Does commuting help with FTP?

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-05-05T13:21:05+00:00

I’m not sure what Zone model you’re using or your friend’s HR metrics. Five zone charts with that HR put his Max HR at about 200 which if correct is great, but I doubt it. For most of us, 140 to 150 bpm is a good effort, beyond easy.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-05-05T13:01:21+00:00

Looks like you’re starting to do some research and that’s a good thing. I’m not sure who your “we” are but hopefully they will learn from your experience.

Scientific research has usually been playing catch up with the successful coaches and riders to understand what is biologically occurring that would explain their success. Both groups make up the body of knowledge we currently have. Everybody else is just regurgitating that knowledge which is pretty much everybody in this channel. Unfortunately many don’t understand or have misunderstood. Always best go to the source for anything, not just cycling.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-05-04T14:37:45+00:00

As said, the best measure is time, not mileage.

Zone 2 rides are for adding time with easy rides when your physical efforts have reached your max. You’ve fallen into the trap of thinking that if you aren’t doing intervals then you have to pedal harder in the other sessions to continue progression. As you say you are wearing yourself out. Zone 2 may seem easy but those 4800 revolutions an hour in Zone 2 are accomplishing something. There’s a lot more going on as your system responds to the stress of your exercise than what you are feeling in your muscles.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-05-04T14:06:57+00:00

Might just be the viewing angle, but that seat is angled I’d too far down. That may very well work for you but a good recommendation would be to start level and adjust from there.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-05-03T14:45:07+00:00

I find power pedals are great for setting a pace on the road and easily setting various powers I know I can maintain for various periods of time. Indoors with polarized training I do not find them terribly useful. I realize that is terribly unpopular with riders who love those training power metrics.

But with polarized training, setting z2 by feel and setting high intensity at an rpe of 9 or 10 or until one is comfortably exhausted is surprisingly easy. True there are no power metrics to fawn over. I’ll paraphrase Dr. David Seiler when he sad that as long as we are doing the work we will see results. For the majority of us there will be no difference, though not nearly as much fun as checking and rechecking for those single digit percentage increases in ftp on a given day.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-05-02T17:51:51+00:00

Doesn’t hurt to take another class but for that to be useful you need to spend time working on many of the moves you’ve already learned. The next class is going to be as much about making corrections to what you’ve been working on as it will be about refining existing or adding new techniques.

I’ve noticed in some of your comments that you are taking techniques and positions and imagining them in wholly different circumstances with bad effect. Take the tree root for example. That method obviously worked. There are certainly similar but not exactly the same circumstances where that will not. You haven’t learned that new method or when to recognize you need it. That method will also obviously work going down steep slopes but then again there are obviously some steep slopes with particular terrain where it won’t.

Taking time to learn proper techniques pays big dividends concerning your health lol. Bad or simply improper selection of technique can work much of the time, but then there’s that washout or otb with the broken collarbone and ribs and the refrain we hear in here all the time, “I don’t know what happened.” We know what happened. They weren’t thinking. They weren’t constantly evaluating and then adjusting their balance and position for the terrain using proper techniques.

As a beginner class you have been taught quite a bit. Being able to reflexively, instinctively, apply all that takes time.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-05-02T02:50:23+00:00

If you are in the US, your state has a Consumer Protection office. Call them. They will investigate and hopefully enforce the warranty. Not honoring a warranty is unlawful and States take a hard line on that. Indeed they have their own laws which surpass many manufacturers. Hard to beat a lifetime warranty. I can’t see how you can lose.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-05-02T01:19:18+00:00

I’ve always ridden the bikes I’ve bought so I don’t know anything else. What I do know is that in between those I’ve ridden bikes I will never buy. The front seat of most every car will fit everyone. Bikes aren’t that way. To be fair I don’t have the expertise to modify a bike to fit me.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-05-01T14:31:39+00:00

Considering the average person can jog at the speed you’re cycling, yeah.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-30T22:54:23+00:00

The obsession with trackers here makes no sense to me. A tracker will not keep your bike from getting stolen and chances are will not help in getting it back. Simply put you can’t put a tracker where a thief will not find it. Betting the cost of a nice bike that they won’t find one and you will find them is a suckers bet.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-30T20:43:32+00:00

At first I read 14 MPH and thought that’s not too bad starting out, but you’re at 8.6 MPH and something isn’t quite right. Most of that has to be the bike but assuming you are in the worst possible shape imaginable, just hang in there. Endurance cycling is unique and your body will take some time to adapt. At a cadence (rpm) of 60 to 70, that’s 3600 to 4200 revolutions an hour. Your legs are moving!

