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Steady riding

tuckermtuckerm
in General Training Discussions

Does anyone have any helpful suggestions about how I can ride steady given that I live around many rolling hills and short steeper climbs then long descents?  There are some flat strecthes but it just seems like it would be pretty boring to keep doing repeats on the same road.  I guess I will get a better feel for riding outside with power the more I do of it but I rode 3 days in a row and it was basically a disaster trying to maintain a steady wattage.  Any advice would be very helpful.

Tucker

Comments

  • Chris GChris G
    do it over and over and over again...

    really should not be that hard especially on rolling hills, when the number on the PM is higher than what you want go a little easier, when it is too low go a bit harder. Simple enough right. Be prepared to go very slow up hills and pedal very hard on the down parts. Worst case get different gears...good luck

    Oh and when you go really hard it is almost always a pretty even effort, just try that all the time.
  • mgraffeomgraffeo

    Tucker,

    I know those hills from Short hills up to Morristown, and out to the Basking Ridge area.  Definitely takes some focused riding, but you should be able to learn to ride pretty steady.  My advice, go for a lot of rides, and try to hold reasonably steady.  Work a bit harder up the hills, to make up for the fact that you won't be able to push as hard down them.

    Then, go home and download the ride.  Look at the VI in WKO.  Rides of VI less than 1.05 are terrific, steady rides (which is still quite variable in many moments).  RIdes over 1.10 are higly variable.  You'll find that as long as you're not coasting a bunch, and not stomping on the pedals spiking watts a lot, you're probably riding a lot more steady than you think (cuz the numbers bounce all over the place, even if you are doing a good job).

    Riding steady is a good skill to learn, but isn't necessarily the objective of every ride.  Higher VI rides are perfectly fine (except on race rehearsals), as we're looking for chances to put up TSS points on these rides.  It is important to practice enough that you can do a race rehearsal without dropping a 1.15 VI on it.

    Good luck!

    Mike

  • tuckermtuckerm
    @Chris Thanks. I guess it will be a big learning experience. I have thought about getting a compact crank. Maybe someday.

    @Mike I figured you would know what I am saying. I guess I will get it eventually. I also think my friends take me up the steepest hills just to piss me off! I am not a little guy so I definitely don't have a problem working hard up the hills, it's more the downhills. I think I will go to my beach house for my race rehearsals. Flat like my races along with some wind.

    Thanks for the help!
  • NortonNorton
    Tucker,

    When I first started riding with a PM I thought "steady" on the hills was impossible. It's not; it's just hard. I drive my roadie buddies cukoo soft pedaling uphill and then charging down. I'm an old dog; if I can learn new tricks, so can you!
  • Coach RichCoach Rich

    To be clear, for most of your season, riding steady is a skill, not necessarily a training goal. Notes:

    • Ride hills. Short, long, gradual, steep, the more the better.
    • Ride hills hard. Steady hard, crazy hard, just under the redline hard, whatever. It's usually mentally easier to push higher watts on a hill, so use hills to...push higher watts.
    • While you're riding hard, develop the ability to only ride the watts you want to ride. Even if they are crazy, insane, kamakazi watts, you choose to ride them. This hyper awareness is a key component to developing the skill of riding steady.

    The skill of riding steady then is really nothing more than:

    • Always know what watts you should be riding, given the length of the hill, grade, total length of the ride, objective of the day, etc.
    • Always know what watts you are riding. Basically, when you are in fact riding with the goal of riding steady, there should be zero times when you look down and go "oops, I didn't mean to ride 280w, time to back off." Nope, first thing is your eyes lock themselves on the dial and you only see the watts you should see.
    • Are you riding stupid? Stop that.

    The short story is that I have the skill of riding steady and can turn that on or off depending on if I'm racing, the objectives of the day, etc. But most of the time I go up hills about as hard as I can, with very little regard for what comes after the hill . It's friggin' hard work, makes you MUCH stronger, and it's just fun.

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