I'm new to road riding – been doing it about a year now – and am at the stage of starting to do a couple of sportives. I've two kids under 5 and live next to hills with good quiet roads, so probably do slightly more road riding than mtb at the moment as its easier to fit in. I usually go out on my own as I'm quicker than almost all the guys I would ride with, but I'm finding I've hit a bit of a plateau.

My normal evening route is just over 30 miles with 2 sizeable climbs (on bikehike it shows as 2400ft of climbing) and I'm averaging 18.5 to 19mph each time, regardless of wind. Trouble is while I'm riding solo I'm always thinking I should be going faster, but when I get home I'm barely out of breath. I commute 20 miles every day on a fixed gear, so I'm not short of weekly miles.

I'm not sure how to push myself on a bit without nailing myself to the wall. Generally I'm riding in the evenings within an hour of eating my dinner, and when I get back I'm not starving the way I am after a big ride. I don't get indigestion or bonk, and drink some water so don't think food and drink is the key.

I think I could do with joining a club, but fear I'll struggle to make a regular time while the kids are age they are. I've recently adjusted my saddle position to try and make a more 'aero' position easier and its been more comfortable overall, but not noticeably quicker (maybe I'm judging it over too short a distance). I naturally want to push a big gear (my fixed is 48:16) so I've been trying to use a lower gear and up my cadence a bit, and focus on 'circles' rather than pushing, but it doesn't feel… natural.

Have any of the STW darksiders been here? What do you recommend?

to get quicker you need to throw some money at the bike
it's all about the bike

It just sounds from what you have mentioned that you are doinfg the same things again and again. I'm no expert but try mixing in some intervals like sprinting, climbing out of the saddle or in the saddle try riding your route in the smaller ring one day for higher cadence and in a huge gear the next just to mix it up. I also find a hil and just go up and down it 6-10 times, try finding a hill that takes 3 minutes or so to climb – it sounds like torture but it will get you to the next level. The other sure fire way of improving is to ride with someone fitter, after a few weeks you'll notice the difference. Another thing is you may be over-training if your on the bike all the time do you give your body enough rest? what suppliments do you take, etc? Everyone is different its just trial and error, good luck!

My normal evening route is just over 30 miles with 2 sizeable climbs (on bikehike it shows as 2400ft of climbing) and I'm averaging 18.5 to 19mph each time, regardless of wind.

That's why you've plateaued. Your body has been trained to ride one route at one speed and it can do it (very well cos nearly 19mph is pretty impressive for a hilly solo route). I bet you find that, if you try riding for longer than that or on a different route, your body will initially throw in some strong objections!

Mix it up, do longer rides, shorter ones, bit of sprinting. Have a day off(!) Go swimming or running, do something, anything other than the same 30 mile ride. There's got to be more than one route in your area surely?!

Oh and good luck with the Sportives. 🙂

When you enter one of these sportives and you are hanging out of your arse just trying to get along the road, look round and make sure you are not towing a rather large peloton behind you. They tend to be full of lazy workshy wheel sucking bastards. This happened to me on the Marmotte at the weekend – I simply stopped and had a wee rest – cheeky f**kers.

cheers guys, these are some good points.

I've been concentrating on the same route for a while partly because it fits the time I have available, partly because there's a load of climbing and partly because I figured it would give me a consistent measure of how I'm doing, but what c-l is saying makes perfect sense! I'm fine on longer routes and its only free time that stops me doing more.

I don't take any supplements, I just eat well and plenty of it (although I am a longtime vegetarian). I swim a few times a week, but can't abide running or the gym, too boring.

Think I'll try mixing it up more with different profile routes, lower gears, intervals etc and see how I go. If I can find a club relaxed enough for me to go out with maybe once a month that might be ideal, get a chance to ride with faster people.

Thanks!

If I can find a club relaxed enough for me to go out with maybe once a month that might be ideal, get a chance to ride with faster people.

Most roadie clubs have ditched whatever cliquey attitude they may once have had and are actually quite welcoming. Riding with a club is the only way you'll ever learn proper riding etiquette, how to ride in a bunch, new training tips etc and it's amazing how quickly 70 miles can fly by when you're riding with friends chatting away, it's so much more pleasant than grinding out the miles alone.

Have a look on http://www.britishcycling.org.uk for cycle clubs. there's a search function somewhere on there, tell it where you are and it'll give you a list of local clubs and events.

Smee – they were eating your dust and could not get past. Is your inbuilt modesty clouding your insight here?

OP – you are fit (probably well fit enough for a sportiv) and if you want to get a lot fitter it will probably require a bit of effort & maybe mnore time. And I'd suggest intervals for peed/strength & steady (i.e. flat) rides to get base fitness – it's tough to progress if you are riding the same route all the time. Get a HRM too. Riding with a club in TTs or a chain gang will help too. If you cut down on swimming, the time saved may help (and recovery time saved too).

If you really want to get fitter it will require a considered approach IMO – not necessarily every ride ahead planned for months but grdual build up of intervals, easy weeks, watching for overtraining , use o HRM etc. Very satisfying though.