When Joe Bidlow, our PCG social media manager, asked me to write a bio article and talk a little about how PCG Texas came about, I was not sure as to the best approach. We talked about what he was looking for, and I liked his suggestions, so here we go. He asked, “What defines you as a coach, and how do you approach coaching your athletes?”
I thought about that, and the first thing that came to mind, is that I am one of the most “senior” coaches for PCG, along with Gordy Paulson, PCG Master Coach. Note that I said “senior,” and not “seniority,” although Gordy certainly has both, given his many years with PCG. Turning 70 next year, I have many years of life experiences behind me, and many, many miles of cycling. God willing, I hope to have many more of both!
Teaching, mentoring and helping others to improve, has always been my passion. I truly take as much pride and pleasure in what those that I teach accomplish, as much as my own accomplishments. All the way back to my Boy Scout days, as I obtained my Eagle Scout rank, I was working on becoming qualified to teach a wide range of merit badge skills. As part of the Boy Scout Voyageur Canoe Training Program, I became a certified instructor, so that I could teach others canoeing and camping survival skills, including even the Cooking Merit Badge. My main requirement with the campers as far as meal preparation was, if we could both hold down his cooking, he passed! Not everybody did the first time!
I was not always an athlete, nor a cyclist. In fact, far from it! Up until the mid-1980’s, when Mary Kay and I moved to Seattle, I had not exercised, nor rode a bike, since Freshman high school football. In fact, for many years, with the railroad, as a 24/7 front line operations manager, I was a heavy smoker, consuming at least a pack a day or more, and struggled with weight management. While living in Seattle, we started cycling with department store bikes, then got into mountain biking in its infancy, with two of the original bright yellow Cannondale mountain bikes. By then, I had quit smoking, and Mary Kay and I enjoyed many weekends of cycling and cross-country skiing, and had even started kayaking, when the railroad moved me back to Fort Worth.
Mountain biking was not a big thing, yet, here in Texas and so we got into road cycling, and not being content to just ride my bike, I met three women, Clare Rietman, Debbie Breaud, and Diane Owens, who introduced me to ultramarathon, endurance cycling. Which led to two successful Race Across America (RAAM) finishes, the first of which, was on a tandem with Clare. In 1995, after my second solo RAAM, I was burnt out on cycling and focusing on my career, unfortunately, gaining almost 100 pounds during that time. By 2003, I realized that my obesity would kill me early, and I always felt lousy. So, I returned to recreational cycling, then Master’s road racing, and now the latest, gravel bike riding and racing, dropping all that weight, and then some, in the process.
Being a numbers geek, I adopted power training early on, purchased Hunter’s first edition of “Training and Racing with A Power Meter” I attended many training camps, and hired a coach, Gord Fraser, a retired pro, who coached me for several years, as we both learned the intricacies of the training software, WKO. In 2011, I met Hunter Allen at a PCG/Quarq power training camp, and wow, I realized just how much I had to learn from the master of power training, himself, and I still have so much to learn. One of the many reasons, I became a coach for Hunter and Peaks Coaching Group, after my retirement from a 40-year career in railroad management.
Before I joined PCG, I worked at a local cycling virtual training studio. It was there that I met a group of cyclists the comprises the Health’s Angels MS cycling team. I joined PCG right before the studio closed and many of these cyclists transitioned to become Peaks Coaching Group athletes. Over the next few years, we frequently rode and socialized together. More to come on those cyclists.
That was just a glimpse of my almost 70 years of life’s experiences and I hope provides a look into what defines me as a coach, my passion for teaching, and a broad empathy for what life throws at each one of us. Numbers wise, I am an average athlete, no super high FTP (w/kg) and my FRC (anaerobic capacity) is on the low side. Or, as Hunter said one time many years ago, at a camp, “you don’t got no sprint, we need to work on that!” Which we did, but I will never be a sprinter. On the other hand, fortunately, I do have a very high Stamina, and can just ride my bike forever below FTP.
To close, my life and career experiences have provided me with a deep understanding of athletes who are seeking a reasonable work/life balance. Having been extremely overweight and a heavy smoker, I have a deep, personal, understanding of the additional challenges that unhealthy habits have upon your quest for improved fitness.
What is next? I have the pleasure of mentoring our newest PCG Associate Coach Keith Nelson and working together we developed a unique local coaching program, the PCG Texas Team plan that Keith is leading. The PCG Texas Team plan, balances the use of Hunter’s structured programs along with personalized coaching by Keith. We are also pleased to announce that we are hosting our second, Fall Texas Hill Country Power Road Camp, in September, in Leakey, Texas.
Hope you can join us in Texas in September, for some of the finest cycling Texas Hill Country has to offer! All meals prepared onsite by a professional chef in an open-air pavilion, with lovely housing available.
They are the races that define champions. They require grit, determination, iron will and high wattages… for a long time. All of the classics feature some defining type of terrain or environment that make the race even harder than normal. Roubaix has the cobbles, Flanders has the steep hills that go up old farm paths, Milan-San Remo has the Poggio climbs after 6 hours of racing and even here in the states, Battenkill has gravel roads and narrow bridges, and Copperopolis has ridiculous globs of pavement packed on top of old pavement one shovel full at a time. Cold weather, brutal crosswinds, dirt in your eyes, mud that coat your rims preventing any sort of predictable braking, massive wheel eating potholes and horrible so-called roads that contribute to the muscle pain which strikes fear in every racer. The intimate knowledge that the unpreventable, undeniable, unavoidable muscle twinge will turn into pedal debilitating cramps and end your race is the feeling that every classic rider fears. The last sip in your water bottle, the sound of ‘pssssst’ of your tire going flat when a critical attack occurs at the front, the unexpected crosswind that has never occurred on this particular section of road before, the flat and gel-less back pockets in your jersey when all you need is just one more packet of miracle calories all define the experience. When one by one your teammates fall by the wayside, from punctures, bonks, lack of watts, cramps and crashes and you alone are the last man left standing, it’s then that you want the confidence to know you have done your homework. You have pushed through the rain and cold, you have gone farther on less water, you have done more morning rides without food than anyone out there, you have suffered more on the indoor trainer in the basement staring at the blank wall dreaming about this moment and finally the realization that all those movies you play in your head are now your reality. These are the characteristics of the spring classics winners, the top finishers and in the races that define the man, it can make a career and at the very least make a season, but it can also crush the spirit of the hardest and toughest of the hard men over time. Once cracked, the hard man endures over and over, but eventually those cracks form into gaps that can’t be closed and eventually turn into looks of consolation from faces of the fans on the side of the road that tell you that you aren’t getting back on and your day for winning is over. This is a classic and just as they define the man that does battle in them, it is critical to define the physiological demands of those classics so I can tell you at the bare minimum what makes the difference between the winners and the losers in the classics. What are the physical requirements of the winners and what are the demands of each race from a training perspective? Are those demands similar in some way to other races? If you know what is coming and how many hills you’ll have to do, can you use this knowledge to hyper focus your training? Can you learn something about those races that give you an edge this spring in your own backyard classics?
