Originally Posted by
WhyFi
Further, you don't really want to go out there and ride at the same output/pace all of the time, anyway, whether that's full gas or café pace. You really want to switch it up. Hell, at this point, making a point of having easy rides would probably benefit you more than just trying to hammer all the time.
Currently I am doing about 2.5 hours a week total. My impression with that level of time commitment there is no reason not to do strong efforts all the time. That said, I do vary the effort a bit. The thing I don't like in the morning is I really don't have a choice, my body is telling me to ease up.
Re VO2 max, intervals etc, I'm doing no planned training. Just the old fashioned hard up the hills and easy down. This ride had 1000ft of vertical in many shapes and sizes.