old and have been riding/racing for over a decade.



Good Luck!

Answer 3

To improve your time, instant no instant training even best training will not improve your biking time. All you need to do is increase your frequency of training. It needs months or maybe years by doing intensive training, such as interval training and the stamina recover training. Now, bike training is not always practicing on the real street if you are a professional biker. You can practice by using recumbent stationary bike and make sure you have a credible excercise bike guide. Giod luck!

Answer 4

Learn to pedal at a high cadence if you are not doing so already. I started climbing a lot of hills and noticed a big difference on my flat ground speed. Climbing will build your hamstring and gluts more. You can do some interval training where you sprint as fast as you can for 30-90 seconds and then drop back to recover. Use the drops more to cut back on the wind resistance.

Answer 5

Intervall training!

Its not biking well I suppose you could link it to biking but in actuall fact its running!

Measure a distance of about 40Meters...

Sprint it and then walk back. Once you reached the start immediately sprint it again.

Repeat this at least 10 times in a short period of time every day and soon you will get a better time!

(Do it with a friend its more fun)



BTW nice time!

Answer 6

get a stationary bike with a resistance setting to strengthen your legs.