The ridiculously complicated demands of a “classic” race need to be defined to understand the determining factors of success and by analyzing the power files from them, we can gain some insights to apply in our own training and races in the next couple of months, but know that smart training alone does not make a hard man…
Let’s examine two files from racers in the classics last year, one file is George Hincapie’s fine 6th place finish in Tour of Flanders and another is a first place finish from a Masters 40+ racer in the Tour of Battenkill. Both of these racers know what it takes from a physical and mental perspective and have won many races which contain all the elements needed to define the classics man. Let’s look at Tour of Flanders first as it is one of the most insanely difficult races in the world. The first thing that is apparent from George’s power file is that the first two and half hours were pretty darn easy, so easy for George that he only averaged 64% of his threshold power, which is at the lower end of his endurance zone. Of course, this was on purpose as well, since cycling is a sport of energy conservation and George as the protected leader of the BMC team on the day had only to ride in the peloton, stay out of the wind, and suck wheels as best as he could. These two and half hours are an important fat burning zone for George to take advantage of and one characteristic of Pro Tour riders is their ability to burn fat at a relatively high intensity and for a longer time than other cyclists. George’s body, with over 17 years of pro racing adaptations accumulated in it, has mastered this economical fuel strategy. It’s one that you can master as well, without necessarily having to race your bike for 17 years at the Pro Tour level. A simple thing you can do in training is to go out on your longer training rides before you eat breakfast. Take plenty of food with you, including a good source of protein (Turkey & Cheese sandwich will do) and then at the hour and half mark start eating and continue on your workout. Repeat this workout until you can get to two and half hours before eating or feeling hungry and then you’ll have begun the process of teaching your body to burn more fat as fuel. It’s important that you don’t ride too intensely in those hours before eating, so keep your intensity in your endurance zone (56-75% of FTP).
With the first two and half hours out of the way, then next highlight of a classic is just the sheer energy required to complete it and finish well. Flanders is a 6-hour race and in those 6 hours, George burned 6123 kiloJoules, which is roughly equivalent to 6700 kiloCalories and that is a lot of food! It’s a lot of food to eat afterward in order to recover, but it also means he ate a ton of food on the bike during the race as well and that’s not just gels and bars as he needed to do have plenty of protein as well to balance his blood sugar. The ability to shovel down mass quantities of food during a hard race is critical for a classics rider and digesting that food is also critical to keep the energy levels high, so make sure that you have a solid nutritional strategy for a hard race. Foods you can eat quickly, packages that you can open with your teeth and sometimes hold in your teeth during an attack, along with something substantial that will ‘stick to your ribs’ and keep you going for an endurance effort that lasts longer than your normal 2–3-hour race.
Besides the fact that George’s normalized power for the 6 hours+ was a superhuman 342 watts, what is unique about many classics is that the ‘make or break’ time usually is determined via some key characteristic of the course itself which requires an outlay of wattage that you must be prepared to create. For the Tour of Flanders this begins after 4 hours of racing and when the peloton begins hitting the famed hills in the Flanders region and then George cracks out an hour at a normalized power of 404watts, so the ability to ride at your FTP, above it and just below it for quite a while is something you’ll want to plan for in your own classics races this spring. The knowledge that you are going to have to kill it for a certain period of time and that is not going to win you the race, but if you don’t kill it, then you will for certain lose the race, is knowledge and a commitment that you must clearly understand and be ready for. This effort puts you in a winning position but doesn’t win you the race and preparing for to do that is something you can train. One workout that I would suggest is built around this philosophy and “pre-fatigues” you then requires you absolutely crush it for that ‘make or break’ time followed by just heinous effort in the final 45 minutes is below:
“The Powerful Classic”
20 minute warm-up
4 x 1 minute fast pedals.
Ride at your endurance/tempo (56-90% of FTP) for two hours making sure that you get in a hilly ride or if you live in a flat area, do a ton of little 20-30 second bursts simulating speed changes in fast and slower cadences.
At the end of this two hours, then do 6 x 2 minutes- FLAT OUT- on a flatish road. WITH FULL recovery- so about 4 minutes at endurance pace.
Then do 6 x 30 seconds- with a hard SPRINT at the start- FULL recovery- about 3 minutes
Then cruise for 20minutes easy. Then do
6 x small ring sprints- 75m– Start from 10mph– 39:16, 39:17 only and wind it out- 135rpm+
6 x big ring sprints–250m-Start from 18mph- 53:16, 53;15, 53:14- Wind it out.
Now, ride at your Sweet Spot (88-93% of FTP) to the 10-12-15 minute hill for the serious work…
Kill it up, and riding on the edge of your limit (100-105% of FTP) up the hill – DO 5 repeats.
REST for 10 minutes between.
Ride at your endurance pace (56-75% of FTP) for 30 minutes and stop at a store for your favorite caffeinated energy go juice and some light food (preferably with a little protein in it).
Now, the work begins…..ride at your sweet-spot for the next 45 minutes, pacing yourself just over threshold on the climbs and digging a deeper and deeper hole in which to push yourself into at the end of the ride.
Recovery shake and mass quantities of food after the ride is necessary. Stretching is super important too.
While the Tour of Flanders isn’t a race that most of us will ever get to do, the lessons from this Uber Classic can be applied to our own backyard classics such as the Tour of the Battenkill. This classic road race has everything that makes a classic, a “Classic” including the “classic experience”: same punishing gravel roads, tough weather conditions, leg burning steep hills all combined with tough, nasty, hard as nails riders. The ‘classic experience’ is so desired that the pre-registration sold out within a few hours and it has become one of the largest one day races in the USA, including eight separate fields of Category 4 racers! Let’s examine two key features of this classic so that you can prepare for any race this spring. In contrast to the Tour of Flanders in Europe, shorter classics in the US are built for us working stiffs and typically start with a quick pace and then speed up! In our masters winning file, we see that the first 5 minutes or so are done at warm-up pace, but then the pace goes through the roof and culminates with a hard two minute hill done at maximum power. The wattage in the first 30 minutes is stochastic or highly variable and contributes to the intensity of the event, as our masters’ rider averaging 327 watts normalized, while his average power is only 244, indicating that there is plenty of time resting and not pedaling followed by hard bursts (attacks) of high power. The variable nature of the race is something that you will have to prepare for and the ability to change speeds is paramount in spring classics. Changing your pedaling speed isn’t the only thing that is necessary to do, but it’s also key to be able to ride near your threshold power and then do multiple hard bursts of watts in your anaerobic capacity zone (121-150%) all the while recovering to your threshold. So, in reality there are two things you need to train for: 1) rapid and seemingly random cadence changes and 2) pushing your cardiovascular system to its threshold and then demanding short bursts of power with high force on the pedals.
The ‘make or break’ point comes in every race and knowing where it occurs is knowledge that can be hard won and that point on the course can be the same place every year. In the amateur Battenkill races, that point is near the finish as all of the pretenders have been eliminated and the winners begin to emerge from the front group. In the final 20 minutes there is a tough climb that has a bit of stair step nature to it, but is generally uphill for six and half minutes and this is the location of the final battle. The hammer goes down here with our masters’ rider attacking at the bottom with a vicious 420 watt+ effort for a minute and then riding at 108% of his threshold for next five and half minutes to escape the front runners and then solo to the line. This “race winning” effort is something that I have seen over and over in hundreds of race winning files and you should incorporate it into your training program this month and throughout your training. Here it is and plan on doing at least 5-8 of them in each session:
Each interval begins with a 30 second sprint(15second out of the saddle) with and you must average 200% of your Threshold wattage in these first 30seconds with a peak of at least 300% (If you are using a cyclo-computer, try to reach at least 28-30mph and hold for 30seconds). Then ride for 3minutes and really hammer at 100-110% of your Threshold wattage(or the best speed you think you could maintain for an hour), and then finish with an out-of- the-saddle 10 second burst after the three minutes is over and try to reach 200% of your threshold wattage again, or 28-30mph. Rest for 5-6minutes between each.
