How can we measure our effectiveness? Wouldn\’t we all like to be able to make such a dramatic impact as the one that formed Meteor Crater? I\’ll skip the K-T Boundary type of impact. That would be overdoing it, to put it mildly.

I, for one, am unlikely to cause such an effect on the cycling world at large. I\’ll never win a big, important race on the global cycling stage; nor will I ever coach a cyclist to a major championship. Most of us, in fact, won\’t. But what can the ordinary, everyday cyclist do to effect the best possible impact on his/her riding abilities?

How about interval training once or twice a week? I\’m not sure I\’ve done enough such work, or done it correctly, because it usually seems that my cruising speed during weekly long rides isn\’t increasing. What kind of effectiveness is that; IF it even is?

I do notice that I\’ve gotten better at going faster for short stretches; so I guess that the \”force\” intervals I did have helped. Lately I\’ve been letting such hard efforts fall by they wayside. I\’ve been feeling persistently tired and stuffy-headed, so I\’m focusing my efforts on just getting in some miles.

What other possibilities are there? Find a fast-ish group to ride with? Not too fast, or constantly getting dropped would erode my morale; but if I want to get faster, I have to work to ride faster!. Mini-races as the above article mentions?

Whatever you choose to do, I hope the effects are all good.