BikeRadar.com Fitness

Training at altitude with supplemental and reduced oxygen

Ben Delaney — Mon, 13 May 2013 23:00:00 GMT

Delivering oxygen to the leg muscles is the name of the game in cycling. To improve his power and speed, US national road champion Timmy Duggan and his coach Jon Tarkington are experimenting not only with supplemental oxygen intervals, but reduced oxygen intervals as well. In Boulder, Colorado (elevation 5,430ft/1,655m), BikeRadar followed Duggan for a day's training, which also included some motorpacing up and down hills.

It isn't uncommon for professional cyclists at altitude to use supplemental oxygen to simulate sea-level efforts. (The more oxygen your muscles get, the harder they can work.) Similarly, motorpacing to simulate the speed of racing is a time-honored technique. But because reduced oxygen intervals are less common in this sport, we'll begin there.

Reduced-oxygen intervals

“We are one hundred percent in the experimentation phase with this, which is a concept from the freediving community,” said Tarkington of FasCat Coaching.

Freedivers — athletes who deep dive without air tanks — have high hematocrits and use oxygen very efficiently for extending durations. Basically, they are great at holding their breath.

“With this, we’re just trying to create a physiological response to short-term hypoxic conditions,” Tarkington said.

The methodology is pretty straightforward. Duggan warms up on a trainer, then dons an Elevation Training mask that restricts his air flow and does two minutes on, two minutes off at a steady 190 watts, with his effort measured by his SRM power meter. The mask reduces his oxygen intake to less than half of normal, Tarkington said.

Coach Tarkington and Duggan are experimenting with reduced-oxygen intervals

“It’s like he’s breathing through a straw,” he said. “We drop the oxygen saturation, then raise it. This works the intercostal muscles – those between the ribs - that help you maximize lung volume.”

Tarkington tracks Duggan's oxygen saturation levels with a pulse oximeter. A normal blood-oxygen level is between 94 to 97 when at altitude. Tarkington will take Duggan down to about 80 before pulling the mask off.

In addition to oxygen levels, Tarkington also tracks Duggan’s heart rate over time.

At least one academic study has been completed on hypoxic interval training.

So, does it work? “For me, training is still a lot of experimenting, learning what you can and can’t do, what’s effective, what’s not,” Duggan said.

In other words, the jury is still out. But from Duggan and Tarkington’s perspective, it can’t hurt to try.

Tarkington tracks Duggan's oxygen saturation levels and heart rate with this pulse oximeter

Supplemental oxygen intervals

Spending time at altitude can increase a rider's hematocrit - the ratio of oxygen-carrying red blood cells to white blood cells. (A high hematocrit is very helpful in cycling, and many a rider has doped his way there.) But a downside to training at altitude means that a rider cannot produce the same power as they do at sea level.

"And that effect is most pronounced at the VO₂ Max power range," Tarkington said. VO₂ Max is the maximum volume of oxygen your body can effectively utilize during exercise. For cyclists, your maximum sustainable effort for 3 to 5 minutes is your VO₂ Max power range. The higher you are, the less oxygen you get, and thus the less power you can produce.

Duggan breathes oxygen while doing intense Tabata intervals

"You can do a lot of short 10 seconds efforts here [at altitude] to replicate that. But it is almost impossible for a rider from sea level to hit their ultimate VO₂ Max level here. By doing VO₂ Max intervals with supplemental oxygen, you limit the loss of that training while living at altitude."

For Duggan, who lives at 8,230ft/2,500m in Nederland, Colorado, Tarkington prescribes Tabatas while on supplemental oxygen. Named for their inventor Dr. Izumi Tabata, these short but incredibly intense intervals consist of 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off for a total of three or four minutes. Sound easy? Try it. Or read this recent story on Tabatas on The Guardian.

Duggan incorporates these supplemental oxygen Tabatas into his regimen when he is at home. A training week consists of anywhere from 20 to 27 hours on the bike.

"For me, it's more situational," Duggan said. "Going back and forth between Europe, sea level, and my home in Nederland, it’s about balancing out living at extreme high altitude with being able to do some efforts at sea level."

Duggan, who weighs 134lb/60.8kg, will push 450 watts during the 'on' period of the Tabatas

Motorpacing

To mimic race conditions, and to force himself to dig deeper when he is already going hard, Duggan motorpaces, which means he rides behind a scooter driven by his coach Tarkington.

A few days for the Amgen Tour of California, Tarkington took Duggan and his training partner Ted King of Team Cannondale head down a fast descent before hitting a hard corner and a sharp climb.

"For me, the mental aspect is more important than the physical aspect itself," Duggan said. "I come into a climb already f-ed, having gone hard. This simulates a race, where there will be attacking into the base of the climb. Then we go really hard for a couple minutes at the bottom of the climb. What I’m working on is training myself to go immediately at the critical moments when it’s already really hard and I’m f-ed. In racing you just have the split second to decide whether you are going to go all out and try to follow, or whether you are going to pull the rip cord."

Duggan says motorpacing at race pace is as much about the mental training and the physiological

"The wattage isn’t so important, it’s just the simulation of going hard in a race, and then going harder, immediately, when the situation dictates it," he said.

Tarkington said that while an academic study might not find a difference in a solo training effort at a given wattage and cadence versus a motorpacing effort at that same wattage and cadence, there is definitely a difference. "It is dramatically different when you are chasing a rabbit," he said. "Everything is different behind scooter. One, you have more speed without having to generate the watts, so you can work on drafting and position. It's the difference between sitting on the front or sitting in the wind into that climb."

For both Tarkington and Duggan, the training process is one of discovery, with each challenging the other — and the power meter, the stopwatch and the race results judging the efforts.

Preparing for a sportive

Andy Cook, Cycling Plus — Wed, 01 May 2013 09:00:00 GMT

You may have put in hours of training during the run up to your first sportive, but all your good work can be undone if you neglect to prepare your bike, equipment and clothing correctly. Here's a run down of our essential tips to follow to make your big day runs smoothly.

Choose the right gears

Check your gear ratios. Is the cassette right for your style of riding and the event that you’re doing? Would a larger sprocket help you climb a little easier? If you are thinking of changing then give yourself plenty of time to make the swap – ﬁrst checking with your supplier as to whether the derailleur is compatible with the intended ratios. Bear in mind that this could mean getting a new chain as well. Needless to say, it’s as well not to make such changes to your gearing the day before your big ride.

Sit comfortably

When you’re riding long distances, your closest friend should be the seatpad of your shorts. Treat it accordingly, ensuring that both you and your shorts are cleaned meticulously after every ride. Failure to do so can lead to infection, and that means time off the bike.

Smooth shifting

Check the indexing of your gears. Make sure that all the changes are smooth, tweaking the adjusters where necessary. Ensure that this is completed a few days prior to your target event.

Bottle washing

Wash and sterilise your drinking bottles regularly, particularly if you’ve been using recovery drinks/energy products and the like. It is worth looking for bottles with a cap to cover the spout, although this will make drinking en route a little more awkward. This helps to keep the spout protected from road grime and other unpleasant substances that transfer from the road to your bike and to your mouth – such as manure.

Chamois cream

Applying ‘saddle cream’ to the seat of your shorts should cut down friction and soreness. This tends to be very personal, though, and you need to ﬁnd out the appropriate cream for you. There are several types available, but petroleum jelly – like Vaseline – is often found useful. A coating of an antiseptic cream containing cetrimide will prevent infection occurring.

Sun safe

Even in the UK the sun can be quite ﬁerce at times, so remember to apply sun protection, not forgetting to coat your neck, nose and ears as well as exposed limbs. Don’t forget your sunglasses either; these will protect your eyes from dust and insects as well as the glare.

Brake alignment

Check your brake pad alignment to ensure you have better and safer braking. The blocks should be slightly toed in at the front so that the block closes on the rim correctly and doesn’t cause any squealing. This correction will improve performance and should give you more conﬁdence when descending.

Gloves

On longer distance events your hands can take a hammering, so a good pair of close ﬁtting cycling mitts are a must. As well as cushioning the hands when you’re holding the bar, they will stop or reduce the chances of unpleasant grazes should you have an accident.

Route recce

Study and take a note of the route ahead of event day. It isn’t unheard of for direction signs to have been removed. Even the best modern instruments can fail, or even suggest going the wrong way. And don’t simply rely on following other riders, because they may be lost too. (There’s even the chance that the cyclists you’re following aren’t even riding the same event!)

Track Aero System offers real-time aero-drag data

Ben Delaney — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:59:00 GMT

This week ERO Sports launched as the next generation of bike fitting services, offering two-hour blocks of real-time aerodynamic data to riders as they test out new positions and/or equipment on an indoor velodrome.

ERO Sports uses the Track Aero System created by Canadian engineering firm Alphamantis that provides a rolling coefficient of drag, while getting ANT+ feeds of power and speed from a rider on a velodrome. The software also figures in rolling resistance, gravity and air density, based on a formula by Robert Chung.

The end result is powerful, actionable data.

Rolling data is presented at right (with the most dramatic peaks and valleys being short stops to change gear or position). Key data, notably drag as Cda, is shown in numeric form at left for last lap, overall and current

What you get for your money

For everyday competitive riders, this new service could be huge. For $800 for a two-hour session, a rider can test out a variety of positions and equipment on an indoor velodrome while getting a CdA (coefficient of drag x frontal area) every lap and the data in Excel afterwards. The implications are like a wind tunnel but, in many ways, better. While some wind tunnels sell tunnel time to amateur riders who want to refine their position, they don’t allow for actual riding. And anyone who has ever attempted to find an aero position knows that what's fastest isn’t necessarily comfortable or even sustainable.

The VELO Sports Center (formerly the Home Depot Velodrome) in Los Angeles is the first track to offer this service, in conjunction with fitters ERO Sports, Alphamantis and track owner AEG.

The service comes with a fit consultation ahead of time by ERO, which uses Retül 3D motion capture to a variety of points and angles with the end goal of an action list of things to try on the track.

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“We measure back angle, knee angle, hip angle, knee over foot – and there are biomechanical parameters we know most people fall into,” said ERO Sports founder Jim Manton. “Then we know what we should or shouldn’t try. For example, ‘don’t drop the saddle more than 1cm because that will close up the hip angle.’”

The balance of aerodynamics and comfortable, sustainable fit is where the rubber meets the road in the real world, so having these two things addressed simultaneously is huge. BikeRadar editors have seen a number of professional riders tuned for aerodynamics in a wind tunnel, only to revert to an old position when on the road. That said, our own editor Jeff Jones has found via the wind tunnel and on the road that a very aero position doesn't have to compromise your power, provided you spend enough time training in it.

Kevin Phillips tested these two positions, with dramatic results

Andy Froncioni, PhD, of Alphamantis is quick to point out that the company is not trying to compete with or denigrate wind tunnels. And he freely admits that wind tunnels are superior in some respects, such as testing at multiple angles of yaw to simulate crosswinds. Note: on the track, yaw isn't zero but you also don't have the freedom to change it.

Alphamantis intends to eventually have partnerships with 20 indoor velodromes in North American, Europe and Australia, and work with an experienced coaching company at each to facilitate the rider’s experience. In the UK, Europe and Australia, their partners are Aero Coach Ltd.

Small changes can be tested real time

“The goal is to help coaches understand the aerodynamics of equipment, positioning and strategies,” said Froncioni, who worked with the Canadian national track team. “Some of the testing we do includes simulating the physics of strategies before implementation.”

For example, it is fairly common knowledge among cyclists that drafting behind another saves energy — because you have a lower drag coefficient, or CdA. But team pursuit riders know that having a rider draft you also lowers your drag, albeit to a much smaller degree. One implementation of the Alphamantis software is studying the total CdA of a pursuit squad in all its various configurations to determine the fastest lineup.

In practice, very small changes can be detected by the Alphamantis system, such as a rotation of the wrists while on aero extensions.

The Canadian track team used the Aero Track System with its Olympic pursuit squad

Alphamantis can also test for rolling resistance. In one demonstration at the LA velodrome, rider Kevin Phillips did five laps at 170psi on 19mm tires, then lowered to 160psi to five more laps. His Crr increased from .002 to .0035 with the lower pressure. That's a significant change for just 10psi – when translated into speed it's 3.5 seconds in a 4000m pursuit at 4:15 pace (assuming air density = 1.19, CdA = 0.18, 431W). Admittedly this was a short and simple test. We would want to see more runs at different pressures to be sure of this difference.

Using double discs, an aero helmet, a skinsuit and an incredibly refined position, Phillips is able to achieve a very impressive aero position with a CdA of 0.1887 with shrugged shoulders, a tucked head and his hands wrapped under the extensions.

But Manton pointed out that position and equipment gains are not equal across all riders.

“Aerodynamics is individual,” he said. “What’s faster for one rider may not be fast fast for another rider, whether that’s a particular piece of gear or a particular position. Then the next question is, is that position sustainable? That’s where the role of a fitter comes is. It’s a blast to see what works for certain riders and what doesn’t.”

Aero Track System can also measure rolling resistance. Test rider Phillips saw a big increase going from 170psi to 160psi

And Manton is also enjoying exploring seeing what gains translate from the wind tunnel, and which don’t, when hard pedaling, steering and leaning are added into the equation.

“This is another tool of bike fitting,” Manton said. “It just happens to be an exceptional tool.”

Check back soon to BikeRadar for a review of our experiences with the system.

Increase your power with proper hydration

Ben Delaney — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 23:40:00 GMT

Can different drink mixes cause your threshold power to vary by more than 10 percent and affect your internal body temperature differently? Not likely, right? That is exactly what I thought — until I participated in a test of two riding trials in identical conditions using two different types of drinks: the relatively new Osmo Active Hydration and a high-carbohydrate drink mix.

The test was conducted by Dr. Stacy Sims, Osmo Nutrition's chief research officer, and only 18 of us participated in this particular round. So — excuse the hydration pun — take the arguments with a grain of salt. But the protocol was straightforward and the results were surprising.

Dr. Sims came to visit BikeRadar in Boulder, Colorado, to demonstrate not only her product but her hypothesis, as she called it, that drinks with low osmolality, or low solute concentration, are more rapidly absorbed by the body and therefore keep a cyclist cooler and more efficient than drinks with a high osmolality. Her philosophy is that hydration and fuel should be separate things, not a combined high-calorie drink.

We swallowed one of these thermometers 12 hours before each test

Dr. Sims, an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist, worked at Stanford University and for pro teams like Garmin-Slipstream and Leopard-Trek. She collaborated with Dr. Allen Lim on a few projects, one of which culminated in Skratch Labs. The two went their own ways, however, and Osmo was launched last May.

To test her hypothesis, Dr. Sims had us perform the following protocol on turbo trainers for each of the drinks, separated by 48 hours.

10-minute warm-up
60 minutes at 70% of threshold power (190 watts for the BikeRadar test)
15-minute time trial — without being able to see power numbers
cool down

She asked us to normalize as many external factors as possible — sleep, food and caffeine intake, 60-minute easy ride the day before, etc. — and she created a test setting in a hotel with a normalized room temperature and large fan.

