I don't know that it was ever very active. Besides, OOT sucks.

I signed up for Vätternrundan (16-17 June) this year again. This time I am doing it solo, starting at midnight, so it is going to be a different kind of challenge.

I completely stopped cycling and working out during the winter, so I am starting off from a fairly low point, but not as low as before the first time I did it. I am setting an ambitious goal of riding 300km a week until the event.

Welcome back. You might want to work your way back up to 300 km a week(100, 150, 200...) but you are young, so you might be able to jump right back in at 300 km.

Thanks, I think the weekly distance is no problem as long as I keep the pace low. I did a 70 km ride today and felt pretty good, started off slow and began speeding up towards the end, felt a slight burn in the thighs when I got home though.

Rode about 400km in the last 7 days, some rides were very slow though. I feel some stiffness in the legs in the beginning of the rides, but it goes away. In just one week I notice a very clear difference in my breathing. I can go faster with the same effort.

I need to get in form quickly to be able to do some group rides with our local bike club.

Like this one today.

https://www.strava.com/activities/568223367

Your bike club never ceases to amaze me. I mean, we have plenty of club rides like that here, too, in fact I'm missing mine this morning right now, but we also have many ranges of much slower rides. Austin does have a very large cycling community, I guess it's like you stratified us and took just the top layer or two. That makes it very hard to get into cycling.

I started riding with people from work, who humored me very greatly (they were all racers and a few former pro racers) and did some rides with local groups. There are tons of group rides here every day that are no faster than 16 mph (26 km/h) and usually a ride or two every day as slow as 12 mph (19 km/h)

Does you local bike club ever do something they call a "recovery ride?" The label is often a complete lie, but at least they're usually slower. Mine has one that is 55 miles at 17-18 mph (instead of 75 miles at 20mph like the one you linked). That is not really a "recovery ride" (which should be like 14 mph for 1.5-2 hours) but at least they take it down a notch.

No they don't really, what happens is like in today's ride, that some riders break off the main group when the going gets tough. Most rides seem to start off at a 20mph pace.

A week or two more of training by myself and I will join them for one of those rides.

I never ride in a group, and my average speed on fairly long rides is typically around 16mph (although I'd never call these all out efforts). I've heard riding in a group can add about 2mph average speed, does that sound accurate?

I think that sounds reasonable for a group of about 8-10 riders. Large Peloton type groups would of course help more.

I did this 40 mile ride today solo at about 18mph, which was a fairly comfortable pace. So I could probably stay with them, but it would hurt to do the whole 75 miles at that speed. I want rides to be enjoyable.

https://www.strava.com/activities/568257605

Looking back, I seldom even hit 16mph. Need to get back in the saddle a bit for a duathlon I'm doing later in the year.

So first, regarding speeds in groups vs alone, it's a little hard to estimate. Let's take someone with your baseline, i.e. someone who can hold 16mph on their own. In a group of 4 or 5, you might be able to maintain 18 with serious effort. In a group of 10-20, 18 shouldn't be very hard at all. In a group of 30+ if you can get into the middle you could probably do 20-22 without really even working very hard. People don't believe me about that but it's true.

Like, check this out
https://www.strava.com/activities/295684956
25.5 mph for 30 minutes, at 215 watts average. 215 watts on my own is good for 18-20 mph on flat ground. With that same group, if we average 22mph my wattage would probably be in the 160-180 range, which normally is good enough for 17-18mph on my own.

But anyway, it's really dependent on your positioning. If you're 10 feet off the back, you don't get much help. If you're directly on the back, you get some. The optimal position is right between the 1st 1/3 and 2nd 1/3 of the group. The winner of most amateur races will have a power profile that is basically "super easy for 2-3 hours, and then brutally hard for 3-5 minutes". When I studied the power profiles of the winners of crits in my area, they would often be putting out zero watts for up to 1/3 of the race, i.e. freakin coasting. The pack will literally pull you along.

When I started riding seriously, I found 16mph to be something ofa barrier, both in my own experience and other people's. That is, it was not to hard to get yourself fit enough to ride 16mph (on your own) but breaking that for anything but short rides was tough.

