Group rides and cycling go hand in hand. They are the local “epicenter” for cycling in cities, towns, and villages all around the world. Find me a cyclist who doesn’t want to perform well on a coveted Saturday group ride, and I’ll find you a person with hanging “bike art” in their garage, collecting dust.
The thing with group rides, is that most cyclists come un-prepared for the types of “higher end fitness” that is needed to do well, especially if the group is strong. AKA, the Hammerfests!
Love’em or hate’em–we want to do better at them–don’t we? Ironically enough to do group rides better, we are well served to train more specifically, without the group!
WHAT?! Read on…
1. Don’t Ride with the Group Every Week–GET NINJA!
I know it sounds counter intuitive, but by NOT showing up at every single group ride each week, you put yourself in a position to ride stronger and faster when you DO show up to ride. I call this the “group scarcity” tactic. The more scarce you make yourself, hiding from the group and working on what YOU NEED to get stronger and more efficient on the bike, the more those new skills and strengths will come OUT on Group Ride day.
Think of it this way if you struggle to NOT ride with the group every ride, as I know many of you do. Try to think of yourself as going on a “covert training operation”, deep undercover so no one knows what you’re up to, like a Cycling Ninja in training.
Each ride and workout you do, solo, will be like sharpening your “blades” of climbing, power, descending, and high level output. This “covert cycling ninja training” is essential for you to acknowledge as it will FUEL YOUR FOCUS and cause an EAGERNESS to demonstrate your new skills and Ninja like abilities come GROUP RIDE DAY. Yah, in group rides–ATTITUDE and SELF CONFIDENCE are more important than what bike you’re riding or how many miles you’ve done.
2. Focus Your Training and Sharpen Your “Cycling Weapons”
Look, if you want to ride strong with a group you’re gonna have to get UNCOMFORTABLE in your training while on your own. Something that is not easy to do for many of us.
I know, I know–You’re probably saying, “I get uncomfortable when I’m WITH the group.”
Yes, this may be true–but you have to remember, that the group will never help YOU deal with YOUR PAIN or SUFFERING or more importantly–what YOU NEED to focus on to improve yourself. You, my friend, have to train yourself to suffer and overcome discomfort on your own, through specific, focused, higher intensity training–just like the Ninja.
This means planned and specific HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING (H.I.T) sessions each week, primarily focused on the 3 most essential basics of higher level cycling:
- More MUSCULAR ENDURANCE (ME) so you can put the hammer down and tension the bike for LONGER during your rides. If you do not have lots of ME, then prepare to get dropped on strong group rides. PERIOD.
- More ANAEROBIC ENDURANCE & ACCELERATIONS (Zone 5 AE) Capacity to handle the short burst outut of a strong Group. Yah, this is REALLY IMPORTANT and your long slow base miles is NOT gonna get it done. A major staple in the new CYCLO90 IN-SEASON TRAINING for both Roadies and Mountain Bikers.
- Faster RECOVERY BETWEEN HARD EFFORTS, so after the initial acceleration you can “hang in” and be ready for the next one. It’s one thing to do one acceleration, but you need to have REPEATABILITY, otherwise it’s off the back again for you.
3. Know Your Weaknesses (Test), then OVERCOME!
Every single cyclist has a “weakness”. Yes, even the guy or girl pounding off the front of the group has one–probably more than one. What’s your weakness(es)? When you KNOW your weaknesses, much like a Ninja, you can train and overcome them and turn them into STRENGTHS!
The first step is to determine what your weaknesses are and in general I encounter 3 WEAKNESSES most everyday cyclists have in relation to higher intensity rides, like group rides…
- Riding at FUNCTIONAL THRESHOLD–Your “ZONE 4″
- Accelerating Above Threshold ( ZONE 5+) and then RECOVERING
- Maximizing Gearing, Tension, and Leg Speed based on TERRAIN.
All of these “weaknesses” can first be tested with ZONE 4, 5, and 6 Testing done with various gearing and conditions. This will allow you to not only find out what your threshold is, or how well you can accelerate past it–but more importantly, you’ll be able to TEST what gearing combo’s, leg speed ranges, and tension works best FOR YOU.
Much like a real Ninja, you need to master MANY WEAPONS, not just one. The more fundamentals of cycling fitness you combine with “specific weapons of cycling”, the more likely you are to defeat your opponents. Many times, that opponent is YOU.
In regards to ‘TRAINING’ the weaknesses out of you…
The great news is that all of these common weaknesses can be overcome through more focused training and in particular H.I.T or High Intensity Trainer Sessions, focused on all of the above fitness assets. You can work on your BASE strength and fitness with something like CYCLO90 Base or you can get more specific for higher intensity cycling for in-season with the CYCLO90ROAD and/or CYCLO90MTB Training, all utilizing my famous Cyclo-H.I.T 30 Minute workouts.
BOTTOM LINE:
You can ride all you want. Do endless miles. Perform intervals until your watch breaks. BUT, if you do not have the ability to perform all three of the group ride fitness assets above, you won’t do well in hard group rides or races.
