While going out for a ride is great for improving your overall cardiovascular fitness, those with a slightly more competitive side to them will likely be interested in ways that they can use their bike to improve their overall fitness levels, thus making them a much tougher prospect to face during races.

If that sounds like you, these quick workouts should help you to build the power and endurance that you need to compete against the top riders in your class of competition, and all of them can be done using your bike.

30 30s For More Power

This is the perfect workout if the event you intend to participate in is going to require repeated surges of strength and speed to keep up with the competition.

All you need to do is place your bike in a medium or high gear and then pedal as hard as you can for 30 seconds, before slowing down into recovery speed for 30 seconds. Repeat this process ten times to complete one interval and then take a five minute rest before starting all over again. Complete the same process three times in total to get the most from the workout, though it may be an idea to build up to three intervals if you are new to training.

Endurance Intervals

Stamina is just as important as strength in many events, so it is a good idea to ensure that your muscles have the endurance required to keep pushing you through particularly difficult sections of the track.

Start with a warm up of easy spinning on a low gear for about 10 minutes before bumping up to a higher gear and pedaling at a fairly slow cadence of around 70-75 rpm, this should be done at an effort that is difficult to maintain. Continue this cadence for 15 minutes before dropping into your easier spinning for another seven minutes. One more 15 minute set of cycling in the higher gear and a warm down at your easier spinning rate and the workout is complete. This cycling workout with improve strength and endurance.

10 Speeds For A Smoother Cadence

A fluid pedaling motion can be just as important as your overall fitness, particularly in events where speed is of the essence. As such, being able to develop a fluid cadence that you can maintain over distance is very important.

In this exercise, you need to pedal in a high enough gear to offer a decent amount of resistance, which means finding one where you can push 90 to 110 rpm. Pedal as hard as you can in that gear for ten seconds before spinning easy for another 20. Repeat this for 10 minutes to not only improve your pedaling power but to also improve your cadence. After a five minute rest do the whole thing again and you will feel the burn.

Hill Repeats For Faster Climbing

Cyclists have a love hate relationship with hills, as they require far more effort to climb than riders sometimes care to use. Strong leg muscles and a regular cadence are extremely important, so anything that builds your strength is a positive.

In this drill you will need to find a hill that has a fairly moderate incline, so that it offers some resistance without being extremely unwieldy. Stand up in the saddle and power your way up the hill as quickly as possible for 30 seconds, getting as high as you can before gently riding back down to the base of the hill.

Repeat the entire exercise while seated and then alternate between the two for a total of six climbs to complete a set. Take a little break for about ten minutes and then do it all over again and you will find your hill climbing technique improves in no time at all.

These cycling workouts will increase your speed, endurance, efficiency and power.