i have just started to return to mtbing , but the chaps i ride with have much higher levels of fitness and stamina than me. i know its not going to be quick to regain fitness , but i have bought a turbo trainer and wonder what is a good level to train at on one of these.
e.g , evernight for 30 mins or every othernight if you get my meaning.
thanks in advance for any information.

Sufferfest videos

every second night when the weather is foul otherwise get out even in the dark (might be and idea to get lights though).

Stick to and and fitness will be yours

Sufferfest +1

Hi

It depends on your level of fitness at present – if you haven't really done anything you may want to think about lower level base training to start with and then increase the intensity as your cardio fitness is up to it. If you are fairly decent in the cardio department, go for high intensity interval training… and suffer 😀

Weight it in for scrap. Get out with your mates and learn to suffer and hang on, simple as that.

Also recovery/steady rides are important between your beastings you mates give you.

Try and average 8 -12 hrs per week if you can manage it, within 2 months you should have a good level of fitness if your diets managed well and you get a good nights sleep more often than not. 😛

Sufferfest.

Weight it in for scrap. Get out with your mates and learn to suffer and hang on, simple as that.

Or use your time wisely with a heart rate monitor and get the most out of any time you have to train by doing structured turbo sessions and getting out when you have more time. The research is leaning more towards high intensity over long steady rides anyway, but any riding is going to help.

thanks for the replies, just using it to top up my fitness , as there is nothing better than getting out with the mates , as the banter and comradeship make you forget your pain and enhance the enjoyment.

All you need to know is that Sufferfests work really really well. They are pretty addictive though.

Bi6 al – I was going through the same thing as you bud, my mates are now all quick bikers, racing or doing epic rides most weekends and are leaving me for dead. I have a wife, a 2 year old boy and a 3 month old boy.I'm lucky that my wife is also a biker and despite the fact that she's wanting to ride herself, still let's me out for a 2.5 hour night ride with the boys on a Tuesday. She know's what it means to me and at the minute with all the turmoil and madness in our house, I live for that time.

It was starting to bug me however, that this 2.5 hours was becoming less and less fun because i was getting left behind, or spending it blowing out my ar5e for the entire ride, and I was getting a bit dejected about it all.

I bought a new turbo trainer about 6 weeks ago, it is amazing how they have progressed, It has a watt counter, speed, time distance and other gubbins to tell you how shockingly hard you need to work.

I also have 3 season box sets of Prison Break to trawl through, an old laptop to play it on, coupled up to a docking station so I can hear it, my phone, a fan,the baby monitor, 2 bottles, a towel….. it looks like a flight deck of some kind, but the upshot of all this is, I've lost eight pounds,my waistline is shrinking, my climbing has improved, my power is improving, I'm not quite up with them yet, but I think they're getting worried.

The main thing is I've noticed a distinct difference and my enthusiasm's coming back.

I do 3 x 50 minute sessions a week (three episodes), I plan to start introducing intervals because even with distractions, they are the longest 50 minutes of your life (and I used to race cyclo-cross!!!)

I have also noticed a few articles in mags which say that the new thinking is that intensity can have just as much if not greater affect than long sessions, which I guess is a good thing if you can learn to suffer on a bike (which if you're coming back to the sport you probably can)Y

You get out what you put in, but despite the grimness of turbo training, the constant resistance I'm convinced, makes the best use of whatever time you can dedicate to it, and pays dividends on real rides and I think you'll be surprised how quickly the difference comes.

Stick at it fella, and just try and find some way of making the sessions more bearable. If you find any groundbreaking ones, feel free to share them on here.

P.S Something that has worked for me, keep a diary of your sessions, and your weight on a week by week basis. The progress when you see it written down really helps motivate you to keep it up, and gives you a kick up the bum when you feel like sherking off.

I keep a spreadsheet with miles time and avg speed really helps with the motivation. My spreadsheet also has a 1000 mile count down which i find helps.

ooh, like that countdown idea, may just nick that one ta!

You say you have a base level of fitness you want to top up. In that case go for intensity. 2 x 20 min threshold intervals. By the time you have warmed up, done the interval session and warmed down it will take an hour- any more and you risk boredom overload. Also you could try shorter max power intervals. Sufferfest is good too.

I'm going to try the Time Crunched Cyclist programme next year which is also based on replacing time with intensity and looks best done on a turbo.