16 MPH wall

[Garz]

Agreed on the plateau. If you want to take it a notch up you have to either adjust your routine and stick with it, or train effectively for say six weeks to get in better shape. The problem with this is as soon as you go back to old ways you will eventually go back to your old plateau.

I wouldn't beat yourself up over it. Breaking the average for say a competition or event will be worth the efforts over the short term. I always find that if your trying to get too competitive it takes a lot of the fun element of cycling.

 

[earth]

I've certainly hit a plateau. I reached it about 3 years ago though.

My training consists of:

Commute to work 8 miles per day round trip. I do this at a brisk pace on a flat bar 700C bike, to be replaced within 6 months with a fixi/single speed.
Apart from after I got knocked off this month I have not been commuting but I will solve this problem today by buying a new wheel.


Currently in the evenings I do an hour on a turbo a few nights per week. I do this mainly to keep the weight under control. I tried a training DVD last year but could hardly make it through the warm up. In the end I decided I would get better use from the turbo if I did an hour at 70-80% maxHR rather than 30 mins of effectively sprinting at 90-100% maxHR.

Weekends are longer rides 50 miles+. I don't really follow a regime on longer rides. Tend to go fast quick as possible with a tail wind and then get hit on the way back from the head wind. I'm going to try intervals when I have a head wind. Sprint until exhaustion then recover and sprint again.

As the evenings get lighter I move off the turbo and do hour rides in the evening which are normally about 20 miles. These I can do faster so I think I might increase them to 30 mile rides.

 

[lukesdad]

Yep ! Id say thats a plateau alright Sounds like it could do with abit of spicing Up.

 

[The Jogger]

Do you do interval training?

 

[lukesdad]

Do you always ride alone ?

 

[accountantpete]

With headwinds you really need to be on the drops and I find getting the cadence up a bit and using a lower gear helps.

Otherwise,from past experience,there's nothing like getting a better bike that is more responsive - the feedback encourages you to do more!

 

[earth]

I do generally ride alone. Up to now I have only found riders who are far quicker or quite a bit slower. A friend at work is getting a road bike this year so I may ride with him in the evenings or weekends. He commutes so it shouldn't take him long to get up to speed.

 

[earth]

I might find when the wind dies down later in the year that I am quicker than I thought. I did a 50 mile loop on Sunday. Although I averaged even less (about 15.5 mph) I had a head wind for about 2/3rds the route! Strange on a loop you would expect to only have a head wind for 50%, but no... Despite this I feel fitter than this time last year and if I average that with so much head wind then I should be faster when the wind drops.

 

[lukesdad]

The contours of the terrain have a large effect on wind direction. Where I live it tends to funnel along the valleys or miss them completly depending on where its comming from not unusual to experience what you have described.

 

[lukesdad]

I do generally ride alone. Up to now I have only found riders who are far quicker or quite a bit slower. A friend at work is getting a road bike this year so I may ride with him in the evenings or weekends. He commutes so it shouldn't take him long to get up to speed.

Try it could help a lot to ride with him.

 

[PpPete]

Certainly worth trying a fixed - so long as not too many steep hills (up or down)
I'm definitely a spinner rather than a grinder, usually ride a triple and mostly in middle ring. After a few weeks of even just short rides on fixed when I went back to the triple I found I spent much more time on big ring. I don't think it's so much that it builds strength (although it does that too) but more that your legs have to keep turning - there is no let up.

+ You just get out of the habit of freewheeling, which can only help.