How To Train For A Long Bike Ride

Make sure you have an appropriately sized bike for your size, and have a professional at a local bike shop fit the bike to your physical proportions. If your long ride is exclusively on the road, a road bike is the most efficient model to use and will be less fatiguing than a hybrid or mountain bike. A properly adjusted bike will maximize your comfort and efficiency on the long training rides. Additionally, learning basic maintenance skills, such as how to change a flat tire, is important for both your training and the organized ride, since you will encounter long stretches without formal aid stations.

Increase your weekly cycling mileage gradually, and focus on adding miles to one ride per week. This long ride will prepare your body for several hours in the saddle and give you the opportunity to practice your fueling and hydration strategies while riding. Your longest training ride should be about two-thirds to three-quarters of the total distance you are preparing for. For example, if your goal ride is 100 miles, your longest training ride should be between 67 to 75 miles.

Add one or two workouts per week in which you do higher intensity intervals. Even though you are training for a long ride, including some fast cycling improves your body’s ability to buffer lactate, which will ultimately enable you to achieve a higher power output at a given perceived effort level. To estimate your lactate threshold, or the point at which blood lactate increases substantially over resting levels, wear a heart-rate monitor to measure your average heart rate during a 30-minute time trial. A sample interval training workout for a long ride would be two to five 10-minute intervals at one to five beats per minute lower than your lactate threshold heart rate, with 10 minutes of recovery cycling in between.

Include sufficient recovery into your training plan. Take one or two days completely off per week, and include one low-mileage week per month to allow your muscles to repair and rebuild themselves. Your body adapts to the training you put in during the recovery periods, not during the actual training itself. Furthermore, staying hydrated and well fueled before, during and after your workouts will help your body recover optimally. Finally, tapering, or reducing your mileage during the last week or two before your long ride, will allow your body to recover and reap the benefits of your training load.

What's The Advantage Of ALUMINIUM Frame

Many materials are used in the construction of modern bike frames, and each has its pros and cons. Though their explosion in popularity is relatively recent, aluminum bike frames date back to the late 19th century; the St. Louis Refrigerator and Wooden Gutter Company's Lu-Mi-Num bike is one of the earliest known examples. With most major bike manufacturers now using aluminum or aluminum alloys in many of their products, aluminum bike frames have become a fixture in the cycling world.

Weight

Aluminum is the most widely available lightweight bike frame material. Steel, the most common and oldest bike frame material, is approximately three times the weight of aluminum. Though modern steel bikes have adapted to approach the low weight of aluminum bike frames, aluminum frames require no substantial design changes to remain among the lowest-weight bikes available. Due to its naturally low weight, aluminum remains an ideal and affordable choice for racing and mountain bike frames.

Rust and Durability

Unlike standard steel frames, aluminum bike frames are not prone to rust. This resistance to rust makes aluminum very low-maintenance and ideal for mountain biking and touring cyclists, or for any hobby cyclist who regularly rides in wet conditions. Due aluminum's lower strength compared with steel, titanium and carbon fiber, aluminum bike frame tubes often have thicker walls. Though this does not necessarily provide an advantage over other frame types, thicker-than-standard tubes can be used in aluminum bike frames without making them significantly heavier.

Stiffness

Stiffness affects the feel of a ride, providing stability when sprinting and climbing. Varying levels of stiffness are ideal for different types of riders. Partially owing to their thicker tube walls, aluminum bike frames are often stiffer than bike frames made with other materials. This may make for an uncomfortable ride if you are a mountain biker, because aluminum frames have less give than others when biking on bumpy or rocky terrain. This stiffness may provide an advantage to racing and touring cyclists, however, because the low sway of a stiff aluminum frame allows for more stability, and possibly more speed, when sprinting.

Cost

Though generally more expensive than comparable steel frames, aluminum frames are still relatively inexpensive. Due to their durability, rust resistance, stability and low weight, aluminum frames can suit the needs of a range of riders. While the benefits of an aluminum frame may not compare with those of some titanium and carbon fiber bikes, frames made with aluminum are substantially less expensive. Well-rounded, lightweight and affordable, aluminum bike frames are ideal for riders at all levels of expertise.

What's The Steel Frame Pros And Cons

Steel frames have the benefit of being flexible, which means the frame will give a smooth ride as the lack of stiffness helps dampen road vibration. Steel is a tough, long-lasting material and, due to its strength, makes a good choice for heavier riders. In addition, certain levels of damage to a steel frame can be fixed by a welder. The downside of steel is that it can rust if the paint gets chipped, and the material is the heaviest frame material. Plain steel bikes tend to be the least expensive bikes, but most steel frames now are steel alloys such as chromoly. These steel alloy frames are priced similar to or slightly less than aluminum frames.