Today I went back out to try another 20 miler on my XC mountain bike after using the tips y’all gave me. I was around 2.3 km short of a 20 miler, so a little more than a mile, but that doesn’t matter too much.
Tips I tried:
- Aired up my tires by 10-15 PSI (Now at 50 in the front, 55 in the back.
- Fixed my handlebar sweep (I had installed them backwards before…what can I say, it was my first time building a bicycle 😅)
- Focused more on cadence than easier peddling - I.E instead of going to a low gear up a large hill and tiring my legs out by spinning, I kept it in a higher gear, pushing my cadence down a bit, but both getting me up the hill faster, and keeping my HR down.
- rode on the road more as opposed to the sidewalks to avoid potholes and obstacles.
Things to consider:
- I paused my smartwatch on stop lights, water breaks, pedestrian stop lights, and while I ate a snack.
- There were three rather large hills on this route I took and one pretty steady climb upwards. The last two of these hills would have been impossible for me to climb, as they were almost a kilometer long and just too steep, so I put my smart watch on pause for these hills as well.
Things I’m planning to do in the near future:
- going to buy myself some semi-slick tires: specifically, the Kenda K908. They seem to be a decent budget option, but if y’all have any other suggestions, I’d be open to hearing them!
Anyway, now for my results.
I don’t know if these stats are more in line with what everyone else is getting, considering I paused on stop lights and 2 hills, but I would say I’m perfectly happy with a result like this.
Thank you so much to everyone who gave advice and help!
If it matters in terms of w/kg, I weigh around 85KG.
Is 110-120W okay for around 2 hours?
Ive researched a power meter, but I thought that for now, a cadence meter would be more helpful.
Cadence definitely the right place to start, since it shouldn’t break the bank.
I’d do some research on cadence if you haven’t already — you mentioned getting up hills in a higher gear to be faster while also keeping HR down. That’s definitely an option, but it can come at the expense of your legs (and worst case, knees).
Conventional wisdom today (as I understand) is that if you thrash your cardio, it’ll recover fast; thrash your legs, they’ll recover more slowly. So there tends to be a bias towards higher cadence (80-100rpm or so) for performance, with lower cadence useful for strength training.
Good luck! Cycling is a wonderful sport. Focus on the numbers and gadgets if you like, but at the end of the day remember to have fun :)