Now that the winter months are over, it is time to get ready for more outdoor riding. No matter what type of cycling you enjoy most, there are a few basic principles to apply to your spring training.

Welcome to another article by cyclingnewsasia Professional Coach Mike Carter of Echelon Sports - over to you Mike!

Coach Mike in Qinghai!

The goal for all of us is to have fun! To do this we need to be successful at reaching our goals and somehow, enjoy a higher quality and healthier life. To do this we have to lay the foundations of fitness and build on our previous success. What better time to do it than spring! So what do we do in Spring to help us lay the foundations of fitness? First, there is “base.” Base is defined as that foundation of fitness that has been laid by longer (2 hours or more), lower intensity rides (on the Rate Of Perceived Exertion scale of “1” to “10 where a “10” is a maximum; 99% effort and a “1” is almost no sensation, low intensity would be a “3” to “4”).

Base building helps us to get used to sitting on the bike again. The muscles of our shoulders, neck and back can ache and make the rides more miserable than enjoyable if they are not used to being on a bike for extended periods of time. Base building helps to strengthen and condition those muscles so they don’t become so bothersome. Of course, a proper fit on the bike also goes a long way at helping to alleviate any achiness, so be sure you have the proper fit.  Base also helps develop the energy pathways of the body to be able to convert food into fuel by burning fat more efficiently. The more efficient your body is at burning fat, the longer (and eventually harder) you can ride, which in turn burns more calories allowing you to to become leaner.

While you get fit - make sure your bike fits!

Base building also helps conditions the working muscles themselves by developing the strength and endurance of those working muscles. As you build up the duration of your base miles, you also enhance muscle memory, which contributes to using those working muscles more efficiently. That means you can go longer or faster without getting tired prematurely.

Once you build a base you have the foundation to add in rides where you start to develop your speed and your ability to ride at higher intensities. At these intesities you will be close or even at your aerobic threshold (that point where you are riding so hard that your body can not deliver or metabolize the oxygen required to do the work demanded of the muscles).

Start building base with rides that are again, easy, RPE of 3 to 4, with a pedaling cadence around 80 RPM’s and your first ride will be 60 minutes. Then add 15 to 30 minutes with each ride until you reach a ride time of 3 hours. Ride 2 to 5 days a week if you can. Obviously, the more you ride the faster you will build that base. If you ride uphill and can keep your effort at a low intensity that too will accelerate the base building process.

Nice long rides will get you fit - try getting out with friends with similar goals!

Once you have established a solid base, you can begin to add in more intense efforts during your rides. Building leg strength and aerobic power are critical at helping you to improve your performance and the better you feel on the bike, the more fun it is!

Build your leg strength in the spring with a specific exercise on the bike itself. Cycling is very motion specific. Cadence or RPM’s have a cumulative effect on conditioning and because of that, motion specificity suggests that the best way to improve your strength in any activity is to work the muscles under a load (think, big gears, RPM’s 40 or less!) doing that same, specific motion. On a hill is best to do these type efforts and these efforts I call “WOB’s” for “Weights On the Bike” can be done two to three times a week (once base conditioning has been established). The interval for WOB’s range from 5 minutes to as much as 30 minutes, and this is executed both seated and out of the saddle. Be careful that you allow enough recovery from these workouts as they should be done after a good warm up of at least 20 minutes, and then the RPE should be between a “6” and “9” for those hard core types.

The other workout that you want to focus on in the spring is your aerobic power. The “HOP” or “Hour Of Power” workout is a fantastic way to develop that aerobic power. This is the “bread and butter” workout. HOP provides the greatest benefit to increasing your aerobic capacity, and building aerobic power and strength. The RPM’s are around 50 with RPE ranging between a “6” and a “9". By using gearing that requires a lower RPM, you engage the pedal earlier in the pedal stroke, thereby increasing the travel distance of the power stroke. The increase is actually small, but when the revolutions per minute, per hour, per day, per week are all taken into account, the actual impact is huge!

Mountain biking can also help your pre-season training as it adds to your core strength, and posture on the bike

The name “HOP” implies a one-hour effort, however this workout can be done in intervals as short as 15 minutes. The parameters of the workout (RPE, RPM’s) are what matter most. Additionally, doing the HOP should be done in both a seated and also out of the saddle position. The lower RPM’s also allow you to pay attention to your mechanics – are you over the pedals? Are you putting too much weight on the bars? Are you holding your head up? Are you relaxed in your upper body and are you dedicating your energy to the force into the pedals and not re-directing energy into gripping the bars, tensing your neck or even your shoulders? Those thing divert energy away from you could be putting into the pedals directly. So HOP is also excellent at refining your efficiency on the bike.

Like most sports, the  better you are at them, the more fun they are. Cycling is no different. The more fit you are, the more fun it is so get out and take advantage of spring. Build base, build your leg strength and your aerobic power and you will have a blast this season!

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