Some testers had 2.5 bottles of Osmo to drink and 6 Clif Bar Bloks during the first test. Other testers had the same volume of another drink mix with a much higher carbohydrate solution and a gel. Then each tester switched for the second test. Combined, each test intake amounted to roughly 400 calories.

During the warm-up and the 60-minute steady-state ride we could look at the power numbers on our computer. For the 15-minute time trial, however, she removed the head unit, leaving us with only perceived exertion to gauge our efforts.

Dr. Sims taking a reading from the thermometer pill, now somewhere in my intestines

Throughout all the tests, Dr. Sims recorded our external and internal temperatures, plus our power output. Temperature readings were captured externally via an infrared device, and internally with a large-pill-sized thermometer that we swallowed. In the BikeRadar tests, power was measured with a PowerTap SL+ wheel and captured with a Garmin Edge 800.

The 60-minute steady effort was designed to deplete muscle glycogen and 'level the field' for the actual test, the 15-minute time trial.

In the BikeRadar test, I did the Osmo test first and the high-carbohydrate drink test two days later. In the 15-minute time trials, my cadence and exertion felt the same — I felt I was riding a TT pace — but the numbers told a different story. In both tests, I drank 2.5 bottles over the 75 minutes.

Average power with Osmo: 298 watts
Average power with the high-carb mix: 260 watts
Core temperature with Osmo: 38.3℃ to 39.15℃
Core temperature with high-carb mix: 39℃ to 39.5℃

While we could see the power readout during the 60-minute steady rides, Dr. Sims took the head unit for the 15-minute all-out time trials

Granted, this was just a single test, but a 38-watt difference in average watts at what my brain and body felt was the same exertion level? That got my attention.

Other test riders in Boulder reported similar differences.

Dr. Sims also measured my body weight and hydration levels (via urinalysis) before and after both tests. I was twice as dehydrated after the liquid carbohydrate test than the Osmo + Clif Bar Bloks test.

Taking the 18 test riders together, the average 15-minute TT wattage with Osmo was 308 watts. With the high-carb beverage that number was 254 watts. For the core temperatures, however, the 18-man average was very similar for both tests. The Osmo tests averaged a 1.6℃ increase during the 60-minute steady ride, and a .35℃ increase in the 15-minute time trial. For the high-carb drink test, the comparable increases were 1.6℃ and .5℃.

Hot hands signal overheating

In the BikeRadar test results, Dr. Sims was keen to point out how my skin temperature was cooler during the TT with Osmo, which she said indicates a greater sweat rate and better evaporative cooling. Also, the lower core temperature during the test with Osmo, Dr. Sims said, pointing to "greater systemic circulation of blood," which meant less competition "between blood flow to the muscle for metabolism and blood flow to the skin to offload heat."

During the two trials, the total calorie intake was very similar, but in the Osmo trial more of the calories came from the Clif Bar Bloks, while in the other trial the drink was heavier in calories. More to the point of the test, the Osmo drink mix had an osmolality of 275-280 mOsm, Sims said, while the other drink mix was about 330 mOsm. Blood is about 280-295 mOsm. "Knowing that physiologically the blood sits ~280-295 mOsm, a fluid with an osmolality of greater than 280 will inhibit water absorption," Sims said. "Net flux of water will be from the vascular spaces into the digestive tract; resulting in a net decline of water absorption."

Note that Osmo does not have a monopoly on lower-osmolality drinks, and that the second drink in the test was chosen for its high osmolality. Dr. Sims set the test this way to underscore her hypothesis about the science at work. "Much to the chagrin of [my colleagues], I push education over product," she told BikeRadar.

Being a scientist, Dr. Sims can and does go on in detail about the nuances of hydration and physiology. My takeaway, however, was much simpler: Osmo works. My power was higher with Osmo and semi-solid fuel than with liquid carbs at the same perceived exertion.

BikeRadar test results

Hydration and Thermoregulation

Test 1: Osmo PRE: POST:
Urine Specific Gravity 1.010 1.018
Body Weight: 87.0 kg 86.5 kg
Core Temperature: 37.5°C 39.15°C
Net change in Core Temp
Steady State: 37.5°C 38.8°C Diff: 1.3°C
15 min TT 38.8°C 39.15°C Diff: 0.35°C

Test 2: Liquid Calories PRE: POST:
Urine Specific Gravity 1.010 1.025
Body Weight: 86.3 kg 85.6 kg
Core Temperature: 37.2°C 39.5°C
Net change in Core Temp
Steady State: 37.5°C 39.0°C Diff: 1.5°C
15 min TT 39.0°C 39.5°C Diff: 0.5°C

Power:

Test 1: Osmo 60 min Steady State: 15 min TT:
Average: 188 watts 298 watts
Min: 179 watts 278 watts
1 min peak power: 222 watts 322 watts
Rate of Decline 24 watts

Test 2: Liquid Calories 60 min Steady State: 15 min TT:
Average: 189 watts 260 watts
Min: 172 watts 240 watts
1 min peak power 208 watts 297 watts
Rate of Decline 37 watts

How to tackle mountain bike trail centres, part one

Andrew Dodd — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 08:00:00 GMT

Unlike riding in the wild, where you have to pick lines carefully and deal with the trail surface changing regularly, trail centres and bikeparks give an element of predictability to mountain biking. The trouble is that trails are so well-built that they can make you lazy – the ﬂowing line has been worn in by so many riders that it ribbons off in to the distance, allowing absent-minded, auto-pilot riding.

In order to ride at your best, you need to ride hard – when you’re on it you have to scan the trail for the best lines and take chances that could have you sailing or stacking. You have to come to life as the trail unfolds in front of you. Don’t fall in to the trap of having a leisurely ride round a trail centre without getting a rush. Hammer the trail like it’s a race track, and give your bike the pasting it’s designed for…

Preparation and planning

1 Bike setup

Seatpost: You’ll need your saddle at an efﬁcient riding height for the climbs, but lowering it makes the descents more fun. Try running it slightly lower than usual for your whole ride, or try a height-dropper seatpost.

Tyres: In summer semi-slicks will ﬂy round a trail centre, but something more substantial fares better all year round. Running your tyres ﬁrmer will help with rolling-resistance, and help minimise the chance of pinch punctures.

Pedals: If you want to tear up – and down – a trail centre, clipless pedals really are an advantage. They let you pull up and push down while pedalling, are great for fast direction changes and enable you to ﬂoat through rough sections.

Front mudguard: A trail centre’s hard surface is designed to withstand the elements, but there is always a lot of gritty spray thrown up. A front mudguard will catch the spray and keep it out of your eyes.

Suspension: Trail centres have a ﬁrm surface and a lot of buzz when you’re riding fast. A slightly ﬁrmer ride will feel faster and more responsive. Try setting a quarter of the available travel as sag, rather than the normally optimum third.

2 What to wear

Jersey: You’ll need a baselayer and a wicking jersey. A ﬁtted but loose cut will be most comfy.

Shorts: Wear padded undershorts for comfort and tough overshorts for protection. Vented shorts keep you cool, while waterproof shorts and 3/4-length shorts make riding on even the foulest days far more enjoyable.

Kneepads: Not a necessity, but riding in pads is no longer an uncomfortable slog. There are plenty of great options out there.

Shoes: Look for shoes that give good support, protection around the toes and ankles, and will keep the elements out.

Helmet: Always get the best helmet you can afford. Look for the best ﬁt, good ventilation and a removable peak.

Glasses: Make sure your eyes are protected against grit, mud, insects or branches in the face when you’re riding.

Gloves: Gloves protect your hands if you fall, keep them warm and improve your grip on the bars.

Waterproof jacket: Get a quality jacket that ﬁts well and look after it. Never wash it with fabric softener or too much detergent, and reproof it every year.

3. What's in your pack

First aid kit: Make sure you at least have the basics so you can patch yourself or a friend up.

Tools: At the least, take a decent multi-tool with a Torx T25 driver and a chaintool on it. It’s also worth taking a plier-type multi-tool with you, a puncture repair kit and some spare parts and useful items such as cable ties, insulating tape and a few M4 and M5 bolts.

Rubber gloves: We hate getting our gloves soaked and covered in grease, so taking rubber gloves is a great idea.

Pump: Do we even need to tell you why?!

Inner tube: Don’t faff around with glue and patches to ﬁx a ﬂ at, just take a spare inner tube with you. Make sure your spare is a Presta because it'll ﬁt Presta and Schrader drillings.

Spare layer and hat: Always carry a spare layer and a hat with you in case you get stuck out in the cold – you never know what might happen.

Energy gel/banana: When you get tired, you’ll be grateful for these. Both provide an energy boost.

Phone: Take a charged phone with you, and keep it safe and dry.

Technique

1 Woodwork

Eyes: Just like reading a trail, keep your eyes on your exit point. By the time you hit the wood, you should have already scanned the line.

Brake control: Do any major speed control before you hit the wood as even with chicken wire, wood can be slippy. Keep braking to a minimum, and don’t grab – just feather.

Clearance: Thanks to the slots between wood, and wire for grip, the are lots of pedal-grabbing places. Keeping your pedals horizonal will help reduce the chance of catching them.

Pump: Some woodwork can be ridden along normally, but often the builders will incorporate rises and banked turns. Pump them for every ounce of speed.

Turning circle: Get to know the length of your bike – when negotiating turns on woodwork your wheels will come close to the edge. If you lose the rear end it could damage your disc rotor or rear mech. Practise hopping the rear end about to pull it back in line.

2 Line choice & looking ahead

Low safe line: The safer line will always be the worn-in option, but won’t necessarily be the easiest or best option. Expect to weave around a little and do some brake checking.

High risky line: The risky line will almost certainly be more fun, although often intimidating. Sometimes, this line will be easier to ride and will ﬂow better than the obvious line, but will have greater consequences if you mess it up.

Hazards: In rocky sections like this, the safe lines will usually weave around rocks – leaving sharp rock edges at a convenient height for causing damage. Look for scarring on rock edges and you’ll see where others have got it wrong.

Commitment: Once you’ve looked at the options, commit to one. If you come into the section half-heartedly, you’ll be setting yourself up for an accident. Pick your line, stick to it and hit it with conﬁdence.

Dab, don’t grab: When riding sections like this, control your speed by literally dabbing the brakes, rather than grabbing them. Fine tuning like this keeps you in control – locked wheels are out of control.

3 Technical climbs

Line: Spot your line early – be it the tougher line over obstacles, or the easier around option – and commit. If it’s a short sharp section, be prepared to put the power down.

Cadence: Gear choice is crucial – you need to be spinning a gear to keep momentum. If you stumble on an obstacle in a bigger gear, you’ll struggle to keep moving forward.

Body weight: When it’s rough, out-of-the-saddle bursts can lead to wheel spinning, but seated attempts can end up in wheelies. Hover over the nose of the saddle to keep the front end down, but weight on the rear wheel. Try and stay low over the bars to help you balance.

Pinch puncture risk: With most trail bikes, you can roll over most rubble and rock slabs but do risk puncturing. If you’re conﬁdent you can avoid it, up your cadence and straight-line the section as hard as possible.

Recovery: Once over the obstacle, get back into a rhythm as quickly as possible and control your breathing. Attacking the section will have you out of breath, but use it to propel yourself forward and ease up slightly afterwards to recover.

4 Rock steps

Eyes: Steps like this can have your eyes darting all over the place, but stay focused. Check your line, note any hazards and look down the trail at your exit point.

Brake control: It’s important to approach slowly – it’s easy to build up speed on steps, but tricky and dangerous to scrub it off. Start slower, and you can always build up your speed.

Seat height: If you’ve got a height dropper seatpost, now’s the time to use it. If not, lower your saddle to attack the steps. If your saddle is raised, one hard hit could pitch you over the bars, so be careful.

Pedals: Keep your best foot forwards and be careful not to strike your pedals on the steps or rocks. Some rock steps are high enough to catch a chainring at low-speed. When riding faster, you don’t run this risk because your front end will travel further from the step before impact.

Position: As the front end drops over the edge allow the bike to fall away from you. Relax your arms and allow the saddle to come up towards your chest. Stay loose and allow the bike to move around. Don’t stiffen up or you’ll be grabbing the brakes.

Gear selection: If you don’t have a chainguide, you could drop your chain on sections like this. Put your bike in a gear that will tension the chain to help stop this– using the big ring will help, or middle with a low gear option on the rear. Rock steps often have tight turns that follow, so have a low gear ready to enable you to make a fast getaway.

Next month, in part two of 'How to tackle mountain bike trail centres', we'll be looking at berms, rock drops, jumps and switchbacks.

How to get your seat height right

Nick Morgan — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 09:00:00 GMT

Setting the correct seat height would seem to be such a fundamental part of cycling that you would have thought the boffins had agreed long ago on the best method. But you’d be wrong.

One thing all the experts agree on however is that if you get the height wrong, the effects can be catastrophic. A study suggests that setting the height too low can decrease time to exhaustion by as much as 12 per cent.

Consequently cyclists with limited time on their hands might actually get more out of a shorter session by lowering their seats to a sub-optimal level so as to make it harder.

It’s an interesting theory, but even knowing how to get it wrong presupposes that you know how to get it right, and many don’t. Read on to find out exactly how to do it.

1 The Heel method

This is the one every bike shop owner or gym assistant will tell you whenever you clamber onto the saddle. You place the heel of your shoe on the pedal and set the saddle height so your leg is straight at the bottom of the pedal cycle with the pelvis remaining in a horizontal position.

Despite this commonly heard method, there is virtually no scientific evidence to support it and it often leads to the saddle height being adjusted too low.

Professor Will Pelever of Mississippi University for Women has written several papers comparing methods for finding the best seat height and says, “The main problem is that this method does not take into account individual variations in femur, tibia and foot length.”

2 The 109% method

A more robust method was developed by Hamley & Thomas in a 1967 paper. They experimented with different saddle heights and found that the ideal was achieved when the saddle was positioned at 109% of your inseam length when measuring from the pedal axle to the top of the seat height.

Your inseam measurement is basically the length from your crotch to the floor. To calculate this, face a wall and put a thick-ish book between your legs as if it were a saddle. Ensuring that you are standing straight with your heels on the floor, mark a line along the top of the book edge touching the wall.

The distance from the floor to the height of the mark is your inseam measurement. It’s best to measure it several times and take an average.

This has proved an extremely popular method and is recommended by many top-level coaches. Yet a recent study by Professor Pelever found that it was inferior to the Holmes method (see below) both in terms of power output and economy.

3 The LeMond method

This is a popular variation on the 109% method and pioneered by the three time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond.

Also using inseam length as a guide, this formula calculates 88.3% of your inseam length and uses it to measure the distance from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the seat height.

Interestingly, Pelever has shown that this often produces a different seat height from the 109% method and although it seems to work for many people, it may not be ideal for someone with particularly long femur bones.

4 The Holmes method

This was originally developed to reduce over-use injuries in cycling and takes a different approach entirely from the other three.

It uses a device called a goniometer for measuring the angle of the knee joint at the bottom of the pedal stroke. Holmes recommends an angle of between 25 and 35 degrees and closer to 25 for those with a history of patella tendonitis.

