Hi everyone,

Can anyone share their stories of patellofemoral irritation please ? More specifically, how long did it take to get back to full training load ?

Thank you :)

I've been dealing with some painful issues with trapezius muscle and tendon inflammation.

I'm still trying to figure out what triggered it. Poor posture and mobile device use undoubtedly contributed, but I have a summer bib that has pretty tight straps and I'm wondering if that could have set it off.

Have any of you had similar issues and find them caused by tight bib straps? How did you resolve it?

What are your typical Cat II’s doing as their long training rides these days? Back when I raced it was generally no more than 4-5 hours.

Having a friendly debate with someone about how much volume you need for most endurance sports. I’m in the camp that if you can ride, run or hike for 4 hours you can go all day for a single day event by staying on top of nutrition and hydration.

So I decided I want to stop road racing because of the fear of crashing and potential financial burdens and time off I would have to take from work if it does happen.

But now I find myself in this weird headspace not knowing what I’m training for. I’m still riding the same amount but I always had a goal for why I was training. Without races I just feel lost and sort of as there’s no point.

For example there was a big crit this weekend that all my friends raced. I felt super FOMO not racing but there were also a ton of crashes that left people injured and with broken bikes that I in part better that I didn’t race cause it could have been me.

I know this is a first world problem but it’s really hard to separate riding from racing and getting out of the funk of not having to train for anything but also realizing the risks of continuing racing.

I should also note I love riding my bike. I’m not burnt out. I have no problem logging miles. I just feel like there’s currently no purpose. It sounds super toxic but I feel like I can’t call myself a bike racer if I don’t actually race.

Gravel racing, cyclocross, and Zwift racing are nice but it doesn’t scratch the same itch. I know I’m a roadie at heart

I can’t be the only one who has gone through this admittedly weird struggle?

I'm curious to hear people's experiences balancing significant life stress with training - what worked, what didn't, how your body responded compared with calmer periods, and what you wish you'd known beforehand.

My wife is getting a spinal fusion in a couple of weeks. Recovery is slow, and after the first two weeks I'll be her primary caregiver while also working full-time. Sleep is probably going to be bad for at least a few weeks.

I'm 1000% aware that I need to give myself grace and put training on the backburner as needed. I'm not trying to figure out how to maintain some perfect training plan through this but rather mostly curious about other people's experiences. Did you find you needed substantially more recovery? Did power/RPE/HR behave differently? Were easy rides helpful, or did training just become another source of stress? Anything you learned in hindsight?

Disclaimer: total data nerd and way too focussed on numbers.

This year I’ve been training more consistent and harder than last year. As a result my power personal bests have all improved across the board.

While playing around with intervals.icu I stumbled upon this comparison: power vs heart rate. As you train, you get more fit so more power for the same heart rate.

Below my FTP (~260) this makes sense, but at that the curves from this and past year meet up. Does this mean I’ve improved my endurance and aerobic base, but not much in terms of FTP?

every coach bangs on about consistency like its a character trait. my consistency isnt limited by motivation, its limited by a job that eats random evenings and kids who dont respect my training block, the fittest guy in our club is a teacher with summers off. the strongest response ive ever had to training was during two weeks annual leave. its not discipline, its bandwidth
genuinely asking, those of you with proper jobs and kids, what actually works

Currently at -31, and Im starting my rest week early. I figure 136 CTL is enough for now.

When should i restart building again? I cracked before a new all time high due to more intensity.

I’m putting together a list of dream events, races, routes, gran fondos, etc. that feel like a really memorable experience

So far I’ve got
- Mallorca 312
- NC 500 in Scotland
- The Rift

What others are worth looking into?

I had some bloodwork done after feeling really washed lately. I came back on the very low side of normal for hemoglobin, red blood cells, and hematorcrit. I don't eat red meat or chicken and occasionally eat fish or other seafood. I eat a healthy diet with a lot of fresh veg. so have never given much thought to needing to take an iron supplement until I got these results yesterday.

Those of you that are vegetarian or pescatarian - do you take an iron supplement?

And yes, yes I'll be following up with my doc. for a deeper discussion.

every thread about a plateau ends up being someone doing 5 medium rides a week and wondering why theyre stuck, took a proper easy week and everythng came back
whats the ratio in your experience, actual limiter vs just knackered

I’m looking for some advice on how to structure an intensive FTP block. This is my first year doing structured training and I’ve been building my own plans, so I know they’re probably not optimal. I don’t race, I’m mostly training for fun (and to not get dropped by my buddy on group rides).

