Help me work out how to train before my new bike arrives!

[shann]

The lovely people at Wiggle are in the process of shipping me my first road bike, and I want to make sure I can make the best of her when she arrives. In the mean time, my MTB ("Starry") and I are pretty much just doing a little loop around my neighbourhood, since the main roads (Burrup Rd and Dampier Rd) are just too busy at the moment - see Cyclemeter links below for indicative times and routes.

https://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/1515/71ad/4e4f/9e59/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120530-1706.kml

https://maps.google.com/?q=http://share.abvio.com/1515/71ad/4e4f/9e59/Cyclemeter-Cycle-20120526-1653.kml

What should I be doing, to build strength and stamina, especially once the Bike of the Future arrives? My current max distance is 54km (not on the route shown), and I'd like to build up to 100km (should be easier on a road bike?). I also want to be able to do hills without losing too much speed - Starry is not really geared for it, so I'm struggling a bit. As you can see from the links, on a downhill that I do at 35km/hr, I'm only getting 17km/hr uphill, and this really doesn't cut it. I am quite pleased about getting 27km/hr on a reasonably flat/slightly undulating run, as when I started riding I would have been getting 19, but I want to push it up to 30 at least.

So far, my strategy for improvement has been to increase distance incrementally, and then add some hills, and try to do better each time ... this is not very scientific.

Any advice gratefully received!

[MikeyD360]

If you want to do it all technical, I'm sure there will be plenty of suggestions, but the best one really for normies like us is simply to get out and ride as much as you can.
My hybrid would take me around 60km before I got pooped - when my roadie took over, one of my first rides I mentioned 'gee, no wonder people can do such long rides". You will definitely notice the reduced weight and rolling resistance and this will translate into longer distances and/or faster speeds. I found it really hard to get used to shifting under load when taking off from the lights... something my hybrid would never have agreed to do, but the ultegra set on my current bike will happily oblige every time.
But yes, keep riding, keep increasing the distance and adding hills is great. Hills suck - no-one loves hills (except masochists) however if you do more hills than the guy you are riding with, you will still find it sucks all the way to the top - but you will get there a lot faster than the other guy and hence get to enjoy going down faster too
Enjoy the roadie

[toolonglegs]

Hills rock!... They never get easier, you just faster!. Nothing like climbing solid for an hour or two, breaking through the low clouds up into the snow and sun .
OP, don't over think it at the moment, ride as much as possible... 5 or 6 days a week is best... Push yourself a bit and the improvements will come quickly, certainly in the beginning. If you really want to be good in the hills then fork control is needed unless you are a real lightweight.

[shann]

Thanks for the advice guys. Will have to up my riding schedule!

What is 'fork control'?

[vander]

Fork control aka kitchen walkaways, its eating right and not too much. Its all about the power to weight in the hills. Up the power drop the weight and your on a winning formula.