For triathletes, cycling can be one of the toughest disciplines of a triathlon sprint. Many would think the secret to ace a cycling race is adequate, intense training. Yet, there’s more to it. Bike power has a great influence on your final performance.
To develop an outstanding bike power, there are a couple of things you will need to do.
Bigger Gears
A great tip when looking to improve your bike power is opting for a bigger gear. You will find that riding in bigger gears will result in consistently higher power output.
Tyrone Holmes at TrainningPeaks recommends progressively spending a long time in a bigger year during a typical ride. For instance, if you usually ride up in a gear combination of 34 x 19, you should increase your reading to 34 x 17 for 3 minutes and so on.
Block Training
Ever heard of block training? This is a training, which consists of very intense workouts for 2 or 3 consecutive days, immediately followed by recovery — light workouts or days off.
Block training is ideal to facilitate physiological adaptation and for boosting your performance. The pivotal factor is to allow your body to rest and recover after each training block,
Ride Uphill
Riding uphill is one of the best ways to increase muscular endurance or the ability to pedal a large gear at a moderate cadence for an extended period of time.
When cyclists opt to ride uphill, they boost their average pedal force significantly. An excellent way to start is by doing hill rides with 1,000 feet and add distance until you reach 3,000 feet.
Ride Into Headwinds
If you live in an area with no hills, running against the wind can be just as effective. Take advantage of a windy day and accelerate into every headwind. Pedal with a large gear at about 90 rpm and hold that effort for as long as the wind lasts.