Finding Measurable Improvement In Your Cycling

Do you find yourself struggling to get better on the bike? Ever wonder if you’re making any progress at all? I do and I bet others do as well.

That’s why I keep a log of my training. It isn’t detailed, or even linked to a GPS enabled cyclocomputer, but it tells me what I need to know about my riding and if I’m making any progress.

For instance, I went back and looked at my rides over the past three weeks to see how my average speed was doing. I felt like I was riding faster but I wanted to see if there was any truth to my ‘feelings’. I went back through three weeks of data and found the following:

Average Speed Three Weeks Ago – 13.475 mph
Average Speed Two Weeks Ago – 13.775 mph
Average Speed 1 week ago – 13.975 mph

Those aren’t huge numbers, only a .5 mph increase, but considering my level of fitness and weight, they tell me that I’m improving. Do I feel like some of that improvement Is due to my ongoing Fit with Bicycle Lab? Yes, but I think part of it is due to my legs coming back as well.

Regardless, I wouldn’t have been able to look at this data if I wasn’t logging my rides.

Seeing empirical data showing progress is important because I don’t feel like I’m making much progress on the bike. Granted, I’ve only been riding again for a month but I feel like my gains are coming very, very slowly and I’m not making headway on my weight. At all.

Not A Great Week Last Week But Time To Get Serious

Last week wasn’t that great. I had a good ride on Monday, woke Tuesday morning with a terrible sinus headache and didn’t ride, flatted five miles into my ride on Thursday, and cut a tire/flatted on Friday. Then I didn’t ride either Saturday or Sunday due to being out of town with the family. Only 43 miles on the bike last week and none of it felt very good. And then when I weighed myself on Friday morning I found out I hadn’t lost any weight. No wonder I didn’t feel like I was performing very well. My training log is telling me a slightly different story though as my average speed is obviously getting better. I’m not where I want to be though.

Don’t get me wrong, Average Speed isn’t the only thing you should look at. It’s just all I have available due to my old cyclocomputer. Ideally, and I’ll get to this one day, we should also be looking at our heart rate and recovery times.

Since I started riding again in July, I’ve gotten 237 miles in. For the year I’ve ridden 419 miles. Certainly not huge numbers but I think I’ve gotten enough in to start riding harder. I’m not going to see significant, measurable results by riding 43 miles a week at 14 mph. I need to increase my daily mileage and start adding intervals into my rides. I’ve got to get that weight scale needle moving to the left.

Do you log your rides?

If so, do you review your data to see what progress you’re making? Leave a comment below to let me know what you’re doing.

Photoc: Jeff Werner

https://lifes2wheelbalance.wordpress.com Tony

Great job on the numbers increasing. I find that sometimes taking a small break from riding I can recover and come back stronger. I use a killer spreadsheet I found online that enables me to track all my miles and formulates them into a calendar automatically. Helps me keep tabs on myself.

http://bikingtolive.com Bryan

Thanks for the comment Tony. Recovery is a key part of a training program. Sounds like a cool spreadsheet. I’ve tried spreadsheets but just found them too much work. Or maybe it’s because I’m knee-deep in spreadsheets everyday at work and don’t want to deal with them in my cycling!

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Janice in GA

I’ve been tracking my riding over on dailymile.com. I like the little graphs and things they have.

I’m not really interested in training per se, since I’m mostly a utility biker. Most of my rides are hops of 6 miles or so/leg. When I started riding again back in May, I was averaging 8 mph. O_o Now I’m up to something over 11 mph AVS most days. I’m ok with that. I don’t need to do club rides.

http://bikingtolive.com Bryan

Janice, thanks for dropping in. I log mine at Dailymile also and like it a lot. I don’t like how they just recently changed the user interface. They’ve made it much harder to actually enter a workout.

It sounds like your doing great on your riding.

http://bikenoob.wordpress.com Ray

I decided I’m improving because on Sunday’s club ride I was able to hang with the group much longer than I have done in the past. They still left me behind on the return leg though…

http://bikingtolive.com Bryan

I’ve ready where several people use that as a measuring stick and it’s probably not a bad one. You’ll be hanging with them the entire ride before long I’m sure.

http://www.331miles.blogspot.com 331miles

You didn’t lose any weight because you added some leg muscle that allowed you to increase your average speed! Keep up the good work…

http://bikingtolive.com Bryan

You’re probably right and I need to remember stuff like that.

http://massivemtber.blogspot.com/ Clive Chapman

Mate, looking back at my time since I started “fat biking” over a year ago I see plateaus, I see bad times, I see time off the bike due to many reasons, life I guess, but I do see improvement. Not only in weight loss, which is over 5 stones now, but in fitness.

My biking started with a 6 mile canal towpath pootle. I did a 106 miler on Sunday! I never thought I’d be doing stuff like that a year ago!

The plateaus and the “not biking” reasons can get to you, they did me, February this year I was on a real downer, but once you realise that if you’re sensible with the grub and you’re still getting out there even if it’s for a tiny pedal then the weight will fall off.

Just keep doing what you’re doing, we’re in this together mate!

http://bikingtolive.com Bryan

Clive, I think you give lots of good advice there. This weight loss journey isn’t going to be without road bumps, lows, or frustrations. We’ve just got to push on through with the end goal in mind.

Nice job on the 106 miler!