[OakDawg]

I'm still not ready to drop a couple thousand to get out onto the roads, but I have been happy with my progress just hitting the stationary bike a couple of times per week. The first time I hopped on I decided to ride for an hour and see how I liked it. I did around 17.5 miles and, other than some issues getting used to the seat, everything went well. I've been trying to go further in one hour once per week while allowing the other ride to be more relaxed. I'm going to add a third ride once softball is over and I have my thursday nights back.<br><br>
Anyway, I've been progressing well, typically going half a mile to a mile further each time I test myself over an hour. My legs still aren't all that strong, but I seem to be able to maintain a pretty high cadence so, as I tire, I can drop the resistance and still move pretty fast. Last night I managed 21.33 miles in one hour. This is probably still very slow, but I was quite pleased. My heartrate stayed between 160 and 170 for most of the ride and I was actually faster during the 2nd half of the ride than the first.<br><br>
I do have a few questions:<br><br>
1)What can I do to strengthen my legs so that I can keep the resistance level higher? Right now I can typically keep the RPMs over 100 up to level 11 or 12, but anything higher than 10 and my HR starts to climb. It feels easier to do 115 RPMs at level 8 then it does 100 at level 10.<br><br>
2)Am I risking burning myself out if continue to do a one hour time trial every week?<br><br>
3)Am I going to get dumber if I continue to be force fed Fox News as that is the only TV on in front of the stationary bikes at my gym?

 

[bikegirl72]

:waits to hear what other's have to say:<br><br>
i'm spending like an hour or so every day on my stationary bike catching up on junk tv like tila tequila and i love new york while "riding" i want to make the most of my time as well. i'm not hitting the pavement again until december. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/sad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Sad">

 

[fox-runr]

that's high RPMs!!!! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/headbang.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="headbang"> Wow...you already got the cadence going!!<br><br>
I'd keep the time trial out of the schedule for at least a month and build up comfort and endurance. You won't burn yourself out, but you will have a hard time improving. (same concepts of running apply...build a base first).<br>
If your keeping RPMs over 100....it really isn't a strength ride, it's your typical "junk zone" too hard to call an easy base building ride, and too easy to call threshold or strength.<br><br>
I suggest 4-6 weeks of easy riding, then if you add strength it appears that it should definitely be higher than 12 resistance. With 4-6 weeks you'll probably notice that your HR "won't climb" as you approach 12.<br><br>
Really think about dropping the $$. I can't believe you were able to make it an hour 1st crack, you must be a natural! I can remember making it 11 minutes on the stationary things

 

[Hairy Trotter]

1) Consider simulating hills once you've got a base in place. Crank the resistance up fairly severely, but for short segments of time, followed by a return to the candy-ass levels of resistance. (As fox-runr says, if you can keep your rpms that high, you're not doing much for strength. But grooving a high cadence will serve you well for real-world endurance cycling.) On real roads, hills are tremendous for developing strength. But don't overdo it at first. Progress will come, and quickly enough.<br><br>
2) Yeah, probably. And you won't need to time trial to see improvement -- when you're a beginner, you'll improve fast, and the signs will be plenty evident on well-structured training rides. Once you get a base in place, you can experiment with jacking up intensity in a variety of ways, and it's less risky than with running.<br><br>
3) If you have to even ask, you're already getting dumber.<br><br>
Stationary bikes are the suck.