This may all sound a bit technical and if so it’s probably best to go with one of the two inseam methods, but you can pick up a goniometer for around £20 from medical suppliers.

Pelever’s research has shown that setting your seat height based on a knee angle of 25 degrees outperforms all other methods (including an angle of 35 degrees). “Using a goniometer and a 25 degree angle is definitely the method I’d recommend,” he says.

Don’t rely on simply feeling comfortable either. “If you’ve been pedalling at a much lower saddle height than is optimal, it may feel awkward in the beginning,” says Pelever.

“However, as your body adapts (usually in two to three weeks) the new position will not only feel comfortable, but will improve performance in the long run.”

Of course, if you still feel uncomfortable after a few weeks then you will need to make changes. It’s best to use the 25 degree knee angle as a starting place. Have someone watch from behind to ensure that your hips do not rock back and forth across the saddle due to over extension at the bottom of the stroke. If that is the case then the angle may need to be adjusted upwards slightly for comfort.

“When I finish fitting someone on their bike, their knee angle is usually somewhere between 25 and 30 degrees, but much closer to 25 on most all occasions,” says Pelever.

Cycling in icy conditions and bad weather

BikeRadar & Cycling Plus — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 08:30:00 GMT

The thought of winter cycling is often enough to put off even hardened road riders – a turbo trainer or lie-in can seem like a preferable alternative to battling through ice, sleet, rain or a freezing wind trying to stay warm and upright on your bike.

But with the right winter cycling kit and these essential safety tips you should still be able to get out there and enjoy the same health, fitness and financial benefits you did in the summer. Many coaches and veteran year-round riders even say that braving the elements can give your mental toughness a boost, a benefit you’ll really notice when you’re in need of some determination during a sportive, race or demanding summer ride.

Coping with ice

Lingering frost or black ice can catch anyone unawares, especially given that crisp winter days and blue skies are so inviting for a bracing ride. Stunning cloudless days go hand in hand with sub-zero nights. And when the sun does come up it stays low in the sky and relatively weak, with long shadows.

Add to that the time-poor training cyclist’s preference for early morning rides and there’s a high chance some of those shadows will be icy and make your wheels lose grip.

One of the biggest causes of black ice is when a big freeze follows a partial thaw, so that rain water or meltwater is frozen before it can drain off the road completely, leaving a thin layer of transparent ice.

If you’re riding in these conditions, pick your road carefully and stick to those that have been treated. Of course, the downside to this is that many councils put a water dispersal agent down with the salt, and after a few days this too can be slippy.

Shadier sections of road will be the last to thaw out

Be particuarly wary of the more exposed sections of road, such as where there are no hedges – the wind chill will have further cooled the tarmac there – and always keep your eyes on the road ahead so you’re prepared for icy hazards, going round them if you have time and it’s safe to do so.

If you’re about to hit ice then don’t do anything sudden – don’t turn the bar too fast or far or lean the bike, and don’t brake hard or suddenly. Of course, if you hit black ice on a downhill corner, all you can do is hope for a soft landing…

Riding in the wet

Riding a bike in the wet can be great fun, but make sure you do it safely. Cycling coach Andy Cook points out that it will take you longer to stop when braking in the wet because of a build-up of water on the rims between the brake blocks and the braking surface. Make sure you take this into account.

Also, road markings tend to be slippery when wet, as do drain and manhole covers, so remember to take extra care when riding across them, especially when turning. Avoiding them is the best idea, but if there’s no alternative, anticipate your line and speed – a sharp turn over a wet piece of ironwork or painted line at speed could easily result in a fall.

British Cycling club coach Dan Bennett, who runs Progressive Cycle Coaching, recommends applying your brakes in equal amounts when it's raining: “Fifty percent on the front, 50 percent on the back – and ride a little further towards the middle of the road – you’ll be less likely to pick up flints and other stones washed off the verges that may cause punctures.”

Beating the wind

Sometimes called ‘the invisible hill’, a stiff wind can turn a pan-flat road into a relentless climb, and make even a modest ascent feel like Alpe d’Huez. All the more reason to get out in it, says Bennett.

“The increased wind resistance makes it harder to pedal, which will increase your heart rate, power output and leg strength, and help you to mimic riding uphill if you live in a flat area. Like riding in the rain, it will increase your resilience to tough conditions, and get you ready for riding windy sportives such as Paris-Roubaix.”

As anyone who’s tried it – or just watched the pros – will attest, the best way to beat the wind is to ride in a group. “Riding behind one rider at 30kph, you’ll use 18 percent less energy. That rises to 27 percent at 40kph and 39 percent if you’re in a bunch,” he explains.

Riding buddies can give you the mental and physical strength to face bad weather

What if you’re riding on your own? “Try to avoid the wind by heading into hedged lanes, and if you head into the wind on the first half of the ride, you can then turn around and get blown back home. Riding with the wind behind you allows you to mimic the greater speeds associated with bunch riding.”

And when there’s really no escape, he offers some tips for making windy rides a bit less painful: “Reduce your frontal area by rounding your shoulders and bending down closer to the bar, as this will help reduce wind resistance. If it’s a blustery, gusting wind, choose an easier gear, move slightly further into the middle of the road and hold onto the bar a little more tightly, so you’re ready to control the bike more at short notice.

“If you’re trying to stick to a set wattage or heart rate zone, you’ll need to increase or decrease your efforts depending on wind strength. If it’s reaching gale force, probably best not to head out but spend the time on the turbo.”

For more top road cycling tips see Cycling Plus magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

Resistance training for cyclists

Ainslie MacEachran — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 00:00:00 GMT

In the winter, our riding opportunities dwindle like the fading daylight. But that doesn't mean you have to lose fitness. All cyclists can benefit from an organized and deliberate winter gym program. Adding resistance training to your winter routine will help you begin your next cycling season ahead of the game.

Follow these tips with some resistance training over the winter to start next season healthier, stronger and better equipped to avoid injury. You can track your training - both on the bike and in the gym - with BikeRadar Training.

1. Start slowly. Let your muscles adapt slowly to the new work load. Use lighter weights and don't push it. If you haven't lifted in a while, you will be establishing efficient neuro-muscular pathways as well as strengthening muscle. This period also helps to minimize the risk of injury by signaling the tendons and ligaments and well as musculature attachment areas to become more robust.

2. Synchronizing your lifting with your riding. This will ensure that you hit the appropriate workout with the appropriate intensity. Training is about intensity. If you're too strung out between the gym and the bike you won't be able to execute useful workouts on the bike or in the gym. They won't be of sufficient intensity to stimulate physiological change.

3. Lift with a purpose. An organized, periodized program will take into consideration multiple energy systems. Just being strong isn't enough. That new strength has to be translated into something usable on the bike: the ability to produce power for extended periods and more explosive efforts. If you can leg press a Volkswagen once, that’s fabulous, but it's not very useful on the bike.

4. Plan with next season in mind. An appropriately timed lift program will address all the appropriate energy systems and then conclude at the same time you are beginning your intensive riding. The periods will also be of sufficient length to properly stimulate the desired energy system and result in lasting change.

Here are a few areas of the body you should focus on, and some corresponding workouts.

To strengthen the lumbar spine — Do hyper-extensions or “Super Man's”
To strengthen the abdominals — Do crunches on physio-ball, planks, bridge on ball
To strengthen the quadriceps – Do squats, leg extensions, dead lifts
To strengthen the hamstrings – Do hamstring curls, Romanian dead lifts, bridge on ball with hamstring curls
To strengthen the calves – Do seated or standing calf raises

Calf raises, and many resistance training exercises, can be done almost anywhere

Allow for at least 24 hours between gym sessions to give your body a chance to recover. Some people choose to do lower body on one day and upper body and/or core the next. An experienced coach or trainer can help you sequence your plan.

Some upper body lifts are beneficial too. These will help balance you as an athlete and actually, a little upper body muscle gives you more places to store muscle glycogen, one of the fuels used for energy. Some may argue that upper body mass is a liability. A large volume of endurance activity puts an upper limit on how much muscle mass your body will allow for. Additionally, an appropriately constructed program will have as one of its goals keeping the balance of lifts focused on the core/lower body and only creating tone and structure on top.

Useful upper body moves include:

Lat pulldown
Dumbell chest press
Tricep press (cable or prone with dumbells)
Military or dumbell press for shoulders
Seated rows or one arm bent over rows (key for good posture helping you to avoid the “cyclist slouch”)

After any resistance training activity, do a short spin on your bike or a stationary bike if you have time to clear some lactic acid and help maintain a fluid pedal stroke. Just 20 minutes of easy spinning in the same day as a lift, perhaps as your cooling phase, is typically enough to loosen you up.

Taking a measured approach to an off-season weight training program will help you build strength that may be lost during the regular cycling season. Entering next season with more strength will give you a larger platform on which to build your cycling fitness, and it will extend your strength further into the cycling season.

Ainslie MacEachran is an AAAI/ISMA certified personal trainer, a USACycling Level 2 coach and the owner/head coach of Gemini Training Systems. His book “The Cyclists Guide To Off Season Strength Training and Nutrition” is available on Amazon.com, BN.com and iTunes.com.

Cycling and technology: how much is too much information?

Peter Suciu in New York, USA — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 07:30:00 GMT

With the introduction of GPS computers, electronic shifters and virtual trainers that turn an HDTV into an immersing workout, it’s easy to think cycling has gone high-tech. Not to mention space age materials including titanium and carbon fiber, or the ability to use a 3D printer to produce components.

But first we must step back and realise that the bicycle itself is a fairly complex machine in its own right. The first bikes were created thanks to the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, and with their steel frames and rubber tires they simply couldn't have been developed a century earlier.

Bicycles have continually been moving forward, with better materials appearing and improvements in components such as gears and brakes seemingly endless. Recently, high-tech electronic components have changed the way we ride as well. This has put cyclists on a type of hamster wheel, always chasing the new.

Just as people line up for the next iPhone and Xbox, cyclists are caught up in the 'next generation' as well – in terms of new frames and wheels but also the latest heart rate monitors, power meters, apps, training websites, helmet cameras and more. Here, we take a look at some of these innovations…

Tracking your workout

One of the technologies that's seen the most innovation in the past decade has been the bike computer. While the first models were nothing more than analogue speedometers, riders can now track virtually every aspect of their ride – distance, maximum speed, average speed, calories burned, time spent pedalling, average gradient and even power.

The technology has seen a major boost in recent years, as Garmin and others have jumped on the GPS bandwagon. We might take this technology for granted now, but just 40 years ago it didn’t even exist, and two decades later it was mostly in the military domain.

A GPS (Global Positioning System) unit uses space-based satellite navigation. This was developed in 1973 to overcome limitations of existing navigation systems, and was created by the United States Department of Defense. Interestingly, it didn’t become fully operational until the Nineties but was quickly upgraded and made available for civilian use in 1998. Almost 15 years later, it's changed the way people drive and cycle.

The cycling computers that were developed in the 1990s often required calibration based on wheel/tire size, and this often meant two riders on identical bikes with identical tires and the same computer could get different distance and speed results. GPS solved this problem and opened up possibilities for all sorts of information to be recorded.

Just 10 years ago it would have required much more than a handlebar mounted device to accurately measure the grade of a climb, but now the Garmin Edge line of computers, along with most Android and iOS apps, can provide that data.

Bryton are one of the big players in the bike GPS market

“We can track a number of factors, including time, distance, speed, pedal cadence, power and heart rate,” said triathlon coach Dillon Martin. “With GPS and cellular we started tracking these on a continual basis so we can view an HR graph over the course of a bike ride vs just a lap or total average. We are also now using these measurements to compute training stress and intensity factors for each workout, to make sure we don't over- or undertrain.”

In some ways, all this information can help riders stay motivated.

“It’s not only the tracking that's keeping people motivated but the community support most of these trackers have created,” said Julie Sylvester, co-producer at Living in Digital Times, a group focusing on lifestyle trends in consumer electronics. “Whether it's a reward or point systems, donations to charities or just the visual 'Atta girl', they all make people want to try harder to be fit.”

But is there such a thing as too much information? Possibly, at least when riders pay more heed to what the data says than what their own bodies are telling them.

“For training and racing it’s very important to pay attention to the numbers, though I understand looking down at the watch can take away from the experience,” Martin told BikeRadar. “One way to counter this is to think about your goals and the purpose of each workout.”

“If you go out with a group of friends on a bike ride, then have fun,” he added. “Stick your watch or computer in the jersey pocket and don't look at it. At other times you just need to teach your body to suffer. Pro athletes have to learn what it feels like to really suffer during a workout because it's going to happen in a race. For those all-out sessions that might also be a good time to put the computer in the back pocket.”

There's also the issue of whether the information that's tracked can actually remain private – what happens when you sign an agreement on some of the new mobile applications, or aren't told how your data could be could be used. Given the amount of products out there, it might be hard to keep it all in check, even with legislation from various governments.

“By 2016, the mobile application market is expected to reach US$400 million, and the expected number of body monitors that will be worn is 300 million, so this is starting to become a major topic of discussion,” Sylvester noted.

Get the power

One 'new' area of technology that's been picking up steam is power meters.

“Power meters aren’t new. Greg LeMond and SRM can likely be credited as the first to popularise their use, during his bids to win the Tour de France,” said Matt Pacocha, Stages Cycling’s marketing and PR manager. “A power meter provides one thing – an accurate and consistent measurement of a rider’s output, which is measured and displayed in watts.”

“The important fact is that a watt is a watt, no matter how windy it is, how strong or tired the rider is feeling, or what the road surface or terrain is,” Pacocha continued. “The same cannot be said for other training metrics like speed, heart rate or a rider’s own rate of perceived exertion (RPE). Therefore, a rider’s wattage output measured by a power meter is the best metric that rider or coach has to assess fitness and gauge improvements or problems.”

The question, of course, is who really needs to know this information? For those who are racing, power output could certainly provide a very good overall picture of effort. For club riders or those who are just trying to stay fit, the bathroom scales could be a better gauge.

Rotor's crankarm power meter is one of 2013's highly anticipated products

So why all the noise about power meters? One reason is that, as with a lot of technology, prices have fallen to make them affordable to those who aren’t pulling the peloton through the streets of Paris.

“We see cellular phone evolution as a great analogy,” said Pacocha. “Think of the cell phones available 15 years ago. Now, think of where cell phones are today. Think of power meters 15 years ago.”

Caught on camera

The other major technological revolution that's occurred in cycling in recent years has been the advent of action cameras, with GoPro leading the pack. GoPro didn't actually produce the first device, though – Samsung introduced a quasi-wearable camera in 2005.

The SC-X105 Sports Cam Xtreme was fairly bulky, and expensive at nearly US$800. It was also only capable of 1280x960 resolution – so not quite high definition. Its chassis could be tucked into a pocket while the lens was mounted to a helmet.

Today, numerous companies have followed GoPro’s lead, with Sony and JVC – two giants in the camcorder market – introducing their own HD action cams in recent months. However, GoPro look to maintain dominance in the market, announcing their 4K HERO3 last week.