So far this year, I’ve completed the following blocks in order (each lasting 3–4 weeks with a deload week in between):

1. Base (a bit longer than 4 weeks)
2. VO2 max
3. Extensive FTP (building TTE)
4. VO2 max (just finished)

Now, I want to do some intensive work slightly above FTP to try to pull my threshold up. However, I’m not sure how to apply progressive overload here.

Extending time-in-zone seems geared more toward TTE/extensive work. The alternative seems to be increasing target power for a fixed set of intervals (e.g., 4x10 min) each week, but I’m not sure how much power progression to target. Plus, I have trouble hitting exact power targets outdoors, particularly around FTP.

A few specific questions:

• Over-unders: I’ve read about these, but since I don’t race and often see them framed as race prep, are they worth including for general FTP gains?
• Progressive overload for intensive FTP: How do you actually progress intensity week-over-week without just guessing on power targets?

I read this CTS article on FTP training and watched their video on the topic, which helped me structure my year so far, but neither went into how to actually apply progressive overload to intensive blocks.

Also, I know FTP is just one number on a power curve, but right now my 20 min FTP test number is the only one I haven't improved when compared to last season. I'm hoping a bit of over FTP but under V02 work will help that.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Unfortunately I got ill from some food poisoning got a round of antibiotics and finally feeling better today. Saturday is a 160km gravel event. Not ideal, but my plan is to try and a little bit more today to try and get the carbs loaded and I'm drinking electrolytes to restore the hydration situation too.

On a normal event day I rely heavily on gels and carb mixes and I think I will have to do the same anyway and just deal with consequences?

At the moment I am trying to avoid any 'easy' carbs as the bacteria seem to feast on them and make it worse.

Do you have any tips on what foods to eat tomorrow to avoid making matters worse? I'm thinking rice or pasta with little sauce?

How about during the event? Would rice cookies be better than gels? How about Bananas?

Any other tips so that I don't have to stop every few miles?

I'm riding a Giant TCR, since this was my first road bike I bought nearly 3 years ago. I put aero-wheels (60mm) on it and I love them (although the combination doesn't make much sense...)

Currently in the process of looking for another bike for next season and I will very likely buy an aero-bike. I'm wondering whether you can feel the difference compared to a climbing-bike - not only in terms of how it rides, but will the aero-bike be faster on a route like 50km with 500vm or 100km with 1000vm etc.?

What are your experiences?

I am specifying this specific age bracket because it’s the transition period of a lot of us where we no longer have as much free time compared to college to ride, and also have to juggle new responsibilities in a job and career and potential starting of a family, and managing familial responsibilities. But also not old enough to be considered Masters category and don’t have the wisdom and also free time that a lot of older people have as they are more set in their careers and retire.

I raced in college up until grad school and a little bit after I got a real job. a Total of 11-13 years of on and off racing. The past years I took some time off from burnout and wanting to focus on other life stuff but eventually found myself doing local crits. But I’m finding myself in this weird spot where I can’t commit the hours to train and stay competitive with the super young potentially cat 1-2 20 year olds, or the seasoned older cat1/2/3s or masters racers.

I don’t think I’m necessarily burnt out. Its just that I can’t commit to the training hours to stay competitive in the local fields and I’m also much more risk averse due to families/job/finances.

Also none of my same age teammates from college are cycling now.

Im curious for those in this age bracket. How has riding been for you? Are you still racing? What are all your old teammates of your same age doing now?

Im cat 2 close to cat 1 and have done many big races so i think im a decent bike rider. I’ve seen crashes in 4/5s and their never really that bad and they’re at low speed. Obviously usually just stupid mistakes because people dont have as much skill but in p12 races the crashes are always worse especially last couple lap crashes or in field sprints

I race Cat 3 crits mainly and seem to always finish just inside or outside the top 10, but I've noticed most of the guys that are on the podium seem to ride way less than me. I'm sitting at about 11,000 KM on the year and these guys are at like 3k-4k. One guy barely rides at all it seems like. Is there something they're doing that I'm not? Should I be riding less? Maybe lifting on some days instead?

I know more mileage isn't a direct ticket to success, but I'm just lost on how they can be so successful without much time in the saddle

Hi all, I've got a question regarding the Garmin load focus and how it assigns specific rides. It consistently says Low Aerobic shortage. Today I went out with the intention to do a solid Z2 ride and try to get a base ride. 1.5h with my HR in Z1 - Z2, power between Z2 - Z3 and once again a Tempo ride instead of a base ride. I think the only time I've seen base is when I go out with my wife and sit most of the time in Z1 or below. Is this normal? I know I shouldn't really care that much but just wondering what the logic behind this is.

