best at getting fit as after sundays ride (part) it showed just how unfit i am so any ideas?

road bike and intervals.

or slicks on an mtb and intervals.

or just intervals.

it’s the intervals that are important.

and mileage.

intervals and mileage are important.

and some resting

So, intervals, mileage and rests.

Unfit in what way?

Road bikes are good for just being able to go on untill you physicaly collapse.

BMX it good for sprinting (hence its close relationship with track racing).

MTB (in general) sits somwhere betweeen the two.

i am only unfit in the mileage on mtb so slicks on the mtb and road use is the best then?

Or just ride the MTB on the road with your norml tyres, wears them out quicker, but achieves the same effect.

I just make a concious effort to ride to/from places, so a 15mile ride at Swinley will keep me as fit as they guys I ride with. Add in another 4miles each way to get there and back and I’ll slowly get fitter than them.

That and the occasional road ride (especialy in winter), and days on the BMX track (mainly Summer) and I dont do too bad.

well, ‘best’ in terms that on the road you spend your whole time pedalling and can control the rate you’re workign at more easily. intervals are a good way of generating stamina relatively quickly but you do need to include longer rides as well plus low intensity recovery rides.

you do need to keep your eye in off road though or your technical skills can suffer.

If you’re serious then the Matt Hart articles from stw over the years have been very useful.

In the end it’s down to how much effort/time you want to put into it. Most people jsut ride their mtb’s off road ‘more’ and hope to get fitter.

if you are trying to maintain some sort of braking traction down a slippery slope with highrollers you will benefit massively by fitting the rear backwards.

Do you live anywhere near a canal with a towpath?

If yes get yourself a British Waterways permit (free on their website and shuts any arsey types up) and use the towpaths , they are usually not too busy apart from daytime weekends . There’s the odd short sharp hill when there’s a lock and nowadays not too many gates so it’s not start stop all the time.

It did wonders for my fitness , although having children kind of reversed it a bit due to lack of riding time.

I’m sure lots will have advice on what type burns the most fat and so on… but the way i look at is… ride lots, and make sure you enjoy it, if you’re not enjoying it you’re more likely to stop/end up only doing a couple of miles a week.

you might be really surprised by how many short journeys you do with a car you could do on your bike for free (and the routes are usually more entertaining than the drive)

i have no idea what i’m talking about:

just riding around for a few hours is good, but will only really just make you hungry. The bicycle is a very efficient form of transport, by it’s very nature it allows you to be lazy and unfit.

what you want is to work so hard it leaves you feeling like you fell down a flight of stairs for a day or so…

find a hill, one that takes about 5 or 10mins to ride up.

ride up it, time yourself.

ride to the bottom, ride up again, time yourself

repeat once more, and go home.

(15mins high intensity is better than 3 hours pootling along)

if you feel ok the next day, you didn’t go fast enough.

don’t forget easy days, and a bit of stretching.

For endurance, do long rides at an easier pace. Makes sense really. Doing intervals will make you faster but not help endurance.

No shortcuts in this business.

thanks for all the advice as this long last year i could do 40 miles on a ride and not really feel it. now 15 is a push!!

“build your stamina” up again slowly !!! every body has times when they cant do as much as they used to (then it becomes a mindset thing and you really start cracking up (lol)…… back to back basics really : start off with smaller ride, then 2nd ride ‘add a couple’ more miles to your journey (not too many) then 3rd ride -increase again…until you start feeling fitter …. no point in trying to do 40 miles straight off cos thats extra punishment if your body isnt quite up to that standard.
we all have setbacks its a known fact. !.. build up slowly (you dont wana end up with uneccessary muscle strains etc…
good luck
ps : have you tried ‘running’ or another sport ?

I’ve found that running a couple of times a week has really boosted my cycling. I do about 4 miles twice a week with maybe a longer run on the weekend. A big boost to fitness in a lot less time than cycling which then allows you to enjoy riding for what it is rather then trying to boost your fitness via riding up the same hill several times. I really enjoy it but I understand a lot of others hate it and find it a bit dull but if you give it a shot, it gets easier and more enjoyable.