Five Ways to Measure Cycling Success

As we ride our bicycles we need to know how we’re doing, if we’re getting better, and if we’re on track to meet goals we’ve set for ourselves. The way to do that is to take measurements to see if we’re on track to success. Five Ways to Measure Cycling Success Keep a log. This can be as elaborate or simple as you want it. It can also be free or available for a price. I’ve used...

Century Training Series: Days 44, 45 and 46

Day 44 – 4×6 Intervals at RPE9 All my interval sessions up to this point had been 4×8 (four intervals at 8 minute duration) so I was looking forward to something new and to see just how hard I could push for 6 minutes. It was hot when I started the ride with a stiff wind out of the Northeast which made the second and fourth intervals particularly difficult. After my warm up I waited until I had a...

Century Training Series: Days 33, 34, 35 & 36 (Week 5 Re-Cap)

Day 33 – Rest Day Not much to be said about that. I considered riding anyway because I had missed a day earlier in the week due to rain but decided against it so I didn’t compromise my Saturday morning ride. Day 34 – 3 Hour Endurance Pace Ride I woke up a little before 7 AM and headed on down to White Rock Lake to get this ride in. The morning was just beautiful and the temp was still in the...

Century Training Series: Day 18

For some reason I was thinking all day that today was just a one hour endurance ride but upon checking the century training plan in the June 2009 issue of Bicycling, I found out it was 1.5 hours. No big deal. The weather was near perfect again with cloudy skies, temps in the low 90s and just a touch of sprinkles a few times. It didn’t even sprinkle enough to get the roads wet. I think the threat of rain...

Century Training Series: Day 17

Day 17 brings me to Tuesday’s ride of Week 1 of the Bicycling Century Training Plan which is a 1.5 hour overall endurance ride with 4×8 intervals. The weather was near perfect today with a temperature of 90F, partly cloudy and only a slight wind. I did a 15 minute warm up and decided I would do this entire ride in the small chain ring to see how it felt vice doing it in the big ring. At the end of the...