>>1287384>>1287387If you really want to build leg strength you need to spend some time in the gym during the off-season.
At the same time you're building basic leg strength you can also build core strength and shoulder strength, so you don't waste leg power with your core, shoulders, and arms flexing during hard efforts.
Also, basic strength is just one part of a three-part equation. The other two are 'aerobic endurance' and 'muscular endurance'.
If you ride all the time, and, say, 50-100 miles in a day isn't out of reach for you, then you probably don't have too many concerns in the 'aerobic endurance' department.
'Muscular endurance' is something else entirely, though, it's the ability to sustain hard (not 'anaerobic', though) efforts for long periods of time.
How you accomplish Muscular Endurance training is through intervals in your Anaerobic Threshold range, and a cadence in the range of 70 to 80rpm. What this does is force more muscle fibers to fire per pedal stroke because you need to produce more torque at that cadence. Over the weeks you do these sorts of intervals your muscle fibers will grow more mitochondria and form more capillaries and blood vessels, producing more fuel for contractions, meaning they can work longer before fatiguing.
What this translates to is: "Turning over a big gear fast, longer".
