What Average Spped To Train At

SCOOBA STEVE

I was wondering what ave speed should i aim for when training for "a" to "b" grade road racing. During a race the ave speed can be up to 40km/per hour. When i go out training i can do about 30 to 32 km/per hour by myself. So what ave speed do all you train at.

__________________

prestonjb

I don't know much about this a and b level racing. 40km/hr is like 25mph which is pretty darn quick... Depending on the distance.

Choosing a speed for training depends on many variables. For example distance.

Typically a time-trial is shorter than a stage race and therefore you would want to train at higher speeds because the distance is shorter.

Stage races require more practice to know when to go and when to hide in the pack. then of course there is some sprinting training that would be required.

Hilly conditions also affects what speed you would choose.

There are no hills in South Florida so my program is speed speed speed. The faster and further I can go the better. Last year my training goal included a 100 mile ride where my average speed was to be 23mph... (160km @37km/h)

This year I've dropped the speed to 21mph 33.5km/h and increased the distance... 165 miles (265km).

I do speed training at two levels... One is 45miles (72km) with a group of 5 riders (riding in team formation) at an average speed of 24mph (38km/h). The other is a balls-to-the-walls... Where the speed starts out at 23mph, increases to 25mph with top outs at 35mph (56km/h). The distance is only 26 miles (40km) and there is up to 8 riders in the group.

I also do some easy rides of around 12-20 miles at a speed of around 15mph (24km/h) to no more than 18mph.. Sometimes I even slow this down to 12mph... and just roll along looking at the people working in their yards and the kids playing in the streets. These rides I tend to do by myself or with my wife.

SCOOBA STEVE

Thanks for the honest answer. I do agree with you and those speeds sound pretty good. But thats the advantage of riding in a bunch, you can really get moving. My problem is i train solo so 32 km's per hour is about max for 100km's. thanks PRESTON

__________________

maarten

You should better focus on HR and time instead of speed and disatance to mesure your training and set your plan. Or buy get yourself properly tested and make the investment in a decent coach and a power meter.

__________________
A winner is a loser who didn't quit!

Spider1977

I do all my riding solo as I've only been at it for about 6 weeks. Haven't yet had the thrill of riding in a bunch, but a few experienced riders have invited me to join them on a training ride, so I'm looking forward to seeing how much extra pace I can maintain in a bunch.

Currently I am taking advice of 2Lap on another thread and riding mostly on the 42/15 gears doing cadence of 90+. I can maintain an average of about 26kph in this gear on my regular ride with undulating hills, getting up to about 30kph on the flat. I'm finding the work is getting easier with each ride, I plan to stick at this until I can get my average up near 30kph and will then move up a gear.

2LAP

Hay, glad that you are finding that you're going better.

Don't forget the other parts of the RR pie, particularly as the season and your races get closer. Maarten's advice is spot on, although you can see large improvements in performance doing what your doing.

Did I recomend riding in certain gears? I don't normaly do that.

J-MAT

I believe that was me recommending certain gears, one of my hallmarks.

It's really one of the finest ways to improve fitness, just concentrate on turning certain gears at certain rpm's.

For example, if you want to crack the hour for a 25, and you TT at 90 rpm, that means you need to turn a 53x15 no matter how windy it is that day for 25 miles. If you can't do that, you won't crack the hour.

After a while, a gear that used to beat you up gets real easy, then you move to the next harder cog. If you have a cadence meter, you can easily monitor your progress.

The secret is to keep your cadence within a decent range like 80-105+ rpm.

A lot of the time I will ride a certain gear the whole ride, like a fixed gear bike. It improves leg strength on hills and legspeed on the decents.

If you don't believe me, put your bike in a 53x17 and go out solo for 1.5 hours, and try to keep your cadence as high as possible. Don't shift. Keep it in a 53x17. Unless you are climbing, 80 rpm is really the bottom of the barrel as far as cadence goes, shoot for at least 90-95 rpm.

A 42x15 or 42x14 can give a great workout also. Gears should be tailored to a riders fitness level, but the principles remain the same for all riders.

If it's windy, you will have to push harder. If you have a tailwind you have to spin faster. It gets hard to spin over 100 rpm when your legs are tired, but this technique will force you to do it.
Riding your road bike "fixed gear" style is great training!!!

__________________
Send comments, praise, or flames to:
jm_560@Hotmail.com

JC Henry

I agree that heart rate monitors are a better gauge of training than speed because of the many variables introduced (wind, hills, bike condition, etc). There are many great books on conditioning with regard to target heart rate intervals (usually a percentage of max heart rates) that really help. The only problem is heart rate monitors can get a little pricey, but have been coming down in price the last few years, so I hope the trend continutes.