Originally Posted by
Lemond1985
And I do agree that low-intensity rides are not doing very much good, even if the person spends all day on the bike and covers some otherwise-impressive distances. High intensity workouts, I believe, are where you get the most health benefit, and the best "training effect" that will allow improvements in fitness to occur. A 10 minute ride at 90% effort will yield far more health benefit than an all-day ride done at low intensity where the rider is never out of breath and barely breaks a sweat, IMO.
It's interesting to see this comment, re-reading all the responses, as I've discovered my HR levels when riding are higher than I thought. Seems I've been pushing Z3 and 4 when I thought I was working in Z2-3! I think this is where the power meter will help, as it shows zones relative to my FTP. You'd think I'd be faster at this point, but not so much. Still, I probably have less than 500 miles since May. That's not a lot.