Sometimes working out late at night is the only option, but evening workouts have the potential to negatively affect your training. This begs the question: are cycling workouts done just before bedtime even worth doing? It’s a struggle many cyclists are familiar with: finding time to train during daylight hours can be tough. Jobs, family…
The human body naturally adjusts to different elevations. Although you may not notice, on the cellular level it’s constantly adjusting to support your external environment. Cyclists have learned to use this knowledge to their advantage through what’s known as altitude training. Altitude training helps to adjust the amount of oxygen your body is exposed to…
Alcohol is intimately related to cycling and racing in general. Post-ride trail brews, podium champagne and “recovery beers” are all a regular part of our cycling vernacular and culture, but if you’re trying to take your training seriously, should they be? The effects of alcohol on performance can be narrowed down to two things: how…
For many cyclists, their warmup routines before a race look a lot like riding around at a moderate pace for 10-20 minutes, depending on how long their event is. This is changing. In place of loose, unspecific pre-race workouts are structured workouts that riders are opting to do on the trainer — you may have…
The goal of every cyclist is to optimize their power-to-weight ratio (w/kg). More power with less weight is going to make you faster —but how do you know if you are losing the right type of weight? Today’s post explores three methods cyclists can employ to measure their weight loss with precision. Overview Fat does…
Burnout is a common problem with serious cyclists, but recognizing burnout and differentiating it from common fatigue is necessary if your goal is to get faster. Here’s our guide to burnout — how to recognize it and what to do about it. What Is Burnout? Training hard makes you faster, but only when it’s structured appropriately. Every time…
Although not every race is won by a solo breakaway, multiple breakaways or breakaway attempts always form the outcome of a race. To make sure you’re at the pointy end of the race in the final kilometer, you need to have a specific type of fitness that allows you more than one shot at a…
Every interval of our training plans is intentionally placed and structured to make you faster. So what should you do if you can’t complete an interval? Here’s our simple guide to teach you how to know when it’s okay to bail out of an interval workout, plus tips for bailing out smartly. Interval workouts are meant…
We’re commonly asked, “Does bike geometry affect power output?” Or more specific questions like, “Does my saddle position affect my power output?” To get to the truth of the matter, we interviewed an expert. Overview Brian Gordon is a kinesiologist, certified Body Geometry Fit Specialist and Mountain Bike Product Developer for Specialized. Over the past…
Last week we had the opportunity to join The Clif Bar Team for their annual training camp in Napa Valley, California. In between training sessions we sat down with some of the best criterium racers in the country to find out how to become a better crit racer. We covered how to train for criterium…