Still footage from the new GoPro HERO3

Dubbed 'Ultra HD', the 4K technology is the next step in the evolution of high definition TVs and displays, and will offer four times the resolution of today’s 1920x1080 Full HD (1080p) resolution. That means those looking to record their moment of triumph better be ready for their close-up.

The other issue with cameras is safety. Are some riders going too far to get that perfect shot, and are they putting themselves at risk by mounting a camera to their helmet? Cameras can act as blunt objects that might damage the helmet and even cause an increased chance of neck injury.

“Anything that goes on the outside of the helmet should flip off immediately,” said Randy Swart, director of the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute. “Many of the action cameras that mount to the helmets are held on with Velcro, and these don’t tend to get knocked off so easily. The outside of the helmet needs to be round to help deflect some energy.”

However, there have been some advances that could help should someone fall or crash, the ICEdot sensor being one example. The device is small enough to fit into a helmet and works with an app that can detect motion, changes in force and, notably, impacts. In the case of a traumatic crash it can call your emergency contacts for help and even send GPS coordinates.

Racing against the clock

Various online services, including Strava and BikeRadar Training have encouraged users to compete against their own times and other riders. While this circles back to how various data monitors can help motivate cyclists, and even be a way to create a riding community, there is a downside – sometimes, friendly competition can turn deadly.

In June 2010, William 'Kim' Flint died while riding his bike down a Bay Area hill, California, at at least 10mph over the speed limit. He wasn’t racing anyone at the time – at least not in the real world. He was trying to reclaim his title as a Strava 'King of the Mountain'.

Strava make it clear that riders should obey the rules of the road and that they accept no responsibility for ride outcomes, and updated their terms and conditions further earlier this year. Five days later they learned that Flint's family were suing the site for negligence. Strava have now countersued in the case.

“Exercise is a practice whose health and fitness goals don’t necessarily preclude enjoyment,” said Charles King of technology analysts Pund-IT. “There’s probably a certain amount of entertainment to be found in tracking one’s heart rate, but overdoing it is a bit like watching a speedometer instead of the scenery during a drive in the country.”

“At the end of the day, computing devices are tools that can help ease and accomplish certain kinds of jobs,” King continued. “But they aren’t necessary for every occasion, and they can purely wring the joy out of some tasks and activities.”

So which camp are you in? How much does technology affect your riding experience? Let us know in the comments area below.

Cycling and technology

Peter Suciu in New York, USA — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 07:30:00 GMT

Just as people line up for the next iPhone and Xbox, cyclists are caught up in the 'next generation' as well – in terms of new frames and wheels but also the latest heart rate monitors, power meters, apps, helmet cameras and more. Here, we take a look at some of these innovations…

Tracking your workout

Bryton are one of the big players in the bike GPS market

In some ways, all this information can help riders stay motivated.

But is there such a thing as too much information? Possibly, at least when riders pay more heed to what the data says than what their own bodies are telling them.

Get the power

One 'new' area of technology that's been picking up steam is power meters.

Rotor's crankarm power meter is one of 2013's highly anticipated products

Caught on camera

Still footage from the new GoPro HERO3

Racing against the clock

Various online services, including Strava and MapMyRide, have encouraged users to compete against their own times and other riders. While this circles back to how various data monitors can help motivate cyclists, and even be a way to create a riding community, there is a downside – sometimes, friendly competition can turn deadly.

So which camp are you in? How much does technology affect your riding experience? Let us know in the comments area below.

How to remount in cyclocross

Ben Delaney in Boulder, Colorado — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:56:00 GMT

In cyclocross, getting back on your bike quickly, safely and efficiently is key to good racing. You can learn proper technique for dismounting in this earlier piece. Here, FasCat Coaching founder Frank Overton walks us through proper technique for remounting.

Common mistakes when remounting are: a stutter step instead of a decisive jump, jumping too high, remounting in the wrong place and trying to remount when the bike is bouncing around. Overton first addresses the solution for each of these, before spelling out how to remount step by step below.

Don’t drop the bike, place it

Whether you are running with your bike over barriers, or just running with your bike around a crash, it’s important to gently set your bike down before you try to jump back on.

Don't drop your bike, set it down gently

“Set the bike down gently, like a plane landing on a runway,” Overton said. “Place it; don’t drop it. This way you won’t drop your chain, and when you go to jump on your bike it’s not bouncing all over the place.”

Stop stuttering

Often newer riders will hesitate before remounting, causing a few extra hops on the left foot. Learn to commit to a decisive jump by practicing the remount at a walking pace.

“The best way to eliminate the stutter step is to go out into a field with your bike. Put your hands on your hoods, and take two or three steps really slowly. Not a run. Not even a trot. Just walking. Step forward with your left, then sling your right leg over,” Overton said. “Do that a few times. Make sure you learn the fundamentals from a walking speed. Then speed it up.”

Eliminate your stutter step by practicing slowly and deliberately slinging your leg over

Don’t overdo the leap

“You only want to jump high enough to get your leg over,” Overton said. “You don’t want to leap way up over the saddle. That will increase your chances of flatting, plus it’s just uncomfortable.”

Instead, jump just high enough to slide the inner top of your right thigh onto the saddle. Again, practice this at a walking speed.

It's not a high-jump contest. You only need to get high enough to get the top of your inner right thigh on the saddle

Don’t remount when you should run

In a race, before you hop back on, make sure you’re remounting in the right place. For instance, remounting on a steep hill or on particular bumpy ground can often be slower than just running a few steps to a relatively flat, smooth place to remount.

“You don’t want to remount where it’s less efficient to pedal,” Overton said.

Step by step: How to remount

While in motion, gently set the bike down to your right. Remount from the left side of the bike, by jumping off your left foot with your hands on the hoods with the bike in motion.

Begin with both hands on the hoods

“Take a step forward with the left foot, plant that left foot, and open up your hips [to face the bike]," Overton said.

Turn your hips toward the bike as you plant your left foot

Then, as the saddle goes by, jump just enough to get your right inner thigh up onto the saddle.

Raise your right thigh to clear the saddle and the wheel

Just hop enough to get the top inside of your right thigh on the saddle

Once you're on the saddle, then get your right foot on your right pedal — which will likely be in the up position from the dismount — and stomp on it.

"I like to look at the right pedal, then drive the right pedal down," Overton said.

This propels you forward and slides you into position on the saddle at the same time.

Get your right foot on the pedal first

Once you’ve mashed down into the pedal, then clip in, if the motion of stepping down doesn't clip you in automatically,

Clip in your left foot and go!

"Ideally, you clip in to the right pedal with that initial step down, but you don’t have to be clipped in to drive the pedal and get situated on the saddle," Overton said.

Along with your dismount, practice your remount over and over again — slowly — until you have it dialed.

What is cyclocross?

Gary Boulanger & Guy Kesteven — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:40:00 GMT

Many consider cyclocross to be a steeplechase with modified road bikes on a 2km course over hill and dale; others consider it muddy hell. Its roots can be traced to the early 1900s, when French army private Daniel Gousseau would ride his bicycle along horseback-riding friends through the woods.

The cyclocross scene is strong in Europe, with some of the most aggressive and successful racers hailing from Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy and the Czech Republic. But it's currently enjoying a massive boom in the US, along with a renaissance in the UK.

Traditionally, the cyclocross season runs from September to January, ending with the UCI World Championships.

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Video: Andy Hargroves and Steve James explain cyclocross

Racing

Like triathlon, cyclocross mixes multiple athletic endeavours, namely riding and running, with a strong emphasis on skillful bike handling. The pace, barriers, climate and technical aspects of the course weed out the weak and make for good theatre. Spectators with horns and cowbells provide a festival environment, especially in Europe.

Most races are held on 1km to 3km courses, mixing tarmac, sand, dirt, mud, run-ups and sometimes steps. Races typically last a set timespan – between 30 minutes and an hour – plus a final lap. However, if you're lapped by the leaders then you have to pull out at the end of that lap to avoid confusion. The pace at the sharp end is unrelenting and brutally fast, and the stop-go nature of the courses and racing means you get an intense workout.

Man-made barriers, usually 18in high, pepper the course, sometimes staggered close enough to force racers to shoulder their bikes or carry them by the top tube. Speed demons with incredible BMX skills have been known to bunnyhop the barriers, much to the chagrin of their fellow racers but awe of the spectators.

There are a few ways to address the barriers, but for efficiency and speed the best way to dismount is to unclip your right foot as you're approaching the barrier or run-up, swing your leg around the saddle and in between your left foot and the bike. Unclip your left foot as your right strikes the ground, catapulting yourself forward just in time to hop over the barrier or clamber up the hill.

If there are several barriers in a row, it's sometimes best to shoulder the bike (see why it pays to have the lightest bike you can afford?). Or, if you're tall and have good upper body strength, carry the bike by the handlebar with your left hand as your right lifts the top tube. Run-ups are always best accomplished by shouldering the bike, and pumping your left arm for momentum.

Equipment

The ideal cyclocross race bike is a road/mountain bike cross-polination: lightweight aluminum, carbon, steel or titanium frame; carbon fork; drop bars (for leverage on climbs, and for sprinting); integrated shifters/brake levers; 700c x 30-38c (1.2-1.5in) knobby tyres; mountain bike clipless pedals; and a double or single chainring (smaller than on a road bike) with guard. Mud clearance is a big issue; the fork and rear stays need room for mud to build up on the tyres without clogging.

Frames and forks are tougher than on standard road bikes, top tubes are shorter and bottom brackets are often slightly higher. Disc brakes are now allowed for cyclocross racing, potentially giving powerful all-weather braking. Many racers still use linear-pull (V) brakes or cantilevers, which give plenty of power when set up right. Top-bar brake levers are often added for better control.

Many cyclocross bikes play to their utility potential, with mudguard and rack mounts for commuting/weekend exploring work. There's also a growing number of crossover-style bikes, which trade race weight and jarring rigidity for a heavier and more forgiving chassis, often in smooth-riding steel.

How to dismount in cyclocross

Ben Delaney in Boulder, Colorado — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 23:00:00 GMT

The flying dismount is a skill unique to the sport of cyclocross, and using the right technique will allow you to carry speed across any running section — plus allow you to do so safely.

Here, US national champion Jeremy Powers explains the "three points of contact" position used prior to dismount, when and how to unclip from your pedals, plus the best way to "suitcase" carry your bike across barriers.

FasCat Coaching in Boulder, Colorado, recently held a cyclocross clinic with Powers, and FasCat founding coach Frank Overton also provides some tips here for you, such as have a friend film your technique.

With all of these skills, practice them slowly on grass until they become second nature. Then, and only then, begin doing them at a faster speed.

Three points of contact

When approaching a barrier, unclip your right foot and swing it over the saddle and bring it behind your left foot, which is still clipped in, Powers says.

Steady the bike by leaning it against your right hip. Then move your right hand from the handlebar to the top tube. These are the three points of contact: left hand on handlebar, right hand on top tube, right hip against saddle.

As you get ready to jump off, take weight off your left foot by leaning on your straight right arm that's on the top tube.

To unclip, beginning swinging your right foot to the outside (left) of your left foot. This will make unclipping easier and ensure that you are clear of the left pedal. Keep most of your weight on your right arm.

Unclip by twisting your heel out, and hit the ground with your right foot first.

Stride out onto your left foot, then jump the barrier. It helps to first practice without any barrier, or with some relatively flat marker in place of a barrier.

The suitcase

The faster you go, the more important it is to keep your bike away from your body as you are running.

When you lift your bike by the handlebar and top tube, keep the saddle outside of your elbow, not inside. This is especially important for shorter riders, who may even want to grab the bike by the down tube to get over barriers.

If the bike saddle is outside your elbow, then any accidental contact with the bike and, say, a barrier, will only cause the bike to jerk upwards. If your saddle is inside your elbow, the same type of contact will cause the bike to slam into your body and/or under your arm.

Once across the barriers, gently set the bike down before you hop back on. Otherwise the bike will be bouncing around and bad things will happen as you try to remount.

Watch what you're doing

At FasCat Coaching, Overton films his riders using Dartfish so he can show them their technique in slow motion and replay.

"With Dartfish we can break it down to quarter-second frames and analyze their dismounts," Overton said. "We look for three points of contact, when they release, how soon they set up, when they unclip, how many steps they take getting over a barrier, and how smooth they are. I have found that with learning the dismount, if you can show people what they are doing, then that is the moment of realization when they really get it."

After you have practiced a few times, recruit a friend to film you.

"Even shooting with an iPhone would work," Overton said. "We have our remote athletes have their wives or husbands or friends videotape them and have them send us that. That is better than having them practice something 50 times - if they are doing the wrong thing."

Practice, practice, practice - slowly

Powers stresses that the most important part of cyclocross technique is getting it right first, then adding speed.

"With all the fundamentals — the three points of contact, getting the bike away from you — you need to get them dialed at a slow speed," Powers said. "If you practice at a slow speed and really think about what you're doing, soon it will become second nature. Then, when you start to speed it up, you won't have mistakes."

Jeremy Powers just released a skills video, Jeremy Powers Cross Camp, that you can buy as a DVD or download. FasCat Coaching has a variety of cyclocross coaching plans.

How aero is aero?

Jeff Jones in Bath, UK — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 07:30:00 GMT

You want to get faster against the clock. You want to know if you spend X you will get Y time savings in return. Problem is, you're bamboozled by a plethora of marketing hype and scientific data put out by companies who want you to buy their stuff, whether it be snazzy equipment or even time in a wind tunnel. Where do you start?

Let's break it down into a simple question:

How much time can you save by going from your normal road bike and helmet to adding clip-on handlebar extensions to a full-on time trial bike with an aero helmet? That's it. All other equipment (wheels, tyres, clothing) stays the same.

The answer is quantifiable but finding it is another matter. You need to know what you're doing, and most of us don't. Luckily there are people called engineers in the cycling world whose job it is to find the answers to these questions.

We were given the opportunity to spend a day with Specialized's young aerodynamicist Mark Cote at the A2 Wind Tunnel and Lowe's Motor Speedway in North Carolina. It's NASCAR heartland here, and they put a lot of money into aerodynamic testing facilities.

The A2 Wind Tunnel, the smaller brother to the AeroDYN tunnel, is used to test small vehicles and bicycles. It's one of the cheapest in the US at $390 per hour (compared to $800/hr for the San Diego tunnel) and the tunnel managers Mike Giraud and Dave Salazar know exactly what they're doing when it comes to bikes. Plus they can compare wind tunnel data to on road data by using the nearby Lowe's Motor Speedway, a 2.3km banked NASCAR oval.

For the test, Mark enlisted the help of Nathan O'Neill, eight time Australian time trial champion who has raced for European and US pro teams for the past eight years. He's coming off a 15 month ban (expires November 12, 2008) after testing positive for the appetite suppressant Phentermine, which bizarrely is legal out of competition but illegal in competition. But his experience as a wind tunnel subject, time trialist and of course his availability makes him an ideal test rider.

How it's done

Wind tunnel measurement is currently considered the gold standard of bicycle aerodynamic testing. For best results, you need the rider on the bike to be able to hold their position stable while pedalling.

