Cadence continues to be one of the most discussed topics in cycling. New riders often worry about gear selection and interestingly, often start out with a high gear and lower cadence as they try and focus on developing more power by working harder.
Coaches will spend time teaching new cyclists how to pedal because they know the right gear selection has a huge impact upon [...]
In this series on cycling specific fitness testing we look at some of the important considerations in designing a testing programme that meets your specific cycling needs. The first article examines the importance of obtaining good quality, reproducible data and provides some vital tips to help you obtain the best possible information about your training progress. In Part 2 we take an in- [...]
Most people start riding a bike purely for pleasure and the notion of serious training isn’t a consideration. But as fitness improves and a casual interest quickly grows into an obsession there comes a certain point where many cyclists contemplate new challenges: sportives, Gran Fondo, a club ‘10’ or even a road race. That tipping point is where ‘riding’ beco [...]
Riders performances, like in any sport, consist of a number of interdependent factors. Cycling at its professional level contains some of the most elite endurance athletes in the world. To get to this level takes enormous dedication as riders go through years of training to develop the endurance adaptations needed to compete within the professional peloton.
There can be no [...]
In the first of this series of articles on fitness testing we looked at the need to obtain valid, accurate, and reliable data. The importance of this cannot be stressed enough because one needs to know that the observed changes in fitness are true and not as a result of error within the testing procedures and equipment. In this second article we will look at a selection of common labora [...]
This final post in the series on fitness testing for cyclists examines the role of field tests in evaluating fitness and predicting performance. We will consider some common field tests, how to perform them, and the ways in which the data can be used to optimise training.
Why Field tests?
The key advantage of a well-designed field test is that it res [...]
An important principle of training is the concept of overload, recovery and super-compensation and it is important to consider how to measure these in order to structure your training effectively.
When we exercise, the body endures a certain amount of physical stress which disturbs the normal balance of the physiological systems, or what is known as homeostasis. Following [...]
For your training to be effective it must be followed by an adequate period of recovery to enable the body to return to a physiological steady state and for some all-important adaptations to occur.
An important consideration when planning recovery is to realise that every physiological response to training has a different time course towards recovery. Heart rate, body temperature [...]