# How am I doing?



## Ropes4u (Jun 30, 2009)

Let me fill you in on a few details before I get to my question. 

I am a 45 years old desk jockey (8-12 hours a day) who has been road biking for a month. Though I do have a spotty back ground of mt biking in my past. I am 5'10" tall and weight in at 190 pounds and I am hoping to drop 15 pounds of spare tire. I am riding for fun and weight loss. Though it is not my lifes goal I would like to ride a century oneday. 

We eat out on occasion and I sometimes have desert - I consider my eatting habits normal and healthy. My normal breakfast is slim fast or oatmeal, lunch of veggies, fruit and yogurt. My wife usually cooks a veery healthy low fat, no sugar meal with lots of veggies and brown rice. 

I ride my 16 mile loop on weekends and before dinner 3-5 times a week. My average speed hoovering around 14-16 miles per hour depending on the wind. Other than sore feet (working on that) and sweaty clothes I feel great after my rides. 

What should I do to keep improving my speed and stamina, or should I just keep riding for a few more months with my current routine? 

Thanks, John


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## iliveonnitro (Feb 19, 2006)

Ropes4u said:


> Let me fill you in on a few details before I get to my question.
> 
> I am a 45 years old desk jockey (8-12 hours a day) who has been road biking for a month. Though I do have a spotty back ground of mt biking in my past. I am 5'10" tall and weight in at 190 pounds and I am hoping to drop 15 pounds of spare tire. I am riding for fun and weight loss. Though it is not my lifes goal I would like to ride a century oneday.
> 
> ...


Stating the obvious, but to increase your stamina, you need to ride further. To increase your speed, you need to ride faster.

If possible, try doing the loop twice so you get 32mi. You may have to save it for a weekend, but increasing your volume is important at this early stage of riding. Also, be consistent. Riding 5x/wk is good for you, and is on-par with the recommended amount of exercise you should be getting.

Speed will come naturally. But, if you wanted to start working on that, do your loop in segments of 5 minute intervals. Go 5 minutes as hard as you can (think, 20+mph), then go 5 minutes easy at 10-12mph. Do this for your whole loop.


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## Ropes4u (Jun 30, 2009)

Thanks for the help I will keep cranking up the miles. Once I get my new shoes / pedals I will work on that sprint training (ughh)


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## black_box (Jun 7, 2008)

sounds like you're doing well. Jumping from 16 to 32 miles might be a bit much though. At your current speeds, you may cross the line of needing a second water bottle (or refill somewhere) and possibly a snack for 32 miles. You could probably try it, but I'd either pack the water/snack, plan your route to pass by places to buy something (bring money), or plan the route so that you're never too far from home. Reaching for an empty water bottle with 10 miles to go wouldn't be very fun.

I would keep track of your mileage and average speed for the rides, additional notes might be useful too (how you felt, wind, hills, terrain, etc). I use an excel spreadsheet for this. If you're following the same route it'll be easy to see your progress.


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