Originally Posted by
Iride01
Sounds like you are doing quite well then and seem to have most everything covered. If you haven't been doing this for the last dozen or so years, then keep on doing it till you've got those dozen years behind you.
I seem to be able to tell a lot of difference in how I perform when I can regularly ride over 125 miles per week. For the times I only ride 80 miles or less a week I can feel good about my performance but there isn't much improvement for any of the things I want to improve on.
Perhaps just increasing the amount of riding per week from any previous level is what gives the improvement for climbs and sustained efforts.
I've noticed a progressive improvement within the past 2 years. Even my body has physically changed, having been into powerlifting prior to taking cycling seriously, my body is just leaner, chiseled and more vascular. I also feel like it's given me a significant shortcut for improvement beyond my cycling buddies who don't do any strength training whatsoever and it's helped me keep up and surpass some of the younger cyclists amongst the groups I ride with.
I really want to step up my performance level to hang with the truly fast riders. One thing I notice though is that taller riders than me seem to have an advantage on progressive spin climbs, despite their weight disadvantage. Trying to match their pace requires that I increase my cadence, which also increases my heart rate. I've experimented with short 165mm cranks and using longer 175mm cranks. I also like to ride out of saddle, but it does feel like it expends more energy on longer climbs. I only wish I had a 200bpm max heart rate, but in my mid-40s that's something that's definitely decreasing. I don't aim to be a pro racer or anything, I just feel like there's still room for improvement and I want to go into my 50s being a super fit 40 something!