Wanting to step up and develop but time poor

About this time last year, just after getting a new bike (with thru-axle) I fell off it and broke my wrist. After 3 weeks of sitting about going insane, I got a Tacx Vortex, loaded up on  the video things and Zwift, and it kept me sane and fit. What I found worked extraordinarily well was TrainerRoad+Game of Thrones.  Fantastic combination, TR has an overlay mode, it tells you what to be doing leaving most of the screen clear for all the different swords swinging about. Awesome

Zwift is pretty amazing, I didn't do that much of it because I was more focussed on TR and not wanting to wipe myself out totally, but the times I did use it were pretty incredible - so immersive, you totally forget that you're not outside

First chance to get back out riding for real I did, because I love the open air, but if you really are constrained, then give it a go, it worked for me when I needed it

this is the thru-axle adaptor I used for my Diverge Comp:

https://www.rosebikes.com/article/tacx-t1706-and-t1707-thru-axle-adapter...

For Max HR, about the most effective way is to do a ramp test (see the British cycling site) and then add 5% to your final HR. Re-test after a couple of weeks. Your resting HR is just that, when you're resting. Take it in the morning before you get out of bed. Some may argue that this isn't necessary, but you're time poor and so you might as well make the best of what you've got. Look up Heart Rate Reserve to use these figures to set your training zones. They're not cast in stone, but they are a very good guide.

So far as doing longer rides goes, one of the more important things is to improve your fatburning as much as you can. As you ride early in the morning, doing a hard 2 hr ride before eating anything in the morning will help get your body used to using fat as a fuel. This will be of enormous benefit doing longer rides. After some practise it's pretty easy to ride 60 - 70 miles without eating anything. This makes century rides much easier.

You can readily do good century rides on 3 - 4 rides a week, total of 6 - 10 hrs. My training program is a hard 90 min ride on tues and thurs. I do a lot of the ride in zone 4-5 (this evening's ride was 30 miles, av 20 mph, with 3 x 15 min efforts in zone 5 (85% max HR) and 3 x 3 min efforts at max VO2 (92% max HR) and 2000 ft climbing. At the weekend I do a 3 hr ride at 75% max HR. About once a month I do a 5 hr ride. This generally gets me round  a century in a bunch in about 4:10  - 4:15. Solo 4:30 - 4:45

How you measure your HR is not particularly important, but from what I've seen fit bits aren't particularly accurate when going hard on a bike, chest strap linked to something reliable is a good idea.

Above all of this consistency is the most important thing. Much better to do regular smaller rides than irregular big ones. 

Really want to get into Zwift.. don't think it's going to happen this winter now though 

Hope they make it more RPG'ish. Scoring points for training sessions that you can use to buy posh bikes and upgrades!

Sort of thing I could waste hours on every night 

Non-interactive can be a laugh too, especially with Sufferfest videos or Zwift. I was running a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine with InRide as a dumb trainer on TrainerRoad and Zwift and a Tacx Genius as interactive under Tacx TTS. The dumb trainer wasn't as engaging as the interactive one, but still had a blast racing on Zwift, Tour of Sufferlandria and so on - now the Genius has had a Smart upgrade the elevations on Zwift are great and workouts on Zwift, TR etc in erg mode are useful and it's nice to only need/setup the one trainer but i'd happily use the RoadMachine for stuff if the Genius ever went off-line.

Just staring at the wall on a dumb trainer though.... agree - very dull, very quickly IME.

Yep, smart trainers are not boring, they're actually quite motivating. I'm going on a Bkool virtual world tour of famous climbs this winter. I can't resist pushing myself to try and catch a rider in the distance and if you use Zwift there are plenty of people just that little bit better than you to drag you up a level. People on turbo trainers tend to be a bit more serious about riding so the times I get on Zwift that go into Strava are way lower down the scale than the real world ones. I went up a decent real climb I'd never been to before the other day and was inside the top 20% on Strava. In Zwift I'll probably end up in the bottom 25%. 

Puy my hand up here and say that I actually enjoy my indoor sessions!

Sufferfests are short, intense and I play music vids on my smartphone while doing it. Great fun, especially when you add a caffeine buzz into the mix. 

Blimey, some people make it complicated.  50m in under 3h is good.  Yes I can do quicker on a flat main road, on a TT bike, with passing traffic but any other ride will see 50m in give or take 3h.  You've already improved to get to where you are, just keep at it.

Winter is dull, do what you can and when the days get longer do more.

Turbos are dull, smart/VR turbo are dull and expensive.  If you want one buy it secondhand after the previous owner has realised how boring it is - usually a couple of weeks after buying it after the nights close in.

You will need a heart rate monitor to work out your heart zones. Warm garage and a decent fan to keep air moving over your body whilst training. Turbo training is much more intense than road riding. Like I said, I did 52 miles yesterday at a cadence average of 89rpm. For over 2 hours I did not free wheel once. I treated the ride as a good base ride mainly keeping heart rate just in zone 2, then with 12miles to go went up to zone 4/5 to finish strong.

Another vote for turbo/indoor trainer with software. I find TrainerRoad to be excellent at making the most of a small amount of time. It's software that tells you how hard to ride during a session. I've tried it with smart and manual turbo trainers and you'll progress fine with regular cheap turbo trainer. Mix it up on longer days for skills, outdoor rides and to get some gristle on your bum and you're golden

Before spending anything you can have a listen to TrainerRoad Podcasts for free. They're very informative about training and the technical side of things. There were a few episodes recently about riding for longer (they frequently talk about Ironman etc that are probably similar effort profile to what you are looking at).

Just been trying the indian knot and I feel like a weeble. The link you posted said you should be able to get a good grounding on the buttocks but I'm rocking about all over the place. Something is well tight!!

Time poverty. Annoying isn't it! When I was young I was time rich and money poor!

Three ways to ride better without even leaving the house or riding a bike:

Eat less

Stretching

Ab work

Make it a goal to drop 5 to 10kg from now to spring and you'll feel like a different man on the bike. And that amount of fat loss is really small considering the timescale involved. 

The sretching and ab work means you can get lower on the bike and go further in that 3 hours with the same effort. 

Check out the Indian Knot stretch in this link: 

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20130617-Phil-Bur...

This is my fav stretch. Only do this one and some back arching. All I seem to need to keep getting lower for longer.

SO yes, being at home is not an excuse not to get better on the bike. Everyone cross trains now at all levels and ages. 

If you can get an indoor trainer though, you're sorted. There is no better buy if you actually use it. Way more efficient than riding your bike outside in terms of doing structured work. Intervals and the like.

People are getting podium places in amateur races without hardly ever riding outside, just doing Sufferfests. Been happening in running too - treadmill heroes placing well in races. 

Anyway, get to it! You can definitely do 100 miles, just taper up then down then hit it. 60g of carbs per hour, enough water.

If you're time constrained, consider getting a smart turbo trainer, join bkool for those times when weather and time interupt a decent ride outside. By doing zone 4/5 tempo rides( 1-2 hours) and some short interval training, this will keep your fitness at a decent level. I haven't done a 50 mile ride in 6 months but today I did a 52 miler at a decent pace on my smart turbo.(had to stay in for kids). I usually ride fast 5 to 25 milers. I am over 50 and weigh over 95 kg. Ultimately long distances is about saddle time and correct nutrition. You seem to have got the nutrition correct just continue with the same on that aspect.

I always believe once you can ride 50 miles comfortably then 100 miles is just about repeat fueling and mental strength. That is how I went from 50 to 100 miles.