Dem bicicletas dos, doe.

[coogles]

Not with any kind of seriousness. This isn't my main priority in life and I'm already putting too much energy into it, to the point where it is detracting from everything else. 2 hours at 15 mph today absolutely killed me. Dead tired, I sat on the couch for the whole rest of the day and accomplished absolutely nothing.

How the fuck do you people exercise and then have energy left to do anything else?

2 hours? No wonder you're beat. Start off with 20-30 minutes 3x per week. Add in some bodyweight exercises like lunges, nordic hamstring curls (starting off with negative reps only) using your couch or something, slow and controlled calf raises and tibialis raises. Do that 3x per week. I guarantee you'll see better results than hammering away for 2 hours straight, and you'll feel better.

[troyguitar]

Not with any kind of seriousness. This isn't my main priority in life and I'm already putting too much energy into it, to the point where it is detracting from everything else. 2 hours at 15 mph today absolutely killed me. Dead tired, I sat on the couch for the whole rest of the day and accomplished absolutely nothing.

How the fuck do you people exercise and then have energy left to do anything else?

2 hours? No wonder you're beat. Start off with 20-30 minutes 3x per week. Add in some bodyweight exercises like lunges, nordic hamstring curls (starting off with negative reps only) using your couch or something, slow and controlled calf raises and tibialis raises. Do that 3x per week. I guarantee you'll see better results than hammering away for 2 hours straight, and you'll feel better.

You forget that I've been riding regularly for a lot longer than you - ~3500 miles since May 2020. I started out like you suggested last year when 10 miles was hard.

The one thing that never changed (and has been this way as long as I can remember) is that exercise is totally draining. When I played soccer, on practice or game days I never got anything else done. When I played hockey, a game left me dead for 24 hours afterwards. When I ran at 5PM after work, I did absolutely nothing until work the next morning.

Exercise is HARD. It does not energize me.

[coogles]

You forget that I've been riding regularly for a lot longer than you - ~3500 miles since May 2020. I started out like you suggested last year when 10 miles was hard.

The one thing that never changed (and has been this way as long as I can remember) is that exercise is totally draining. When I played soccer, on practice or game days I never got anything else done. When I played hockey, a game left me dead for 24 hours afterwards. When I ran at 5PM after work, I did absolutely nothing until work the next morning.

Exercise is HARD. It does not energize me.

I've been tired like that after exercise too - often when I've increased the intensity or duration well beyond what I've done previously, and/or when I haven't handled my nutrition properly before and after. I haven't seen how you work out, what your diet is like, what your sleep habits are like, what your heart rate variability is, etc. etc., but it all plays a part. If you're that dead tired after exercise, it's clearly too much. I'm pretty wiped after 60 or even 45 minutes on the Peloton doing mostly Zone 3 work. If you're out there trying to maintain 170BPM for 2 hours then yeah, unless you're some elite cyclist you're probably going to be completely wrecked after that.

[troyguitar]

I'm trying to maintain 15 mph. It shouldn't be this hard.

You've got significantly less practice than me, how hard is it for you to maintain 15 mph?

[Johnny_P]

I'm trying to maintain 15 mph. It shouldn't be this hard.

You've got significantly less practice than me, how hard is it for you to maintain 15 mph?

Last road ride I did I averaged 13.7

[Johnny_P]

Anyone try out the new WTB tires with the SG2 puncture belt in them? 120 TPI sounds good…

Need more knobs than these Terreno tires have.

[coogles]

I'm trying to maintain 15 mph. It shouldn't be this hard.

You've got significantly less practice than me, how hard is it for you to maintain 15 mph?

I haven't recorded a ride on the Emonda yet, but on the CAAD I did a few longer rides and using distance/time I was always in that 15mph range, and I was always dead if they lasted maybe 90 minutes or more. And I'm sure you do have more time on a bike than me, but I've been pretending to be an athlete and training like it since I was 15 years old. I guess we'll see, pure endurance is new for me, but I have decent strength to smash some pedals and am mainly working on getting my heart and lungs to catch up. Even though the vast majority of it has been off the bike, I've invested countless hours into my physical fitness and at least some of that work transfers over.

[troyguitar]

I'm trying to maintain 15 mph. It shouldn't be this hard.

You've got significantly less practice than me, how hard is it for you to maintain 15 mph?

