A great way to build bike specific strength is to find yourself a nice, not so steep hill and ride up it in your big chain ring. When selecting the hill look for something that will allow you to ride up for a minimum of 5 minutes. Keep your HR low and focus on a nice circular pedal stroke. Doing these in your aero position is a great way to strengthen your race specific muscles (and to look ridiculous to the common observer). If your knees aren’t tracking straight and are wobbling from side to side you should most likely put it in an easier gear. Look to hold between 50 and 60 RPM for 5-10 minutes. You should feel a gentle burn and fatigue in your quads, not the oxygen debt, lactic acid burn that you would get from a max effort hill climb. Think “weight room on the bike”.
If you’ve never done these before, start with 2-3 intervals and pay attention to your knees. This is also a great workout to find the position on your bike that feels the strongest. Get in your aero position and move your butt forward and backwards on your seat every minute or so. You may be surprised where you feel the best.
