Barton Haynes here in sunny San Diego. I’m continuing my July series on bike training exercises, which because I must be a cycling pain-junky, tend to be pretty rough training regimens.
There are two types of training:
- Long training – done on medium to long rides
- Short training – training that takes less than an hour
While there are certainly medium training exercises you can do, I think the purpose of training is to push your abilities. As it happens, the hardest training that pushes my abilities the most all tend to be either short or long. In this article we will look at long training.
The ultra-long ride
The ultra-ride long is about spending as much time on a single ride that you can. In this ride, you will take your weekly long ride and double it. If you are used to doing a 60-100 miler ride for your long ride, the ultra-long ride will be somewhat brutal. At the least, you’ll be sore the next day.
This type of ride will prepare you for excessive time in the saddle, special long races (such as Seattle to Portland), and build endurance that you simple cannot build without this type of ride.
The double long ride
The double long ride has similar goals as the ultra-long ride, except with this training exercise you are focusing on recover time.
The double long ride involves doing your long ride two days in a row, at normal pace each day. With this training, you are training your body to recover and push through tiredness and stiffness.
The mountain ride
The mountain ride is an exercise where you find the longest hill or mountain near your house, and ride up it. Mountain pass rides generally are perfect for this, as foothills and then the climb to the actual pass tends to be a sufficient distance. Ideally, you will get at least 40 miles in.
In the event that you don’t have a 40 mile pass to ride, you can find a shorter length but do it multiple time. Plus, at the end you get to coast all the way back.
The wind resistance ride
This is my favorite type of ride, as I think it (for me) has offered the most tangible and immediate improvements in my riding ability, both in terms of strength, speed, and endurance.
The wind resistance ride simply means riding with wind resistance. If you have a bike chariot, such as to carry your children in, it offers excellent resistance. Otherwise, wearing a large jacket or any other clothing that will comfortably gather a lot of wind will be sufficient. Or, if it’s a very windy day you can simply choose a ride that heads directly into the wind.
Happy cycling!
-Barton Haynes