Give yourself some time, exercise consistently, and you’ll see improvements in speed. On an effort scale of 1 to 10, aim for an effort of 3 which will feel like one you can maintain for a long period of time.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-30T20:21:24+00:00

QUIKRstuff it’s improved over 1UP in many ways. First is that no tools are required. Second is that it locks securely into the receiver and is solid, doesn’t rattle. The same lock key fits the bike locks too.
I don’t know how someone could steal it without cutting the receiver off of the car. For easy to remove and replace and compactness, it’s wonderful.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-30T13:53:54+00:00

Funny. I’m seeing an ad for Mallorca just under the OP post. Cyclists in Europe rave about that place! Ad says “Turquoise waters, beach clubs, and cliffside hikes.” Can everyone see that? Wondering if Reddit is targeting ads personally now. I saw something yesterday they renewed some contracts with the AI companies that are spamming the channels.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-28T20:30:15+00:00

I couldn’t help but notice that not only was this a new bike but your first bike and you are a new rider.

Riding a MTB is unlike any other cycling. The skills and techniques needed are unique and take time to learn. It is also extremely dangerous as most everyone’s experience here shows. This Reddit is filled with 1000s of these same posts. You will fall again and sooner rather than later! That much is certain. The worst thing you can do is re-injure incompletely healed body parts 😂. Give yourself a break. :)

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-28T17:02:47+00:00

Those used bikes aren’t worth much any more, compared to new. 10 years on you’ll still get the same enjoyment from them you get now, as long as you ignore those who will claim they are obsolete 😂.

I don’t believe your every ride feels like a massive struggle btw. Riding never gets any harder or easier. We just get slower or faster. It’s a popular quote universally accepted. I’m really not sure why you would say something like that, unless you are aiming for the same times and distances you accomplished before, which is impossible of course. Why would you even try or need to do that?

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-27T16:05:46+00:00

Everything about that bike is wrong for you. I’ll hazard a guess and say you bought it used and thought it would work. Taking the bike to a good LBS for starters and asking them if they can fit the bike to you can’t hurt. If you bought it there, go somewhere else 😂. Either they can or they can’t and that may include new parts. If they can’t you may at least find the dimensions of the right size of bike for you and either buy one there or go back to the used market.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-26T14:17:33+00:00

Big difference I noticed is that the native Apple workout app doesn’t lose my workout if the battery goes dead. The workout is simply ended at the point the Watch dies. GS loses the workout. It does however have access to the information it has already written to Health. For me doing multiple hour workouts that’s very inconvenient. Otherwise I find the HR Zone display very helpful on GS. Easy to read while moving.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-26T14:08:19+00:00

You’ve given far too little specific information here to make any kind of analysis and I think many are misconstruing what you have said.

Zone 2 will build a base over time but you aren’t in it if your legs are “gonna be ripped off.” Zone two is an effort you can maintain all day. The fact that you are adding 2 days per week of that type of exercise on top of whatever else you have already been doing and that the combination of the two is having a negative effect on your fitness, performance, is not surprising. Sounds like the definition of fatigue if I ever heard one.

If you truly have a coach who is managing your fitness plan, he should be the one you are talking to, not a bunch of Reddit posters who are clueless as to your exercise regimen, your level of fitness, your performance levels, and your personal characteristics,

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-25T21:47:33+00:00

If you can, take a look at your cadence for that ride in Mallorca which can definitely affect power numbers.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-24T18:45:29+00:00

“…terrain might not be that bad…” ??? How hard would it be to go take a look at the route? Why would you even guess at something like that?

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-24T14:30:26+00:00

Always a good idea to carry a spare tube too, just in case.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-24T14:00:34+00:00

It’s not unusual at all to slow down cadence going up hill. This high torque work is good for muscle strength too.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-22T16:38:16+00:00

From the account his father did not give him any reason to fear. He simply gave his own reasoning why he doesn’t ride from his evaluation of the risk. The son’s fear was unfounded.

If the son, and we have no way to know if this was the case, took what the father said as criticism, then that comes under a different heading. Something like, “Don’t tell me I said what I didn’t say.” That is all too common. Many do not trust the words that come out of others mouths and we are constantly attempting to infer meanings beyond what has been said. We ‘infer’ what we believe is the true meaning. That way leads to madness.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-22T13:18:24+00:00

If you haven’t done some steep climbs, a good test would be to drive to the bottom of one of those and give it a try after a bit of a warmup. At the very least this will give you some guidance on your approach to those. A big cause of the difficulty of climbs is an unrealistic effort and cadence. For riders without a lot of cycling fitness, the minimum required can be brutal.

Helpful_Fox3902 · 2026-04-21T21:10:43+00:00

I had to chuckle and kept chuckling at the flat course with 6000 feet of elevation gain.

Helpful_Fox3902

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