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Firstly, it is difficult to maintain an average speed of 30mph for 10 or 25 miles. The world hour record which stipulates you have to use a road bike is just above 30mph, 49.700 km (30.882 mi) . This means on a track, with road bike, the best rider in the world, can just about manage a 30mph ride (I would like to see Fabian Cancellera have a go at breaking this). However, using a bike with all aerodynamic advantages, a 30mph ride is quite possible, even for a keen amateur cyclist. If you are racing on roads with traffic, you will also gain an additional benefit of passing traffic.
If you really want to do a 30mph in time trials you could try
- a motorised bike with a sneaky motor hidden in the electric gears.
- Finding a super fast course, which starts at the top of a hill and finishes at the bottom and has a steady stream of passing cars to give you a boost.
- Spend £10,000 on a state of the art carbon fibre bike and research your position in a wind tunnel.
- Train hard.
Out of all these, the last one – train hard – is actually the best, though not always the most popular. For short distance time trialling, you need to work on your speed, and get used to cycling at 30mph.
Firstly, you can only do this intense interval training when you have a reasonable level of base ‘aerobic fitness’
When you have this base fitness, you can start racing and training at a higher intensity and have better recovery from your efforts.
One of the most effective ways to increase power output, is to train at an intensity greater than you can manage for 20 minutes.
One of the hardest interval sessions is riding at maximal effort for periods of 3-5 minutes, taking a good rest in between. As your fitness increases you can increase the number of intervals that you do. If you can do 10 intervals of 3-5 minutes at your maximum effort, you can know you are pretty fit.
For myself, the 30mph barrier is a real goal. I have got close with a 20.09 in a 10 mile time trial – just 9 seconds off. One thing I often do, is train on a road bike trying to cycle at 30mph (or close) for five minutes, recovering and then trying again. I usually do this on a road with a slight tailwind. It’s good psychologically to get used to cycling at 30mph.
Even better would be to train on a time trial bike, so you get used to the speed of training at that speed.
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