You can test the bike alone, but it makes more sense to have someone on it, because the overall shape will be completely different. You also need to test over a range of yaw angles (wind direction relative to the rider's direction) to account for crosswinds, because aerodynamics are significantly affected by wind direction.

The downside of doing this in a tunnel is that you can't account for handling in a crosswind, because the bike is fixed to a set of rollers.

Testing outdoors is useful because it's closer to real world conditions. That said, it's time consuming and you still need to control as many variables as possible.

Even if you have a smooth flat track and precise measuring equipment, like the SRM cranks and mobile weather station that we had, too much wind will give you large errors, even greater than what you are trying to measure.

Lowe's Motor Speedway, North Carolina, USA

The control bike with the mobile weather station

The 70 watt benchmark

In late July, Cote and his team did a series of tests comparing a standard road bike (Specialized Tarmac SL2 with HED Bastogne wheels) to a full time trial bike (Specialized Transition with HED3 Trispoke wheels and a Specialized TT3 aero helmet).

They compared wind tunnel data with track testing at the Lowe's Speedway and the Asheville velodrome, which consisted of several 10 mile and 1km time trials at a constant speed of 40km/h.

They were lucky to have near ideal conditions for the outdoor tests, which kept the measurement errors down to around two percent of total power. The corresponding errors in the wind tunnel are under one percent. From doing this, they found the outdoor testing validated the wind tunnel testing, but did not replicate it.

They also found that outdoors there was a 60-70 watt saving at 40km/h between the normal road bike setup, which required ~280-290W at this speed, and the full time trial setup (~220W). That worked out at between 22-24 percent in aerodynamic savings.

To put it another way, it was nine seconds per kilometre, 2'14 per 10 miles (16.1km), 5'33 per 40km, and 24'58 over 180.2km, the distance of the bike leg in an Ironman triathlon. Or another way, if you can ride a road bike at 40km/h and switch to a time trial bike and helmet, you can do over 44km/h.

In the controlled environment of the wind tunnel, the savings were greater: between 32-42 percent, depending on yaw angle. These are aero savings only. About 70 percent of total power goes towards aero, so 70 percent of 32-42 percent = 22-29 percent of total power. This almost exactly matches the 22-24 percent from the track.

Also, the bigger the crosswind, the better off you are on a time trial bike because of the sail affect. Of course, you've got to be able to keep the thing upright...

Drilling down

So how do we break down that 70 watt saving? How much is position, how much is the bike, how much is the helmet and how much is the wheels? That was the purpose of this test, although we didn't actually test different wheel configurations, so we were looking at ~60 watts worth of savings.

Mark Cote decided on five protocols:

Tarmac SL2 road bike | S-Works road helmet | drop bars

Tarmac SL2 road bike | S-Works road helmet | clip-on aero bars

Tarmac SL2 road bike| TT2 helmet | clip-on aero bars

Transition time trial bike | S-Works road helmet | aero bars

Transition time trial bike | TT2 helmet | aero bars

For each one, we used the same wheels (Roval) and tyres, and Nathan rode in a short sleeved skinsuit with arm warmers and full finger gloves, but no shoe covers. The mass of the bike + rider was 83kg.

All five setups were tested over two laps (4.6km) of the Lowe's Motor Speedway at as close to 40km/h as we could get. The tests were repeated in the wind tunnel later that day.

During each test, Mike Giraud acted as a control, riding his bike around the circuit at ~32km/h, with a wind probe attached to the front of his bike that could measure wind speed and direction. The probe looked like it could double as a harpoon, but luckily there were no whales on the circuit.

It was a clear, sunny November morning but the conditions weren't quite ideal at the Speedway. While we could account for the changes in temperature and humidity, the wind affected things a little.

Speedway data

Setup	Estimated Ave CdA (m^2)	Speed (km/h)	Power (W)
Tarmac SL2 \| road helmet \| drop bars	0.310	40.10	306.6
Tarmac SL2 \| road helmet \| clip-on aero bars	0.267	40.27	268.6
Tarmac SL2 \| TT2 helmet \| clip-on aero bars	0.256	40.38	261.0
Transition \| road helmet \| aero bars	0.265	40.17	262.9
Transition \| TT2 helmet \| aero bars	0.230	40.05	229.0

[CdA = Coefficient of drag x frontal area]

On the plus side, the trends were accurate and there was still that big 77W (25 percent) difference between the road bike and the full TT setup. And it looked as though position would account for about half of that. But as for deciding how much the bike was worth relative to the aero helmet, it was tough.

This appeared to be because of an unreliable data point, as the time trial bike plus road helmet should have required about 240W rather than 263W at 40km/h. We suspected this was because of an SRM calibration error, rather than the wind on the track, but at the time of publication this was a known unknown.

Wind tunnel testing

Mark was happier once we got into the wind tunnel. Nice repeatable data that did make sense and gelled with his considerable testing experience. The testing was done at yaw angles of 0 and 10 degrees in 48.3km/h (30mph) wind, which was extrapolated back to 40km/h.

Wind tunnel data

Setup	Wind Tunnel 0 CdA (m^2)	Speed (km/h) at 278W	Power req'd at 40km/h (W)*

Tarmac SL2 \| road helmet \| drop bars	0.3019	40.00	278.3
Tarmac SL2 \| road helmet \| clip-on aero bars	0.2662	41.65	248.9
Tarmac SL2 \| TT2 helmet \| clip-on aero bars	0.2547	42.25	239.5
Transition \| road helmet \| aero bars	0.2427	42.90	229.6
Transition \| TT2 helmet \| aero bars	0.2323	43.50	221.0

[*The power req'd at 40km/h is aero power only, hence it's significantly lower than the power measured out on the track. On the other hand, the CdAs outdoors and in the wind tunnel are closely matched. This is more what we're interested in.]

The nice thing about this set of protocols is that there are two separate ways of comparing bikes and helmets. The difference between the Specialized road helmet and the TT2 was 8.6W or 9.4W, depending on which set of protocols we chose.

The difference between the Specialized Tarmac SL2 with clip-ons and the Transition was 18.5W or 19.3W. Finally, the difference between a road frame and one with a set of clip-ons on it was a whopping 29.4 watts. This difference is due to rider position (in the drops vs. in the aero bars).

That's 60 watts accounted for in savings. The July tests showed 70 watts, but the wheels were also changed in that one so we can guesstimate that HED 3 Trispokes will save an extra 10 watts over Hed Bastogne wheels.

Since there were other differences (wore a TT3 in July vs a TT2 this time, and a skinsuit vs road wheels) we have to be careful in making this conclusion. But if it is made, it also shows that the Roval wheels tested about the same as the trispokes and the Roval wheels saved about the same 10 watts the trispokes did.

Finally, to put it in perspective, we can list the wattage savings per unit cost.

	Cost	$/watts saved at 40km/h
Clip-on bars	$100-1200	$3.30-$40
Aero helmet	$75-230	$8.30-25.50
Time trial bike	$1000-10,000+	$50-500
Aero wheels	$600-$8000	$60-800

How much is it worth? That's for you to decide.

Notes:

We only used one rider and one set of equipment, which is great for controlling variables but it means we shouldn't generalise too much. We did anyway....
Some of the savings going from the road bike with clip-ons to the time trial bike are due to position, not just frame aerodynamics
Apart from the 'high' CdA in the Transition | Road Helmet | Aerobars track test, the other CdAs were all within three percent of the tunnel data. Not perfect but good for power testing, according to Mark Cote.
You will save more time but fewer watts at slower speeds with these improvements. The constants are the percentage aero drag savings.
You can quickly learn a lot from wind tunnel testing, provided you have people who know what they're doing.

Aerodynamics made easy

Chris Boardman & Phil Mosley, Triathlon Plus — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:45:00 GMT

Bike racing is all about aerodynamics and when I was a professional cyclist I spent a huge amount of time looking at this cycling fundamental.

When on anything other than the steepest of inclines, more than 80 percent of a rider's effort goes into simply pushing air out of the way. If we take that energy spend and break it down, only 20 percent is the bike, the rest is the riders body forcing itʼs way through the air. Bike aerodynamics is important but as you can see, changes to body shape will yield the largest returns.

Wind-tunnel testing is a fantastic way to accurately measure the effect of any changes to riding position and allow accurate fine-tuning. The definitive numbers it throws out give a lot of confidence to make changes and give direction. It’s also extremely expensive.

The good news is that the vast majority of the gains can be had at near zero expense. Even as late as the year 2000, the preferred working method for my coach Peter Keen and I was a simple full length mirror, an SRM ergometer and a basic set of principals. All of this was achieved in Pete’s garage and the good news for you is that these theories were later born out with the expensive wind tunnel method.

Here’s how we did it:

The setup

Look Ergostem

You don’t need an SRM ergometer (effectively an infinitely adjustable exercise bike) an indoor trainer set level will serve just as well, with the full length mirror placed directly in front of you. A Look Ergostem is a great investment for this kind of thing as it allows a huge amount of adjustment to be made quickly.

The base bar is not important as the focus is on the ‘in-board’ position, I used to use a set of cut-off drop bars mounted with a set of Profile clip-on tri-bars, these are hard to find now but their telescopic design allowed a huge variation.

Remember your test set up doesn’t have to be pretty, it is to give you scope to explore position.

During these sessions, Pete would be there walking around and offering suggestions, we’d then make adustments. The observer is important as they have a 3D view of the rider, a completely different perspective and when combined with the riders opinion on how it feels (something only the rider can know) you have a fully rounded view.

The method

The human body is fundamentally a collection of tubes, a very un-aero set of ingredients that are fixed in shape. So, using this experimental set-up, our fundamental aim was to create the smallest ‘silhouette,’ as seen from the front, that was sustainable.

This was done by rounding the shoulders, bringing in the elbows, and maybe going lower, although this isn’t always better. Forcing the body lower often makes the rider put their head up under stress and so increases the size of the silhouette.

Similarly, going arms-longer, looks more aero from the side but it is a lot more uncomfortable/inefficient than having forearms under the torso at near 90 percent and doesn't actually reduce the silhouette.

All of this was done pedaling with a reasonably high power output, about 50 percent of threshold and we made a point of measuring nothing, just going on look and feel, this kept us open minded to explore new ideas. Remember, this is just experimenting – you don’t have to keep any of it so play around and don't reference back to reality too soon. More on that in a moment.

The trial

Once we had something we both felt was the right compromise, I would then stay on the ergo and complete a 10 minute block at near threshold effort. This was the acid test. I didn't expect the new position to feel comfortable, that would take time but I was looking for an indication that with training, I thought I could adapt to it.

The result

The hour record bike that Boardman rode in 2000

Only at this point, when I had decided this was a desirable position to commit training time to, did we take measurements. We were often surprised by these and reflected that had we measured on-route, we may have stopped exploring in a given direction because ‘those stem lengths would be silly‘. Not measuring was how we stopped tradition and preconceived ideas getting in the way.

The Hour Record bike of 2000 was a perfect case in point. When I asked people if the position looked okay they said yes. I then told them the dimensions: A 17cm stem, 63cm top tube and 53cm seat tube. People couldn't believe it. I doubt if the positioning session had been done measuring as we went along we would ever have optimized the position so well.

It doesn’t have to be so outrageous though, and you should be able to make the changes you need to just about any bike. It may be simply that you just need to change a couple of bits such as the stem or tri-bars, but it doesn’t have to cost the earth.

The measurement

Chris's own positional measurement sheet

Once we were confident with the position, we’d take a set of measurements, and turn them into an outline drawing. Drawings were great as there was less ambiguity over where something should be measured to/from and it was multi-lingual, important for me working with a lot of different nationalities.

The training

There’s no point having a new position and then barely using it for more than race day and expecting it to work. This is the part often overlooked. Changing position takes commitment.

We devised a number of 'weight training' type exercises to help this adaptation, to train the various muscles to fire smoothly in this new configuration. The details of these is probably the subject of a different article but suffice to say, a significant amount of time will be needed to give yourself the best shot.

Chris Boardman is an Olympic cycling gold medallist, multiple world champion and world record holder, and has won three stages of the Tour de France. He is also head of research and design for Boardman Bikes

Five ways to test your drag

By Phil Mosley

Too much drag can add minutes to your time trial times. Here’s how to test how speedy your equipment and riding position are.

1 Roll down test

Cost: Free

Find a long hill with an uphill at the end (a bit like a ski-jump). Start from a standstill, do not pedal, just roll down the hill and see how far up the other side you get before grinding to a halt. You can then repeat the test using different riding positions and equipment and see what difference they make. Just make sure the weather isn’t changing, as differences in wind and air pressure can give false information.

2 Camera trick

Cost: Free, but takes time and you’ll need photo-editing software

Get someone to take a digital photo of you on your bike, from an exact spot directly in front of you. Using photo-editing software you then need to cut out the frontal view of the rider. You should then be able to see how many pixels are in this cut-out image. You can then make changes to riding position and equipment, and providing you take the photos from exactly the same spot, you can compare the number of pixels in your cut out images. Generally speaking, the smaller you can get your frontal area, the lower your drag will be.

3 Chung method

Cost: Free, but you’ll need a cycle power meter

As the name suggests, this is a method devised by Robert Chung that helps you estimate your drag coefficient. There are several websites that do the maths for you, so all you need to do is enter the data. The lower the coefficient, the faster you’ll go for a given effort.

You’ll need to record several variables, such as your riding power, speed, air pressure, weight and put in an estimate of rolling resistance, but none of them are hard to do. You do need to be careful with your data collection though, as changing temperature and wind will affect things.

Once you’ve done that, it gives an accurate measure of your drag coefficient. The advantage is that it replicates real riding, as opposed to being a wind tunnel where you’re measured statically or on a turbo trainer. The disadvantage is that you need a suitable venue - preferably one where you can ride multiple laps without stopping - and data collection can be time consuming.

Try it here: www.cyclingpowermodels.com/CdAEstimation. aspx or download Golden Cheetah and make use of the aerolab function.

4 Velodrome

Cost: Velodromes are few and far between. To hire the one in Manchester costs £100 per hour, or £250 if you want exclusive use. Travel and accommodation are a cost factor. You’ll need a power meter too.

The beauty of testing your aerodynamics on a velodrome is that it’s a perfectly flat and windless environment. As a result, if you’re riding at an even power output and your speed improves, you know it must be because of your reduced drag. Similarly, if you try a new position or equipment and your speed drops for a given power, you know your drag must have increased.

5 Wind tunnel

Cost: Between £550 and £899 per hour

Travel far enough, pay enough money, and you can have a totally accurate measurement of your drag coefficient, as well as the valuable advice of an expert to help you achieve your optimum position.

The only potential downside, aside from the expense, is that a rider’s best position in a wind tunnel is not necessarily one they can maintain comfortably on the road.

This article was originally published in Triathlon Plus magazine.

Technique: Aerodynamics on a budget

Jeff Jones in Bath, UK — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 09:15:00 GMT

If you want to go faster on your road bike, spend some time getting aero, says Jeff Jones, editor of BikeRadar and 2009 British Masters time trial champion. By that we mean adjusting your position, clothing and equipment to reduce your drag so that you get the most out of the power you’re putting in.

