Time to get fast!

The weather is finally starting to cooperate a bit here in Indy and more and more cyclists are hitting the road. The clock is ticking for the real racing season so now is the time to get some speed in the legs - before you get dropped.

Here are a few quick tips to help build some speed on the quick:

Ride with people faster than you - An oldie but goodie. Move your butt near the front of your next group ride and push to stay there. Hang on as long as you can and get a great workout from it. You can add in some intervals off the front or drift back and chase to increase the pain if the group is not hitting the speeds you need. Remember - you have to ride faster than what is comfortable to get faster.

Do a max effort at least once on most of your rides. I mean MAXIMUM effort, not that sorta fast stuff. Efforts that make you want to curl up in the fetal position for a few minutes. I like to hit the Nebo Ridge group ride on Tuesday to get in a good, fast group ride. Even if you can't win the sprint, contest it to the best of your ability and push your body into a real max situation. If you have a power meter, these are the times to try for a new 5, 10, 20 sec max power. If you have any juice left in the legs, do a few more sprints on the way home to really drain the legs.

If you have races planned, try to ride the course and push the parts you know will be fast during the race. If there is a hill, do repeats until you know every nook and crannie. Practice sprinting for the line (see above) and make the workout harder than the real race. Having this confidence will make you faster on race day.

Get out and ride! - Coach Kevin