I WANT YOU to do group rides, but only because they offer you some sort of benefit to YOUR RIDING NEEDS. Watch out for relying on the group to be your sole motivation for riding–I have seen this blow up in many riders faces.
Ride for you for my friend! Enjoy getting stronger for YOUR NEEDS–then get Ninja and arrive at those great weekend hammerfests, ready to kick some tail and SMILE ALL THE WAY HOME.
Under your cloaked mask of Ninja, of course.
SIDE NOTE: I was seriously into martial arts as a kid and reached my Black Belt when I was 15. I use to go to three classes a week, many times begrudgingly and going through the motions. Kinda like a lot of cyclists I encounter, showing up at all group rides, afraid of looking weak–going through the motions.
I had an opportunity to go to Ninja Camp right before my black belt and everything changed for me. I was so amazed to watch how others could spend MORE TIME ALONE then with the group and excel so much. They had to make a connection with “their needs,” first–before they could master anything.
We were sent out into the woods, all on our own to begin our own Ninja Training–no instructor. I could not believe it. I didn’t get it. THEN, I FOUND MYSELF. Then, I was no longer “going through the motions.”
I have never forgotten those lessons and hold them true in everything I do and how I work with others. Find YOU and YOUR WEAKNESSES, alone–then you have the ability to begin mastery.
My alone time is in my unheated garage using Core 90 HIT. Getting warm fast here and planning a group ride to test. Ready to get outside!
Hey Buddy thanks for all the Great emails, My ques is I got cycle 90 & the HIT series, but it seems like you offer different courses/trianing every 3 month or so, is there a way to get only the new stuff that comes out, and not rebuy what i have already?
Thanks Monte
The new CYCLO90 In-Season system is all new HIT 30′s, the TESTING/Coaching vids, and the new road and mtb plans. Only thing you already have and don’t need to get again is the CORE 2.0. You won’t be rebuying anything, everything in the new in-season is new. Hope this helps and keep me posted. If you haven’t worked the CYCLO90 base program that you have, you don’t need anything new right now–focus on that first! G
I was planning on commenting on this before…. What this article describes mirrors my own experience to the ‘T’. About 2002 I kind of dropped off the group ride scene. Had a job change that was unexpected and really messed up my schedule and my spirit. 3.5 yrs later my previous employer called me back but the damage was done. I think I tried a few group rides at that point and I just got peeled. This was about the time I got the first Cyclo-Core and Cyclo-Zen dvd’s so that would have been in ’05. However, I didn’t go to another group ride until just last year(2011) about 2 weeks before I went to ride the Horribly Hilly Hundreds in WI. I figured a hammerfest would kind of let me know where my fitness was. Let me preface this by adding that in the past, I was pretty strong on the group rides. I was not afraid to go to the front and sit there. Call it stupid, stubborn whatever, I always felt like I had to prove myself since I outweighed most of the other riders by a good 20 lbs. due to the fact that I did a LOT of weight training. So back to last year I show up at the group ride and all the usual suspects are there. The racers, wanna be racers or just guys that hammer. About midway through the 40+ mile course a couple of faster guys broke away and had about a 50 yard gap. The group was flying as it was over 20 mph and the break away was just hammering and pulling away. I was about 4th in line and expected someone to try and bridge it… no takers so I said, f^ck it, I’ll go. I hammered until I was seeing spots and my legs were about ready to seize but I caught those fast skinny bastards and pulled about 6 other riders with me…. and I was 190 lbs at the time. We rode into a town shortly after and stopped at a convenience store to re-fuel, pee, etc. One of the regulars that I hadn’t ridden with in all those years says, “Damn Jeff you haven’t missed a beat!”
If only he knew what horrible shape I was in a few years before. None of those guys knew what I was doing, I just told them I’d been training solo and stuff. Definitely boosted my confidence and made me feel good. This year I am focused on losing weight. Lots of it. So far I have lopped off around 20 lbs with over 2 months to go until my event. I am looking forward to lopping off MORE. The next group ride I get to I really wanna see a look of surprise on some of their faces.
It’s awesome when the guys in your group ride ask what training have you been doing and when you tell them they think you’re crazy. The guys wheel I was trying to catch, is now chasing my wheel and he’s the one getting dropped on the hills.
Some great stories. The whole don’t ride with your local group all the time and then BOOM, you ambush them is great. I ride out of a shop that also sponsors a local bike race team. We do power based computrainer trainer sessions every Tuesday AM and a few of the guys/girls are there. I would constantly struggle with sessions but during the off season I was doing Cyclo-90. The first group ride back I left a few of them in the back. And what were they doing to train? Junk miles only.
This really showed me that it’s not just about quantity, it’s QUALITY quantity that matters. Will keep updating you all when I ride with the team.
Would a ninja kit be awesome?
Isn’t really a life lesson kind of thing to focus on your weaknesses?