The RideStrong Training Program is a 10-week cycling clinic designed to increase your cycling fitness and improve your technique so you are more prepared for the cycling season than ever before.
RideStrong is designed for anyone from a newbie to cycling who wants to improve endurance and comfort while riding to intermediate or more advanced recreational cyclists with big goals such as century rides, bike tours, or setting personal bests. Or anyone who simply just wants to keep up with their cycling buddies.
It is also appropriate for those who only ride inside but who are committed to a structured training program to elicit the greatest performance improvements.
What you can expect from this training:
RideStrong is designed for anyone from a newbie to cycling who wants to improve endurance and comfort while riding to intermediate or more advanced recreational cyclists with big goals such as century rides, bike tours, or setting personal bests. Or anyone who simply just wants to keep up with their cycling buddies.
It is also appropriate for those who only ride inside but who are committed to a structured training program to elicit the greatest performance improvements.
What you can expect from this training:
- FTP/lactate threshold testing at the beginning and end
- Skills drills to improve efficiency and technique
- A progressive program to gradually increase intensity over time
- Aerobic endurance development (the easier work)
- Muscular endurance training (the moderate work)
- Threshold improvement (the harder work)
- Anaerobic capacity work (the even harder work!)
- Weekly educational and motivational emails
- Handouts with more in-depth information about the work we are doing
- Exclusive Facebook group where you can ask training and technique questions, share your improvement, cheer on other participants!
- Weekly “homework” (tips for an endurance ride on your own)
- Suggested cross-training to enhance your cycling training
Classes will be offered Mondays and Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. MST (6:30 p.m. EST). We begin Monday, January 22nd and end Wednesday, March 27th. Classes will be recorded and posted the following day. You will have access to the on-demand class, but only for 48 hours after the original live stream to encourage riders to stay committed and follow the structure. (Note: if you are out of town and miss several classes, contact me and I will give you access to those classes.)
What kind of bike do I need?
You can ride on any indoor bike for this program, a stationary indoor bike or your road bike on a trainer. You can even do the classes on a stationary bike at your gym. For that, I recommend a handlebar attachment for your phone or iPad such as this one so you can watch the classes and connect your headphones.
Power or Heart Rate?
If at all possible, I recommend you ride with a power meter, but I understand that not everyone can afford one or even cares about metrics. (They have dropped in price significantly over the past few years.)
Why a power meter? A power meter allows you to assess your current level of fitness, quantify it, and target very specific training zones to improve different elements of your cycling fitness in a way that heart rate training or riding by feel simply cannot. Additionally, a power meter allows you to see improvement. As you get stronger, your FTP (functional threshold power) goes up. With a heart rate monitor, you have to guess about intensity levels (that is, you can’t be very specific) and you may not see improvement.
That doesn’t mean you can’t get more fit if you only train with a heart rate monitor…you will! So absolutely, a heart rate monitor will work for this program. If simply feeling better on the bike and feeling more fit in the general sense is your goal when it comes time to ride outside, then you will be very pleased with your progress in this program.
If you want more than that, if you like measuring progress and setting and reaching more specific goals, then take the leap and get yourself a power meter. It may change your cycling forever! For the best value and quality, look into these power pedals or these crank-based power meters.
Regardless of whether you have a power meter or not, you should have a heart rate monitor. I recommend this one, the Wahoo TICKR which will connect via Bluetooth to any app or console.
In this program, you will learn how to observe and monitor your heart rate response to your training, and what changes might be necessary when the heart rate doesn’t respond as it usually does. You’ll be able to take this knowledge out on the road with you wherever you ride.
You can ride on any indoor bike for this program, a stationary indoor bike or your road bike on a trainer. You can even do the classes on a stationary bike at your gym. For that, I recommend a handlebar attachment for your phone or iPad such as this one so you can watch the classes and connect your headphones.
Power or Heart Rate?
If at all possible, I recommend you ride with a power meter, but I understand that not everyone can afford one or even cares about metrics. (They have dropped in price significantly over the past few years.)
Why a power meter? A power meter allows you to assess your current level of fitness, quantify it, and target very specific training zones to improve different elements of your cycling fitness in a way that heart rate training or riding by feel simply cannot. Additionally, a power meter allows you to see improvement. As you get stronger, your FTP (functional threshold power) goes up. With a heart rate monitor, you have to guess about intensity levels (that is, you can’t be very specific) and you may not see improvement.
That doesn’t mean you can’t get more fit if you only train with a heart rate monitor…you will! So absolutely, a heart rate monitor will work for this program. If simply feeling better on the bike and feeling more fit in the general sense is your goal when it comes time to ride outside, then you will be very pleased with your progress in this program.
If you want more than that, if you like measuring progress and setting and reaching more specific goals, then take the leap and get yourself a power meter. It may change your cycling forever! For the best value and quality, look into these power pedals or these crank-based power meters.
Regardless of whether you have a power meter or not, you should have a heart rate monitor. I recommend this one, the Wahoo TICKR which will connect via Bluetooth to any app or console.
In this program, you will learn how to observe and monitor your heart rate response to your training, and what changes might be necessary when the heart rate doesn’t respond as it usually does. You’ll be able to take this knowledge out on the road with you wherever you ride.
