Training by commuting on heavier bike

Harrybelafonte

Wondering if commuting on substantially heavier bike (which also allows you to keep up a high cadence) helps you train in anyway or does it do more damage than good. In my very basic knowledge am thinking it might help with sprinting?

seamus

I don't think it will help with sprinting. Interval training is best for sprinting as it accustoms your body to adapting to short bursts of extreme power (afaik).

Commuting on a heavier bike will likely have the greatest effect on stamina; your ability to maintain a constant level of power output over time. I'm not massively up on the nuances of bike training though.

Harrybelafonte

seamus wrote: »

I don't think it will help with sprinting. Interval training is best for sprinting as it accustoms your body to adapting to short bursts of extreme power (afaik).

seamus wrote: »

Commuting on a heavier bike will likely have the greatest effect on stamina; your ability to maintain a constant level of power output over time. I'm not massively up on the nuances of bike training though.

Nor am I. Your first point makes more sense than mine though.

Lumen

http://www.active.com/cycling/Articles/Mark-Cavendishs-Secret-to-Sprint-Training.htm

Pigeon Reaper

I don't know if it will help in any physical way but when you do get onto the decent bike and feel the weight of it there will be positive psychological benefits .

Lumen

FWIW, I don't think weight makes any difference but I do find it useful to commute on a bike with roughly the same geometry and fit as my race bike.

If you want to make your commute harder just add distance or ride faster.

superrdave

Lumen wrote: »

FWIW, I don't think weight makes any difference but I do find it useful to commute on a bike with roughly the same geometry and fit as my race bike.

If you want to make your commute harder just add distance or ride faster.

Moving house or job seems a fairly extreme way of improving cycling performance...

niceonetom

superrdave wrote: »

Moving house or job seems a fairly extreme way of improving cycling performance...

Have a little think about what you've just posted.

Oldlegs

1. Upside of commuting on the heavier bike is that it is probably NOT your racing bike so less likely to be stolen and even if it is stolen, not as painful.

2. Less wear'n'tear on your good wheel rims.

3. Also, the surprised look from others when you win the commuter races on your heavy bike

superrdave

niceonetom wrote: »

Have a little think about what you've just posted.

It was in jest. Of course I figured out the "cycle by a longer route" idea.

Harrybelafonte

To be clear, the bike is a very good bike, it's not a beater by a long shot. It's just a lot heavier than a road bike.

seamus

Pigeon Reaper wrote: »

I don't know if it will help in any physical way but when you do get onto the decent bike and feel the weight of it there will be positive psychological benefits .

Have to +1 that tbh. Pushing yourself really hard and moving at 40km/h feels a whole lot better than killing yourself in a headwind and barely making 20km/h. At times, the latter makes you want to jack it all in, whereas the former makes you want to push harder.

I'm presuming the substantially heaver bike is an MTB, which will increase your drag lots more than the road bike.

niceonetom

superrdave wrote: »

It was in jest. Of course I figured out the "cycle by a longer route" idea.

Grand so. You should be careful feigning idiocy on the internet though. Very easy to just blend in with the real thing.

OP - unless your commute is really quite hilly (which I doubt) then a few kilos here or there isn't likely to have any training effect. Harder or further (or both) might though.

I'm just surmising but you might be able to add to the demands of commuting by using very large heavy tyres... full of custard... and dragging a parachute.

Lumen

niceonetom wrote: »

I'm just surmising but you might be able to add to the demands of commuting by using very large heavy tyres... full of custard... and dragging a parachute.

There is a significant correlation within the bicycle commuting population between slow, cheap BSO MTBs and aerodynamically-inefficient flappy hi-vis.

Perhaps these individuals are not skanger-freds but A2s looking to make their LSD commute as long as slow as possible.

Harrybelafonte

seamus wrote: »

I'm presuming the substantially heaver bike is an MTB, which will increase your drag lots more than the road bike.

It's a cargo bike that weighs about 25kg.

lukester

Harrybelafonte wrote: »

Wondering if commuting on substantially heavier bike (which also allows you to keep up a high cadence) helps you train in anyway or does it do more damage than good. In my very basic knowledge am thinking it might help with sprinting?

I don't think it can do any harm, so long as you've no problem switching from the geometry of one to the other. What might benefit training, as others say, is increasing your speed throughout- sustaining 30kph on a cargo bike is a mite harder than doing the same on a road bike.

As an aside, I know in your case you have the cargo bike (a very good and nice one, I'd happily have it in my shed) for a specific purpose- but I can't understand people who deliberately buy a heavy, crap bike to 'train' on while commuting. Any marginal conferred benefit is surely outweighed by the the shame of riding something so ugly and the accompanying loss of the will to live.

Harrybelafonte

lukester wrote: »

... I can't understand people who deliberately buy a heavy, crap bike to 'train' on while commuting. Any marginal conferred benefit is surely outweighed by the the shame of riding something so ugly and the accompanying loss of the will to live.

I'd have to agree there. I had to use an old MTB during the snow, heavy, gears were useless and it started to suck the life out of me quite quickly.

setanta159

I have a decent enough hybrid (not real heavy) that I have been using more frequently due to the weather. I mainly use it to keep up a semblance of fitness and probably out of guilt. I certainly feel that 25k on the hybrid must have similar benefits to 40 or 50k on my road bike. That's at least what it feels like afterwards anyway. Also there is the added bonus of not worrying too much about cleaning it after going out on a spin which is a bonus with the roads being almost constantly wet. Anyone else do something similar and is it possible to compare the effort expended on a relatively good hybrid Vs an average road bike over similar terrain?

lukester

setanta159 wrote: »

Anyone else do something similar and is it possible to compare the effort expended on a relatively good hybrid Vs an average road bike over similar terrain?

HRM/power-meter.