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Cycling workouts (in Central Park or elsewhere)

post #1 of 8
8/6/08 at 5:29pm
Thread Starter 
I hate running but love cycling. I love my road bike, a Trek 1000, though it needs some serious upgrades.

As it stands now, I try to ride in Central Park as often as I can. The loop in the park is, to my understanding, about 6 miles.

I think the ride naturally occurs in intervals, as there are a number of peaks and valleys, and just naturally when you ride, you pick up momentum in certain places and exert yourself and in others, you coast, so it provides some interval training.

But what can I do to maximize my ride?

And also, unscientific, how many loops do you think constitutes a solid workout, say, after the workday? 2? 3?
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post #2 of 8
8/6/08 at 7:22pm
Do the workout as a fixy... i.e. pick a solid gear that will make you leave your saddle on the uphills and be reasonably difficult on the flats - and don't change the gear throughout the course.

You can likely get a solid workout with 2 loops... Use the first to warm up, then bust through the next loop HARD ... if you don't go hard then 2 loops like this won't be enough. But after work I think a few miles to warm, then one time through the course hard with a fixed gear, then a few miles cool down would be a pretty good workout if time was an issue.

Remember limited time available can always be substituted with harder work.

* Also a tip, from my few memories of the park, it isn't too steep in any one place. So when you are sprinting out of saddle, sprint through the hill until you are back to completely flat ground or going down hill.
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post #3 of 8
8/6/08 at 7:33pm
Can you get a good workout in Central Park? I'm admittedly not intimately familiar with the area, but I doubt you'll be riding fast enough in central park to get a good workout. The path is narrow and there are too many pedestrians to safely ride a sustained 25 mph.

I'm hoping some NYCers will be able to add something. Maybe look for a cycling club and check their routes. Or, maybe take it to the street?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au0Zjn3eB9k
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post #4 of 8
8/6/08 at 7:43pm
Thread Starter 
Couch all of this in the fact that I've been riding for a few months, and am not nearly as strong as more experienced riders, nor do I have superior endurance.

But I like the fixed gear idea. Seems reasonably tough.
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post #5 of 8
8/8/08 at 2:18pm
Wouldn't the west side bike path be better? Longer and less crowded? (I don't live in NYC and have not used it. This is just based on looking at the maps).
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post #6 of 8
8/9/08 at 4:07pm
Ride two laps to warm up. Ride 10 hill repeats on Harlem Hill taking taking the 102nd St. cutoff. Go f'ing hard. Ride a lap to cool down.
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post #7 of 8
8/11/08 at 1:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbjorn View Post
Ride two laps to warm up.
Ride 10 hill repeats on Harlem Hill taking taking the 102nd St. cutoff. Go f'ing hard.
Ride a lap to cool down.

That sounds awesome, though I'd probably just do 1 lap to warm up. I will try this next (probably only 5 hill repeats).
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post #8 of 8
8/11/08 at 1:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Serg View Post
Wouldn't the west side bike path be better? Longer and less crowded? (I don't live in NYC and have not used it. This is just based on looking at the maps).

Yes, the Hudson River greenway is a superior ride if you want to mix the work-out with open views, range of terrain and more interesting landscape. While Central Park attracts many riders, personally I find it boring.

Check it out here:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/bike/gp.shtml

http://gorp.away.com/gorp/location/ny/bik_gre1.htm

http://www.transalt.org/files/newsro...7greenway.html

In workout mode, I ride my folder for 1 - 1.5 hours round trip starting at 96th Street and usually head north into Inwood park or into NJ across the George Washington Bridge. Past the 160's, the path becomes hilly with some nice bouts of incline (particularly right after the GWB). The Greenway ends at Dyckman Street, but you can continue into Ft. Tryon Park (hill up to the Cloisters is nice) or into Inwood Park and do the hills. Or take the GWB into NJ and Rte 9 or into Palisades Park.

In the southerly direction from 96th St. which I ride to my handball games across the city, the path is flat with only a gentle hill at the Boat Basin and the experience is more urban. But you can ride like the banshee all the way down to South Ferry pulling or draughting others.

I'm usually on my 2 speed titanium Brompton or my 8 speed orange GoBike, so perhaps we'll encounter one another on the Greenway. The breeze, sunshine, water and views are exhilerating, by comparison, CP is rather like a closed track.

Enjoy!
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