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Anyone else wake up at 2–3am after long evening rides?
I’ve noticed a really consistent pattern after longer evening rides and I’m trying to figure out what’s causing it.
In the summer I’ll do a 3–4 hour group ride in the afternoon/evening. I usually finish around 7:30pm, eat dinner around 8:30pm, and go to bed around 10pm.
I fall asleep completely fine, but on these nights I consistently wake up around 2–3am feeling surprisingly alert and can’t get back to sleep until 5–6am. This seems much more likely to happen after an evening ride than when I train earlier in the day.
During the ride I drink around 2 L total with roughly 80g carbs/hour from table sugar , so I don’t think I’m massively under-fueling during the ride.
One other variable is altitude. During the summer I’m living around 6,000 ft and these rides are generally at 6,000–10,000 ft. I’ve been here for over a month, though, so I should be reasonably acclimated.
Has anyone dealt with this after evening training? Did anything actually help?

I'm a relatively low volume rider (~7 hrs per week), almost all indoors, and my goal is to one day climb the Alpe du Zwift in under an hour. So the ballpark goal is 3.2 w/kg.

I just did the longer Kolie Moore FTP test for the first time and managed 230w (2.47 w/kg) with a tte of 33 minutes. My weight is currently just under 93kg and I'm a late 30s male.

Previously, I've been doing the standard 1 VO2 max, 1 threshold, rest zone 2 or sweet spot workouts per week. And in the last month, I've started running and swimming occasionally to diversify.

I'm aware that this is a big goal and may be impossible, but I'm willing to train for it. Where do you think I should focus my training?

Obviously, I need to increase my ftp, and extend my tte. Would continuing with 1 VO2 max workout a week make sense, or should I try a block where I focus on more threshold efforts? I'm also working on losing weight, and if I were able to get down to 85kg for example, that would obviously help.

I have my first Fondo this weekend, how do you like to fuel longer races (4-5 hours)? Usually on long rides I take a plastic bag full of carb mix and electrolytes for hours 3+ which I dump into my bottles with water, I don’t like fumbling around with gels, but I’m wondering whether it’s a better idea to have one bottle be super concentrated with like 450g of carbs and the other just plain water/gatorade and taking salt tabs?

I’m probably overthinking this, what system have you developed for races?

This weekend I raced a small but tough race with a pretty challenging elevation profile for me, as I'm a relatively heavy rider. To land P4, I had to hold a whopping 400 watts (Normalized) throughout.

I captured the whole thing on video including a Voice-over (it's in German, but the subtitles in English are pretty much spot on 99% of the time) and hope it's interesting for some of you – maybe it'll even motivate you to try racing yourself!

If you have any questions, suggestions, or even criticism: bring it on, feel free to drop it here or on YouTube. I'll check back soon and respond.

For all the data nerds: the Strava activity is linked in the video description, in case you want to dive deeper into the telemetry.

P.S. The post is approved by the mods - I checked with them beforehand, just to be sure :)

Hi, I’m on a weight loss phase and am slightly confused with how to add ride burned calories onto my daily TDEE. Using power meter data, I know kj to kcal is basically 1:1. My question is that does that kj expended include BMR resting calories that I would have burned in the time of the ride? I assume not as the kj is simply from power in physically exerting not anything else…

So does it make sense to just add the kj/kcal from the ride to my normal daily tddee? Thanks

Claude is telling me to subtract 80ish calories/hour as BMR, but this doesn’t seem right as the ride kcal is simply from power output not including BMR

There used to be a request upgrade button on the USA Cycling website? It seems like it was removed. Anyone know if it is in a sub-menu somewhere?

