Best ways to increase biking speed (Page 2)

It means the strength specific to move your bike for a long period of time.  Often referred to as endurance.  Best way to achieve this?  Riding the bike.  'Gym strength' is nearly irrelevant for most riding any triathlete is doing.

Folks...haven't we learned anything by now.

You don't go faster or increase speed on the bike.  You slow down less.

Could you expand on how you arrived at those power values from those forces. I seem to be mixing something up as I get noticeably higher power.

Is this with or without an IM jacket?

And get rid of that straw!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, the first part is correct, and the endurance is important too, I'm not saying it's all gym work.  But, if you can't push that force then you need to improve the strength... I'm advocating using gym as a way to accelerate and enhance gains that you get from riding. 

I'll use myself as an example:  I've ridden off and on, usu. the off and on periods have been seperated by large gaps.  I didn't get back into cycling until Spring '11, I stopped riding when I got married about 16 years ago.  I exercised still over that time, perhaps 3 - 4x per week... I mostly did gym workouts, some running here and there.

When I got back into cycling, I could only do 17 to 18 mph avg.. I did a Sprint triathlon in Nov. '11 and did the bike at about 20.5 mph after what about 2 months of riding around my town.  I bought an Ibike power meter in Jan '11 and tested my FTP, it was a paltry 205w, or about 21 mph for the 20 minute test... maxed out.  So, I bike more and more, ran more and more, followed some plans here on this site.  Then, I read ways to improve my biking ability... as I've discovered sometimes it's about rinding more, but about gaining strength at the same time... From Jan '11 to a recent FTP test, I've increased my FTP from 205 to 325w, BUT I believe that since I read that relationship of watts to kilograms of force, and regeared my winter training, I worked hard on my explosive strength with bike and weights and endurance at the same time.  Now my avg. HIM speed is 23 mph... my w/kg is 4.6... 

Can I seperate what gains I made from following training plans from gym workouts, No, but I can tell you that after I've gain another 3/4 inches of circumfernece on my thighs and hamstrings from several months of gym work, that I went to that 325w after plateauing around 290 to 300w at the end of last season.  And my goal is to reach 24 mph, but the workload and strength required for the extra 1 mph avg. speed is tremendous.  After St. George, I'm taking month off and going back to the gym to get stronger again.  There is a reason the solo cyclists have disapporiately large legs, and the elite marathoners doesn't mean that someone going to be a good cyclist.  Obviously, we're triathletes and we've got to have a balance of those sports.

This is my .02, I'm just trying to give another perspective.

Could you elaborate on said relationship from kg to watts? Not quite seeing how you came up with the numbers. Fyi, kg is mass, not force.

I'm also having trouble understanding how people who can walk up stairs fine need lifting so badly as a typical adult will weigh at least twice any force listed.

What's your position like?

No offense but that's kind of like someone that ran cross country in their younger years taking 16 years off and posting a 17min 5k  a year after getting back into running and attributing it to the gym.  I'd argue it's much more attributable to years of volume/work put in and bringing it back around to present form.  Someone that has never tossed a leg over a bike is not going to see that return regardless of how many squats they do in the gym and are going to be much better suited to just ride the bike more.  

I was right where you are two years ago.  I did two things so not sure how much of the speed increase was for each:

1.  Rode more, mostly hard, sometimes easy

2.  Got clip-on aerobars and had them professionally fit to my road bike, ended up with new stem also.

Sprint speed was approx. 20-21 mph for 11-12 mile bike legs.  After about 1500 miles of riding plus the aerobars one year later my OLY distance speeds on the same courses as those sprints was 23 mph over double the distances, 23-24 mile bike legs.  My bike was a Marin Portofina at the time, aluminum frame with Sora components.  No race wheels, no aero helmet just the aerobars.

I don't think anyone is trying to discredit you, but rather help you understand what is going on. That way future "offerings" will have better explanation of what to do. There is admission of not really knowing the concepts, but then continuing to push the same thoughts as before instead of continuing to learn more about why things happened. The results you've had are not doubted, but the rationale as to why is being questioned.

This is not merely semantics as concepts are being mixed up. This isn't po-tay-toe vs po-tah-toe, but thinking that apples and oranges are the same thing. For example:

It is watts/kg not weight. I think you know that, but did not express it correctly. The terms are quite different. Some things you just have to explain correctly or others can not really understand it. The expression is not quite meant to compare abilities Average Joe to a Miguel Indurain, but to even out a cyclist's size as a factor and then look at ability.

As explained before, the leg strength is not really a limitation unless someone has an issue they should see someone about. I've seen and experienced some initial gain from lifting, however, believe this can be attributed to simply learning how to push oneself much harder than before. Much more so than actual "strength" improvements from the lifting. Continuing to lift may get in the way of the aerobic improvements, though one could still make gains in both.

I found this video very interesting: 10 tips to get more aero on the bike. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf3q9ASKLts

Some of these tips won't cost you a $: Tip 8, ride on the hods not the drop downs, arms angle 90º on the hods is more aero than straight arms in the drops. Tip 4, don't wear gloves. Or tip 2, get your race number on right, don't ride with a sail dragging you back, more important than what wheels you're riding.

great thread evryone, thanks for posting,

please debate more

That's a very good observation that I would guess a lot of people don't put together. Somehow people can distinguish between a track sprinter and a long distance runner, but cyclists really are all just the same guy on a bike! No one expects Usaine Bolt and Haile Gebrselassie switch places, but many seem to have the perception that cyclists do much the same thing. There is a substantial difference between a sprinter that finishes the stage as such and a GC contender. And maybe more still when getting to the short track races.

I'd say this is a little bit of nonsense.  I have never done intervals, never done an FTP test and can ride plenty fast.

Simple truth is you have to work hard.  I found that riding with good riders made me a better cyclist.  I found climbing hills made me better at climbing.  And I found riding lots made me a stronger cyclist.

A little background (I ave. about 20-24 mph in races).  I rode a bunch when I was younger (think 20s).  Now in mid 40's I ride about 100-150/month.  Not a lot, but my base from when I was young (think ~200/week), got me to where I can do just fine.

Oh, and by the way all this FTP stuff really wasn't practiced much back in the days. (Old guy saying).

Yes it was, you just didn't know it.