The classics are unique here and abroad and using our power meters and data collection devices, we can better understand just how freaking hard they are and whether or not we even want to train for these evil mothers. Once the commitment is made though, you have some serious training to do and the great thing about that is that you get to ride your bike more! So get out there and go for a training ride!
Spring is here! The first races of the season are always a little tougher, simply because you haven’t gotten into the race rhythm yet. Spring races are always fun, challenging, and aggressive. All the cyclists who pushed themselves throughout the winter are eager to show off the hard work and hard-won fitness. If you are one of those few, spring races are lots of fun and filled with success. If you’re a little behind on your fitness or planning on peaking in the summer, then spring races are a little tougher to handle.
The spring has always been my favorite time for training, because I get to start doing some of the things I’m actually good at and really enjoy about riding. Those of you following a training plan have probably been working on endurance (Level 2), sweet spot (sub-threshold), threshold (Level 4), and training your weaknesses. Most of you are going to be doing a variety of races over the next couple of months. Most of them won’t be “A” races, but you still want to do well in each one, so you’re preparing for long, hilly road races; windy, wet time trials; and maybe an early season crit. You may even be doing them all in one weekend in a stage race.
In order to train for these random abuses, you need all your training zones ready to be worked. Now is the time to start putting it all together, focusing on your strengths, and practicing your sprints. This month’s article is full of workouts for you, to make sure you’re performing at your best. These workouts will help you keep the sword sharpened, or maybe just get it sharp in the first place so you’re competitive.
These four workouts will make you faster and help you ride with more endurance and overall fitness:
1. Hill work: doing hills of various lengths with a sprint at the top of one section to simulate an uphill finish.
2. Time trial: get used to FTP in the aero position, working on form and getting the back, hips, and hamstrings accustomed to being aero while working.
3. Kitchen sink: putting it all together and ending with sprints.
4. Team ride: with faster people, learning to suffer and be economical.
For hill work it’s important to be able to sustain your power through the hill and on different length hills. On shorter and steeper hills, the highest absolute power you produce (500w, 650w, 700w, etc.) will be most important. The longer the hill, the more your power-to-weight (watts-per-kilogram) ratio becomes a part of the equation, and the higher your w/kg is, the better you excel on the climbs. Keeping this in mind, let’s focus on shorter hills in this workout, as you’ll excel in longer hills as the result of specific FTP work.
Hill Repeat Workout
Warm-up: It’s important to get in a solid warm-up before your hill repeats, so if possible, ride for 30 minutes to an hour before you get to your favorite hill. The hill should be approximately 1 minute long; a little shorter or longer is fine, but nothing over 2 minutes, since that will become too aerobic. One trick I’ve found helpful for these is a visualization while doing the efforts: in your mind’s eye, picture yourself attacking out of the peloton on the hill and winning the KOM points at the top of the hill with your final sprint.
Main Set: Do 10 repeats total (build to 20) of a 1-minute hill. (If you don’t have a hill suitable and want to do it on a longer hill, no problem; just make a landmark at about the one-minute distance so you have a goal for each effort.) Glance at your power meter three or four times on the way up to make sure you’re between 130% and 175% of your FTP, with a goal of averaging around 140%. If you have incredible anaerobic capacity, your numbers might be higher. You know you’re doing it right when your legs start to burn after 20 seconds and you have to suffer like crazy to keep the wattage up. Hammer all the way, then get out of the saddle and sprint in the last 30 meters.
Completely BLOW at the crest of the hill or at the 1-minute mark. REST plenty (3-4 minutes) between each one. As you get more and more tired toward the last repeats, you’ll have to lengthen your recoveries, which is perfectly acceptable. After you’ve completed all the repeats, ride home at your tempo and sweet spot paces to get in some solid aerobic work.
Cool-down: 10-15 minutes easy riding.
When you get home, your job becomes recovery and analysis of your hills with your downloaded power meter data. What you’re looking for is how much and how quickly you fatigued from effort to effort. Figure 1 below is a comparison of ten hill repeats. This athlete’s wattage drops from 437 to 418 by the tenth one, which is only a 5% drop in power. What this means is that he could have done more efforts. When you have a 10% drop in power, that’s when it’s time to go home and call it a day. Have a look at your data and find your power drop; that will help you determine how many intervals to do in the next session.
The next workout you should incorporate into your training regime is the “Time Trial Sim.” This simulation of a time trial is a great opportunity to work on your Vo2 max energy system and get comfortable in that TT position while at full gas, while also building your confidence in time trials. If you have a TT bike, use it, but if you don’t, it’s fine to go Eddy Merckx style. The goal is to put you into a simulated time trial so you can learn how to focus, develop a rhythm, and push your wattage in the Vo2 Max zone(106-120% of FTP).
Time Trial Sim Workout
Warm-up: This is another workout for which your warm-up is important; riding at least 30 minutes is highly recommended. Within the last 10 minutes of your warm-up, complete
(5) 1-minute fast pedaling efforts with your cadence over 110rpm and rest for 1 minute between each at 80rpm. Don’t worry about your wattage; keep the watts relatively low and focus on the cadence.
Main Set: Get psyched and ready for some time trial efforts! Do 6 x 6 minutes, starting out hard with your wattage at 120% of FTP for the first minute, dropping your watts to 110% of FTP for the next 4 minutes, and in the final minute pushing your wattage back to 120% of FTP and finishing strong. Rest for 6 minutes between each effort. The beauty of these efforts is that they are miniature time trials, designed to contain the same emotions, intensity, and focus that a longer time trial would have. Make sure to do these at a “self-selected” cadence, which is whatever cadence feels best to you. Really focus on using your gluteal muscles and staying as low as possible with the upper body. The best time trialists work on their flexibility; if you can’t touch your toes easily, you need to start stretching! Finish the ride with 20 minutes of tempo at 80-90% of FTP.
Cool-down: 15 minutes at your endurance pace (56-75% of FTP).
Remember, the more you practice something, the better you’ll get at it. To become a good time trialist, you’ll need to do a bunch of time trial sims. When you analyze your power file, look for how your power dropped over the intervals, but you’ll also want to learn how well you adhered to your pacing strategy. Learning to time trial well is accomplished by proper pacing strategy and adherence to that strategy.
The “Kitchen Sink” is my absolute favorite workout and great for everyone. All your energy systems are worked, you get to go for a big ride, and you come home with that wonderful feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction that only cyclists know. The goal of this workout is to address all the different energy systems needed for successful racing. I also want you to come home fatigued and tired, having pushed yourself a little harder and farther than before.
Kitchen Sink Workout
Warm-up: 30 minutes at endurance pace (56-76% of your FTP).
Main set: After you’re warmed up, do 2 x 20 minutes at or just a hair below threshold (93-100% of FTP). It’s hard, and you’ll have to push to maintain it. Rest for 10 minutes between each at endurance pace. Next, ride at your endurance pace for 30 minutes and then do 6 sprints, 3 in the small ring for 75m (starting from a slow speed and spinning the gear at 140rpm by the end of the sprint) and 3 in the big ring for 250m (starting from 20mph and getting the 53:13 turning over, but resisting the desire to go into your hardest gear). Ride at endurance pace for 5 minutes between each.
After completing your sprints, cruise for 30 minutes at endurance pace and then do 5 hill repeats of various hills and lengths along your route, each at your Vo2 max pace (110-120% of FTP), with good solid rests at endurance pace for 5-10 minutes between each. Again, these are done along the way in the ride. If you don’t have any hills, it’s fine to do these as attacks into the wind or pretending you’re attacking on the flats.
