Cycling for leg endurance

I definitely find it helps overall fitness and stops my calves from aching,

 

I'm only an amateur, but yes it helps. I do alot of biking and my legs never get tired when I'm boxing.

 

http://www.training4cyclists.com/effective-programs-for-indoor-cycling/

Just for some ideas.

 

I don't know if it helped my legs at all but I spent a bit of time using the stationary bike in addition to running and I really enjoyed it. It's a lot easier on the joints and I felt like I could push my self that little bit harder.

 

It doesn't sound like you've been on a good road bike or mountain bike. I ride a road bike due to knee injuries and 3 surgeries over the years and can no longer take the stress of running. You can get just as good a cardio workout on a bike as you can with running. I'm no speed demon but average 16-18 mph of steady riding over a 45 mile course. If I wanted to get into more cardio, I'd push for 22-25 mph, but at my age, I do this just for the exercise and have no aspirations to even compete in local racing.

Also, if you ride solo, it is a much harder ride than in a group with trading off the lead and others drafting. If you jump on one of those stationary cycles at a gym, you can program them for different terrain and that adds a lot of different variations in intensity.

 

The real workout on the road bike is when heading into a headwind. When I ride, I usually have one to deal with and much prefer to deal with it on the out leg of an out and back ride. The course I ride is on top of a levee with a paved bike path and do 22 1/2 miles out, turn around and do the same coming back. That back ride with a tailwind makes all the suffering getting half way there worth it.

 

No, never have. But, I used to run a lot many years ago and got my mileage up to 10 miles a run and did this at 6 minutes a mile pace. A buddy, who was a long distance runner and marathon participant was my mentor in getting me in that kind of shape.

I can tell you, my heart rate during those rides is every bit as much as when I did the long runs. But it is a hell of a lot easier on the joints and better on the posterior since I got a gel saddle for the bike and some decent cycling shorts. I would not attempt that long a ride on the stock seat and regular shorts.

 

Afraid I'm not familiar with "skins" shorts. I use bike shorts with some additional padding in the seat and groin area and believe me, you'll be glad to have it on long rides. As for the seat, I got it at a local bike shop and it is called a Sonoma 175. It is shaped very similar to the stock seat but is better padded with gel padding across the entire saddle. Not as expensive as the upper end stuff but sufficient.

My road bike is a Trek 2100 ZR with 3 sprockets on the crank and 10 on the rear. It has carbon fiber components in the steering head, seat post and rear framework. This offers a bit of cushion against some of the shock. The tires and rims are Bontrager 700x25's inflated to 120 psi. The shifting components are Shimano Ultegra. One of the things I really like about this bike is how easily it shifts. The brake levers act as the shifters for the front and rear sprockets. Left brake lever shifts the crank and right shifts the rear. This is convenient when grinding it out since you don't have to let go of the bars to shift like older multi-speed bikes.

Another thing I like is the clip in feature on the crank. Bike shoes have mechanisms on the bottom that match a catch system on the crank and you lock your feet into the crank to allow you to pedal using the push/pull method for more efficiency. To get out of the mechanism, you simply twist your foot a bit and it will release when the need arises. All told, I probably have close to $1,400 in the bike and related gear of shorts, shoes, helmet and pedometer.