[Closed] How do i enjoy road biking

Pick your routes carefully - if all you're doing is riding on flat, straight roads it will always be dull.

do hills, really steep ones. also try to go out in a group/a mate to beat and pick really scenic routes, even drive somewhere to ride a better route

a lot of the appeal for being a roaddie is the competition aspect and getting to see nice places.

Maybe get a [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/that-cannondale-slate ]Cannondale Slate[/url] ??

smash yourself uphills, if you have the capacity to think its boring you aren't going hard enough.

go flat out back down. 50+ starts to get interesting

club? Strava? Structured training rides?

I honestly don't get this. I have always found the challenge of making my legs and lungs work harder than they naturally want to, to be slightly invigorating.

Have you tried a type of 'mindfulness'? Get in the moment and enjoy it!

I use the smallest roads possible when I go out on the road. it makes it more interesting and you see loads of stuff you wouldn't by just zipping up and down main roads.

The only way I enjoy it is to stay off A roads and B roads

Smash it down some proppa country lanes with loads of corners and variable surfaces. Like MTBing but with tractors to overtake

This

jam bo - Member
smash yourself uphills, if you have the capacity to think its boring you aren't going hard enough.

go flat out back down. 50+ starts to get interesting

ton - Member
I use the smallest roads possible when I go out on the road. it makes it more interesting and you see loads of stuff you wouldn't by just zipping up and down main roads.

Find some very quiet country lanes, lanes that are only 1 car width wide and create a route, a route that has hills in it.

Then Smash it hard with small recovery sessions in between.

Then, then make segments out of it.

If you don't like doing it but are willing to put the effort in for your Enduro endeavors then you'd best make the best of what you have, and how to enhance it.

Ride in a group, get some descending in, hitting 50-60mph on a road bike isn't boring, get some real distance in, the satisfaction from riding 100 mile or to a distant destination is err satisfying. I've always thought that comparisons with mountain biking are generally pretty poor, just because they are both done with a bike doesn't mean you get the same out of them.

Biking boring??

Does not compute 😕

If you treat road biking like mountain biking or mountain biking like road biking then you aren't going to get the best out of either.

I agree with the OP

^ Me too. My solution was to not road ride

yes, road biking is boring - I only enjoy the coffee shops and the stupid clothes people wear.

Don't ride on main roads.
Try and have a destination in mind (cafe,castle,pub,sea side,cafe again).
Ride in a group.
Take time to look around.
(this is much easier if you live somewhere picturesque!)

[i]I agree with the OP[/i]

Me too. I can't get excited about distances traveled or what my average speed is. And cars are annoying and dangerous. Road climbs are tedious whereas offroad climbs are a challenge.

I asked myself the same question about skiing and i didnt get much further than being dragged up a hill to slide down, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat..... and get properly trousered for the privelige..... hopeless waste of time, money and effort.

Langlauf, thats worse IMHO. Its like scalextric for skiers. Dull to the power of 3

I stopped both of these... If your having to ask others how to enjoy road biking, there is no intrinsic motivation... just stop it and find something else that gives teh training you need but the engagement it should be.

Or are you developing Rule 5 skills ?

For racing Enduro I'd say you need some good DH skills and a good capacity for short sprints.

A road bike won't help you for that first one but a road bike can be great for the latter.

I'd be forgetting about doing anything long distance and flat on your road bike and just stick to something with some descent incline or working on short busts of maximum effort.

For racing Enduro I'd say you need some good DH skills and a good capacity for short sprints.

A road bike won't help you for that first one but a road bike can be great for the latter.

I'd be forgetting about doing anything long distance and flat on your road bike and just stick to something with some descent incline or working on short busts of maximum effort.

I'd disagree with that. My (very limited - just two in fact) enduro experience has been that you're pedalling for 2-3hrs with a few short breaks in between short bursts of high energy.

So yes for interval training for the downhill bits, but don't neglect the distance rides for stamina training for the ride back up!

OP - exactly what riding are you doing right now - duration, distance, road types, any training routines or just riding? This will help give you specific pointers

Hi I do road biking for training for enduro and i hate it. Its really boring!Is there anyway to make it a little more interesting? I can do mtb all day every day but i hate even a 30mi road ride!

If your goal is to be better at Enduro, and assuming that this involves short bursts of intense exertion, then why are you doing 30 mile road rides? Not sure how building a big aerobic engine will help you when smashing down big hills in your pyjamas 🙂 Specificity is key

Point the bike up hill or put it on a turbo and do tabata training

• 5 minutes of warm-up
• 8 intervals of 20 seconds all-out intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest
• 2 minutes cool-down

Minimal time on the road bike and a fitness benefit that will directly transfer to Enduro*. It makes you want to puke but it's 10 minutes of training with 2.5 minutes effort.

*My understanding of Enduro is limited so I could be talking absolute twaddle.

If your goal is to be better at Enduro, and assuming that this involves short bursts of intense exertion, then why are you doing 30 mile road rides?

because you have to ride between stages. if you are knackered when you get the the stage start, no amount of explosive power is going to help you.