Your final hard effort is another 30 minutes at endurance pace. While riding at endurance pace, add in some bursts (little 8-second ones) every 5 minutes or so to simulate the constant movement of a peloton.
Stop at a store with an hour to go and get your favorite caffeinated, sugary drink. You’ll want a little boost before the final push home. Finish with 45 minutes of sweet spot (88-93% of FTP) on the ride home. Push it and try to ramp up your pace as you get closer and closer to home. You should finish tired, but feeling satisfied.
Cool-down: 5-10 minutes with a recovery drink and STRETCHING.
When you analyze your power file after this workout, the first thing you should look for is your training stress score. Did you score over 280 TSS? If not, you didn’t go long enough. If you’re closer to the 300-320 TSS range, announce it on Facebook and I’ll “like” it. J In all seriousness, the goal is to create some big stress, so a solid TSS will confirm that.
The second thing to look at is your normalized power for the last 45 minutes. This will give you another confirmation of your endurance. If you were struggling way below your sweet spot and had nothing left, you know where you need to spend some more time. If you were solidly in your sweet spot, mission accomplished.
Group Rides
Your final mission this spring is to do some group riding. Group rides can be great opportunities to get in some guaranteed intensity when you don’t feel like training or when you’re too fatigued to push yourself but still have more to give. When you do these group rides, approach them with two different mentalities and strategies. For one of the rides, attack with reckless abandon. Don’t attack so much that you get dropped, of course, but come close! Your attitude should be one of pushing yourself to the limit and really digging deep in order to just get in the work.
The next time you do the group ride, do the exact opposite and try to be as absolutely economical as possible. That means sitting in, riding on wheels, NOT pedaling, saving energy, staying out of the wind and away from the front (until the split comes), and making sure when you do have to ride hard you can easily make the move. Group rides are perfect places for you to learn economy through energy conservation.
When you analyze your power file after your ride, it’s important to count exactly how many attacks you were able to do before nearly getting dropped. Look at the time each attack lasted and memorize the wattages you averaged in the attacks for later use in races. For the “conservation” group ride, look at your cadence distribution chart and see how much time you spent not pedaling, because that is a great indicator of your ability to conserve energy.
These four workouts each address different areas of fitness that are needed for those spring races. You might be really challenged by them and therefore get a great boost of fitness from the accomplishment of each. If you’re already super fit and peaking for the spring races, these workouts will only help you more to push yourself to the next level and ensure success. Plan these into your weekly schedule. You might even do all four of them in the same week, but I wouldn’t recommend it every week. Another plan might be to do the hill repeats two times in one week if you know you really need help improving your anaerobic capacity. Use your best judgment and make sure to give each of them your best. When you crack that 300 TSS for the Kitchen Sink workout, send me a message or tag us on Facebook or Instagram, and I’ll be sure to “like” it!
Early Spring racing. The hardest 10 minutes. The “decision maker”.
Every race has a hard section. The section that separates the men from the boys. The place where the winners make their move, and the final selection is determined. It’s that harrowing place of pain and suffering that decides who really wants to win. Some races have multiple decision making sections that force you to dig deep, push to your utter limit with every fiber in your body. This is also the same place that you wish that you had chosen bowling as your sport. It’s a common theme in every bike race, whether it’s a short criterium or a long road race. There is always a “decision maker”. Sometimes it is terrain dependent, sometimes its weather related, other times its created by a team or even a single strong racer. Let’s increase your advantage in making the split during the “decision maker”.
Critical to your success in these early spring races are: 1) Anticipating where in the course the ‘decision maker’ could occur based on terrain, weather, and racing tactics. 2) Recognizing the ‘decision maker’ in the race. “This is IT!” 3) Making sure you have the right fitness and enough fitness to make the selection. 4) Mentally dealing with this intense level of suffering through the critical 10 minutes.
Our first race analysis is from one of the best road races in the East Coast, The Tour of the Battenkill (TOB). This race has a number of very difficult terrain features which is why it has become so popular and one of the best races in the USA. With many gravel sections, steep hills, and wind-blown exposed roads, there is always the possibility for multiple decision making areas. When racing on a difficult course, a racer must be attentive at all times, as it can be difficult to predict exactly where the decision makers will occur. In the past year’s category 3 race, there were two distinctive areas that became the decision making points. While an experienced racer or coach could (and should) pre-ride the course to discover these areas, it’s not always possible, so relying on previous race outcomes can be helpful. In the TOB race, there is always a narrow covered bridge crossing followed by a series of hard hills with gravel sections intermixed that wreak havoc on the peloton. So, for certain, this will be a critical section just based on the past history of the race and the course. In figure 1, using the new TrainingPeaks WKO+ version 4.0 software to analyze the data, that first section was nearly 9 minutes long and a watts per kilogram ratio needed to make the front group, was 4.7. Knowing the power values needed to make the selection is a huge advantage and in this case demonstrates the stiffness of the competition. As with many road races, there can be an early selection to determine who has enough fitness (high enough FTP) to make the leading group, and then a later selection to whittle down the competition that determines who has enough endurance and fitness after a certain amount of fatigue in the legs has accumulated. In this case, for a category 3 race, that second decision maker came after two hours of racing, during a slightly uphill, gravel, crosswind section lasting for nearly 8 minutes. Again, with proper recon of the route and some past knowledge of racing, this section was obvious that it fit the “decision maker” mold well. It came after 2/3’s of the race was over, it was slightly uphill so power to weight ratio was important, the gravel road made bike handling and confidence a factor, and the wind created a single file line through the section not allowing any of the weaker riders to hold onto the wheel in front of them. For the rider in figure 1, he had to maintain 3.8 w/kg to maintain the lead group of 8 riders, which was whittled down from 30 riders that entered this decision-making section.
In our second case study, we see a similar “decision maker” in a road race ending with a hill climb albeit and in a slightly different pattern. This race was part of a 10 day stage race with this critical decision making stage coming on stage 7. Basically, the strategy was straight forward as the stage finished on an hour and 40 minutes climb(!) and all the climbers that were contending for the win, were sitting in the peloton to wait for the climb. Like most races ending with a climb, the ability to maintain a high watts per kilogram ratio is usually the simple recipe for success. However, what’s often forgotten is that within the need for a high FTP, the best climbers must withstand attacks for short periods of time over their FTP’s and recover back to FTP. In figure 2, it’s easy to see the three hard attacks that were responded to by this rider in order to stay in the group. Each of these attacks were between two and three minutes long, with the hardest at 6.46 w/kg. While these attacks did not last the typical 10 minutes, combined they are roughly “the” decision making 10minutes in summation and the deciding factor of the top 6 riders in the race and the rest. Of course, this is assuming rider has the ability to still stay with the top climbers in between the attacks and then afterward, which is no easy feat mind you! For this athlete, maintenance of the needed high FTP was within his ability and he was “on the ropes” for just those three hard sections. Analyzing this case study, helps to see the “decision maker” in a little different light and it also will help with training for future races. Defining the demands of the event allows you to train to those demands, and this series of attacks on the climb is a perfect example that could easily be trained with a series of intervals. A workout to simulate this race would be: Ride just below your FTP for 5-10 minutes and then do a 3 minute attack with watts at 200% of FTP for the first 10 seconds and then ride at 110-115% of FTP for 3minutes. At the end of 3 minutes, recover back to FTP for 2 minutes and repeat another attack. Repeat this for 3 or more intervals.