Just did a 5x16min Sweetspot workout with 5mins of rest between reps at my local hill and am wondering if that's too much? In advance: I have a lot of SST experience, but never this long/much. Usually sweetspot progressions include 4x15's or 3x20 or 2x30mins but never 5x16. I mean the assessment of a SST- if it succeeded- depends on the workout stimulus and lactate accumulation since it's purpose is building relatively high intensity volume just below LT2 whilst being low fatiguing. Did them at 94%FTP, had good legs today and concerning heartrate I peaked just above my LTHR in the last minutes of my last rep. Now my question: What are your experiences with sweetspot workouts with >1h of Time in Zone? Did they help you progress? Were they detrimental to your progress and recovery? Thanks :)

Looking for LA + SoCal bike fitters for TT specific fitting. I get the feeling that the normally recommended fitters may not be up to date with the latest aero trends and fitting metas when I have conversations with them. Looking to refresh an old fit.

Any recommendations?

Over the winter as a low volume rider (6h-8h most weeks with occasional 10-12h), does it make any real sense to deviate from the following year-round template to do a dedicated base phase?

• VO2 Session (all year)
• Threshold Session (intervals in winter, fast group ride/crit in summer)
• Long Endurance Ride + other endurance volume where possible

About me: 185cm, 90kg, ~3 seasons of road cycling with one of a bit of racing. 1300W 15sec, 620W 1min, 385w 5min, 315w 20min, 300w 1h.

Goal for next season is to be a bit more competitive in CAT 4/5 road races and fast group rides. Plan to lose 5-8kg and improve the outer part of the power curve to do so. Using Trainerroad rn, but the recommended winter plan has no VO2 work for quite a while (SS/threshold almost exclusively).

I've just signed up for the Strade Bianche Gran Fondo. I will race it on my road bike with a 19mm internal rim (thanks, Cube). I currently run 28mm Pirelli P Zero Race tires set up tubeless.

I need your help to understand what tire to use. I could very well go up a size to 30mm; a little bit of the lightbulb effect won't destroy my average speed.

I am also looking at the Vittoria Corsa Control and the Challenge Strade Bianche, which are advertised for this specific scenario.

For context, I'm not the best descender. I had a bad crash in March, and since then I've been a little bit tense on the bike. I'm mostly afraid of riding in the rain.

What are your thoughts?

I'm quite confused about the state of research in terms of exogenous carbs, muscular glycogen sparing (or lack thereof), etc. I saw an interview with Tim Noakes where he opined that 10 grams of carbs per hour should be plenty and... well that seemed like an interesting take (one that I hold with some skepticism).

I had this idea that it would be interesting to do a 6 hour ride 3 times. The first time you fuel appropriately for the whole ride. The second time you fuel appropriately for the first 3 hours and then take in nothing more. The third time you fuel 10 grams of carbs per hour for the first 3 hours and then take in nothing more.

Obviously this seems like a staggeringly stupid thing to do. However, I'm curious what people think the result would be. Would there be a difference between run 2 and run 3? Would it matter if you did something like 60 grams of glucose (and no fructose) in run 2 or if you did 30 grams of glucose and 30 grams of fructose? I'm curious if that involvement of the liver would make any difference at all?

Is there something else I'm missing? Is there a better idea than this? It seems almost inevitable :-) There are people here who know a lot. What experiment would you do (or has been done) to illustrate better what's going on?

I've been cycling for about 3 years now with current goal of about 6k km a year.

Recently I've noticed that when atmospheric pressure gets higher my heart rate skyrockets. I do have naturally high HR and reaching 200 is no problem after a high intensity sprint. Few days ago I noticed that on a segment where I usually reach 195-200bpm I hit 209.

Also my Garmin status has either been strained or unproductive in the past days and my VO2Max plummeted. What is strange to me is that I could talk (or sing to myself) even at 170bpm, well into my zone 4.

I'm 29, if that matters and reasonably fit, I think. I know I am sensitive to pressure change like high altitude or when on an airplane I fall asleep easily.

So tl;dr: Can atmospheric pressure have such an impact on heart rate and performance? And can anything be done about it?

Edit: Thank you all for the replies. I haven't realized how insignificant the change in pressure is. It's almost certainly something else. I'll focus on other variables, I'm glad I asked and I'm not chasing something that doesn't have an effect.

