Best use of my commute home - Triathlon Training Diary

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Best use of my commute home

Feb 22nd 2010 at 20:32

Hi,

I often commute home to bump up my weekly bike hours and I find it helps a great deal with the weekend ride.

My first A race this year is Wimbleball, if you don't know it, its the UK Ironman 70.3 and the bike course is pretty tough with about 1800 meters of climbing.

My commute home is relatively flat with only 144 meters of climbing. I would love to change the route for a hillier route, but family commitments prevent this.

So how can I use this ride to become a better climber?

Please consider sponsoring me at: § http://www.justgiving.com/Grant-Smith

bigmafya

Feb 23rd 2010 at 22:38

My A race this year is also UK 70.3, good luck and hope to see you there! Have you thought about riding using a higher gear than usual to work on high gear/low cadence situations. Alternatively using a lower gear than usual with a much higher candence can get you used to spinning legs faster and working on technique. I've found recently that my Turbo training winter work on my technique has hugely improved my climbing ability. I just make sure that as I'm on the hill I'm thinking about my technique carefully and I get up with more ease.

You could also do reps on any hills near you. I'm in the same position as you in regards limited time due to family commitments but luckily have plenty of hills to work on on my commute home

mattisard: my old commute used to be very similar, so here are a few tips that i tried and have been very successful to me - climb the hills in the hardest gear that you can, repeat the hill 2 or 3 times on a sunny evening, then spin down the hill in a low gear to improve spinning those legs - climb the hill in an easy gear, but with only one leg clipped in. improves smoothness and effieiency around the stroke, again helps when going up hill. Either swap legs every 30 secs, or do the hills with alternate legs. if you can find the chris carmicheal 50 tips to improve your cycling then get a copy and read it and here are some others Pro-tips for riding climbs faster By John Ibbotson - Fit-For.com Pro-tips for riding climbs faster By Guy Andrews both of which i found on www.roadcycling.com site enjoy your ride
Feb 25th 2010 15:52

grantsmith: Hi, Thanks for all the great advice. Just wondered, chris carmicheal 50 tips to improve your cycling, is this a book? Can't find any reference to it anywhere.
Mar 2nd 2010 14:15

mattisard

Mar 3rd 2010 at 12:02

i have the file if you want it. And i lied, its actually 29 tips and not by Charmichal. Also i have left another post about climbing tips.

mattisard: Here are some web links that i have found very useful various disciplines § http://www.zoggs.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=48 § http://www.cptips.com/climb.htm § http://www.cptips.com/intervl.htm have fun and have a good ride
Mar 3rd 2010 12:08

grantsmith: Yes I would love the file, thanks for the links...
Mar 4th 2010 12:44

Joely7634

Mar 9th 2010 at 19:36

I would agree with this, if no actual hills are available take down the cadence, increase the gear and push....focusing on technique of course.

Skinnybuddah

Apr 20th 2010 at 18:43

Hi there,
My commute is 9k there and 9k back.

Easy downhill on the way there (great - not to messy when I get there) and 9k back all uphill climb - great for getting off at the other end and doing a short 15-20min run to turn it into a brick session.

What I've also found quite good is to use a singlespeed bike for this, as it gives a real good workout as well as being quite a practical choice for commuting.

Hope this gives you some points for thought.

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