Author’s note:This article was originally written in the early 2000s. While it’s been edited and updated for accuracy since then, much of the original text has been kept, in order to capture some of the prescient nature and things that have come to pass that were just ideas at the time. Of course, the human body hasn’t changed since then, but some of our understanding has.—Over the past few years we've seen the introduction of a number of on-the-bike power measuring devices. The use of these devices has lead many riders, coaches, and physiologists to rethink and reexamine their basic training philosophies and principles. Above all, zone-based training for endurance sports seeks to find ...
How Long, How Hard, and How Often?
When a new client signs up for coaching with Cycle-Smart it almost never fails that they're shocked and concerned with the lack of anaerobic and other high-intensity intervals in their training program. Other than sprint workouts, for the first 4-12 weeks of the season the hardest interval they're asked to do is just below threshold. It takes a large amount of trust as it seems counter-intuitive; if you want to get faster, you have to train as long, hard, and often as possible, right? Trying to get them to take a new approach can be difficult.Many of my articles revolve around the importance of base training, rest, and recovery. These are the foundations and framework of deep, solid ...
A Case for Base
"Base training" is a phrase that gets tossed around quite a bit, but it's important to pinpoint and understand what base training actually is, and what your goals and intentions are with it. The old school says lots of long, easy miles in the winter. "Ride lots," as Merckx is often credited as saying. But what good is being able to finish a 6-hour ride if you get dropped on the first climb of your first race, or if your longest race is only 3 hours, and most are an hour or less? Some riders will take the opposite approach. In their haste to be race-ready, and perhaps limited to the trainer in winter weather and limited daylight, they will flog themselves with high-intensity interval ...
The Cycles of Cycling
Athletic training of any kind is a process of stressing a system, letting it recover and adapt to the stress, and then stressing it again at a higher level. This cycle of training exists at every level; from intervals and recovery in a single workout to a hard season of racing followed by a rest in the fall or winter. Even on the largest scale, you often see riders who miss a season due to injury and come back the following year stronger than they were before they stopped. Can you imagine taking a rest season?Seeing your training in this pattern of repetitive components can help you plan from top to bottom and find a rhythm as you execute it. It's no different than those fractal art ...
Choosing a Coach
Hey, I know how this looks. Here I am, a professional coach, telling you all the reasons why I think you should hire one. It's not exactly disinterested science on my part. The benefit of having a coach is only part of what I want to focus on here, though. Primarily, I'd like to discuss what you should look for if you choose to hire a coach, and further, whether you need on in the first place. As a coach, I'll put my biases and self-interest upfront for you so you don't have to read between the lines.Before you consider coaching, the first step is to define who you are as rider and what you're trying to get out of the sport. What are your goals, if you've set any in the first place? ...
Jersey, Shoes, Shorts, Helmet, License
Before I travel to a race, I have a mantra that I've been repeating to myself since I was a junior: "jersey shoes shorts helmet license; jersey shoes shorts helmet license." I say it a few times as I load up my bag, put everything in the car, and again as I'm driving away from home or where ever I’m staying. It's a basic list of all the things I really can't be without at the race. Everything that's not on this list I can likely borrow without difficulty or without negatively affecting my performance, (though the last thing I might want to wear is someone else's shorts.) And while technology means you might carry your phone to registration rather than a paper license, it's still good ...
Surviving the Trainer
For most of us, the enjoyment in cycling isn't just the essence of training. It's about being outside, seeing different roads and landscapes, and the actual racing. For those who prefer playing sports to "working out," riding the trainer in the winter can be the pinnacle of drudgery. It may be more fun to ride outside in 33 degrees and rain than strap yourself to a machine indoors.At the same time, if you work long hours or live in a winter climate with cold, short days and dangerous, difficult road conditions, riding the trainer is a necessary part of your early season preparation, and one you'll need to make the best of. It doesn't have to be all pain and misery, though, if you take ...
Power, Stability, and Confidence in the Mud
As cyclocross has grown and developed in the US, we've typically drawn our inspiration from images and stories of European events. And on a continent where there's lots of farmland, lots of rain, and temperatures that rarely go below freezing, that means mud is often a main feature of European races, especially in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, where the sport is most popular.The thing is, you don't need mud for a cyclocross race. Mud is not endemic to the sport, and not necessary for an interesting or enjoyable race. French races are a great example of this, where grassy, fast courses resemble what you might find in New England, and remind us that just like there is ...
When, Why, and How to Dismount in Cyclocross
Of all the debates about ‘cross equipment choices and proper technique, it continues to amaze and entertain me that every September we renew the dismount debate: to step through, or to step around? And while I might enjoy egging that debate on for laughs, it seems to me that many people could use some straight answers. There will be purists in both camps who will not have their minds changed either way, and many who think that because they get away with a particular technique it must be the “right” way. I argue there is no single “right” way; there are multiple styles and very specific reasons for each, with advantages and disadvantages, all situationally based. I will outline all the ...
The Secret Set Up, Part 3: Shifters, Brakes, and Drivetrain
There are many different ways to set up a cyclocross bike. Most are related to personal preference, but the basic principles that should be adhered to are that the bike should be reliable, light, and simple. The order in which you prioritize these things depends on how fast you are, how serious you are, or how rich you are. For many, reliability is infinitely more important than light weight, because there's nothing slower than a broken bike. For others, there may be a mechanic and two more bikes available in the pits, so while reliability is still crucial, light weight might move up a level.More so than other disciplines, 'cross riders tend to be fanatical about their equipment, ...