Riding Efficiency

Improve Your Riding Efficiency

Efficiency is defined by the work done related to the energy expended. You want to ride faster for the same amount of energy expended. Here’s how:

• Engage your glutes (and not your calves and hamstrings). Almost all of the power is applied over the top and downward portion of the pedal stroke. You’ll get more power if you engage your glutes (butt muscles) in addition to your quads. To get the feel on using your glutes, at the top of the stroke imagine you’re pushing your knees toward the handlebar or kicking a football without using your quads at all. You should feel your glutes pulling. Your calves and hamstrings don’t provide any power, so don’t try to ankle a lot – you’re just wasting energy.

• Strengthen your core. Your legs are like levers and your core is the fulcrum. If the fulcrum (core) is moving you’re dissipating energy rather than using it. Strengthening your cores means strengthening the deep muscles that encircle and stabilizes your core.

Increase Your Power

• Lose weight. Is your best way to get more power, but we already know this.

• Do high-intensity interval training (HIIT) means to work at (or slightly below) your maximum intensity for short periods, interspersed with bouts of recovery. A typical HIIT session could include:

• A 10 minutes warm-up

• Then a 30 seconds full intensity (70%-90% of your max heart rate)

• Then 60 seconds recovery (under 65% of your max heart rate)

• Then Repeat four times

• Then the most important after HIT is a Warm down for at least 5 minutes

For this exercise I have used a person aged 70 to workout the max heart rate? 220 less age will give a rough max HR 220-70 = 150 bpm

Next get your resting HR from any smart watch or your HR just before you get out of bed measure your bpm for 15 sec x 4 lets say 60 bpm

Multiply 150 by 0.7 (70%) to get 105, then add your resting heart rate 60 bpm to get 165 bpm.

From these figures you have the best HR to burn fat 130 bpm to 150 bpm with a MHR @ 165 bpm

Another good way is Hill repeats

Is another high-intensity workout that will improve fitness and increase stamina. As the name suggests, hill repeats involve repeatedly attacking a climb. You need a warm-up for 10 minutes or even more. Start low say a mile @ 6% and ride as quickly as you can. When you reach the top, return to the bottom and try again. Depending on the length of the hill and your climbing ability, you can do as many repeats as you like, but four at full power should be plenty. It’s a brutal workout that will see you make rapid improvement in your climbing ability. You just need to find a location, without the need to travel too far.

If you’re upping your intensity, then a heart rate monitor can give your current health and also track improvements. A monitor enables you to see how hard your heart is working, knowing when you have reached your max heart rate. I have mine connected to my Garmin 1000 so I can track my heart rate during the ups and downs of a ride. Not all riders like having a heart rate monitor but its an excellent aid for improving your performance.

Then Learn to Climb

On a flat road drag accounts for 70 to 90% of the energy expenditure. As a big rider you have an advantage. Although your frontal area is bigger than another riders this significantly gives you more power on the flat.

• Except during the off-season climb each week. If you don’t have a long climb use short climbs by doing hill repeats or climbing successive climbs. No climbs? Ride into the wind.

• Quiet your upper body. Some riders rhythmically move their shoulders side-to-side or even rock their bikes side-to-side as they climb. This wastes energy that you could put into the climb.

• Stay seated. This is around 10% more efficient than standing.

• Don't over pull. on your handlebars let your legs do the work.

• Keep your revs up. Drop your gears to a level that allows you to keep a cadence of approximately 70-80 rpm or as near to this cadence.

• Ride tactically. As you approach a climb position yourself near the front of the group and then during the climb gradually fade back.

• Up and over. Some riders immediately shift down to their climbing gear at the base of a climb. Without spiking your heart rate, work your way down through the gears in the early part of the ascent. Then as you approach the top pick up your speed just a little and continue to accelerate until you reached your desired speed on the descent.

Increase your VO2 max. VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen your body can deliver to your working muscles. More oxygen means your muscles can work harder and produce more power. VO2 max workouts are hard: 2 to 4 reps of riding very hard for 1 to 3 minutes with 2 to 6 minutes recovery between each rep. (Recovery time is twice the very hard time) Start with 2 or 3 reps of 1 minute each with 2 easy minutes between each and gradually build up. By Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) it’s an 8 on a scale of 1 – 10 (you’re not quite sprinting); over 105% of Lactate Threshold (LT); 106 – 120% of Functional Threshold Power (FTP).

They say beauty is skin deep. There must be a lot of people with ugly bones