For our third case study, we have the winning attack made by Antonio Garnero in the Brazilian Pro Championships in 2014. This race was over a 9km circuit and 22 laps total, so all the racers had multiple chances to assess the course and predict where the winning move might come from on the course. Antonio made his move on the 17th lap of the race near the top of the short hill with 3 successive attacks to get away with only 2 other riders. Once away, Antonio stayed at the front of the now 3-person breakaway for 10minutes to create the separation needed to win. This hard 10minutes was after 3.5 hours of racing and was 5.6w/kg in effort, so without a doubt an extraordinary effort. In order to shed his 2 other breakaway companions, he only had to attack them with 3km to go and he easily finished in a solo victory. This example is one in which the strongest rider “created” the decision making 10minutes and had the luxury of deciding where and when those 10 minutes would be. As a very experienced rider that was at the peak of his form, he knew that he had to create that decision making 10minutes and was confident enough to be able to do it all on his own. If you were racing with him, you only needed to know that he was the strongest rider in the race and then “mark” him in the closing laps, and of course be able to follow him! The lesson here is that when you are one of the strongest in the peloton, you have the luxury to be the decision maker, but that doesn’t mean it always works, and it’s still critical that you are aware of the other riders and the terrain around you to make the best attack and commit to a very hard 10 minutes of 100% effort.
Every race has a decision making 10minutes where the final selection if not the winner is decided. Criteriums, circuit races, hill climbs and sometimes even time trials all contain this 10minute suffer fest. Recognizing when this 10minutes might occur and then when it is occurring in a race is the mark of an experienced winner, although it doesn’t make it easier. You are going to suffer and dig deep. Knowing that it generally will only last for 10minutes though, does make the effort more accomplishable however, similar to knowing a section of road so well, that you know you can hang on for dear life because the terrain dictates that everyone ease up just around the next bend. Most of the decision making points in a race come when three or more characteristics are present. One, there must be some sort of difficult terrain and/or weather feature. Two, it will occur after at least 2/3rds of the race is over when most of the peloton is already fatigued. Three, the strongest rider decides it is time to go. Four, after the race has been at a high intensity for a relatively long time and shorter attacks start occurring from riders. Training to the demands of these “decision makers” can be a definite advantage for any racer and should revolve around 8 to 10 minute intervals at your FTP and with hard efforts (110-115% of FTP) at the beginning or within the interval.
When I was a pro cyclist, we all talked about having “good form”—the legs feeling great, the days of “no chain,” when we were just “on,” and when we knew no one was going to beat us that day. We all knew what it was, but we could never really describe it.
What exactly is “form?” Where does it come from, and how do we actually acquire it? How do we achieve form exactly on the day or period of time that we want it? How do we know that the training we’re doing now will give us the necessary “peak” when we want it? Are we training too hard? Are we training hard enough? Are we training in the proper training zones? Are we getting enough variety in our training to make sure each physiological system is improving? I had to answer all these questions when I was racing and again as I developed detailed training programs for my clients.
When the power meter came along and I started thinking about how to best use a power meter to build training plans for my athletes, I wanted to be able to quantify each training “dose,” because understanding the training dose and the resulting response is the only way to really know the exact “ingredients” needed for success.
The advent of the power meter has allowed us to quantify exactly the training response. Now that we’re able to download a digital record of each ride and analyze it, we can more thoroughly understand the response to the training dose.
On the other side of the coin, the power meter also enables us to prescribe a precise training dose. Gone are the days of riding for four hours and hoping that four hours is enough to make you fit for the upcoming race. Time and distance were the only things by which we could periodize our training load until the introduction of the power meter.
Heart rate, rate of perceived exertion, and VO2Max are responses to a training dose, or watts. Now, as a coach, I can be more specific with the training I prescribe to my athletes. Do 45 minutes at 89% of your functional threshold power (FTP) each day, and in 4-6 weeks we’ll see the response.
With a power meter we’re easily able to see the results of our hard work over time, but as a coach I really needed to be able to quantify the exact training dose more simply than 2 x 20 minutes at FTP and 6 x 5 minutes at VO2Max power. I needed a score.
Training Stress Score
I shared all this with Dr. Andrew Coggan, a great friend and brilliant sports scientist with whom I share many of my training/coaching ideas. Within two weeks he came back with “training stress score,” a method of giving each ride a score based on the exact training load or training dose achieved. Dr. Coggan’s formula was based on Dr. Bannister’s work on a heart rate-based score called TRIMP, “Training Impulse.”
Training stress score (TSS) was based on the simple premise that you score more points the more time you spend at your functional threshold power (FTP) and above it. Intensity must also be accounted for, so a measurement of intensity was given for each ride, as well, which Dr. Coggan called the intensity factor (IF).
To set the standard, an hour at FTP would score 100 TSS points and an IF of 1.0. With the creation of these two metrics, we could now understand the training dose and analyze the training response with software by tracking fitness changes over time.
As a coach, I can make anyone fit. That’s not too hard; just do these intervals, ride this much, push yourself this hard, and the fitness will be there. Fitness isn’t form, however. It’s lacking a key component.
Fitness & Freshness
I once asked a several-time Tour de France winner what he thought of as form. He’d been “on form” many times and knew inherently what it was when he felt it, but he couldn’t describe it. At the end of the Tour de France, he wasn’t on form (he was fatigued and severely over-reached from the training state), but he had lots of fitness! On the other hand, he currently isn’t very fit, although he’s “fresh” from not exercising as much, so again he doesn’t have form.
Those two things are the keys to form, which Dr. Coggan defines as fitness + freshness. The correct balance of fitness and freshness creates this magical thing called form, and understanding this simple equation makes it possible to manage form and create it at the right time.
CTL & ATL
There are two components to fitness: chronic training load (CTL) and acute training load (ATL). Chronic training load is the load (dose) of training over a longer period of time (every training ride you’ve done in the last six weeks). Acute training load (ATL) is the training you’ve done in the last seven days. The training you did six weeks ago and the training you did last weekend are both impacting you now as you read this.
Training Stress Balance
Both CTL and ATL help determine your level of fitness and freshness. By balancing them correctly and carefully, you can create a high level of fitness and a high level of freshness, thereby managing form. We call this “training stress balance” (TSB).
When your TSB is a positive number, you’re becoming fresh, and as long as you have fitness backing you up, you could have a peak performance. The higher your TSB, the greater your freshness.
When your TSB is a negative number, you’re not very fresh and are in a fatigued state. The more negative the number, the more fatigued you’re likely to be.
We use the performance manager chart in TrainingPeaks WKO+ software to predict peaks of fitness and when you need to rest to prevent overtraining.
By understanding these simple concepts and using your power meter, you are well on your way to exceeding your goals this year. May your FTP always increase!
TSS: Training stress score. A way to quantify the stress of each ride. An hour at FTP equal 100 TSS.
IF: Intensity factor. The intensity at which you work based on your FTP. When working at FTP, this will equal an IF of 1.0.
CTL: Chronic training load. The training load that encompasses a longer time period, most likely 21-42 days.
ATL: Acute training load. The training load that encompasses the most recent training load, most likely the last 3-14 days.
TSB: Training stress balance. The balance of CTL and ATL creates either a positive (+) or negative (-) TSB. A positive TSB will most likely predict a peak performance.
Last year I raced on Zwift all winter. By the time March came & the weather broke… I was OVERTRAINED! My whole year was screwed up & a roller coaster as I never recovered!?
I cannot repeat that mistake.
Can you help me in designing a sensible training plan that I can use Zwift, but do workouts and make sure I am strong in March/April/May?
