So I ride with a few mates and of late they have done a few trips to Scotland which I had to miss out on. This has led to me being a little less fit than they are. I don’t have three Scottish mountains in my legs like they do.

My riding buddy has just bought an IBIS all carbon jobby so not only is he fitter he is also on a bike that weighs chuff all compared to my Five.

What can I do to skip up to their fitness level in between our rides? I live in Manchester so all is pretty flat, but I do have some meadows with some little bits of singletrack nearby. Will blasting around flat singletrack still help with my fitness or do I need to ride with a bag of cement on my back too?

Any tips?

ta

get a road bike.

I’ve got a singlespeed commuter I could put some time in on that. I work for myself so my commute is just a trip down the stairs 🙂

I could blast out on my lunch though for 40 mins or so.

I’d go running if I were you.

And the cement thing too 🙂

Doubt they’re that much fitter from 3 rides alone so I guess they’ve either trained or done either a lot more than you at other times.

More actual riding to build up a base, then add intervals/turbo trainer once or twice a week?

Ride as hard as you can every ride. Apart from that, don’t worry about it, it all evens out over time.

Spinning classes

I reckon running might be a good shout, and riding as fast as I can whenever I go out on my bike.

I think it’s just general base fitness that is the key. They don’t stop when they go up hills and I run out of puff… so that’s just got to be down to my stamina. Guess it just needs some good old fashioned hard work!

You live in the city with all those great transport links. Get the train. In twenty minutes you can be in the hills.

road bike or ss commutter and just do some miles, doesnt need to be hilly mountains, build the engine inside and running only as a last resort as its training other things, not cycling. To get faster you need a base of miles then worry about weaknesses such as hill climbing.

Aye it’s the miles I need in me.

I’ve just found this place has been built near me. Anyone been/heard reviews?

http://www.nationalcyclingcentre.com/mtb/the-mountain-bike-trails/ride-the-mtb-trails/

Either running or road riding, make logs of whichever you do.

If you can’t spare many hours I’d do the running personally, if you have got free evening/weekend time, get ramping up to crazy miles and join in the Endomondo challenge with a few of us, gives you a bit of a target:

http://www.endomondo.com/challenges/11677495

I’ve only had a couple of months of the road riding, but being able to ride every couple of days has made a massive difference on the trails.

Do some running.

Also check out Clayton Vale. I live in South Manc so go there every now and again. It’s free, and surprisingly good (Though I don’t have any trail centre experience and so nothing to compare it to really). It’s quite pedally so a few laps every other early morning wont hurt your fitness.

I’m also going to get some lights as recommended by folks on here so I can get out later in the evenings on the MTB.

I think it’s just general base fitness that is the key. They don’t stop when they go up hills and I run out of puff… so that’s just got to be down to my stamina.

I wouldn’t say that’s down to your stamina. IMO that’s more a strength and fitness thing. If you want to get good at climbing then;

1) find some hills and climb them
2) do intervals (start on flat sections then progress to sprinting up small hilly bits)

Other than that, just vary your riding; some days short and intense, other days long and slow(er).

I’ve got a singlespeed commuter

I work for myself so my commute is just a trip down the stairs

Rad, gnarrcore commute!

? Pop a big gear on the SS and get some rollers for half hour high intensity sessions ?

To get “fit(t)” or fitter adjust:
Frequency
Intensity
Time
Type

For me the key has been doing spin bike / turbo trainer sessions in between “real riding”, in training for 250 mile road ride in 24 hours and with limited time due to having a young family, i had a 5 day a week ride schedule of one long ride at the weekend (road or MTB), my 60 mile round trip to work once a week, so two long rides done a week, interspersed with 3 sessions on the turbo a week for an hour after putting my daughter to bed of:

1 – 10 minutes warm up, then constant 40 minutes of HR at 90-95% and cadence of 95, then 10 minutes warm down.
2 – 10 minutes warm up, then 30 seconds as hard and fast as possible, 30 seconds recovery and repeart for 40 minutes, then 10 minutes warm down.
3 – 10 minutes warm up, then my “hill climb” sets of 3 minutes in a hard gear i can just about maintain a cadence of 85rpm in, then 2 minutes recovery, for 40 minutes, 10 minute warm down.