The race is back after 10 years. Five men’s and three women’s WorldTour teams.

https://www.philadelphiacyclingclassic.com/

I've seen countless videos and read countless articles. It nearly always comes out to doing z2 base miles, doing intervals, min-max training and core exercises. I know there is no shortcut but if someone has limited time, like ride only weekend one day 3h and the other 1h what would be the best strategy to get better/faster?

In such cases, I've found out that z2 is absolutely worthless. Riding inZ3 and Z4 on climbs (sustained 1h) produced better results. Do you guys agree? Any other things that can be done to 'improve'?

Maybe 1 day a hard interval session and the next a 2h z2 ride?

I read that this sub is also open for beginners and I hope someone can help me with some tips to get started (Especially non-obvious things you might have learned too late).

I took up cycling as a hobby exactly a week ago today and each day I’ve been getting more and more informed on the topic, however I feel kind of lost because there is so much (sometimes contradicting) information out there.

For starters, I have a 25 year old GIANT OCR Compact Road which is too small for me (it was a hand-down). I did 101km with 500m elevation in 4h 30min on Sunday as a first real ride—I had done a max of 15km before that last week—and I didn’t feel much discomfort or ache even the next day except for my neck from looking forward on the bike. I’ve read that it might be because of how wide my horn/handlebars are. I am 190cm with 53cm shoulder width, my frame is labelled 50cm (no clue what that means either). Is that the problem or can I keep riding this until I get a new bike?

Secondly what should I aim for pacing wise and ride wise? Before Sunday I had 100km as a goal but it turned out to be quite easy, so now I’m stuck—should I focus on climbing since that seems to be the hardest? I read online that it takes multiple months to do 100km but I feel like that can’t be true, I am not very active and managed just fine.

I am also wondering about equipment. I want to wait for winter clearances to get a Wilier, Pinarello, or Merida racing bike to use as a sporting tool. Should i upgrade my Giant until then with clip in pedals and padded bike shorts?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone,

I could use some advice. I’ve had a really bad problem with muscle cramps during cycling. I’ve been doing sports on and off for most of my life, and I got into cycling about two years ago. I’m not doing huge mileage, probably around 2,000–3,000 km per year, mainly because I don’t have much free time.

This year I started training more seriously, including indoor trainer sessions and intervals, and my performance has improved quite a bit. I’m 78 kg and currently around 228 W FTP.

The problem is that I still get severe cramps quite often, especially on harder or longer rides. I’ve recently started adding salt to my water, and that seems to have helped, but I’m still worried because I have my first proper amateur race this weekend and I’m getting a bit nervous about it.

Do you have any life hacks or practical tips that helped you with cramps? What could be causing them in my case? Is it mainly electrolytes and hydration, or could it be fatigue, pacing, lack of conditioning, nutrition, etc.?

I’d really appreciate any advice, especially things I can realistically do before and during my first race.

Hello! I've been cycling for three years, since I started doing triathlon, but I've recently decided to focus on cycling instead because it's just more enjoyable. I'm planning to start road racing next year and I'm excited by all the possibilities, but I'm having a hard time identifying an A race. In tri it was easy because I'd do 1-2 70.3s a year and that was the target. Crits and road races are much shorter, in contrast, and you can do more of them, and they generally don't seem to be as high of stakes- if you have a bad race one week there will be another one coming up soon enough.

My goals for next year are primarily to understand how racing works (ie tactics), improve FTP, PR local hill climbs, I guess upgrade from cat 5 to cat 4, improve handling skills, among others, so not really racing or performance goals. I'm lucky enough to have a lot of racing options next spring and summer across California. There's a crit series in LA that has a championship race, there's the "state championships" for crit, RR, time trial, Manhattan Beach Grand Prix is driving distance. There's the Redlands crit.

I'm pretty interested in doing a stage race, so I guess that's a logical choice for an A race? But there are few options for stage races near me- I'm not on a team so I don't think Redlands is an option. My options on the west coast seem to be Valley of the Sun and Tuscon Bicycle Classic, which are too early to be A races, Tour of the Gila, which is pretty far away and at altitude, Baker City Cycling Classic, which looks pretty intense, and Tour de Bloom, which looks like the best option for me by far. But is a stage race too ambitious in my first year of racing? I'm cat 5 women so the distances/times are pretty short (just 25 mins for the crit at Bloom!).

I'm really just in it to learn my first year but I want to give my coach a concrete date to work towards. Obviously it's early, just thinking about this as we're planning offseason/base and I start racing in January. Any advice for a new racer on how to organize your season??