I haven't recorded a ride on the Emonda yet, but on the CAAD I did a few longer rides and using distance/time I was always in that 15mph range, and I was always dead if they lasted maybe 90 minutes or more. And I'm sure you do have more time on a bike than me, but I've been pretending to be an athlete and training like it since I was 15 years old. I guess we'll see, pure endurance is new for me, but I have decent strength to smash some pedals and am mainly working on getting my heart and lungs to catch up. Even though the vast majority of it has been off the bike, I've invested countless hours into my physical fitness and at least some of that work transfers over.

And I can run sub-7 minute miles with relative ease since I was 12, so I would think that I could ride a bike at 15 mph after over a year of training... but apparently I'm and it takes many years to do that.

[coogles]

And I can run sub-7 minute miles with relative ease since I was 12, so I would think that I could ride a bike at 15 mph after over a year of training... but apparently I'm and it takes many years to do that.

In my limited experience, running ability is not 1:1 with riding ability. My former riding buddy was a cross country runner in high school and could string together multiple sub-6 minute miles back then. We started riding together a good 5 or 6 years after that, but he could still run in the mid 6s for miles at a time without a problem. He's an inch taller than me but at the time was probably at least 30 pounds lighter. My legs also dwarfed his. I was the faster sprinter on a bike hands down, and over the course of a 1-2 hour ride we were basically dead even.

Seems to me someone can be a pretty decent runner by being light and having a springy achilles. Get a decent enough cardio base to go with it an voila, you can run. I'm still a runner and struggle to run an 8 flat. Cycling, though, isn't impacted by weight unless you're accelerating or climbing; once up to speed that weight basically doesn't matter at all. The effort put into a pedal is also actually force/maximum available force, so the stronger a rider is, the more sub-maximal that pedal stroke is at a given output and the longer that effort can be sustained. And that is why I think you would benefit from some off-the-bike strength training.

[Johnny_P]

No pain no gain. Sprint every once in a while. Gotta push it occasionally.

[troyguitar]

No pain no gain. Sprint every once in a while. Gotta push it occasionally.

I hit 190+ bpm pushing as hard as I can on every ride. I average 160+ on every ride. It's all pain, no gain.

[troyguitar]

In any case, hopefully this buys me a few watts...

I'm still waiting on the damn frame, the woman finally shipped it yesterday, ETA is Monday.

[troyguitar]

I hit 190+ bpm pushing as hard as I can on every ride. I average 160+ on every ride. It's all pain, no gain.

Stretching after rides? Eating enough protein after? Eating anything during? Eating enough carbs prior to fuel your glycogen stores so you’re not catabolizing muscle?

Within 15 minutes of the end of every ride I have 25g of ANIMAL BROTEIN. I stretch after that. Is any of it enough?

I eat/drink tons and tons of carbs, such that I have gained 10 lbs of fat this year. There's no way I am low on those.

I don't generally ride long enough to eat during AFAIK. I used to do that when I was doing 3+ hrs of hills, but quit now that it's more like 30-120 minutes of flats and I want to burn fat.

[coogles]

Super helpful conversation about fueling for and after a ride.

[D Griff]

It takes a lot… I ride like 6+ hours/week and am certainly not getting better.

Dang. The Build Your Power Zones program is only 2.5 hours per week.

I'm going to try to squeeze in an actual outdoor ride this week too, I'm especially excited to see how the 28s feel at ~80psi, but yeah I'll still be a long way off from 6 hours/week.

I think I've come to terms with the fact that I don't want to get better bad enough to do a bunch of Peloton stuff

Maybe I'll do something like that in the winter. My goals for this year were to just do at least one 100KM+ ride per month and get in an honest 5,000+ outdoor miles.

[coogles]

I think I've come to terms with the fact that I don't want to get better bad enough to do a bunch of Peloton stuff

Maybe I'll do something like that in the winter. My goals for this year were to just do at least one 100KM+ ride per month and get in an honest 5,000+ outdoor miles.

The Peloton is all I have time for. I wake up at 5:45am and hop on the bike while the wife and kids are all still sleeping. It’s really the only time I have. Buying a road bike at this stage of my life was a decision.

[D Griff]

Stretching after rides? Eating enough protein after? Eating anything during? Eating enough carbs prior to fuel your glycogen stores so you’re not catabolizing muscle?

