1. ride a mountain bike!
Mountain biking is the best technical training for the cyclist's body. Your sense of balance improves, as does your cornering and braking behaviour. What's more, you can explore completely new terrain on beautiful, small forest trails. Time will fly by and you will have had an intensive and varied workout. Even if you don't have much time: Just one hour on a mountain bike is an excellent workout.
2. unscrew the electronics from the wheel!
Of course, heart rate monitors, SRMs etc. help with serious training planning - but don't just let yourself be guided by numbers and values. If you ride without electronic training aids from time to time, you will develop a feeling for your body, speed and exertion. And if you have a well-developed body awareness, you can react more quickly in many (racing) situations and also learn not to overload yourself during training.
3. challenge your colleagues!
Riding in the same rut every day is useless; doing intervals alone requires a lot of motivation. More interesting: Simulate race situations with your mates, build in local sign sprints and mountain classifications, organise a team time trial. Compete against each other in teams of two and award points for the various classifications - tactics also come into play! Because having fun during training is a basic prerequisite for good performance.
4. change your line of vision!
Get to know your home in a new way - with a little trick: cycle the home circuit the other way round! This way you will have to tackle familiar bends and climbs in a completely different way, creating new challenges. This works wonderfully against training monotony - and you may even be able to break through your personal speed barrier by choosing a varied route. The new stimuli during training will also help you to improve your riding technique: you will refine your movement techniques and soon have a more varied repertoire at your disposal.
5. just do nothing!
"Rest day" comes from resting! If you realise that you can't motivate yourself to ride your road bike, take a break with a clear conscience. Leave your bike at a standstill - there is no point in tinkering with it now. You will notice how the desire to ride your road bike will come back all by itself. Rest days are also important from a physiological point of view: this is when you adapt to the training stimuli you have previously set. So: If you want to get better, just put your feet up.
6. make the distance!
Always see the same landscape? Dreary! Even if you drive 120 kilometres, you have to turn around after a maximum of 60 kilometres. Why don't you drive further? Explore new routes and regions! Choose a destination and return by train. This will give you new impressions - and when you tell everyone afterwards where you have been, they will be more amazed than by your standard 120-kilometre round trip.
7. try driving 50!
Upper heart rate limits or not - sometimes it's just fun to go full throttle - and you should treat yourself to this fun! One of the best things about road cycling is the high speed you can reach. Make the most of it! Breaking 50 on the flat can be a great challenge. If you come back from a ride completely exhausted, that's okay - the next few days are just for easy training.
8. practise your riding technique!
Everyone can turn the crank. The decisive factor for economy is which forces are used. And those who ride economically are faster for longer. You can specifically train the famous "round kick" - for example by riding with one leg on a slight incline. It is also worth practising your cornering technique and downhill riding: the more confidently you can do this, the less time you will lose at these points.
9. work on your strengths!
Are you the sprinter type and find it difficult on hills? So what? Improve your strengths with targeted training. It's better to be a great sprinter than a mediocre one who can also pull up easy inclines. Because if you concentrate on your talent, you will achieve training success more quickly and enjoy your training more. This also makes sense from a physiological point of view - because the sprinter type is not created in your head, but in your muscles; whether you are more of a sprinter or a climber is largely genetically determined - it is not worth fighting against this.
10. dream realistically!
"No wind blows to him who has no harbour to sail to", a French philosopher once said. This means that goals help us to move forward and develop - also in sport. But please don't set the bar too high, otherwise you will quickly become frustrated! Choose new competitions or races, prepare for a goal even at short notice - and approach it with realistic expectations. Reward yourself when you have achieved a goal - and give yourself enough time to recover before the next challenge!
Photos: Kraus, Rokosch
