Maximum Heart rate is not an indicator of fitness. Maximum heart rate’s can vary by 10% between similar ability cyclists of the same age. A very rough guide to maximum heart rate’s is given by the formula 220-age. But, this is likely to be inaccurate by upto 15%. If you are serious about using heart […]

At the start of the season I was training 3 times a week. Now I am trying to increase the number of times I go out training. There is always some reason to prevent training every day. But, I am going to try and train 5 times a week, even if I only go out […]

My Weather forecast for the next three days. (except the wind is closer to 30mph at the moment( When your cycling for pleasure, there’s not much incentive to go out in a forecast like this. At least the rain is not cold, the worst is a combination of rain and 3 C. When the forecast […]

On Friday afternoon, I did two hill intervals. The first was up the A40 to Stokenchurch (5.47) with tail wind. The second hill was up the 5 mile ascent from Wycombe to Stokenchurch the other way. It took about 16 minutes. The ride home from Stokenchurch is about 20 miles. I must have got cold […]

I often find myself training on my own. But, I was introduced to cycling largely through the traditional British club run, in which you would have 5-15 riders riding together as much for the social aspect as the cycling. During these formative cycling years, I picked up on a few tips and group cycling ‘etiquette’. […]

February training went reasonably well. I was able to do about 500-600 miles. Not a huge amount, but, enough to get reasonably fit. In the past couple of weeks I have started to do my first tentative interval training. Nothing at peak effort, but, a bit to get accustomed to the shock of racing. In […]

After 3 months of steady riding and rest, February marks the beginning of more ‘serious’ training for me. My philosophy is to take 3 months (November, December and January) off any kind of racing and interval training. In February I will be following this kind of training schedule. Medium Length ride of 50-60 miles 3 […]

Last year, 2007 was quite a quiet year for me. I won 2 time trials and came 7th in National Hill Climb Championship. This year I am trying to motivate myself to do more races and hopefully enter a couple of National Championships. My main target will be the National hill climb championships in the […]

When I’m reduced to cycling at 10kmph on a flat piece of road, I know the wind is pretty strong. Today, I was up on Bingley Moor (Near Ilkley and Keighley, West Yorkshire) the wind was pretty vicious. If it had been much stronger it would have been quite dangerous. Here are some tips for […]

Overtraining can seriously damage your performance. It can also reduce your motivation and inspiration to train. It is not always the case that spending more time = better results. It is important to be judicious in when we train and when we rest. 1. Start off with Base Training If you are relatively new to […]