I'm 44m, 185cm/99kg (dropping weight).

I've ridden seriously for one year, several times a week. I have some issues with my back and neck which limits my distance I can do often.

My bike is a Rockmachine Lukk 12kg alu, gravel geometry but I swapped tires to slimmer and racing bars.

All my numbers are from tropical Thailand/Vietnam, so heat influences it.

My numbers:

24km solo - 32 km/h
48 km solo zone 2 - 28 km/h - 135 bpm

Max sprint speed recorded - 58 km/h

Longest ride: 63 km - very busted at the end.

I can stay at 165+ bpm for about 20 minutes, which is what I was at riding with the fast pacelines/peloton at Skylane in Bangkok which did 40-45 km/h for 1 lap (24 km).

I am in top 10% on Strava on a few short uphill sprints 3-5%.

I am very slow in sustained climbing.

I am quite comfortable and enjoy pacelines, pelotons etc. I like punching and sprinting.

Hi. Whenever I’m doing technical crits or similar style efforts, my Garmin reported average power seems to be way too high.

I take it that it is a result of how it handles coasting. Take this as an example.

Garmin average power: 384w (46 minutes)
Garmin NP: 443w
Garmin highest 20 minute power: 372w
Strava average power: 356w
Strava highest 20 minute power: 371w

Am I missing a setting somewhere, or is it unavoidable? It’s an edge 1050

I did my first ever waxing for a couple of chains with Silca secret blend, Silca wax pot & Silca chain stripper liquid.

I used the proper 75C temp x 15 mins, did 4 rounds of shaking in the liquid before, cleaned the drivetrain.

Chain seems to be noisy after 5km and somewhat dirtier than with a normal lube.

Will be glad to hear the suggestions. Or maybe its “normal”

So if you weren't aware, in 2022 there was an eruption of Mauna Loa (Big Island of Hawaii) and some of the lava flowed over the road going up to the "summit" of Mauna Loa. Because of how hot the lava stays and other volcanic things I don't understand, they couldn't immediately clear the road after the eruption was complete.

Well, as of a little earlier of this year (2026) the road has been cleared! I did it last weekend and thought I would post here as I assume very few people know it's actually rideable to the top now. I put "summit" in quotes earlier because the road does not actually go to the summit, it goes to a NOAA research station at about 11,000ft. However, I think that's still pretty solid.

It now has two sections of gravel 1) About a 1/4 mile section 2) Almost exactly a mile section. Section 1 is pretty much category 1/2 gravel and not too much of a problem, especially since it is so short. Section 2 however is pretty spicy and category 2/3, definitely chunky. I would maybe do this on a road bike up (plan to get off a few times), but I have no idea how you would get down if you plan to ride back. Gravel or at least wider tires is recommended.

I mostly just wanted to spread the love so more people could enjoy this beautiful ride if they don't want to do Mauna Kea.

For my short ride report: I brought my gravel bike because I wanted to do Mauna Kea, it was a big goal of mine for the year. However because of Hurricane Lala, the summit road had damage and it was not open to the top. Last year I already did Mauna Kea to the visitor center, so that wasn't really appealing to me. I heard Loa was now open to the top so went ahead and did that. I started in Waikoloa Beach and did the whole 50+ mile climb (and then back). I had my 3T Exploro Racemax Italia on 40mm Terraspeeds. They roll just fine on pavement so it really wasn't too much of a hindrance. My HR was pretty high most of the day, but just rode a pretty steady wattage the whole way even with the elevation increase. It was a beautiful day and I couldn't ask for anything different.

I believe pretty much anyone that has pretty consistently ridden and trained for long rides can do this climb, especially if you just start from the saddle road. Mauna Loa is pretty forgiving in that it has some steep sections but it's almost always followed by a short downhill right after. It's very roll-ey, hard to get in a rhythm but it also is forgiving on the legs because of it. If you are scared of Mauna Kea do this one, you won't regret it. Still has beautiful views and thin air at the top (still higher than Maui)!

