The fundamental training rule

A few days ago my brother said to me: “When I look your rides up on strava, you’re not really faster than me. I can also ride an average speed of 27 Kilometers per hour.”
And he’s right. On most of my rides I average under 30 kp/h now. And I’m a little bit proud of it, because there was a time when I didn’t understand how training works. 

2010 my first year in road cycling: I rode a black aluminium road bike, which was too big for me. I had a triple front chainring and an estimated tire pressure of 6 Bars. Plus I rode in trainers and flappy clothing. 

But I averaged more than 30 kp/h at every ride. And that’s beacause I first started my cycling computer outside of the city in full movement and stopped it, before I entered the city again. 
So basically, I tracked just a segment (thanks strava) of my ride. And that was, what I wrote into my online training diary – to show off a little bit. Poor ego 😉

But till now, I learned it.  Here’s the fundamental training rule: You have to ride your hard days freaking hard and your easy days painfully easy. The bigger the difference between this rides, the stronger you get.

It doesn’t matter anymore which speed I average. I start my computer with my first pedalstroke and it stops automatically when my bike stops. 

For an example a 40 Kilometer round track: In my solo endurance rides I average 27 kp/h whereas at my FTP-rides I average 33 kp/h here. First pedalstroke to last movement of the bike. 

In fact, I created somewhat of a rule for my endurance rides: Don’t go over 30. If I’m getting too close, I back off and relax again. It’s somewhat like a constant reminder 🙂

If we are honest to ourselves, no amateur rider averages more than 30 kp/h on a solo endurance ride 😉

What’s your solo speed?