Tip-top cycling form takes me over each climb like a tail-wind whilst the bitumen races underneath because my competence outweighs the demands of the day.

With a further 80kms of mountain course time-trialing to go, my engine is still cool and my outputs stay solid under pressure – that”s what it’s all about when I’m embarking upon / performing in a Gran Fondo Challenge ride.

as base rides, climbing repeats, high-cadence bunch-riding, and time-trialing.

to really build your cycling engine to be stronger against long-range gravity-resisting climbing loads. You have to understand that riding the longer climbs at higher pace is very hard work, constantly threatening the muscles with lactic acid build-up and effectively running your cycling engine in time-trial mode for large blocks of time (20 – 120mins for some riders ascending Mt Hotham).

Reading later about strength-training in phase 2, you’ll see how intensely straining it can be to gear-load and gravity-load the body’s cycling muscles with high amounts of resistance and then practice this twice per week.  Loading up on resistance training even on a weekly basis will require the body to recover quickly (within the working week ideally) in time to do it again each

Saturday for example. Understandably then, you must be fit enough to recover quickly BEFORE you start a 4-week plus strength-cycling training phase, so focus on getting fit for cycling first and foremost.

Getting fit for cycling means becoming adapted to longer periods of riding (3hrs+) and mid-range cycling intensity (75% of max effort) without lactic acid build-up or any significant fatigue onset post-ride.

Thus a simple answer to HOW DO I GET CYCLING FIT? is to do base / endurance training rides for a few weekends to achieve an ability to ride for 3hrs+ at steady-state intensity,

without gathering lactic-acid build-up in the muscles and without feeling knocked about or overly fatigued. This is generally called endurance / base training and is best done solo or in pairs in the wind, on flatter, longer uninterrupted roadways (like the Mornington Peninsula or Beach Rd areas), and is considered the more boring, uneventful, time-consuming phase of road training – but is without doubt critical in later succeeding with the overall plan.

Creating this ‘endurance’ fitness will actually provide more energy back to you once working effectively in the base-training phase (as in, actually leave you feeling more energised than tired after rides) and typically comes from riding in a regular routine of longer weekend ‘endurance’ rides (steady tempo, in the wind, for more than 3hrs, at 65-75% heart-rate or effort). As you get fitter, the tempo and cadence is best to come up (to 90rpm ideally), the average speed of your ride may increase (27-33kph depending on your engine size and the wind). When achieved at a higher level of the sport, I have found that the general energy capacity increases and a smorgasboard of other beneficial changes can also transpire with solid endurance fitness:-

• improved sleep
• loss of weight
• fitter feeling
• clearer thinking
• hotter body temperature
• increased flexibility
• slimmer body-shape
• less stiffness
• increased metabolism (hunger pangs)
• post-ride fatigue turns into a post-ride more energised state

 

But it’s commonly not always experienced as a totally enjoyable training phase, and I’ve found these down-sides are worth looking out for during the endurance get-fit-phase:-

 

• more time consumed on training
• more flatulence
• more dehydration if not maintained
• more money spent on food
• more wear’n’tear on tires and other bike parts
• some boredom
• monotony or motivational issues for some riders (book into Ridewiser Ergo classes to fix this!)
• soreness in parts of the body not noticed before (seek advice if this does not resolve itself within 2 or 3 endurance rides).