I know that the perceived knowledge is to put in the “base miles” for building up staminor, but I found that doing the turbo trainer sessions was what really brought my fitness on leaps and bounds.

Nice idea Qwerty. Basically make my commuter a training machine.

I’m in Chorlton Chambord, any other local places to ride? I don’t drive so have to be able to ride out to these places. I guess that’s the point though!

If i were you i would just get out and ride, it doesent matter that you havent got three Scottish mountains in your legs, thats only in your head, increase frequency and just enjoy the ride and the rest will come naturally.

There is NO substitute for riding a bike “In My Opinion” Running will increase CV with fartlek trg but i fing up hill down hill on a bike is interval trg any way, running is boring and it **** my knees up,

Swimming is good for the shoulders but still boring.

I read a blog post once that said (I paraphrase, it’s since been 404d): Unless you’re a professional athlete, you don’t have time or resources to get all scientific with training and nutrition. Forget about it, ride when you can and ride as hard as you can.

@popmatick, worth noting on this theme, your buddies didn’t do anything fancy, they just went riding a bit more than you

& if you want a tip for maximising return from your rides, mine is get a singlespeed

Easy, you just need a 6 minute training montage 🙂

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-8hOKNbtxg[/video]

Cheers dudes. All great advice!

I’ll get the soundtrack to Rocky going on my iDevice whilst blasting around. That’s got to be the secret.

Switch your SS to fixed wheel.
Ride it for 30-60 minutes a day at speeds above 16 mph.
Take a day off.
Ride a long ride at weekends, on or off road.

From Chorlton you can jump on the Fallowfield Loop all the way until it gets to Ashton Canal near Sport City. From there you can ride to Clayton Vale – just follow signs for National Cycling Centre – do a couple of laps and head back the same way.

That’s a nice distance mainly off road with a bit of mini trail centre fun thrown in. Do that a few times a week and you’ll soon be up to speed.

Thanks Justatheory. I’ve never seen this Fallowfield loop. I’ll have to check it out! Is it ok to ride on an MTB then?

I’m finding i need to do more training ,as i’m not able to cover the distance i want,plus did a run out with local club sunday previous and felt i was holding em back,tho total when i got home was 90k on road bike .
So i ‘ve just sighed up to endmundo challenge ,the off road bit as got slots in the week at work or between shifts that i can get out.

Get new friends who are fatter than you.

Ha! Excellent. I might put an ad out. Chubby friends required for gentle biking where I win all the time and feel superior. Should get plenty of replies to that 🙂

Buy them pies?

popmatik , yeah, it’s just an old railway line that has been paved. It ends at Debdale park but you can keep going to the canal, turn left and follow the towpath to a bridge under Alan Turing Way, if you come out there follow signs to the Cycle Centre.

Chubby friends required

This will end well.

Get new friends who are fatter than you.

I’m fortunate in that respect. It’s great, makes me feel like a real hero when they congratulate me on making up a climb without stopping.

Nice one justatheory. I’ll be sure to check that out. Found a nice map too:

http://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/route/fallowfield-loopline

Get a road bike.
Go out with a friendly club once a week (2-4 hours of base fitness work).
Find a 10 mile loop and time trial it once a week (30 minutes of vomit inducing speed work).

Do this for a couple of months and be amazed.

As someone who suffers ‘asthma’ I always say at the bottom of a climb “see you at the top” and I always do; and I am never to proud to walk.

NEWS SHOCKER: The only way to get fit is ride your bike more, think how much fitter you would have been if you had ridden in Scotland 😯

any other local places to ride?

Depends how long you’ve got – justatheory has given good advice with Fallowfield Loop -> Clayton Vale.

If you’ve got a a bit longer you can cycle out to Marple along the Mersey and do some of the stuff near Roman Lakes. I normally do that and get the train back because I’m lazy.

get that 5 out on the road and suffer