Too slow to join a club. How to get faster?

magicbastarder

marvin80 wrote: »

My first club spin I accidentally joined a middle group - dropped out the back and 2 of them came back and hauled me back to the group.

https://twitter.com/qikipedia/status/999617256282730496

07Lapierre

The ONLY way to cycle faster is to cycle with others who are faster than you and keep up!

Yes you’ll be dropped, but keep at it... go out with them the next week and you WILL improve!

marvin80

magicbastarder wrote: »

Brilliant!!
I was goosed alright!!

ConnyMcDavid

That's not far off at all. With the energy you will save being in a group I would say you will be able to stick with it all the way.

Just join them next time. If you get dropped you get dropped. The gap if any is only going to get smaller each time.

fat bloke

Plenty slow clubs around! Join up and hang on. Doesn't matter who you are there will be people faster than you and people slower than you.

saccades

More miles, work up to it with a longer commute. Start 2x a week finding a nice route/mix then build to 3x a week.

Find a bit of a hill for your extra commute, I'm your size and I have to work at hills as my power to weight ratio is terrible. You'll build stamina and muscle and get faster.

Do the club runs, there are times I've had to draft and times when I have dropped back to tow a club mate. You'll find routes you love and routes you hate and get to natter on the easy bits.

Find a spin class, 2 sessions a week really boost your cardio fitness. I've decided to always do one a week.

Today I did 80 miles with 2000 feet of climbing to work and back at about 17.5 mph and I'm 16.5 stone and 5'11", 3 months ago I had a pulmonary embolism and some bloody annoying atypical chest infection and was blue lighted to st Vincent's (I did have a decent base fitness before tbf).

For me I find it takes 6 weeks to start to notice improvements, Strava is handy to track, although I used to use my old 23 mile commute (ew) before that to see how I was doing.

Rest days are important and you'll have bad days (I was ****e In the club spin Sunday), incremental improvements will pay big dividends on the bike.

BoardsMember

As some have said, try to push it a little bit on the commute. It is short, so maybe try to go hard as you can all the way. Or else pick a spot to go hard to, and try hit that soit for a week. As hard as you can, all out. Then the following week, pick a further spot. If you end up being able to go hard all the way, them make the commute longer if you have time.

I reckon you will already be able for the slow group. In general, cyclists are nice friendly people, don't put it off, get out there and enjoy it, don't make it bigger than it is. Best of luck.

veganrun

It's funny, the other night I was glad I didn't go but after the responses here, I wish I had!

veganrun

Well I did it, I went out with the club tonight for a trial session. Turned out to be only one other guy doing the slower group so it was just me and him. It went fine, was tough in places but other times ok. We were taking turns drafting etc and I could see the difference it seemed to make.

We did a slightly shorter route tonight, 19.7 miles instead of the 21.3 I did by myself last week. Took me 1hr 42 last week by myself and this week it was 1hr 24 although it was just under 2 miles shorter. My average speed was 13.9mph tonight where it was 12.5mph last week so not too bad.

I definitely got a harder workout tonight!

RIGOLO

Well done.
Now give yourself 4-5 weeks if not more of base training, dont try to ride hard or too fast, stay as comfortable and in as easy a zone as you can during these spins. Even if you feel you could have gone faster or done more on a spin, let it go, and just concentrate on getting that base of easy miles in with the group. Dont even try to ride fast for  the last couple of miles on the group spin. 
If you keep it up in 5-6 weeks you can start then to add a 1-2 fast sessions or segment to these rides. 
Build your base , will give you a better foundation to HOLD the gains you will make, than going hell for leather now, making gains but not being able to hold them into next year. Plus you need to get used to group riding etc...

BoardsMember

veganrun wrote: »

Well I did it, I went out with the club tonight for a trial session. Turned out to be only one other guy doing the slower group so it was just me and him. It went fine, was tough in places but other times ok. We were taking turns drafting etc and I could see the difference it seemed to make.

We did a slightly shorter route tonight, 19.7 miles instead of the 21.3 I did by myself last week. Took me 1hr 42 last week by myself and this week it was 1hr 24 although it was just under 2 miles shorter. My average speed was 13.9mph tonight where it was 12.5mph last week so not too bad.

