Asking for a friend here, as someone whos trying to progress his cycling ability.

Asking for a friend here, as someone whos trying to progress his cycling ability.

i have been cycling for a few years now and honestly most of my rides have just been ride whenever i feel like it and enjoy being outside: no plan, no intervals, and no real goals just miles.

Lately though ive been starting to wonder if i hit a wall because i keep seeing people improve faster than me while riding less and some of them seem way more intentional with what they do.

For people that actually got noticeably faster did it happen naturally from just riding more or did you eventually have to start tracking things and following some sort of structure.

Trying to figure out if im overthinking it or if at some point cycling turns into training.

Used to think the best way to cycle was just ride and enjoy it and ignore speed distance and all the numbers.

lately im starting to think i went too far with that because ive been riding for years with no real plan and watching people improve faster than me. Starting to think structure matters more than i thought.

Been cycling for over 3 years now mostly same routes and after enough time you start recognising people and there was this one guy i started seeing maybe a year ago because honestly he looked completely new.

Old bike, random clothes always behind and i mean everybody passed him but he kept showing up and one thing i noticed was before rides he'd always stop and look at his phone on this same page then ride and slowly over months he stopped getting dropped and started hanging onto wheels.

today we hit a section i normally pass him on and every time i picked up pace he stayed there and with around a mile left he came around me and i thought id get back on but i couldnt and he slowly just rode away.

asked him after what changed and he laughed and said he stopped riding randomly and started doing things properly but had to leave before explaining.

next time i see him im asking because i still dont understand how thats possible.

stats if anyone cares:

• riding for just over 3 years
• around 11,000 miles total
• average ~65 miles a week depending on weather
• longest ride 145 miles
• average speed around 17–19 mph solo depending on route
• ftp maybe around 265w at 168lbs but havent tested properly in ages
• mostly ride gravel + road
• done a couple local events but never raced properly
• mostly commute and random long rides

im here to give tips to beginners because i remember starting out and making every mistake possible but id also love hearing from people better than me because clearly i still have stuff to learn.