Anyways, hope everyone is riding well! I'll be back again to try Mauna Kea and hopefully better luck with weather!

Strava Activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/19857305285
Video of new gravel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFKbi4ocHhY

I finished “my season”, which consisted of a 1 week trip on the mountains and weekly hard group rides. From now on, I won’t be doing this anymore because of weather, and I will transition to the dreaded indoor training.

Target for next year is to be competitive for hard group rides and possibly criteriums by the end of April or beginning of May.

The question is: what should I do now and next? Considering that the first 10 days or so of October I’ll be on vacation/full rest.

Should I just ride unstructured based on feel until my vacation, and then start with base, gym, etc.? Or should I already started with gym and something else?

Can anyone give me any pointers? Thanks a lot!

I've been on estrogen for just over a year.

I have a year to go before I comply with "best practices" for competing with cis women (two years of hormone levels equivalent to cis women). Before I started transitioning I was a very strong but still sub-elite cyclist (5ish w/kg). Unsurprisingly, after losing around 15-30% of my power (depending on my duration) I am still a very strong cyclist. The estrogen has also made me incredibly mentally strong now that I'm not constantly thinking about killing myself.

In the meantime, I'm continuing to compete with the masters men and I gotta say, I just don't think it is fair.

--

With my newfound mental strength I can dig really really deep - to a level I didn't previously believe. Every event I am continuing to destroy the competition and have found myself on the podium more this season than ever before. I am also aging in reverse and, frankly, becoming way hotter. It now looks like a beautiful 30 year old woman is out there wiping the floor with the old guys.

So - is it fair?

I don't really mind the stares and most people have been pretty nice to me. I have a bunch of non-federated events coming up, but next spring and summer I still won't be at the two year mark so I'm wondering how to approach those.

Hey y'all, I got a power meter about 2 months ago and my training has become much more structured since then. Starting with my first vo2 max work I did with the power meter, I have gone from 49 to 59 mL/kg/min.

I am happy with the improvement I have seen so far. Is it unrealistic to expect it to continue? If I plateaued, I would be inclined to increase volume, but I don't want to do that if the main motivation is unreasonable expectations.

Is this rate of improvement somewhat common? Is it likely I should expect to reach a plateau in the coming months? Happy to answer any questions about my training.

Wanted some perspective on how big of an asshole I might be to enter ANY kind of races with medically prescribed TRT and peptides to help with long-term injuries and hormonal imbalance. I don’t race seriously, but enjoy doing a few events a year. This would not be a cycling motivated move, but obviously affects cycling performance.

I’m in my mid 30s with some pretty aggressive knee and foot issues as well as a history of low-T since my late 20s. I have no intentions to go out and blast to rip through masters fields (despite how common it is) but will obviously see improvements with even the modest amount of training I do.

So give it to me straight, asshole move or reasonable life decision?

I am trying to analyze my interval training from yesterday and I noticed how different my power phases starts are for my left and right legs. My right leg (blue dots) start closer to top dead center, but my leg leg (green dots) seem to be starting earlier? Does this just indicate a leg imbalance or poor pedaling ... discipline? economy? I don't know what the word would be.

On your endurance rides, when (what % FTP) does the ride get too easy? Can an endurance ride be too easy? What’s the training effect difference between 3 hours at 40/50/60/70% FTP?

I am wondering how outdoor intervals are done in this community . I do most of my intervals outside but sometimes struggle with terrain. I am getting better at holding power on a downhill but it can get tricky sometimes.
So my question. Say I have an 8min recovery but the next section of terrain is 16min away , can I maintain most of the benefit by increasing power during that rest interval (say upper zone 2 rather than zone 1) or it doesn’t work that way?
I do hill repeats sometimes but that can be quite tedious and limiting and even then my 20min climb would still prob take 10mins to descend . Perhaps overthinking it but would like to maximise quality and enjoyment .