If you’re not convinced about going aero then consider the current world hour records: 49.7km on a ‘standard’ road bicycle, 56.375km on a time trial bike in the extreme ‘Superman position’ and – wait for it – 90.598km on a fully faired recumbent bicycle. That’s getting on for double the speed of a standard road bike, and it’s all down to aerodynamics, not extra power.

Now for some physics: the power you need to overcome aerodynamic drag on a bike is related to your drag coefficient (determined by shape and surface), frontal area, air density and speed. You want to lower your drag coefficient and frontal area while making sure you can still ride your bike. You’ll have to use your judgement on this as there’s no point in having an extreme position if you can’t pedal. But changes in position take some time to adapt to, so give them a chance.

Measuring it

The fastest and most accurate way of knowing how aero you are is to get yourself to a wind tunnel and get your drag measured in different positions. This costs at least £500 and goes up from there. A company called Drag2Zero offers this in two places in the UK, while in the US, the A2 wind tunnel is one of several that do this for cyclists.

If you don’t want to shell out the cash for tunnel time, do some field testing. This can be as simple as roll-down tests (find a hill with an uphill at the end, start from a standstill, don't pedal and see how far up the other side you get using different positions/equipment).

Or, if you have a power meter then the Aerolab function in the (free) Golden Cheetah software is an accurate way of comparing different positions by riding laps of a circuit. Finally, there’s the most basic measure: if you’re faster than you’ve ever been before, you’re probably doing something right!

If you don’t want to measure your drag, don’t worry – the four steps below will help reduce it, no matter what.

1 Clothing

Anything that's loose or flappy will catch the wind and slow you down big time. Air is a fluid, and obeys the same physical laws as water. You wouldn’t dream of going swimming with all your clothes on because they'd drag. so ditch the T-shirt and rain jacket in favour of a close-fitting jersey (£20 and up) or even a skinsuit (£50 and up) and be prepared to see your times drop.

2 Aero bars

If you ride a drop or flat handlebar bike, then you should seriously consider buying a set of clip-on aerobars. These start from around £30 for a basic aluminium pair. If you're considering buying some, check they'll fit the diameter of your handlebar. Once you’ve fitted them and are happy with the position, do the clamps up tight enough, otherwise you’ll find your arms pointing downwards after you hit the first bump.

If you’ve got a drop-barred bike, you may want to lower your stem when you install the clip-ons. otherwise your racing position will probably be too high. Aerobars work by narrowing your upper body and effectively reducing your frontal area. this lowers your drag and hey presto! You go faster. We’d say up to a minute faster in 10 miles if you can average 25mph, and if you’re slower than that, you may save even more time.

3 Aero helmet

Aero helmets may look funny, but they're a cost-effective way of improving your aerodynamics, with prices for a decent one starting from £100. They’re teardrop shaped with few vents, so if you’re susceptible to overheating then they may not be a good option. They work not by reducing your frontal area, but by changing the shape of your head profile and smoothing the surface so that your drag coefficient is reduced. In the drag equation this is just as important as frontal area.

In practice, we’ve found switching from a road helmet to an aero helmet saved around 20 seconds in a 10-mile time trial at 25mph (see How Aero is Aero). Again, the saving will be greater the slower you are. Fit is important so find one that fits snugly over the ears without being too uncomfortable. Don’t go for an extra large helmet unless you really need it. Secondly, spend some time adjusting the straps so that the tail sits flat to your back. Having the tail pointing up into the wind isn't doing you any favours aerodynamically.

4 Body position

We’ve left body position until last, not because it’s the least important, but because it’s the most time-consuming to sort out. You yourself account for 70-80 percent of the drag in the bike-plus-rider equation. The bigger you are, the greater this percentage, and vice versa. Outside of radical surgery, there’s only so much you can do to reduce your size and shape. but if you have weight to lose, then you’ll not only gain speed on the hills but also on the flat by being thinner.

On the bike itself, the general rule is the flatter you make your torso, the better. Going lower - up to a point - will bring your head down so it shelters your upper torso, and reduce drag further by shrugging your shoulders and tucking your head in. If you have adjustable aero bars then there are a few more rule-of-thumb tweaks you can perform.

Firstly, set your elbow pad width according to your size. If you’re of a smaller build (under 5ft 8ins), then go narrow to divert the air around your body. If you’re taller than 6ft , set your pads wider so that your arms are shadowing your thighs and the air flows through your chest cavity rather than around it. If you’re in between then experiment with what’s most comfortable.

Secondly, adjust the tilt of the bar extensions so that they’re flat or point slightly upward. A downward tilt can work aerodynamically (we’ve seen some riders come out of a wind tunnel with down-sloping bars) but at the expense of handling.

Conclusion

Hopefully we’ve convinced you of the importance of being aero on the bike and that you don’t need a big budget to do so. Clothing, aerobars, helmets and body position form the bulk of the aero equation, and by making some smart adjustments to these areas you can really save minutes. If you’re prepared to put in this time and effort, we guarantee it'll pay off with faster cycling.

This article was originally published on TriRadar.com.

The team time trial

Pete Giddings, Procycling — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:00:00 GMT

A great team time trial is a stern test of aerodynamic equipment and individual fitness, but the true beauty of nine men scything through the air in unison is the collaboration and coordination of an entire team.

This fiercely fought battle in the season-long war between teams is crucial to gaining results and exposure for sponsors because it is cycling’s ultimate test of leadership and preparedness.

The spectacle and speed of the TTT always creates some of the most dramatic images of the season, but what those photos fail to capture is the sheer speed. The fastest ever TTT was recorded by the Discovery Channel dream-team of 2005, who flew through 67.5km at that year’s Tour de France at a staggering 57.32kph.

This landmark is nearly 3kph faster and three times longer than the fastest individual time trial ride, set the same year by Dave Zabriskie who stormed over Passage du Gois and onto the oceanic island of Ile de Noirmoutier at 54.68kph. As any rider knows, willing collaborators turn a fast ride into a blistering one.

A well-drilled team can outstrip even the best TT specialist because each rider alternates fierce efforts riding on the front at speeds well above what is sustainable when riding alone.

The Discovery Channel team after their 2005 Tour TTT

Expert advice

According to Brad McGee, directeur sportif at Team Saxo Bank and himself winner of the Tour de France prologue, “The most intense efforts a rider ever makes on their TT bike are on the front of a TTT. You’re pushing harder than in any TT.”

These displays of brute force are only made possible by the respite offered by the low-pressure (and hence less drag-inducing) slipstream that trails behind their team-mates. As each rider peels off the front and rejoins the back of the string they must use the reduced power output needed to follow the wheels to recover and ensure that their next turn in front is as intense as the first.

McGee describes the sensations as, “Like following a car – when you’ve got eight blokes in front of you you’re still pedalling but you can catch your breath.” Julich says that for Team Sky riders, “Once they are further than five positions from the front it is just as fast to sit up, breathe a little easier and benefit from the draft.”

Because all too soon they will move up the string, with resistance increasing slightly with each move forward until they arrive at third wheel, where power demands are around 65-70 percent of the demand on the front.

Once a rider is settled into second wheel, they’re working at around 75-85 per cent of their man ahead of them. As their team-mate swings off to the side and second-wheel becomes first, “The change in pace is a shock, the jump in effort feels bigger than you’d think,” says McGee. But no matter how brutal that change in effort is, each rider must deliver a perfect pull according to lessons learned from team pursuiting.

Lance Armstrong (right) falls back down a neat Discovery Channel line in the 2005 Tour

Secrets of success

So what makes the perfect pull? Everyone Procycling spoke to agreed that there are four key steps to being the perfect TTT engine. Riders should take the lead smoothly, maintain the speed, deliver the second man up to full speed and swing off cleanly.

The first two stages are meat and drink for pro riders, the difference between a pro TTT rider and the rest of us is in delivering the second man into the lead perfectly. Both Julich and McGee agree delivery is best achieved by surging during the final few pedal strokes of a pull to create a small acceleration which drops air pressure just behind the surging rider to help slingshot the second man onto the front and eases the impact of taking the wind.

“A clear signal that the turn is over is the final step,” says Julich. “If a rider can deliver on the key points then the length of turn is not an issue. The guys do what they can.” These details may seem trivial but, as Julich puts it, “We want to gain those fractions of a second at each turn, because over 60km they add up fast.”

Lead-out man

The track has also taught McGee to choose the right rider to bring his team up to speed: “You need a guy who can make a big effort to reach 50kph then recover. The team needs to trust him not to blow everyone’s legs in the first 500m too,” says McGee. Once at race pace, teams (Sky and Saxo Bank included) determine the length of turns on the front by one cardinal rule: The speed must not drop. Ever.

For the strong riders this means longer turns on the front, while those less able to hold the pace barely feel the wind on their faces before relinquishing their position to stronger team-mates.

Bobby Julich explains that, “Keeping the speed is really the reason for the guys on good form or TT specialists pulling for longer. Dragging the speed back up is tiring for the whole string, not just the guy on the front, so it’s better for the weaker guys to miss a turn or do a short pull than to let the speed fall.” McGee adds: “If you slow down then it is real easy to overreact and get into a yo-yo situation that kills the whole team.”

Even with directeurs keeping watch from the car and experienced riders giving guidance on the road, Julich tells us that, “There are always guys you know can’t hold the pace – we know the pace might drop by 1-2kph even though they’re giving it everything. We have to recognise that and find ways to limit the damage.

“We keep those weaker guys together, so once their turns are over we make sure we have a snappier rider like Peter Kennaugh, Cav or Ben Swift behind who can accelerate back up to speed quickly but smoothly without breaking the rhythm. Having a snappier guy to deliver the power line back up to speed means those guys can do their thing most effectively – so we hold maximum speed for longer”.

The ‘power line’ is the heart of Team Sky’s success. Julich explains: “It should be made up from guys about the same size, all on good form and, most importantly, who need to be familiar with each other and how they work together under different circumstances.” These riders are able to pull for 20-60 pedal revolutions each, holding the precious pace to provide several minutes of stable high-speed riding.

On flat sections of the course, this neat well-ordered process can run unhindered by the messy reality of the road. But when the parcours turns technical, riders must be comfortable with their team-mates and know how the team plans to attack every sort of obstacle without waiting for instructions from the car.

Decision making

Micro-managing rider position for particular portions of the route is virtually impossible, says McGee: “Once the boys have come through a few times you can forget your plans. You never know if one of the blokes is going to have a bad day. You just have to keep letting them know how everyone is doing from the car.”

McGee points out that from the following car the directeurs have far more insight into how the team as a whole is performing: “The riders are so focused on their line, their effort and holding the wheel that we are really involved in ensuring that the pace is right. We’ll decide whether we wait for a guy who has been dropped – we try to prevent that but when the elastic snaps we have to make that call.”

By contrast, Team Sky allow their highly experienced and meticulously drilled riders to dictate the pace on the road. Julich says, “In the pre-season the whole team is drilled in the best way to attack specific situations, like steep climbs or technical descents, so by the time race day comes, the directeurs just need to give a few refreshers of the strategy.”

Julich tries to keep riders calm by “reminding them that riding pace lines is what they do day-in, day-out. In a TTT, they just happen to be on their TT bikes.” On a technical course, a common understanding of team strategy and unity of purpose are the keys to a cohesive, fast ride. Whether this strategy comes from the car or is decided by the riders is a question best answered on the road.

A former pro, Bobby Julich is now a race coach for Team Sky

Hours of drills and training can bind riders into a single speed-craving entity but the TTT adds the pressure of a combined fate for all nine men. That pressure can help some riders produce something extra or cause the best laid plans to falter. Stronger riders can force weaker team-mates into the red in their bid to meet expectations and teams can crack spectacularly.

McGee says that, for Saxo Bank, “Energy levels are already high enough. In fact, normally they’re too high. Everyone’s nervous.” Team Sky’s Bernie Eisel says that nerves are taut throughout the peloton: “Riders are talking about the TTT for days before the stage. Everyone is thinking and asking about it. It puts a lot of pressure on you.”

Under pressure

Tension and the struggle to match stronger colleagues is often the cause of nightmare TTTs, says Julich: “The experienced guys keep their heads, they know how to look after themselves. But you see nervous guys scrambling to hold the wheel, digging themselves a hole they’re not strong enough to get out of. It’s the nervous guys that you see getting dropped.”

For those unlucky souls, Eisel says, “The TTT can feel really long. It’s all about the team and if you get dropped, you’ll feel bad for the whole three weeks, even though I’ve never heard anyone complain that a rider didn’t give it 100 percent.”

There is a positive flipside to this urge to satisfy the team according to Eisel: “In an individual time trial I know I can’t win but in a TTT I’m sure the team can. With the guys I can just give it everything. Being able to do something for your team-mates means that guys like me can just hurt themselves more.”

The motivation and desire to live up to the expectations of team-mates can drive each rider to excel themselves and mean that the sum of their efforts is even greater than pure physics would predict.

As each team rolls down the wide ramp and onto the TTT parcours that opens the Vuelta a España, the technology, strategy and unity they possess will be held up high for the world to see. There will, as ever, be teams who suffer from a lack of preparation or ability, and these hapless few will add to the cycling lore of tragi-comic TTT performances.

While pure horsepower counts for a lot, the teams striving to understand, refine, drill and execute every area of this complex discipline will have been the ones who made their first day in Spain a winning one.

Team Sky during the Giro d'Italia TTT 2010

Small wheels, big advantage

Images of cycling’s techno-heyday show team pursuit riders huddled low over monocoque bicycles equipped with reduced diameter front wheels. These visored visions are benefiting from reduced aero drag as a direct result of their choice of wheel size. Not because smaller diameter wheels provide statistically significant aero advantage when riding alone (despite what a generation of triathletes were led to believe) but because they allow a well-drilled squad to ride closer together.

The reduced gap between riders that small front wheels allow means each rider can tuck themselves more completely into the low-pressure (and so less drag-inducing) draft which trails the rider in front. The very same advantage saw Moulton bicycles banned from bunch races by the UCI.

Day in the life of a team time trial

The morning of a team time trial begins in the same way as any other day of a stage race for Team Sky’s riders – breakfast, more breakfast and then a briefing of the plans for the day.

From there, Julich takes us through the routine: “The team rides the whole course together to open up the legs and see the route. The route reconnaissance really sets the mental scene for the team time trial. We know we need to keep them from riding too fast and with nine guys and their egos on the road that is a real challenge.”

With the course imprinted on the minds and legs of the team, the riders get a few hours’ rest before squeezing into their skinsuits and mounting their TT bikes for a group warm-up.

“We make sure that we have nine guys on nine turbo trainers at the same time. That really helps ensure that they all know that they’re part of a team. Each rider has slight variations but the basic warm-up routine is the same. It primes all the body’s energy systems.” From there the riders head to the start house mentally and physically prepared.

Check out this video of Garmin-Barracuda riders David Millar, Christian Vande Velde and Peter Stetina preparing for the Tour of Qatar 2012 TTT, which they went on to win:

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This article was originally published in Procycling magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

Cyclothon UK 2012 results

John Whitney at Brands Hatch, UK — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 11:25:00 GMT

Recently, BikeRadar Training teamed up with Cyclothon UK to offer three places for a team relay endurance event at Brands Hatch. Bob Scarle, Chris Holliday and Dean Webb were all lucky winners, and joined up with BikeRadar's John Whitney to tackle the course last Thursday.