We all love to train and improve, that’s one of the reasons you are on this mailing list! Our goal as cycling coaches is to share our knowledge, so that you can shortcut through years of trial and error and achieve your goals using your available time. We are all time constrained and that’s one of the reasons that indoor riding has become so popular. It allows you to train whenever you can, regardless of weather, time of day or where you live. Zwift and other indoor apps have been incredible in providing “Trainertainment” and gone are the days when I used to ride in the basement on the rollers, starting a concrete wall beside the cat litter box!
With our new indoor training tools, the temptation to just race inside Zwift or ride hard everyday is strong, but this is a mistake. Riding hard or racing 5-6x a week inside a virtual world is a recipe for disaster as not only will you not be training the energy systems correctly, you risk riding poorly when the spring comes and you can ride outdoors. You see, our bodies don’t like continual stress. We need rest, we need a progressive ramp up of intensity and we need the correct combination of volume with intensity. Just riding as hard as you can indoors everyday is not a plan for success. It’s no plan. If you do not have a plan for success, then you are planning for failure.
If you do not have a plan for success, then you are planning for failure.
We can help you plan for success using your indoor training apps! All of our coaches use them as well, and designing a plan using these new popular indoor training tools, coaching you along the way, riding with you in a virtual world, all of that is part of becoming a coached athlete here at PCG. Let us help you MAKE 2022 great!
What you do this winter can really make or break your season in the coming year. Winter training is different for everyone since we live in different areas of the world; some of us spend a solid five months indoors while others can ride outside year round.
There are some vital components to creating a very good winter training program no matter where you live, and of course a power meter has a lot to do with it.
Before you embark on your official winter training plan, though, you’ve got to make sure you’re well rested and recovered from the long season. Hopefully you’ve taken a couple of weeks off and given yourself at least two weeks of easy cross-training; this is essential to recharging your physical and mental batteries.
Once you’re rested, recharged, and ready to go, your winter should contain the following four important components:
Focused indoor training workouts
Solid workouts at your sweet spot
A cross-training routine
Balanced rest periods
These four components combine to create a strong winter program that can give you one of your best winters ever. I’ll expand on each point so you can use them all to the best advantage.
In most of the United States, the winter is quite cold, which means we will spend at least some of it on the indoor trainer. (All you southern California readers out there, don’t stop reading; just try to incorporate some of these workouts into your outdoor routine.) Even though most of us love riding our bikes outside, the indoor trainer can provide some really great workouts with no real distractions: no cars, no wind, no hills, no dogs. All the things that can get in the way of a focused session aren’t problems on the indoor trainer.
INDOOR TRAINING
Now that you’re resigned and committed to the indoor trainer, what workouts should you do? There are two basic types of workouts I prescribe to my athletes in the winter: cadence-based workouts and sweet spot workouts. Almost all the workouts my athletes do during this season are some permutation of these two basic types. Cadence-based workouts emphasize cadence changes first, with power and heart rate of second and tertiary importance. Cadence workouts typically do not stress the cardiovascular system but are more focused on improving the muscular system. They can range from high rpm efforts emphasizing neuromuscular power to very slow rpm efforts emphasizing muscular strength.
What is the purpose of cadence-based workouts and why should you do them this winter? The higher cadence workouts help you maintain your ability to quickly contract and relax your muscles, which is a very important skill in cycling. By training your neuromuscular power throughout the winter, you can keep the critical ability to quickly change your cadence and even enhance it.
This type of indoor workout is relatively simple and can also easily be done either indoors or outside. One of my favorites is one-minute fast-pedaling intervals, where you pedal over 110 rpm for one minute and then pedal at your self-selected (normal) cadence for a minute and then repeat. This is a great leg burner, but it doesn’t get the heart rate too high and therefore push your training into more of an anaerobic zone.
On the other side of the coin, lower cadence workouts are also great to do in the winter because they can enhance your muscular strength, which can in turn help you to sprint with more peak wattages and push a bigger gear into the wind in a time trial or up a steep climb. Muscular strength workouts are based around hard but short intervals done in the biggest gear you can manage at low rpm. Many people believe the myth that riding for hours in a big gear at slow rpm will increase muscular strength and make them more powerful, but this only makes you good at riding in a big gear at slow rpm! Riding at 50 rpm for hours on end just doesn’t create enough muscular stress to strengthen the muscles.
Consider this analogy: If you’re trying to bench press 200 pounds in the weight room, you need to start at 150 pounds and build up to it with low reps, high sets, and the most weight you can lift. You have to use heavier and heavier weights to stress the muscle in order for it to adapt. If you lifted 100 pounds one million times, you would never adapt to lifting 200 pounds one time. The “big gear” myth is similar; when you pedal at 50 rpm for hours on end, it’s just like lifting 100 pounds for a million reps. While 100 pounds (metaphorically speaking) is more than your normal pedaling force of 80 pounds, it’s just not enough stress on the muscles to get them to strengthen. In order to increase your muscular strength on the bike, you need to do hard, short bursts of effort in a big gear. For example, put your chain in the 53:12 gear and slow down to about 8-10 mph, then (staying seated) tighten your abdominals, grip your handlebars tightly, and with all your might turn that gear over until you reach 80 rpm. Once you reach 80 rpm, the amount of force you’re putting on the cranks has reduced to a point at which it’s just not enough stress to create muscular strength improvements. You should plan on doing about twenty of these power bursts in a session to create enough of an overload to achieve some benefit.
SWEET SPOT
The second type of training I prescribe to my athletes in the winter is called sweet spot training (SST). When you ride just below your functional threshold power (FTP) at approximately 88-93% of your FTP, you are riding in your sweet spot. Why is it called the sweet spot? As shown on the chart below, when you’re in this area of intensity, the level of physiological strain (read: amount of pain) is relatively low, while the maximum duration (read: time) that you can stay in this area is quite high. You can also see that your increase in FTP is greatest in this area, so training in your sweet spot really gives you a tremendous bang for your buck.
When you do SST, start out with 15- to 30-minute efforts and gradually build up to 60- to 120-minute efforts if you can. These efforts aren’t easy ones, but you’ll get a tremendous cardiovascular benefit from them. Make sure to do at least one to two sessions each week, and you’ll see a big difference in your FTP come February.
CROSS TRAINING
Cross-training is another key to winter success. One of the most important cross-training exercises you can do this winter is some type of core abdominal exercises combined with stretching. A Pilates or yoga class can really help you develop strong abdominals, which in turn help you transfer energy from your upper body to your legs and protect your back from injury. If you can, take a class or do a video every week; that will be enough to make a difference. For cardiovascular work, I recommend doing some mountain biking, hiking, trail running, roller blading, and cross-country skiing (if you have the snow). Just keep it fun and not too intense, as cross-training is supposed to enhance your cycling, not cause injury or major cardiovascular stress. Cross-training is great to do in the off-season, since we don’t really move our muscles in multiple planes on the bicycle, and will provide some great muscular and cardiovascular stimulus.
A word of caution about starting any new exercise: take it easy for the first two weeks. I once had a client who was very fit and decided to go out and run ten miles in the first day of cross-training. Needless to say, he was barely able to walk for the next two weeks. He also inadvertently pulled a muscle, which forced him to take three weeks off from all training. So be careful and break yourself in slowly when you start a new exercise.