Within 15 minutes of the end of every ride I have 25g of ANIMAL BROTEIN. I stretch after that. Is any of it enough?

I eat/drink tons and tons of carbs, such that I have gained 10 lbs of fat this year. There's no way I am low on those.

I don't generally ride long enough to eat during AFAIK. I used to do that when I was doing 3+ hrs of hills, but quit now that it's more like 30-120 minutes of flats and I want to burn fat.

That sounds pretty good/similar to me. I also agree on the eating during, I really don't bother unless the ride is over two hours, in fact most of my rides are out in the morning on only 12 ounces of coffee or so and a tablespoon of creamer. I have the brotein after and then don't eat anything for like four more hours.

This probably doesn't help as I know this has been really frustrating for you, but I suspect your struggles with sleeping are a big part of why you get so exhausted from riding. I'm not sure what the solution is (weed, melatonin, really boring books, doctors), but I think if you started sleeping well, you would both see some gainz and also not feel as exhausted from your rides.

[D Griff]

I think I've come to terms with the fact that I don't want to get better bad enough to do a bunch of Peloton stuff

Maybe I'll do something like that in the winter. My goals for this year were to just do at least one 100KM+ ride per month and get in an honest 5,000+ outdoor miles.

The Peloton is all I have time for. I wake up at 5:45am and hop on the bike while the wife and kids are all still sleeping. It’s really the only time I have. Buying a road bike at this stage of my life was a decision.

I would do the same thing in your boat and I may be there in the next couple of years, so for now I'm all about the fun. It has worked out pretty well, but I seem to have plateaued as a 19 MPH solo rider, at least where I live with some hills and some traffic.

[troyguitar]

So 175 bpm average, including warmup and breaks so 180+ during the actual efforts, is not trying hard enough?

OK, guess I need to hold 200 bpm constantly.

[D Griff]

I think I've come to terms with the fact that I don't want to get better bad enough to do a bunch of Peloton stuff

Maybe I'll do something like that in the winter. My goals for this year were to just do at least one 100KM+ ride per month and get in an honest 5,000+ outdoor miles.

You don’t have to do Peloton stuff, but you do need to do some structured interval training of some kind to break through your performance plateau.

Same goes for Troy.

https://ilovebicycling.com/2x20-interva ... r-workout/

You won’t build power without intervals.

I could definitely give this a whirl. I do some intervals from time to time intentionally and they sort of organically happen with trying to break certain segment records, punchy climbs, etc. I will say, 20 minute efforts aren't something I've really done much of. A power meter would really help with that but I don't know that I really care to spend the money on one or get that caught up in the numbers.

[troyguitar]

So 175 bpm average, including warmup and breaks so 180+ during the actual efforts, is not trying hard enough?

OK, guess I need to hold 200 bpm constantly.

You’re interpreting everything wrong.

Do some 2x20 intervals. Give your heartrate time to recover between them.

You will see gains.

Riding at redline for the entirety of every ride is a sure fire way to burn yourself out.

How much harder do I need to ride? An hour or two already absolutely kills me.

What's your average heart rate for an hour or two ride?

[coogles]

You don’t have to do Peloton stuff, but you do need to do some structured interval training of some kind to break through your performance plateau.

Same goes for Troy.

https://ilovebicycling.com/2x20-interva ... r-workout/

You won’t build power without intervals.

Damn near back to back FTP tests. :dead:

[troyguitar]

How much harder do I need to ride? An hour or two already absolutely kills me.

What's your average heart rate for an hour or two ride?

Do. Intervals.

As for my HR on a ride, here:





That’s with me dedicating the first half to recovery/warmup and the 2nd half to putting some power down because I was feeling spicy.

My max HR is 192ish currently. I didn’t hit my max.

I have never tried that little on a ride... Yet you think I'm not trying hard enough? I don't understand.

[troyguitar]

Damn near back to back FTP tests. :dead:

Exactly.

I kinda want to do this on the Peloton one day for shits and giggles and see how much my power numbers suffer on the 2nd test.

I am practically doing this on every ride.

There are stop signs and shit so I can't follow your prescriptions exactly, but here's my ride from the other day for example:

[troyguitar]

That low of HR is basically stopping, especially after I've been going for awhile. I take an eternity to recover.