I studied a little bit about how to train and once I broke through that 16mph barrier, I crushed it. In under a year 18mph became essentially my normal diligent cruising speed, and I could hold 20 easily for 60 - 90 minutes (working hard, but not at my max)

I think it won't happen on accident though. You need to start with a good set of base miles, then you need to do many weeks of intervals, and you need to get enough rest, sleep and food. If done right you will have 3-4 weeks a year where you are a literal god, and your "normal" speed will become very good.

Also, with me at least, there is a tendency to hit about 16mph at most if I am not keeping my mind of it. That is, if I'm daydreaming or listening to a podcast or something, often my HR will drop to the 120s and I'll doodle along at 16mph. In order to keep it at 18+ mph I need to look at my garmin every few minutes to make sure my HR/power are "high enough." And to maintain 20+ I have to concentrate on it at all times, keeping myself in the narrow range that is high enough but not too high.

Here's another one:
https://www.strava.com/activities/29...nalysis/0/4658
156 watts average power, 22.5 mph.

156 watts is about what I average on a ride to work or home, and is usually good for no more than 17 mph. But that was a race, I think about 55 people. I rode 50% of the race in the back 1/3, and the rest near the front.

In pro racing these are called sprinters stages, so it is hardly surprising that the same applies to amateur races on flat stages.

I got caught in some of these fast huge groups during last years Vätternrunda, doing 20+mph is so easy in them until you get to the climbs. They are also very dangerous in amateur races. Two of the guys staying beside us at the camping place were hurt so bad in a crash that they had to stay the night in a hospital.

I've done some mountain biking lately after leaving my road bike for a mechanical failure and a change of many components. I am really enjoying it and looking to buy a new mtb, a friend recommended a full frame suspension and clip-ons. After riding some offroad I feel that clip-ons are more important in hard terrain than on a road bike. Slipping from the pedal is not fun over rocks and roots.

As suspected, Strava estimates wattage for off road if you designate your bike as a mtb. The wattage average makes sense for riding in the forest at about 19kmh average, on asphalt these numbers are clearly inflated. I got a 400w reading for a 5km asphalt segment today!

https://www.strava.com/activities/579921425

BTW: Does anyone have recommendations for mountain bikes with full frame suspension in the $1000-2000 range?

I like my hard tail Trek 4300 that I have been riding for the past 5 or 6 years. I am not sure how their full suspension bikes rate with others but when I am ready for another new bike it will likely be another Trek.

For full suspension, this seems to be at the low end of the Trek range, but at the high end of what I am willing to spend. http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/bi...p/2132600-2016

I am not really convinced that it is needed. I guess the harder the terrain you plan to ride, the more necessary it is. For now I am just happy exploring some trails.

Man that is sexy. I really need to get a hauler for my car and start taking my bike to some of the parks with trails instead of just riding around the streets/walks like I have been doing the past years.

The bike?

Just get a clipon for bikes on your towbar. Cheap and easy. I am lucky to have some nice trails starting within a mile of my home, just haven't really discovered them until now!

Yes, the bike. Real nice lines on it.

I have a Chevy Cruze so I need a tow bar too, as I don't want one that straps to my trunk. I can actually fit the bike in my car with the back seat down and front wheel off but that is a pain and if I got muddy on the trails I wouldn't want it in my car.

I grew up riding bmx bikes and we had a few spots in our small town where people had built make shift tracks with jumps in the woods, and my one buddy even built a track in his yard. I haven't really done any proper trail riding since I got my mtn bike. :/

I have one with straps. It works, but I've never really had faith in it, I'm always nervous that it is going to come loose. I also can fit bike in trunk with back seats down, wheel off. When I'm going long distance that is what I do.

I guess I need to quit making excuses.

Seems like the drivetrain on my racer had taken a beating, both from a crash and wear. It was making multiple noises, but I just ignored it. Here's hoping that new components will make some noticeable difference in pedaling resistance.

I had to have my bottom bracket assembly replaced last summer on my mtn bike that I basically road ride. Apparently their life expectancy is only 3.5k - 5k miles.

BTW, how are you going to get a hauler without a tow bar? I am probably just missing something due to language barrier.

I was going to pay to get a light duty tow bar installed so I could buy one of those style haulers instead of the ones that strap on the trunk.