REST
The final component of a successful winter program is rest. It doesn’t sound like it’s that big of a deal, but too much training in the winter will make you a “January star.” It’s great to train hard in the winter, and it’s the key to really pushing yourself to the next level for the coming year, but if you constantly train hard in the winter, you’ll peak in January. The key to increasing your FTP this winter and making it your new normal fitness level is to train intensely for only two days in a row. After two intense days, give yourself a rest before coming back to training, except every other week give yourself two days of easy training after two hard days instead of resting so you can keep your battery charged. Your goal this winter is to never let your battery charge go below 97%. Two days of hard training will bring your battery down to 97%, and a day off or a day of easy training will allow it to recharge back to 100%. This way you can balance hard training with proper rest and enter the season fresh and strong, without turning into one of those riders that wins all the January rides!
These four components of winter training all combine successfully to ensure you create your best winter of training ever. A proper winter program will push your FTP up to the next level, maintain your ability to change cadences, and put you at the start of the season with a fresh mind and ready body for a strong and long season! Be sure to keep your focus this winter. This season really is the time for you to rise to the next level and make 2022 a breakthrough season!
Winners think differently. They do. There are many books on winners and why they are different, what they think and why they think it. Winners are constantly focused on moving forward, getting things done, taking action and improving. Whether it’s on the bicycle, in the pool, on the soccer field or in the office, winners are striving for the best they can be. They aren’t afraid of hard work, as a matter of fact they love it, they crave it, and they absorb it and become better from it. I believe winners are made and not born. Each one of us has winning qualities and the ability to win; we just have to put these things together in order to achieve greatness.
1. Winners Set Goals
Winners have long term goals, short term goals, weekly and daily goals. Most winners, you’ll find are highly goal oriented. When a winner wants something, they really want it. They want it more than the rest of their competitors. I have heard it said many times and believe its true, “The rider that wins the race is the rider that wanted it more than anyone else.” Sit down today or this weekend and write out your goals for the year and review them each week. Your goals will change throughout the year and you’ll want to revise them and update them as needed. Your goals will help you keep focused!
2. Winners Make Good Decisions
This one is a bit obtuse and obvious at the same time. What is a good decision vs. a bad decision? If you don’t know the difference then how will you know which one to make? Instead of eating that hamburger and fries, a winner would eat a healthy lean steak, baked potato and a salad. Instead of going for a 5 hour bike ride with his teammates on a day when “something just doesn’t feel right”, he’ll honor that feeling and either take a rest day or ride a shorter ride. Winners don’t lie around and wait for success to come to them (except on rest days!); they take action to move toward it every day. Instead of thinking about whether to go with that attack or not, a winner will have already planned their strategy and not have to think about it. They will know if that attack fits into their strategy and know if the riders attacking are good enough to win and react accordingly without hesitation.
3. Winners Play to Win
This seems like a simple one and to tell you the truth, it is, however you would be amazed at how many people reading this right now don’t have a plan to get that next raise in their job, peak exactly at the right time for their “A” race, go above and beyond on that big project at the office or take their company to the next level. Sit down, plan out your season, figure out which races you want to ride well in and refer to #3 above in aligning your own specific strengths and weaknesses with the race demands.
4. Winners Visualize Success
Visualization is an incredible tool in helping to align the universe to bring all the necessary situations and opportunities to you so that you can capitalize and win. Visualization is more important than most people think. When you visualize vividly enough to create emotion in the vision, your mind doesn’t know the difference between that and the real thing. One key aspect of visualization is picturing the things that happen after you have achieved a goal. For me, I have been focused on creating a great camp in Mallorca in March this year, so I have been picturing myself at the little Spanish store on the top of the Lluc climb in Mallorca drinking a great coffee and eating a chocolate croissant with happy campers all laughing and enjoying themselves. I have been imagining riding up the climbs and seeing 320 watts on my power meter and feeling comfortable and strong! Visualization is critical for your success this season. If you want to win a race this year, “see” your name at the top of the results sheet, feel the feeling of all your teammates congratulating your win, see that podium pic on your Facebook account. By visualizing the things that occur after your goal has been realized is an incredibly powerful way to make that a reality.
5. Winners are constantly learning and asking questions.
Winners are confident, but never so confident to think they know it all. They are always seeking the advice of experts, looking for an advantage, seeking the latest knowledge in the field and doing everything they can to improve. Companies that never innovate or improve their product are destined for failure. Athletes that stop reading about the latest in training advances or nutrition or mental training are destined for failure. Keep your zest for learning. Get a new book on winners, or on cycling, or mental training for athletes. Learn about the latest in nutrition and diet and find the right balance for your life. Seek out the advice of an expert and listen wholeheartedly and then implement their advice.
Winning is easier when you are winning, that’s for sure. Success is an upward spiral and it’s much easier when you are in that upward spiral, but trust me, winners go in downward spirals too. The difference between the winners and the losers are the winners know how to “pull up” and get back in that winning upward spiral. You’ll have setbacks, challenges, and failures along the way. That is part of the process and completely natural. Winners have to deal with all of that as well. If winning was easy, then it wouldn’t be as satisfying! Remember no matter how bad things look or the time since your last win, and hope seems gone.. “The winners are still winning”…..
Can’t match your outdoor output? It could be one – or – all of these things…
There are a number of reasons why you can’t produce as much power indoors on a turbo as you can on the open road, and the biggest one is purely a matter of mechanics – a turbo applies resistance through the entire pedalling circle, whereas there’s no significant resistance at the bottom and back of the pedal stroke on a road bike. This is 90% of the reason your watts are lower indoors.
Think about how you ride as well. On the turbo you’re essentially ‘locked’ into a single position, and we create effective watts by using our upper body as we ‘wobble’ the bike outdoors. Indoors, it’s very difficult to use all of your collateral muscles.
Heat is another big factor. Indoors you will get hot, whereas outdoors you will at the very least have more of a breeze and fewer walls hemming you in. The cooler your body, the higher the wattage you can maintain.
Then there’s the mental aspect – going nowhere fast. I’d say this is huge. Most cyclists I know love to ride because they love being outside, going to a cool location and riding at maximum speed. There’s great satisfaction in being able to travel long distances under your own power.
One other thing to consider is where you are measuring your power output. It can be measured in multiple places on your bicycle, but the closer the measuring device is to where the power is being transferred from your foot to your bike, the more accurate the reading.
If you measure power in your rear wheel, you’ll lose 7-10 watts from inefficiencies in the drivechain system. So 250 watts at the pedal is probably 240 watts at the hub of your smart trainer.
Then there’s your bike. If you can mimic your exact fit from your bike to your indoor trainer, you should be able to produce the same watts, right? But there’s also this thing called gravity, and virtually everyone will produce more power outside while climbing (seated or standing) than on the trainer.
Gravity is a powerful form of resistance and the ability to stand and climb or stay seated and use your entire body to help push down on the pedals is significant compared to just riding in the saddle on a trainer. One British racer I coached could only hold 300 watts at his FTP on the flats, but put him on a climb and his FTP was 360 watts.
The turbo trainer does have its place. Of course we are tough endurance athletes so you’d better be able to overcome any negative self-talk or you might find needlework is a nice hobby… but it does take practice and it takes purpose. What is your goal and why do you want it more than anything else?
I ride indoors because I’m doing specific intervals that I just can’t do outside, racing in Zwift or coaching a client over TrainerRoad. All of those are motivating factors for doing my best.
So there are benefits. Working out indoors has always been a very effective way to train. You have fewer distractions, no traffic, no stop signs. You can do perfect intervals every time and address the correct energy system with no guesswork.
It can help you produce more power, full stop – whether it’s higher or lower indoors or outdoors doesn’t really matter as long as your power output is going up.
