I need to get faster on the bike. How (Page 2)

What I saw from Coggan's posting (they were spread in a few threads) is that he didn't see the idea as significantly different, at least not as much as some were trying to make of it. The big difference is that Seiler found VT2 up at threshold whereas Coggan may move that around depending on the demands of the event. In the later threads, it seems like he may still stay out of Z3 for the most part, or the 80's (as a %FTP), but may have more work in the 90's or so depending on what the event calls for. So there still is the hi/lo, but just not as fixed as what Seiler was showing.

Good luck on the qualification attempts! 

Edited by brigby1 2014-10-04 5:25 PM

Thanks for the info folks. I have my HR monitor now and I'm going to hit the trainer hard this off season. I have a Cyclops fluid 2 trainer. Will I be able to use some of these new training software's like trainer road etc with my trainer?

Taking the bike itself out of the equation (there's always a faster bike for a given condition)...as well as the helmet (surprising gains can be made at wind relative speeds of 18 mph + with an aero helmet).

Well you can ride harder and longer. That's a big part of it of course.

But a lot of it is fit and riding position. And if you are deficient you can train against these and make permanent gains quickly.

The bike fit answer seems obvious, but you need to realize that, on the same bike, your optimal fit last year won't be your fit this year. As your musculature, bones and tendons change, so is it needed to tune the fit. And it would be good to learn to tune it yourself. Regardless of the hype, a mechanical tuning (one done with a machine) relies on standard geometries plus an observation of your body's response, plus the art of the fitting artist. But at the end of the day, they get you within 90% of the fit. Over time, you can tune that last 10% for speed gains. Does you saddle need to come up a quarter inch? Or move back? How have you changed your center of gravity? Do you get more power with an over-extended leg (from an ideal fit perspective)? Or less? And so on. We all have different body types. Learning how yours is different and making small adjustments can get you some speed. Mechanical linkage systems have been studied for hundreds of years. Our bodies and bikes are somewhat rigidly connected, forming a classical mechanical linkage, but we also have flesh, a highly deformable 'solid'; our contact to the seat is gravitational and so on. These variances mean that fitting is an art on top of a science. So how your "bike fit" fits you may not result in the fastest bike.

Also, bike position is huge. We all know the body angle-wind effect one, that's obvious. But there are other huge contributors. Some people bike with their knees splaying outwards on the downstroke, dramatically increasing frontal area without actually feeling it and end up losing valuable mph. The angle at which you make contact with your aerobars, and the shape of the aerobars themselves also matters. One pro utilizes a frontal position like that of the classical downhill skiers, who travel at more than 60 mph and must have the most aero effect of almost any body sport. The location of your body relative to the vertical axis of the crank, most easily measured in practice by where your nose is relative to your front axle, is also very important. As you move forward on the saddle, you reach an optimum downstroke without sacrificing too much upstroke efficiency, easily propelling your bike up to several mph faster for the same conditions than if you sit too far back (a common issue). None of the bike fits I had positioned me that way.

The point is, there are many things beyond the obvious, required training that can help you squeeze out extra speed without extra effort. Forever tuning each in a little way as you put in the effort is the secret to maximizing speed.






Edited by FranzZemen 2014-10-05 8:40 AM

Definitely a lot in the middle there! Be curious to see how (or if) you end up working some of the rides that are bigger and harder with this concept.

Think swimming was the one killing the ratio for me. Had a hard time figuring out what easy was without going too easy. I'll be pushing much more on the bike & run and have much better feel on those, so it should work better. Also saw the 3 hard/week, but will be trying just a bit different. More like 2-3 harder days per week, hoping to work towards some morning & evening harder sessions on those days. It'll take some practice in figuring out just how big the hard can be for each, plus moving the balance more towards the discipline I want to emphasize more. Should be fun!

Edited by brigby1 2014-10-05 10:11 PM