Brands Hatch is a rarity among motor racing circuits. If you came along to BikeRadar Live in 2010, you'll know what we're talking about. Its maniacally undulating terrain must be a huge thrill in the high-octane world of car and motorbike racing, but slow down to bicycle speed and the 2.3 miles are a constant battle to find and maintain rhythm.

The course mimics a rollercoaster in the way you constantly go up and down, building huge speed and momentum on the downhill and powering into a wall of a climb before cresting the summit and tipping yourself over the edge.

As such, the eight- or 12-hour relay event is not for the faint-hearted, requiring power, endurance and willpower in equal measure in order to do it justice. Through weeks of hard training miles, and with the help of coaching advice, training plans and bike fittings from Koolstof Sports Coaching, we built ourselves a crack team of riders ready to tackle the unique contours of the Kent circuit.

On the start line

The event itself comes from Victor Ubogu, a former England rugby union player, and his hospitality and sports travel business VU Limited. He makes no bones about the corporate reach of the event (blue chip companies such as Ernst & Young, Legal & General and Nintendo all had teams on the start line).

But Ubogu's considerable pulling power in the world of rugby and wider sporting world meant Scott Hastings, Rory Underwood, Doddie Weir and Angus Fraser, to name a few, were on the start line. There were also 30 solo riders competing under their own steam, so this is an event that's open to anyone up for the challenge.

Riders can compete in teams of four or five (mixed or single sex) or on their own, over eight- or 12-hour races. Those choosing the mammoth 12-hour option start shortly after sunrise, at 7.30am, and ride through to sunset. The shorter race, which we'd entered, started four hours later, at 11.30am.

Both races start Le Mans-style, with cyclists making a mad dash across the Tarmac to their bikes propped up by the roadside. Timing started once we'd exited the pit lane, with a timed section up the monstrously steep Druids Climb greeting riders almost immediately.

Forget triathlon transitions – the race to the bikes at the Cyclothon was crucial!

With a team of four, it was vital to keep the changeovers frequent. Four laps took about 30 minutes for the BikeRadar Training team to complete, meaning all our team, buoyed by a summer of hard training, could ride full gas for much of that time and not risk exploding.

Sportives are often characterised by wildly varying abilities, and the Cyclothon was no exception. Riders in fancy dress, mountain biking kit and on Bromptons mixed with serious roadies and slick-looking time trial squads clobbered up in skinsuits.

And while many grabbed the opportunity to bask in the scorching mid-September sun between stints on the track, those with their game faces on passed the time by spinning on rollers in the garage.

Famous faces

Our schedule meant we would often wait up to 90 minutes between efforts, so rollers would have been a sensible option if our team had designs on overall victory. But we didn't, and we had work to do, talking to cycling celebs to see what had brought them to the event.

First up was newly crowned round-the-world record holder Mike Hall, riding for the Rose Bikes team. As anyone who followed the Yorkshireman's efforts to topple Alan Bate's 106-day record will know, Hall went through the mill, both physically and mentally, on his way to his incredible record.

Catching up with him for the first time since our interview with him, he revealed he's struggled to slip back into normal life since returning from his adventure.

His efforts poleaxed him, and it's taken him much of the summer to get back in the saddle and contemplate his next move. He says he's taken time off work to focus on a book of his record-breaking exploits, which will detail the build-up to setting off, and the emotional rollercoaster his endeavours involved.

Mike Hall (left) taking some time out during the Cyclothon UK event

Then there was Gavin Kerr, a 35-year-old retired rugby union player who was capped 50 times by Scotland before a neck injury curtailed his elite playing days. He was riding with The Jocks, a team that read like a who's who of Scottish rugby.

Cycling has been championed by a number of egg-chasing greats, including Lawrence Dallaglio, Will Carling and now Victor Ubogu. Kerr, whose days of playing prop meant he had to be one of the biggest, strongest guys on the field, says cycling helps keep them fit while avoiding the brutal pounding they took throughout their careers.

Ubogu, himself a prop, agreed. With his booming laugh and huge smile, his enthusiasm for the sport was evident.

Victor Ubogu at the Brands Hatch track

Ubogu's got big plans for the Cyclothon, too. It's only in its second year, and given the hugely crowded UK cycling events calendar, he's delighted to have seen numbers of riders almost double since 2011.

Next summer's event will be held a week earlier, to avoid the Tour of Britain, with an ultimate aim of attracting names from the world of pro cycling.

This year's winners

But back to the 2012 contest, which was fiercely fought from the gun. PM R@CING took overall honours, their four-man team clocking up an impressive 111 laps during their 12-hour heroics.

Sixteen laps behind was Carl Ferri, who took the solo award, while we notched up a respectable 64 laps to take 50th place. We did get first place in the Male Four 8hr Trade group, but being the only team in the category made it something of a hollow victory.

The novelty of riding round a closed-road, silky-smooth, pothole-free circuit was the biggest thrill we took from the day. We all agreed that the training plans we've used have helped us to push on with our fitness, even if work and family commitments sometimes make it hard to stick to regimes rigidly.

"I realise that I'm never going to be as fast as some but I do try hard," said BikeRadar Training winner Bob. "However, the coaching has shown me that even I can make small gains that improve my overall riding ability and enjoyment."

Like the sound of Cyclothon? BikeRadar Training will be able to help you prepare for next summer's event. BikeRadar Training is a free online resource for you to record and analyse all aspects of your training, log your training routes, get yourself tailored training plans, see how you're doing on our leaderboards, set goals and plan your season with a comprehensive events guide.

What not to eat when you're training

Cycling Plus — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Many cyclists don’t realise what a huge part their diets play in their training and racing. It’s a cliché, but when it comes to sports you are what you eat. And if you’re out there cycling every day, you really can’t afford to get it wrong. We show you how to spot and avoid the top 10 most common diet mistakes…

Before you get started, make sure you've got a BikeRadar Training account. This free online resource enables you to record and analyse all aspects of your training, log your training routes, get yourself tailored training plans, see how you're doing on our leaderboards, set goals and plan your season with a comprehensive events guide.

A good diet is about more than just staying slim. Yes, body composition is important in cycling, but it’s also about fuelling yourself correctly and eating the right blend of nutrients so your body can recover and grow stronger after training. If you make too many mistakes with your diet then you’ll undermine all the hard work you’ve been putting in.

Maybe you think that you’re eating well already, or you know that you’re getting it wrong, but you don’t know how to fix it. Either way, now is the time to find out with this list of the top 10 common diet mistakes that athletes make. The more of them that you ditch, the faster and stronger you’ll be.

No pre-ride breakfast

Your body has been without food for several hours overnight, so you can’t expect to get the best out of it in your training or racing if you are under-fuelling the session.

Eat enough carbohydrates the day before and find things that are easy to eat or drink and that sit well in your stomach in the morning. This could be a yoghurt smoothie, half a banana sandwich or a slice of toast with peanut butter and a glass of fresh juice mixed with water.

Too long between meals

This sets up a starve-binge eating pattern. By the time you get your food you’re ravenous and more likely to overeat the wrong things. This creates an insulin surge, which sends fat storage into overdrive.

Plan your snacks so you never go without food or drink for longer than four hours. Good snacks include a pot of low fat yoghurt, a small handful of mixed nuts, fruit smoothies, fruit salad, good-quality bars such as Eat Natural or Nature Valley Chewy bars, malt loaf or Ryvita with cottage cheese and tomato.

Good-quality cereal bars make for excellent snacks between meals

Too much fibre

Here we’re talking essentially about ‘runner’s trots’. This is a really common problem in runners but it can also affect cyclists; in fact it can happen during any exercise when blood is diverted from the digestive system to the working muscles.

Eat bland, non-spicy, non-fibrous foods the night and hours before training and any big ride. Stick to meals such as white pasta with plain tomato sauce the night before, and in the morning have something like a small bowl of porridge or easily digestible cereal or some white toast with peanut butter.

Not refuelling on rides

You might think you can get away without gels or bars on shorter training rides, but if you’re out for a couple of hours then you need to keep your engine topped up. Work out how much carbohydrate and fluid you need and know how much is in the drinks and foods you’re consuming.

You should aim for 30-60g of carbohydrate per hour (the smaller you are, the less you will need).

Post-ride bingeing

Sometimes the last thing you want to do after a long session is to eat, but if you don’t, then subsequent training sessions will suffer and you’ll feel tired with heavy muscles. However, the other side of the coin is people who eat everything in sight, using the fact that they have done a hard session as an excuse to hoover up anything that falls in their path!

Plan your post-training and racing eating and make sure you have the right nutrition to hand at the finish. Chocolate milk is superb and slips down very nicely; have about 300ml with some salted nuts or a peanut butter sandwich and that should see you through until the next meal. If you sit straight down to a meal then have something like spaghetti bolognese made with lean beef or Quorn mince.

Eating too late

When you train in the evening you might not get home until after 8pm. A big meal afterwards will still be churning away when you go to bed and can affect your sleep and increase fat storage.

Have your main meal at lunch, then a small post-training meal in the evening. This could be beans or eggs on toast, homemade bean and vegetable soup with bread, sushi with a fruit smoothie or one of the good one-pot ready meals such as Innocent Veg Pots or a pot of Stewed!.

Overeating carbs

Many athletes overestimate their food needs and eat vast amounts of cereal, pasta, rice, potatoes and bread. Bread is a particular problem because it is made with fat and the gluten can cause bloating.

Calculate your daily calorie requirement, taking your training and normal daily activity into account. There are several tools on the internet for this. Looking specifically at bread, try to eat fewer than four slices a day because it has more calories than other starchy carbs.

Pasta is a good high GI option, but don’t overdo it

Drinking coffee randomly

While caffeine has a proven positive effect on performance, it needs careful management. It can act as a gut stimulant and cause stomach issues.

Work out your exact caffeine needs and take it before the session; its effects last for a few hours. Test in training and ease back on caffeinated drinks for a couple of weeks before a key race to increase its effects when you take it on race day.

Eating too much fat

Giving the body fat makes it very happy – it doesn’t have to do much to it apart from hide it away in the fat cells for storage. Fat is easy money for your body. It’s not quite as happy to spend that money though – the body is quite reluctant to let go of it.

Melt your spread or butter a little before spreading it so it spreads more thinly. Eat hard cheese only once or twice a week and even then only about a small matchbox-size piece. Don’t glug olive oil over everything. Stay away from things like crisps and biscuits.

Measuring BMI not fat

Fat percentage is a better indicator of how lean you are than weight or Body Mass Index. Measure your fat weekly, when you’re at your most hydrated, using a body composition monitor (bear in mind it takes several months for fat percentage to show any realistic change).

You can get these from any chemist (Boots has a selection). Figures to compare yours with are 15-18 percent for the average UK male, eight percent for the well trained rider, and four to six percent for an elite racer.

Want to get more out of your training? Then head over to our new fitness site BikeRadar Training. It's a free online resource for you to record and analyse all aspects of your training, log your training routes, get yourself tailoredtraining plans, see how you're doing on our leaderboards, set goals and plan your season with a comprehensive events guide.

This article was originally published in Cycling Plus magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

How to train like a pro rider

Iga Kowalska-Owen, Cycling Plus — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 07:00:00 GMT

We teamed up with British Cycling to bring you some words of wisdom from riders and experts on the GB Cycling Team as they were putting the final touches to their Olympic preparations.

Read on to find out how the best in the business cope with pressure, training demands, injury and disappointment. And to make the most of the tips, make sure you've got a BikeRadar Training account. This free online resource enables you to record and analyse all aspects of your training, log your training routes, get yourself tailored training plans, see how you're doing on our leaderboards, set goals and plan your season with a comprehensive events guide.

Endurance

Ben Swift, Sky Pro Cycling rider and World Champion in the Scratch Race

Some people are born sprinters and some are born endurance riders, and you just have to find out what suits you best. The secret to endurance is having the will to stick it out, because it can get a bit mind-numbing at times. You also have to be able to put up with the strain and the stress of being on the bike for such long periods.

Don’t keep bashing away doing long hours. Mix the training up with intensity and keep it fresh and enjoyable. Find a local club and get out on a club run with them. If there are enough people, it passes the time and you’re working much harder without realising it and having fun on the bike at the same time.

Injury

Liam Phillips, Britain’s top male BMX rider

You need to take it steady and build up your skills through the different levels to be able to get to a stage where you’re good enough to push the boundaries. Most injuries occur when people try to do things they’re not capable of. If you’re recovering from an injury, having the confidence that it has completely healed is massive before you jump back on the bike. Time away and going through the recovery process – the rehab, the physio and all that goes with it – are really important.

Once you’re able to live a normal life off the bike, get back on your bike. You may be anxious about crashing or the injury occurring again, so take it slowly, one step at a time. Also, make sure you take steps to prevent future injuries, like wearing pads if you ride BMX!

Injury is pretty much the lowest point for a rider but the enjoyment you get from training and competing against others outweighs the disappointment. The main thing is riding within your comfort zone. If you’re with a group of riders who have had more experience or been riding at a higher level, it’s no good trying to chuck yourself in at the deep end trying to keep up with them.

Recovery

Jon Norfolk, national sprint coach at British Cycling

Recovery is the key element of training. It starts as soon as you stop training, so it’s vital to fuel well and not burn yourself out by not allowing yourself enough time in between sessions to adapt.

When they feel they aren’t getting anywhere, many people make the mistake of trying to train harder to make the difference – but digging yourself into a hole will not allow any quality training to take place.

Correct fuelling is also important to make the most of recovery periods – a balanced diet with good quality carbs, proteins and hitting your five a day, every day. Try to eat within 30 minutes of finishing your training to help the immediate recovery process begin.

Some athletes describe it as feeling ‘stale’ on the bike or ‘heavy legged’. Listen to your body. Common signs of a need to rest include disrupted sleep, simply not wanting to train or a change in mood.

Give yourself some quality down time away from the bike to recharge the batteries both physically and mentally.

Pacing

Laura Trott, Olympic gold medallist in the Team Pursuit and the Omnium

If you go out easier and you are still travelling at that speed a few miles later it will feel hard to maintain but is doable. If you go out hard then you will definitely slow down when the effort catches up on you because of the lactate in your legs.

On the track, the biggest mistake in timed events is going out too hard. In a 3km pursuit for instance, the first few laps should feel easy, but it’s hard to get your head around this to begin with.

For a 4km pursuit I’d go out at a pace that I thought I could maintain for 3km and try to hang on for the last 1km. This would be pretty flat out. A 50km road race would be different as you would be able to use other riders. I would go out at a medium pace and slipstream other riders if it was quicker than I thought I could manage for the whole race. You could also make small efforts when you’re in the pack.

For a 100-mile sportive I would start very steady. If I felt good during the ride I would lift the pace nearer the end, but I’d get to the point where I knew I would complete it first before trying too hard and blowing.