The expert: Former pro cyclist Hunter Allen is founder of the Power Training Principles used by thousands of cyclists. He owns The Peaks Coaching Group and is co-founder of the TrainingPeaks software. He is also co-author of Triathlon Training With Power and Training And Racing With A Power Meter. More info at peakscoachinggroup.com
Over the years, I usually teach fall camps and teach power seminars around the world, I have been able to ride with many different cyclists and teach to diverse groups ranging from gold medal winning Olympians and their coaches to beginning cyclists that have never used a power meter. Teaching to diverse groups is always a challenge, but at the same time forces me to teach with clarity, focus, and patience. A common question that I get in the “fall” of each year in my seminars and camps is: “I really want to improve this winter, what are 3 things I can do to really make a difference.” A broad and general question of course, and the great thing about being a cycling coach is that pretty much the answer to every question begins with, “It depends……”. There are many factors that go into improvement and lots of things that affect improvement, so there is no easy answer. We are each highly individual and respond differently to different training stimulus along with having different goals at different parts of the year. So, before I can answer a broad question, I must dig a little deeper and learn more about the athlete, their goals, time constraints and strengths and weaknesses. These basics create the foundation of my answers and from there, I can build actionable answers for the athlete. Thinking of the basics of cycling is where we all must start to improve and therefore let’s consider three solid, basic, fundamentals that can help you or any cyclist this winter to improve and make the 2022 season great.
Increase your Aerobic Fitness/FTP
Cycling is an aerobic sport, and this means you will need to have the highest output of wattage possible in order to give yourself the chance to be successful (you can be the strongest person in the peloton and still lose!). The higher your FTP, the fitter you are, and more likely you will be to succeed in your given event. For that big Gran Fondo in March or that first long road race of the year in April, you WILL do better if your FTP is higher than it is now. So, first and foremost, you must always consider doing everything you can to improve your FTP. That’s the number one thing you can do this winter to improve your chances for more success in 2022. What does that practically mean though? What kind of workouts should you do, how often and when? The answer to these questions has more to do with when your season will begin and how far away your first race is from now and beyond the scope of this article. Right now, though, this December, and you need to be riding in your Tempo and Sweet-Spot/Sub-Threshold power levels. These zones fall between 76-90% with Sweet-Spot/Sub-Threshold between 88-93%. Start out with intervals at the 20-minute mark and your intensity around 85% of your FTP, and then build the time and intensity until you can do at least 45minutes at 93% of your FTP. It’s perfectly fine to break these into smaller portions, but don’t do anything less than 20minutes as that will give you enough time at that intensity to make sure you are improving your aerobic fitness. I really like doing 30-minute efforts at Sweet-Spot as they are challenging both physically and mentally and I can just complete the 30 minutes with enough mental games. This workout should be done at least twice each week in December and increasing to three times a week in January and February. Again, the main goal is increasing your aerobic fitness/FTP and if you can do that, then you’ll be on the way to creating an excellent 2022 season.
Create “Applicable Strength”
Big Gear intervals. Yup, that’s number two. Once a week, I want you to work on “applicable strength”. This means strength that you can apply to making the bike go faster and not strength that will help you squat a piano on your back or carry a couch up 8 flights of stairs. It also is NOT about pushing a big gear for 30 minutes. It’s not even doing it for one minute! This type of big gear work is not increasing your muscular strength and just makes you better at pushing a marginally harder gear in a slower than normal cadence, but not really helping your on-the-bike strength. This is done by slowing your speed down to 5-8mph, putting the bike in a 53:13 gear, gripping the handlebars tightly, tightening your abdominals, and while staying seated the entire time, exploding with force on the pedals and getting that gear to 85-90rpm. You will grunt and strain and think you might rip the handlebars right off the stem, but eventually you’ll get to 85-90rpm start feeling the “burn”. Then it’s over. That’s it. Not long, but with lots of strength. The effort has been completed and now you are ready to recover those muscles for another “feat of strength”, so give yourself at least 3-4 minutes between each effort. These are very similar to “standing starts” in Track Racing, and I was privy to a “standing start” practice/training session with the top sprinter on the New Zealand track team this past month and he was doing almost identical efforts as the above. He did them for 45minutes with solid 5minutes of rest between each to make sure he could get the maximum effort out in each. Here, the effort must be in Quadrant II of the Quadrant Analysis chart, see figure 2. This means that you are putting out maximum force with lower cadence and once you cross over into a faster cadence (over 90rpm), then you are no longer in the correct quadrant.
Go For a Long Ride
Long rides when its nice out. That’s #3. Every time from now till April, if it’s nice out (and you live in a normally cold area), then go for a long ride. Throw away the training plan for that day (or even better, integrate it into a long ride) and go for a 4-5-6-hour ride. You don’t know when the next nice day will be, so you need to get in those long rides in order to increase your endurance and aerobic efficiency. It’s the long rides that will take you to the next level of fitness with a higher FTP and more fatigue resistance and unfortunately this is no short cut. You have to get out there and put in the longer miles. I have talked to many master riders over the years and when they have gotten “stuck” at a certain wattage for their threshold, they always ask how they can get to the next level and why they are “stuck” there. The answer is the same for all and that is: Longer rides! You don’t think Jens Voigt’s FTP is 460watts because he only rode for 2 hours day, do you? No, if you want an FTP higher than 250 watts than you are going to have to do AT LEAST (2) rides a month that are longer than 5 hours. What should you do in these rides? I would make sure that the majority of the ride is in the Zone 2-endurance range, but then also be sure to get in one solid section of 45minutes at your Sweet Spot and also do 20 fast pedaling efforts at 110rpm+ for one minute each resting a minute between them. The goal is to come home tired like you finished a long ride, but not crushed like you “barely” finished a long ride. It’s just that simple (and difficult). Longer rides increase the stress on the aerobic and muscular system and that in turn causes it to adapt and get stronger which results in a higher FTP. Nothing can substitute a long ride, and this is a key for you to increase your FTP this coming season. Even if your longest race is 2 hours, you still have to ride big long rides if you want to improve your FTP above that 250Watt “Glass ceiling”.
That’s it, those are the three things you need to do to improve for this winter. They also apply to just about everyone and in the coaching world is hard to do, but if you only did those three things, you would be moving in the right direction and toward a very strong 2022. With regards to training with power, you must remind yourself that these ideas came from the “demands of the event” first, then wattage-based workouts were born from them. While you don’t a specific focus of wattages for the big gear intervals, you have a quadrant that you need to adhere to ensure you are training properly. Use your power meter to train to the demand of your events, use your power meter to help guide your individual sessions, use your power meter to home in on your training zones and then analyze the data afterward to make sure you are on track for new peaks!
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
90 days
__utma
ID used to identify users and sessions
2 years after last activity
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gali
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.
Facebook Pixel is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.
Registers a unique ID to keep statistics of what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Session
DEVICE_INFO
Used to detect if the visitor has accepted the marketing category in the cookie banner. This cookie is necessary for GDPR-compliance of the website.
179 days
LOGIN_INFO
This cookie is used to play YouTube videos embedded on the website.
2 years
VISITOR_PRIVACY_METADATA
Youtube visitor privacy metadata cookie
180 days
GPS
Registers a unique ID on mobile devices to enable tracking based on geographical GPS location.
1 day
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Tries to estimate the users' bandwidth on pages with integrated YouTube videos. Also used for marketing
179 days
PREF
This cookie stores your preferences and other information, in particular preferred language, how many search results you wish to be shown on your page, and whether or not you wish to have Google’s SafeSearch filter turned on.
