From the perspective of someone who’s cycled a long time and only recently started training, gains will come fast no matter what you do so I think the standard training plan is a great place to start. I’ve never done multi day trips like this, but I can say I come home amazingly fresh from 8 hour grinders compared to how I used to feel.
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I appreciate all the insight! I guess it’s kinda like… if there’s only time for a short interval session I should probably do that instead of not doing anything, but otherwise maybe I’ll focus on some longer z2 efforts?
@amy what sort of weight training do you recommend?
Pushups and dumbbell rows would be a great starting point for upper body strength. If you have access to small dumbbells, lateral raises and reverse flies are also great low weight exercises that will add some resiliency to your shoulders.
You can do a lot with body weight if you do single leg work. I am a big fan of the bulgarian split squat, but lunges may be a better starting point.
For more lateral movement, lateral step ups on a box are good.
Lots of variations of things you could do single leg, like a single leg squat onto a box or bench.
I am big on deadlifts and the like, but if you’re not already familiar with the movement it can be tough to pick up and get into heavy stuff if you’re unsure. If you are already familiar, then go for it but don’t worry about getting into heavy weights given the short time period. Warm up then 3 sets of 10 reps might be a good option.
Could even swap those out for Romanian dead lifts after a good 4-5 week block. RDLs can make your core feel pretty solid and help your grip strength, which will be really beneficial on a fatigued bumpy descent.
But again, stick to a plan you know you can accomplish so if you’re not going to the gym, look for the best exercuses you can do at home that offer the difficulty you need with the equipment you’ve got and set a schedule and stick to it.
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A 600-mile race with inadequate preparation sounds exactly like the kind of thing that I’d do!
Just ride your bike a lot and do what Amy tells you and you’ll be fine. If you can ride your bike outdoors it would be preferable because as stated above you will naturally get “intervals” from riding up hills.
This is basically all I’ve ever done and I have a very good watts/kg and I am definitively not a natural athlete
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On-bike pm is ~20w lower than the trainer. This is after I calibrated.
On-bike is a rotor inspider, trainer is an elite direto.
Any idea of what I should do?
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You should do nothing. You’ll never get two power meters reading identical. The rotor is probably more accurate.
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Dammit
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Yeah - training indoors also fails to use the rest of your body in a way that mimics riding since it doesn’t require any balance or dynamic movements to accommodate potholes, washboarded roads, rocks, etc. It’s particularly bad about isolating your legs entirely. Unless you’re one of these zwift-only cyclists who post online having problems about lifting their front wheel off the ground in sprints because they wrench on their stationary bikes so hard they can’t ride in a straight line outside.
As a mostly trail/gravel/dirt rider, zwift is fine and all, but if i solely zwifted, it’d leave me woefully unprepared for the jarring conditions of real life roads and trails.
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Never mind the bumps and balance. First day on the road after a particularly Zwift heavy winter, I was blowing every single turn because I was traveling 5+ kmph faster than I knew how to deal with.
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You should be able to calibrate the trainer against the power meter. I have an Elite Qubo for the smart portion of my rollers that needs this. Mine still floats +/-10 w in erg mode.
I think all the major programs (Zwift, TR, etc) have a spin down calibration.
You are wholly mistaken.
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right? Who does 25 pullups?
I’m thinking about all the hours I’ve spent doing really intense structured training to yield a laughable W/kg number, when this asshole over here is just fucking around and on any given day beats me by at least 2W/kg.
Well I don’t, not any more! Also I just want to point out that I currently weigh 64kg so even if I could do 25 again it would not be a particularly impressive feat compared with people who are normal weight
I think what residual athleticism I have is the result of always remaining active at varying levels
the internet says you need to use their app for initial calibration and then you can do a spin down in zwift. i just assume mig already did this because that seems like something you always do with a trainer.
@LASER_BEIGE ride your trainer about 10-15 minutes before you calibrate. you want it sufficiently warm before doing any calibration procedures as it accumulates heat, so a cold calibration won’t be accurate.. at least not for most trainers. i believe some compensate for heat these days, but its better to be sure and just do it warm.
Yeah, the Elite app makes you ride for 10 minutes before it starts the calibration protocol.
there’s such a scale too. i mean, i’d be lying to myself if i tried to pretend i had no natural athletic inclination, but i also realized real quick when i got into racing and hit my initial plateau after 2-3 years that those who were truly gifted could surpass me in like 9 months of structured training or being coached and by year two they were on another level. 7-8 years into training and i’d made like 2-3% gains over what i could do in year 3.
meanwhile I had a shop buddy in the bike shop days who started racing and went from cat 5 to cat 2 in 1 season with 0 structured training. as such, had 0 appreciation for the effort others were putting in to try to get even close to that fast because he was just riding for run.
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I did the last calibration after the workout
I guess I’ll do it again for fun
Edit: but it’s also new, I’m getting used to it, it was a warranty replacement and I think there might be something up with the battery
How many kms are you hoping to do a day? The most important thing for bikepacking is actually the training of your butt and extremities. Have lots of different hand positions. I always go flat-bars/aeros and bar ends, or drops and aeroes. But you need to be used to using them. Don’t throw them on the week before.
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Around 240km a day for four days. I imagine I will be doing quite a bit of riding at night. I’ve never used aero bars but I’ve definitely considered them, currently I have some somewhat flared drop bars that feel ok on my bike