Some advice please; i am able to do 2-3 rides per week and this time last year i was happily doing 2 x z2’s on the road and an MTB at normal pace.

Same this November with deference to 100% road but then i started riding with a club. Their pace is in another league and the rides are forcing me into 50-60% of the weekend ride in Z4/5 over 80k – which is the only time i have to do a 3hr z2 when solo.

i’m not a serious racer but will do 5 mtb races including BORS and 2 sportives this year.

So, if i continue with the club will i either get fit very quickly, or would that damage my fitness curve so therefore I should abandon the rides in favor of solo z2’s until later in the year?

OR am i not riding enough to consider base/z2 training to be worthwhile any way ie 80 – 150k per week max?

All the fitness geeks having Tea eh?

Really I think you should be looking for more zone 3 work. Club rides can be bloody annoying though, one of my local clubs keeps on doing sign sprints…

Also 3 hours at z2 is a lot, you’d be better off doing maybe one 2 hour z2 ride a week, and then two 2 hour z3 rides, increasing duration by 15 minutes each week. IMO.

http://www.koolstofcoaching.com is where I get my coaching from, the main coach is a genius.

But really, if you’re enjoying the club rides, missing them and doing your own thing will only benefit you so much.

Come again?

I’m reading your initial thread and to be honest, it’s not incredibly clear what your issue is.

If I’m reading this right you’re now doing all your riding on the road. You also seem to indicate that this club you ride with ride faster than you’re happy with.

My initial observation is that you’re ‘geeking out’ on the science of cycling whereas it appears, given your apparent level of experience, you’d be better off just riding your bike as much as you can as often as you can.

You also seem to have some confusion over prioritizing your cycling. You’ve said you’re doing two sportives (which aren’t races) and five mountain bike races (which are). Clearly, therefore, the aim of your training should be to prepare to get your best performance out on five specific days during the year (the mountain bike races) and not to be as concerned about the other two days of event-based cycling.

Apologies if all this sounds negative so far. It’s not meant to be. I’m just trying to encourage you to ride in such a way as to get most benefit from your training and to get your best performance out during the events already mentioned.

So my question to you is this. What will you gain from doing a solo 3hr Z2 ride, which you won’t gain from working harder for longer with your club?

What will you gain from doing a solo 3hr Z2 ride, which you won’t gain from working harder for longer with your club

i think that is what i’m asking – i’ve been lead to believe for endurance riding, fat loss and efficiency gain z2/base is what i should be doing over a few hours a week. koolstofs plans see above seem to indicate i only need to be doing those or 60-90 mins rather than the 2-3 hours i was attempting.

if keeping up with the club riders will help (with event experience also), then perhaps my mid week rides should be 2 x z3/z2, or 1 x z2/z3 and 1 x intervals leaving the big effort for the weekend?

Or r.i.d – your third para?

My suggestion would be to rely a lot less on heart rate zone training (is this what you’re on about?). There is so much more to it.

Think leg power, think sprint endurance, things that are all improved by doing a variety of training. Are you riding mtb for fun? Try and decide what you want from mountain biking. If it’s purely fitness, why bother? Road riding is much better for that. If you want to race XC, then do the fitness stuff on road and the technical stuff off…

Riding regularly with faster people WILL make you faster, but might not lose weight or whatever else it is you want.

if keeping up with the club riders will help (with event experience also), then perhaps my mid week rides should be 2 x z3/z2, or 1 x z2/z3 and 1 x intervals leaving the big effort for the weekend?

You can spend a lot of time training on guesswork and just hoping you’re doing the right thing. Or pay some money, have peace of mind, and get rapid, the smart way.

Well…it’s difficult to answer that question without knowing who you are, how old you are, what your medical history is and when your target events are. But…assuming you’re fit and healthy and with no medical problems which will result in you falling dead from working too hard…

It sounds like you can reasonably assume that your ‘basework’ is done. Therefore you only stand to gain from cycling with your club.

You’ll build quicker reactions from riding faster as part of a group. You’ll build stamina from riding further. Your CV system will improve from working harder. Furthermore, you’ll burn more energy as you’re working harder so you have the potential to burn more fat(!)…should you have any.

This will provide a better platform to begin some early season events, perhaps some 25m TTs and training races both on and off road. You can then proceed from these to doing some specific training for your mountain bike races.

Oh…last thought…as you’re wanting to do mountain bike races, I’d like to see an hour’s mountain biking a week in your training schedule at this stage also. It’ll ‘remind you’ of the differences between the road and the mountain bike and thus it won’t be such a shock to the system when you start trying to ride at race pace on it further on in the year. You’ll also maintain the essential bike handling skills which you’ll need in a mountain bike race.

Hope this was helpful. Keep in mind that I’m just a random bloke on the internet and thus any training regimes I recommend are to be assessed and acted on at your own risk etc.

I want to ride MTB for fun, and to challenge myself (events). i want to ride the road bike or fitness and or fun.

i don’t have a lot of time so i guess i’m trying to find the best way to keep fit and get fast(er).

r.i.d. that is helpful thanks. Yes fit, healthy and 40. probably 3lbs of a spare tire i’d like to get rid of. Target events are the gorrick spring series (feb and march) and BORS in May. road sportive June & September, possibly the bonty 24/12 in July.

I’ve only dropped the MTB becuase my local conditions are dire (i checked by completing 30k on the single speed on Tuesday).

Happy to help.

Oh, and re: the comments above thanks to glasgowdan for saying in a few words what I was trying to say and thanks to RealMan for making a gleaming suggestion: See A Coach.

There’s loads of them on the British Cycling website. They’d love to help.

Training wise though – is distance a prerequisite?

i.e. If I defer to 2 x 1 hour in zone 3, I’d be riding less distance than 2 x 1 hour balls out. But does it matter?

So quality over quantity?