I know there are a number of possible answers, and a few obvious ones, but I am hoping to elicit some helpful comments from the massif.

After a year of weight loss through diet and cycling, I am now pretty much where I want to be. I could still stand to drop another 2 or 3 kilos, but I am down from 95kgs to 78.5kgs, which, at 5’10.5″, is about the same BMI as I had 25 years ago.

That said, my riding feels like it has plateaued, and I am finding it difficult to improve – especially in terms of speed.

Last night, for example, I thought I was doing relatively well on my road ride, but then got passed on a long climb by a young rider. Except that, when I say ‘passed’, I mean that I heard him behind me, and he must have gained a half-kilometre within a few seconds (well maybe more…).

I have just got Strava, which should help, but I am wondering what sorts of things people have done for themselves once they have lost weight, and were just trying to improve.

If it helps, I am 44, and ride almost every day, including an 11km (total) commute.

44?

Nah – it’s over mate. I’d concentrate on Audax’s!

If you want to improve speed you need to train, or at least do rides that resemble training. Things like intervals or sessions at a particular heart rate or power. I found a big improvement by doing 20 or 30 minute high intensity sessions, normally on a turbo but it can be done on the road.

FWIW dont give up …

i used to ride with a bunch of guys in their 40s.

Some who didnt start UNTIL they were 40.

Them same guys are still winning endurance events and i dont just mean in veteran cat either. – they are well into their 40s now.

They are however fairly committed to their training and are regularly out at 4.30am and 9.30pm to ensure family and life are not hampered.

Never compare yourself to others on strava – that way madness lies.

Look at your own rides, and celebrate what you’ve achieved already

As for improving, if your weight’s now static you’re going to have to get fitter to go faster. I reckon that’s way harder
My winter weight is 5-10 kilos more than my late summer weight and I’m about ten percent faster by then. I don’t ride enough to be massively fit; I’m pretty certain that difference is “all” weight

Have a look at something like the time crunched cyclist (i think) should give you some ideas.

to be fair, any coaching guide should give you plenty of ideas.

A few years ago I realized I was better than average with little training. I could get close to the top 10 in races and won my club hill climb without really knowing anything about them.

I put in the effort last year, did some more focused training and lost some weight. Started to win things and now can get on the podium on most good days.

I was 5’10” and about 75kg. I dropped to 69kg for hill climbs over 12 months. I’ve now gone back up to a more maneagable 71 but still see the benefits.

I focus my riding on the things I want to be good at. So I attack hills in the run up to hill climb season. I will put in 10 and 25 mile efforts to prepare for TT and my mid week rides are usually 2-3 hours hard to replicate races. These are all things that I still find enjoyable so I don’t see it as pure training.

Only pure training I do is through winter. To start with a good level of fitness when spring comes I do 2 or 3 turbo sessions a week if I can’t get out and do something more fun.

I don’t tend to worry too much about focused and strict training regimes. I ride for fun and will stop if it ever becomes a chore.

Stop cycling with Molgrips,he’s holding you back 😛

If you’re not into training plans, one simple thing that’ll help, to an extent, is to ride with people who are quicker than you and try to keep up.

Have to agree with fasthaggis 😉
Come out this saturday morning with Ant and myself we’ll sort you out 😀 But really, looking at your strava your doing ok.

@taxi25, as far as I know I should be able to make that ride. So by the looks of it, I’ll see you on Saturday. 8)

8)

I’ll see you on Saturday.

A world of hurt awaits. Some pics after would be good Taxi25!

That said, my riding feels like it has plateaued, and I am finding it difficult to improve – especially in terms of speed.

because you’re ‘just’ riding. Riding will get you so fit, to get fitter you need to train. But to train you really need some goals or focus- what do you want to improve? Endurance? Climbing? Sprinting? Average speed?

I’m in a similar sort of position; same age and height (10kg lighter but have always been light), do 500+ road miles a month. I got regular top 10s in the last season of CX (which was my first racing, I didn’t do any specific training for it and only decided to race the season after I’d entered the first race and loved it).

I reckon I lack outright power but have good power-to-weight. I love climbing and this summer will be spent in the Dolomites, but towards the next CX season I’ll be doing some interval training to increase my power and sprint ability, as CX is like crits in needing lots of short explosive efforts out of corners, and in mud a lower cadence seems to be more effective, and that’s where I lost out to bigger, more powerful riders.

So what do you actually want to improve?

1) Ride with people faster than you.
2) Learn about HR/Power
3) Join a club
4) Ride with people who faster than you.
5) Increase your time on the bike.
6) Obsess about stats.
7) Get a turbo/zwift etc
8) Ride with people who are faster than you.

Yes, simply ride with people faster and fitter than you – it might hurt at times / prepare to get dropped / but you’ll come back fitter and stronger. If you focus solely on speed you could burn yourself out – you need to work on your endurance and strength too

Start racing! (Or at least something that’ll make you push yourself hard.)

Other than that, more consistent training, more volume, mix of intensities, more weight loss. For speed on the flats work on position and aero. Get a power meter and ride to targets, no slacking.

42 here, only really been training semi seriously for a couple of years, have gotten a lot faster over that time.

1) Ride with people faster than you.

Don’t do this! Most amateur cyclists plateau because they ride every ride at just below threshold with VO2 max efforts on climbs. You’ve got as far as can with this method, motivation suffers and you train less.

Get a coach.

I was in exactly the same position – worked hard from January, flying by the end of Feb, weight falling off, and then I hit the dreaded 8-week plateau.

My coach has me riding almost every day but with lots of recovery rides and Z2 rides with efforts thrown in… It’s very disciplined, and I’ve found the hardest thing is to keep my HR down to the levels he’s prescribing as I’m so used to just smashing it every time I ride.

Results have been amazing, I seem to have picked up the curve I was on in Feb, the weight is tumbling again and I PB’d in a club 10 last night.

A training plan like Time Crunched is OK up to a point, but a coach can fine-tune as you go. Mine organises my training around my time trials and club rides adding activation phases before races. Well worth 50 quid a month – it’s only like a gym membership.

1) Ride with people faster than you.
Don’t do this!

Agree with this. You’ll just get a battering.

Get a plan. Ride to power or HR zones. Get consistent volume. If you can spare the cash then get a coach.

I don’t really “do” training per se. However entering races helps. You can push yourself harder than you would think racing. Obviously this means you can’t really race every day or anything, you need recovery as well as hard days.

Ride with people faster than you. Its kinda old fashioned … but it works.

You will get a kicking, and it will hurt. But you will improve if you stick at it.

Thing is James; you have old age gripping the back of your saddle now … if you ease up, it will pull on the saddle and slow you up. If you put in more effort, you may just be able to drag it along for some time longer.

My advice is to take up time trialling. Lots of older guys race TTs because age seems to have little effect on endurance abilities (up to a point obviously!). There are chaps in my club who are coming up to 60 and still knocking out sub hour efforts for 25 mile TTs.

Join a local club and get down to their weekly evening club TTs. These are very relaxed affair – more like a social chit chat with a 10 mile effort in the middle!! They’re generally attended by all abilities and ages and you may even find an event labeled “come and try it” – you don’t need to be a member of any club to do these so you can just rock up and ride. We have an 83 year old fella that comes along to ride the evening 10 sometimes!!

You dont need any fancy kit or anything, any bike and a helmet will do (you could even use an mtb if you wanted!).