recommend a Training book please

[Bob Ross]

My wife asks "I'm looking for a training book geared towards recreational cycling. I'd like to become faster for club rides but I'm not looking to peak for a race. I'm looking to be able to be consistent through a long Spring, Summer, Fall cycling season."

She was training with a cycling coach for the past 4 or 5 months, but he seemed more oriented towards racers, and she found that his training regimen not only didn't encourage her to do the types of rides she enjoys most, it seemed to conspire against her being able to do them! She'd be so beat from her mid-week training that when it came time to do a fast, or hilly (or fast and hilly) club ride on Saturday she'd be wiped out.

She already has Joe Friel's book. Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Geoff]

why doesnt she just go ride as much as she can. Trianing is going to suck sometimes and leave you tired, but a proper program will develop speed and endurance while leaving you fresh for your selected events. Sounds to me like she is just over reaching right now and needs to backoff and just ride. Also Joes books is great if she reads that and really understands it she will have the tools to get as fit as she wants to.

G

[kerrycycle]

Base Building for Cyclists by Thomas Chappele is a good one that fits with Friel, but does not go into intensity so much. It should be easy to adapt to rec riders.

[thejen12]

Base Building for Cyclists by Thomas Chappele is a good one that fits with Friel, but does not go into intensity so much. It should be easy to adapt to rec riders.
I just finished reading this book. It can be geared towards racers, but it is easy to digest down to the recreational level. However, it's a bummer to start reading a book about base building in mid-March, when you should have started that in January, at least! Especially with the case he makes about how good it is for your cycling later in the season to build a proper base.

It's a good book, I'd recommend it.

Jenn

[giordana93]

I think she has to define her goals before any relevant recommendation will do. a fast century? touring speeds? or just buns of steel? and yes, almost any book suggestion will be racer-oriented; it's a niche market. maybe a general fitness cross-training type of book. or--and I mean this in all seriousness--a subscription to a rag like bicycling. there are enough short articles on maximizing training time, nutrition and the like, to be worth the $15 or so. but the goals must come first, since they will dictate the program. is greg lemond's book still available? racer-oriented, but good about periodization and breaking it up. I would guess that chris carmichael has the modern version of that. certainly worth the read I would think

[Ti Designs]

However, it's a bummer to start reading a book about base building in mid-March, when you should have started that in January, at least! Especially with the case he makes about how good it is for your cycling later in the season to build a proper base.


So many people just don't get that... A few decades before this book came out George Mount said "time on the bike is like money in the bank".


Based on what I've seen, there's a real need for good, in-person coaching for non-racers. Much of my coaching time is spent with people who just want to finish a ride comfortably - it's really not that much to ask. I go over the same basics as I do with my racers, 'cept the emphasis shifts from speed to comfort (it's really the same thing in the end, but don't tell the racers that). I hear the same complaints about cycling all the time - my hands hurt, my neck hurts, I can't get up hills... They're all saying the same thing - I don't know how to sit on the bike so the weigh is on the pedals, not leaning against the handlebars. Next comes handling - how many new riders have you seen wobble down the road? The bars aren't a steering wheel, this ain't a car. With a car you turn the wheel and it goes in that direction. A bike is controlled from the hips and the nose of the saddle. Getting new riders to give up old habits and form new ones isn't that hard, but it takes some time and it really needs to be done in person.

Many of my non racer clients came to me 'cause they signed up for some charity ride. The ones I've kept in touch with continue to ride and increase their mileage every year.

[JohnHemlock]

Base Building for Cyclists by Thomas Chappele is a good one that fits with Friel, but does not go into intensity so much. It should be easy to adapt to rec riders.

+1. I read lots of training books for various sports and this one is particularly well-done. I don't follow any program religiously but this book had more ideas I've incorporated than any I've read.

[40x14]

Tim Krabbés "The Rider." It's not so much a coaching book as it is a lovely anecdotal story of the bike riding and a journalist/bikeracer's mindset in Belgium.

I also liked Andy Pruitt's "Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists" with a forward by Chris Carmichael

and this one too, "Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100" by Roy M. Wallack.

None of these books is very race-oriented.