Bke with a purpose?

That's a good way to build up your base, but you'll want to add some things. Find some hills, and work on your hill climbing (and flying downhill, too). If you've got some long, flat sections or road/trail, you can do some interval work, speeding up briefly as if passing someone. Learn to work your gears well, rather than just using leg power to climb a hill or pass someone. Practice cornering, so you'll feel confident enough to do it during a race without wiping out.

This should get you started. You may also want to practice changing tires/fixing flats, minor repairs/adjustments, just in case...

Thanks for the info Joe. The only problem around here, its so flat, the only thing close to a hill is an overpass. I try working on "hill" climbing on the spinning bike but don't know if thats the same.

Anyway, will try to work in some of your suggestions. Thanks again for the advice.

There's no substitute for hills, but there are things
I have heard reccommended for hill
work for flatlanders
Overpasses in too high a gear
parking garages (after hours of course)
headwinds

I have sort of the opposite problem where I am
No flats, just hills

What I read from the bike sites and
training literature is that "just riding", while
being better than nothing, is not the most efficient way
to improve your cycling

You need hard days that tax your system,
and easy days that allow you to recover or build base.
I have heard it said that many cyclists
go too hard
on easy days and
not hard enough on hard days.

So, to vastly oversimplify, and cheese off coaches
gurus, pundits, experts, and innocent bystanders
I would say on easy days go embarassingly slow for
an uncomfortably long time (do a lot of these)
on hard days you should feel like your eyes are going to
pop out of your head (do some of these on a regular basis, but not back-to back)