Motivation

Dani King, Horizon Fitness rider and gold medallist in the Team Pursuit

Like most people who regularly train, I find it difficult to get myself out the door when I’m feeling tired from previous sessions, but here’s how I try to motivate myself.

Having a variety of indoor sessions is always a good idea, especially if it’s raining or icy on the roads. If you’re out in bad weather, try to change a session round so you’re not exposed for too long: a one-hour ride with four or five hard efforts instead of a two-hour ride.

Riding different routes helps stop me getting bored on the road. Some days it could be a flat route and on others a hilly session. Turbo sessions tend to be much shorter but generally have more focused efforts, perhaps an hour with four 10-minute brisk efforts. I’ll also do gym work and stretches to mix it up.

Having a specific course which you can time and then try to beat will help stop training getting boring, but don’t always try to beat your time – it can be depressing when it doesn’t come down. Having a goal is another way to distract yourself: a sportive to complete or a specific race in the future to concentrate your training towards.

Nutrition

Nigel Mitchell, head of nutrition at British Cycling

The importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle alongside your fitness routine is key to ensuring you’re benefiting from the exercise you’re doing. The body requires a combination of all nutrients to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Try to maintain a diet that is quality over quantity. To get the right balance, the focus of nutrition is always on the quality of food so we work really hard with the riders to make sure they’re eating plenty of vegetables, fruit, fish, chicken, lean meat and carbohydrate sources. Having more wholegrain foods such as rice, bread and pasta provides riders with vitamins as well as carbs.

What we’ve found has a lot of success from a weight management point of view is when people analyse their meal plans more proactively. If people try to eat little and often rather than just three meals a day it can be much more effective for weight loss and topping up energy sources.

Don’t forget to keep hydrated. My suggestion is 500ml of fluid every couple of hours when not exercising.

Mental preparation

Geraint Thomas, Team Sky rider, Team Pursuit World and Olympic Champion

I have always enjoyed racing and my approach has always been the same – not to be afraid and just go out there and try to enjoy it, and that’s how I still approach things today.

On race day I try to visualise the race. I go over in my head what I want to do and how I want to ride it. Your mind starts to wander an hour or so before the race. Just try to do that, it stops any little doubts that come into your head.

I also like to chat with other riders while warming up. It’s then that you really start to focus and zone in. After that you have about 10 minutes before the race so you don’t actually have much time to think about it.

Sprinting

Lizzie Armitstead, silver medallist in the Olympic Women’s Road Race

Since the GB Cycling Team picked me up at just 15 years of age and I joined the national Talent Team, having never ridden competitively before, I have certainly learnt a lot. Sprinting is about being confident in the bunch and being at the front of the peloton.

Timing is crucial, and learning to trust your instincts. Technique is the finishing touch, but without power and speed you can’t go very fast. I think you’re born with the ability to sprint but you can develop your technique.

There are a couple of simple drills you can do on the road to help you improve sprinting: overgeared climbing to increase your strength, and 30-second downhill sprints to increase your power and cadence.”

Here are my three top tips for winning a bunch sprint:

Don’t leave the front third of the peloton for the last 10km of the race.
Analyse the finish beforehand to determine what gear you should be in.
When you decide to go, don’t hesitate – just go with all of your power.

Strength

Shanaze Reade, multiple BMX and Team Sprint World Champion

What I have learnt on the GB Cycling Team is that specific exercises will suit one person but maybe not others. Also, rest is very important especially when you are tempted to overtrain in the gym. Work out what your goals are first. Is it endurance or explosive power that you are after? Or perhaps both if you want to be able to sprint at the end of a road race… As you can imagine, training to achieve these goals is going to be totally different.

As a general tip, do not sacrifice your form and technique in any strength and conditioning exercise for a heavier weight or extra sets. Patience is needed to progress in an effective and safe way. It is not worth risking injury.

If you hate the gym but want to improve your strength, intervals are the best way, especially if you have a good hill near you. Concentrate on trying to stay in the saddle and time yourself from the bottom to the top of the hill on a gearing that offers enough resistance that you can churn out around 45-50rpm. Try to decrease your time while also looking at increasing the gear.

Disappointment

Andy Tennant, Rapha Condor rider and current Team Pursuit World Champion

If I can say I gave it 100 per cent, I am content with others bettering me (occasionally!). I may not be happy, but it is easier to progress from. The first process is to ask yourself why. Are you ill? Have you got an injury or a fitness issue? Then work on a plan of action.

A sporting career has massive lows and highs. It is gutting when you spend your life trying to be the best and you aren’t going well or others are better, but you just have to accept it.

Learning to move on is a big thing; using logic and not your emotions is a big part and a key to performing well. Life isn’t fair, so grab the opportunities that come your way. Unfortunately disappoinments are a guaranteed.

Want to get more out of your training? Then head over to our fitness site BikeRadar Training. It's a free online resource for you to record and analyse all aspects of your training, log your training routes, get yourself tailoredtraining plans, see how you're doing on our leaderboards, set goals and plan your season with a comprehensive events guide.

This article was originally published in Cycling Plus magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

How to find the right size bike to fit you

Julius Jennings, Koolstof Sports Coaching — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 07:00:00 GMT

A comprehensive bike fit to find the right size bike is useful for every cyclist. Whatever your discipline, cycling level or targets, your position on the bike is absolutely crucial for cycling comfort, enjoyment and performance.

There is no need to cycle in pain, risk injuries or throw away performance for the sake of a bad position – a single fitting session can eliminate niggles (lower back pain, a sore neck or painful knees) you’ve endured for years.

Before you start checking your bike fit, make sure you've got a BikeRadar Training account. This free online resource enables you to record and analyse all aspects of your training, log your training routes, get yourself tailored training plans, see how you're doing on our leaderboards, set goals and plan your season with a comprehensive events guide.

The key to fitting a bike is to treat yourself as an individual and not use a formula that says one rule works for everyone. We all have different flexibility, postural and skeletal issues, and a professional bike fitter will take all of these into consideration.

There are many great bike fitters out there, so find one near you and book yourself in.

Cyclothon team bike fit

Cycling enthusiasts Chris Holliday and Bob Scarle recently won our competition to join the BikeRadar team for the Cyclothon UK endurance event. To help them with their training, we asked them to come in for a bike fit and fitness test, so that they can use the right heart rate zones for working out. Their expert for the day was Julius Jennings of Koolstof Sports Coaching.

Chris is in his early twenties and is a Cat 4 road racer. He's done a lot of fell running in the past, and as a result of this he had very little lateral movement in his ankle and rode with his toes pointing down.

We needed to move Chris slightly further back on his saddle and make sure he wasn’t sitting too high, as he was unable to drop his ankle. He'd also had a crash at some point, and one of his brake hoods was twisted, giving him some left shoulder pain.

A minor adjustment to his bars allowed Chris to reach his brake levers while on the hoods, with his wrists pretty much straight. By changing his centre of balance on the bike we made sure he no longer had any tension running through his shoulders and will be able to relax his shoulders and alleviate neck and shoulder pain.

BikeRadar Cyclothon team member Chris in his new racing position

Bob enjoys riding his bike for fun, and is a mature cyclist. He put his track mitts on for the fit, and told us his hands always hurt on the bike. There were two very simple tweaks we knew we needed to make…

Firstly, Bob was sitting too far forward and putting too much pressure through his arms, shoulders and neck. But more importantly, his bars had a flat top that wasn’t angled correctly. This meant Bob’s wrists were slightly bent and he was putting way too much pressure through the palms of his hands. Over time, this can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome and possibly an operation. Hopefully, Bob will now enjoy his riding without those niggles.

The key to Bob's bike comfort was in a subtle handlebar angle

One piece of advice we can give to all cyclists is not to copy the pros’ positions. Bradley Wiggins looks great in the saddle, but the position suits him and his flexibility, skeletal frame, core strength, limb length and riding style. It won’t necessarily work for you.

In addition to getting a bike fit, we’d always recommend a visit to an osteopath. They’ll be able to make sure your pelvis is aligned correctly. Pilates, core strength and yoga exercises will also help you support your body and add flexibility.

How to find the right size bike

Julius Jennings, Koolstof Sports Coaching — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 07:00:00 GMT

A comprehensive bike fit is useful for every cyclist. Whatever your discipline, cycling level or targets, your position on the bike is absolutely crucial for cycling comfort, enjoyment and performance.

There are many great bike fitters out there, so find one near you and book yourself in.

Cyclothon team bike fit

BikeRadar Cyclothon team member Chris in his new racing position

The key to Bob's bike comfort was in a subtle handlebar angle

How to find a bike that fits

Julius Jennings, Koolstof Sports Coaching — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 07:00:00 GMT

There are many great bike fitters out there, so find one near you and book yourself in.

Cyclothon team bike fit

BikeRadar Cyclothon team member Chris in his new racing position

The key to Bob's bike comfort was in a subtle handlebar angle

Team Sky's training diet

Nigel Mitchell, Cycling Plus — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Unless you’ve got a lot of holiday to take and an understanding family, you’ll never ride hundreds of miles and climb thousands of feet, day after day, for three weeks.

But if you’re riding for hours on top of a busy work and home life, the nutrition knowledge honed by Team Sky will help you stay healthy and perform well every day. Here are five tips from Nigel Mitchell, head of nutrition for British Cycling and Team Sky.

Before you read on and find out how the pros eat to train, make sure you've got a BikeRadar Training account. This free online resource enables you to record and analyse all aspects of your training, log your training routes, get yourself tailored training plans, see how you're doing on our leaderboards, set goals and plan your season with a comprehensive events guide.

Look after your gut

There’s no point eating decent food if your body is not in a fit state to process it. “We used to get riders on tours with gut irritation, but we worked to prevent it and don’t have those problems now,” says Mitchell. “A lot of people suffer with sub-optimal gut function, so it’s definitely worth thinking about how you can improve your gut health.”

Cut out foods that irritate the gut – caffeine and alcohol are both common culprits; cut down the acidity of your diet, and eat more vegetables.

Try this: Taking a health supplement for your gut, such as Neovite Colostrum, can help get your gut in good nick.

Tummy troubles? Caffeine is an irritant and can be worth cutting out

Eating opportunities

For every cyclist who needs to shift a few pounds, there’s one who’s not eating enough to fuel their training. Don’t underestimate the effects of undereating. “If people are not taking in enough energy, they won’t recover or get what they want out of the training sessions, and it will affect their health,” says Mitchell. He advises planning your meals and snacks properly.

Try this: Keep an accurate food diary and see how it tallies with your energy levels throughout the day. Take shortcuts if necessary – for example, if you’re training early and you just can’t face breakfast, Mitchell advises drinking watered down milkshake instead.

Don't shy away from fat

If you want to be lean, it’s tempting to cut down on fat, but Sky riders eat around 100g fat per day. “Fats don’t just have an energy role, they have a lot of physiological roles in the body,” says Mitchell. “Foods such as fish oil and good quality olive oil ensure we’re getting those essential fats. Terms like saturated and hydrogenated are confusing, so we take a common sense approach. If we eat food in the way it’s presented by nature, that will be providing most of what we need.”

Try this: Buy the least refined extra virgin olive oil you can. Mitchell swears by olive oil made by pro rider Dario Cioni.

Love broccoli juice

Mitchell’s riders have grown to love his vegetable juices, with broccoli, beetroot and celery a firm favourite in the mornings. “It’s a way of taking in nutrients in a palatable quick form, because they don’t want to be eating lots of bulk when they’re riding but we need to look after their health during long endurance events,” he explains.

Try this: Mitchell experiments with juice recipes at home; the best way is to buy your own juicer and try it for yourself.

If you want to ride like Wiggins then you need to think about your diet

Train to eat more

Consuming three days’ worth of calories in 24 hours takes practice. “The gut is very trainable. If your performance is compromised because you don’t feel you’re fuelling adequately, then training your gut to take on more will help,” says Mitchell.

Try this: Use energy drinks mixed from powders rather than ready mixed versions, so you can gradually increase the amount of carbs you’re taking in on rides; up to 90g per hour could benefit your riding.

Of course, no one can live for three weeks on glucose and maltodextrin. Mitchell says that eating real food, even in the thick of the race, is important. “The riders have homemade rice cakes, paninis, gels and drinks during the race.”

This article was originally published in Cycling Plus magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.

What is fat?

Rose Brandle, What Mountain Bike — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 09:00:00 GMT

Fat is a divisive issue, and our current attitude to dietary fat is very much linked to medical and media opinion, which relegates all fat to the ‘bad for you’ list – regardless of where it comes from or how much of it you consume.

That’s a very simplistic and unhelpful view, though. Fat is a necessary part of our diet and is an essential part, in the form of lipids, of every single cell in your body – each one is contained by a membrane that’s made of proteins and lipids. So, without fat, your cells (and you) would just be a puddle of chemicals on the ﬂoor.

The confusion comes from the huge rise in heart disease in developed countries, and the championing of an oversimpliﬁed approach to fat by the press. There is a strong correlation between heart disease and over consumption of saturated and trans fats (unsaturated fat with trans-isomer fatty acids), but this has sparked a belief that all fat is bad for you.

Even singling out these fats as a cause of disease may be ﬂawed. The Fulani people of northern Nigeria have a diet that’s extremely high in saturated fat (around 25 percent), yet the results of a 2001 study showed they had a low risk of cardiovascular disease – probably due to their active lifestyle and low total energy intake. So it’s not saturated and trans fats per se that can lead to disease, but over consumption and over sufﬁciency of these fats when paired with other energy sources. As always, moderation is the key.

Most of the confusion over fat comes from not knowing how fats are used by the body. Here we look at the different types of fat and their functions.

What is saturated fat?

Saturated fat is the bogey man of the fat family, and not without reason: as we’ve already mentioned, its consumption is linked to hardening of the arteries and heart disease. It’s mainly found in animal products (dairy and meat) and is generally solid at room temperature. If you follow a sensible diet with minimal processed food there should be no reason to cut out saturated fat altogether — in fact it’s better to eat butter, for example, than a trans fat laden substitute, as long as it’s in moderation.

What is monunsaturated fat?

Mainly found in nuts and seeds and their oils, monunsaturated fat is known to lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. Its ability to raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol is still under debate, as is its place in the progression of certain diseases. Oleic acid, for instance, may boost memory and reduce blood pressure, but is also associated with increased risk of breast cancer. Again, balance is the key.

What is trans fat?

This is the really dangerous character in the fats family. Trans fat occur when monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fat is hydrogenated (the addition of hydrogenmolecules) for a longer shelf life; trans fats are a side effect of incomplete hydrogenation. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in the US stated in 2002 that “trans fatty acids are not essential and provide no known benefit to human health”, and that they raise levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and lower levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol. Foods to avoid? Cakes, biscuits, most chocolate and processed food in general, but particularly fast food.

What is polyunsaturated fat?

This is found mainly in grains, fish and seafood, and the family includes the Omega 3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) ALA, EPA and DHA, and linoleic acid, the key Omega 6 fatty acid. These are called “essential” because, unlike other fats, they cannot be made in the body. Some people try to boost their EFA levels with oil supplements, but recent research has suggested that EFAs from plant sources (ie. evening primrose oil) are not as bioavailable as those from fish sources.