I ride from 20-50 miles. small country lanes and just riding atm.
thanks for the ideas guys

i live in northwales, mtb and road is good, hills, views and cake

If your goal is to be better at Enduro, and assuming that this involves short bursts of intense exertion, then why are you doing 30 mile road rides?

because you have to ride between stages. if you are knackered when you get the the stage start, no amount of explosive power is going to help you.

Is the ride between the stages timed?

If Tabata increases your VO2 max then it stands to reason your body is utilising oxygen more efficiently which equates to less fatigue at lower intensities.

Ooh, hang on! I've just realised, I go for a lunchtime ride on my road bike (off now in fact) and love it. It's a hilly little 15 mile circuit and is much better than gobbing off on STW for an hour.
So, er, maybe enjoy it as an alternative to doing something even more boring?! 😀

Is the ride between the stages timed?

no but you have a designated start time on most.

I can assure you that getting to the top of a stage 30s before it, is not good preparation...

I can assure you that getting to the top of a stage 30s before it, is not good preparation...

Aside from the nice views, peace & quiet, headspace and improved fitness, I find Strava helps me enjoy road biking... it is good to see how you are improving over the same segments, and good to see how you compare to friends who also ride the same routes.

As an aside can you make yourself enjoy someting?

[quote=gypsumfantastic ]As an aside can you make yourself enjoy someting?
You can change the parameters to make it enjoyable - e.g. avoid main roads and choose scenic rides.

I just find it enjoyable to get into a big gear and cruise along as fast as possible.
Smash the hills to get the legs hurting then see how fast you can go on the downs.

I do enjoy road riding, but sometimes start getting bored when fatigue sets in, so I try to plan in points of interest towards the end of a ride, to give me something to look forward to. This could be a tough climb, fun descent or maybe a nice village, lake or wood to give me something to look at.
I also keep a look out for inviting bridleways to possibly explore in future. I've been mixing it up a bit on my GT Grade, but my latest rides have been just tarmac.
Just riding for fun / general fitness improvement at the moment, got no events on the horizon.
Strava can help motivate me to push on a bit when I'm flagging and might otherwise have headed for home, but I use it for clocking up miles, rather than attacking segments.

Ive yet to find a cat 1 or 2 climb in my area, so have to make do with cat 3 and 4 climbs. Love em. Great scenery, and a great workout. Upping my climbing fitness on road translates to some epic fitness when hitting the trails.

So find some big hills!

[i]Hi I do road biking for training for enduro and i hate it. Its really boring!Is there anyway to make it a little more interesting? [/i]

I don't get this either. It's just cycling. If all you do is ride along a roads then yes it will be as dull as riding only tow paths on a mountain bike.

Can't you just road ride for the purpose you intend it for, to get fit, do you really need to be 'entertained'?

gypsumfantastic - Member

As an aside can you make yourself enjoy someting?

I enjoy eating Olives after a number of years of not enjoying them. Perhaps there is hope with road riding

I also found road riding spirit-crushingly tedious. I persevered with it for a while thinking something might finally click. It didn't Still hated the mindless boredom of it all. Then I found the 3-step solution to my hatred

1. Sell road bike
2. Buy another mountain bike
3. Ride off road, and leave the road biking to the freaks and weirdos*

* Any grown man who thinks its acceptable to leave the house clad only in lycra, unless being paid for it, is a freak and a weirdo.

One of the joys of road riding is hammering up steep climbs and the decent speed a fit rider travels at. If you're fat and unfit then I guess it might not be much fun.

then this is negated by proper planning.

yep. getting fitter so you can ride the transitions faster and with less effort. I hear road biking is good for this...

yep, I also find road biking boring (in fact more than just boring, entirely tedious), but not as boring as running, so I use it as a running substitute to keep fit when all I have is an hour or two.

😆 Binners

Roadies [i]are[/i] weird. There, I said it.

OP, sell the road bike and buy a (rigid, perhaps) street/dirt jump SS to ride around and about on instead? MOAR fun and skillz to be had that way and still a good workout 😀

Ride hard and fast.....get some mates out with you too.....can't beat the banter!!.......Sunday mornings are the new Saturday nights.....( well they are for me)
Strava helps ....esp if your mates are on it...!!

club

+1

Riding alone is just dull.

Riding for 20 miles is dull.

70+ miles on a Sunday morning at a decent pace with friends is what espresso and cake were made for.

I actually prefer riding over the winter, setting off in the twilight, seeing the sun come up, the frost and then dew slowly evoporate, all makes up for the occasional squeeky bum moment on ice.

The downside is it takes time to get fit. You can rock upto a <20mile mountainbike evening ride and even with a modicum of fitness survive it. Road biking takes a bit longer, a 10% improvement in FTP (i.e. average speed) in 10 weeks is considered good! And that's with training, just going out once a week for a bumble isn't going to get you anywhere. So to get from the "beginners" 15/16/17mph group to the fast 25+ group doesn't happen overnight.

Id say that i was pretty fit. ive raced XC this year and done alright its just getting out of the door tbh now ive thought about it! thanks for the suggetions ! 🙂

Have you tried a turbo? A few sessions on one and road riding will seem a lot less dull 🙂