Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced cyclist, you always have room for improvement. If you’ve always been a slow rider and want to improve your game, try working on your speed. Here are a few great ways to become a faster cyclist.
Start Riding More
If you’re dissatisfied with your bicycling speed, it likely has something to do with your agility, strength, or endurance. You can easily address all these aspects of your performance with more riding time. If you only make time to ride your bike once or twice a week, you won’t see improvements for quite some time.
However, if you ramp up your cycling effort to four, five, or even six times a week, your muscles will have less time to recover, forcing you to quickly whip yourself into shape. The more you ride, the more experience you can draw upon as you navigate hills and turns. When you can pump your legs faster and make the most of declines, you’ll become faster on the bike.
Practice Efficient Riding
Your riding technique determines your speed, and even the slightest change to your navigation can increase your speed by one mile per hour. Cornering can prove risky if you go into the curve too quickly. If you lack the experience to time it correctly, you could slam the brakes and lose a significant amount of momentum. Instead, slow down gradually and feel out the turn so you can keep going at a high speed without stopping altogether.
You should also think about your physical form when building speed downhill. The higher you sit in your seat, the more drag you will create upfront. Instead, hunker down and stay small to get going fast. Wind drag is frustrating, but you can easily skirt past it with a bit of readjusting.
Plan Challenges for Yourself
If you want to become a faster cyclist, you must plan challenges for yourself. Look for places with hills and terrain that will push you further than normal. When you have more turns, declines, and distances to navigate, you must force your body to handle them. Before setting out on a new ride, though, be sure to quickly identify the difficulty of the bike ride. If you don’t trust yourself to last, consider shortening the challenge today so you can push yourself harder tomorrow.
Use these ways to become a faster cyclist as you hit the asphalt this week. With the right amount of motivation, planning, and refining, you can increase your speed in no time.
To a Fitter Healthier You,
The FitnAll Family