I definitely got a harder workout tonight!

Well done. Now make sure you go every week!!

veganrun

We pushed it at the end and I was definitely gassed out. I'd say had there been more people I would have been able to go slightly slower.

magicbastarder

how often are you getting out? give your legs a day or two to recover if you reckon you gave them a good workout.

veganrun

I cycle at least 5 days a week to and from work but that is less than 4 miles total per day. I sometimes take the longer route home which is just under 4 miles itself. Sometimes go out for longer spins at the weekend but not always.

68 lost souls

veganrun wrote: »

I cycle at least 5 days a week to and from work but that is less than 6.4 KM total per day. I sometimes take the longer route home which is just under 6.4 KM itself. Sometimes go out for longer spins at the weekend but not always.

Fixed your posts again...

Great to see you got out. well done and keep it up. Amazing the difference it makes when you just jump in with a group.

68 lost souls

68 lost souls wrote: »

Fixed your posts again...

Great to see you got out. well done and keep it up. Amazing the difference it makes when you just jump in with a group.

If you use Opera as your browser you only have to highlight speeds or currency to see them instantly converted to metric and euro, quite the nifty feature

Wishbone Ash

BoardsMember wrote: »

Well done. Now make sure you go every week!!

.......and get rid of those awful 18th century measurements of speed/distance!

veganrun

I did wonder what would have happened had that guy not shown up. As far as I know there was about 10 people in the group last week.

Definitely feeling it in my legs today now but slept a lot better I think.

Rechuchote

Veganrun, you should really use kilometres - you're much faster in kilometres

I can only cycle at 12.4mph, but I can whizz along at 20km/h!

veganrun

I reckon I should go out for a long spin this weekend, similar miles to last night.

The only fly in the ointment is that I want to fit in a kickboxing class each week and it's only held on a Tuesday night and the cycle club are out on a Wednesday so it doesn't give me much (any recovery time).

68 lost souls

veganrun wrote: »

I reckon I should go out for a long spin this weekend, similar miles to last night.

The only fly in the ointment is that I want to fit in a kickboxing class each week and it's only held on a Tuesday night and the cycle club are out on a Wednesday so it doesn't give me much (any recovery time).

:eek::eek::eek: - still not getting this point are you ^^^^ this might help https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/length/mile-to-km.html

If you can get out then great, the more you do the better you will become. 2 days back to back may be tough at first but soon you'll be cycling big miles consecutive days.

veganrun

I also wish I'd started doing upper body work at the same time as I stated cycling. My legs have really developed just from cycling.

Rechuchote

veganrun wrote: »

I also wish I'd started doing upper body work at the same time as I stated cycling. My legs have really developed just from cycling.

It's the velociraptor look, common among cyclists. But you can start to develop your arms now :rolleyes:

saccades

68 lost souls wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek: - still not getting this point are you ^^^^ this might help https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/length/mile-to-km.html

If you can get out then great, the more you do the better you will become. 2 days back to back may be tough at first but soon you'll be cycling big miles consecutive days.

Mleh, we all know miles are better....



/Stirs pot

Wishbone Ash

saccades wrote: »

Mleh, we all know miles are better....

The Mick Byrne 124.3 or The Wicklow 124.3 just don't have the same ring to them! :pac:

Lumen

veganrun wrote: »

The only fly in the ointment is that I want to fit in a kickboxing class each week and it's only held on a Tuesday night and the cycle club are out on a Wednesday so it doesn't give me much (any recovery time).

Johnny Hoogerland is disappointed in you.

ford2600

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

.......and get rid of those awful 18th century measurements of speed/distance!

The Imperial system wasn't formalised until the 19th Century, 1820 something.

The metric system first emerged during the French Revolution in 1799 or so. The first thing it dealt with was distance and weight. It was formalised in 19th century also.

veganrun

No idea who Johnny Hoogerland is

Lumen

veganrun wrote: »

No idea who Johnny Hoogerland is

He was thrown into a wire fence on stage 9 of the 2011 TdF, causing very deep lacerations which required much stitching, and not only finished the stage but the subsequent 12 stages of the race with only two rest days.

But sure, better not ride your bike the day after kickboxing in case you're a bit tired. :pac: