Six Ways to Improve Your Cycling Speed

July 12, 2021

There are various ways in which you can improve your cycling speed.

Six Ways to Improve Your Cycling Speed

If you want to up your game, here are six helpful suggestions.

Improve Your Cadence

It’s obvious that if you pedal faster you will improve your cycling speed, but how exactly do you pedal faster? Cadence is the term for how many times the bike’s pedals are turned per minute.

Amateurs typically ride between 80 rpm and 90 rpm, while top professionals can ride with a cadence of nearly 100rpm.

Increasing your stamina and muscles is one way of improving your cadence, but it’s just as important to focus on developing “souplesse”; the smooth and efficient riding style in which more power is put down through the pedal stroke, not only when pushing down on the pedal.

Take Supplements

If you’re a regular cyclist, you could consider boosting your performance to achieve faster speed by taking supplements. Two popular supplement choices are creatine, which fuels muscles during high-intensity activities, and electrolytes, which are found in energy drinks and can help to keep you hydrated and improve your cycling performance.

But the best supplement on the market for cyclists is arguably beta-alanine. So, what does beta alanine do? While the amino acid can be found in foods like fish, pork, and poultry, studies have shown that beta-alanine supplementation effectively increases muscle carnosine levels.

In turn that leads to improved lactic acid buffering and better cycling performance. Specifically, it’s thought the supplement can enhance your training volume, support muscular endurance, and fight fatigue.

Improve Your Frontal Profile to Get Better Aero

Around three-quarters of the drag comes from you when you’re cycling, not from the bike. The key thing you can do to improve your aerodynamic performance, and in turn increase your cycling speed, is to reduce your frontal profile.

That basically means you need to get down more over the handlebar, ride in the drops and lower the stem. Your arms can affect your aerodynamics too. If you ride with your arms at a right angle on the top of the handlebar, the result can be just as good as riding in the drops.

Practice Hill Climbs

A lot of cyclists struggle in climbs, and that can create a big difference in your average speed. So, it’s a good idea to practice climbs. Doing hill repetitions is a good option.

Select a hill that takes you only a few minutes to climb. Stay seated on your bike as much as you can during the climb, take a short break when you reach the top, then ride to the bottom and repeat.

Over time, you will improve your hill-climbing strength, recovery time, and cycling speed.

Change Your Clothing

Cyclists aren’t wearing Lycra as a fashion statement. Lycra can make you more aerodynamic. So, stop wearing flappy clothing that can act like a sail and slow you down and switch to well-known cycling Lycra clothing brands.

Clothing for top-level cyclists can be expensive, but even an entry-level kit can help you improve your aero and allow you to attain a higher cycling speed.

Start Riding in a Group

If you’re used to riding by yourself, you should consider riding in a group. It’s one of the best ways to improve your average cycling speed for the simple reason that you will want to keep up with the pack or even lead it.

Actually, it’s best to tuck yourself in behind the frontrunners because it is estimated that you can save up to 40% of the effort it takes to ride in the lead, which is known as the drafting effect.

If you watch a road race like the Tour de France, you will see the riders further back are often freewheeling when those in front are putting in tremendous effort.

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