What to Wear Cycling in Varying Weather, a Conversation with Coach Ertl This article began one December when I started trading emails with Coach David Ertl. Coach Ertl lives and rides in Iowa. I grew up in neighboring Missouri and can attest to the terrible weather (and the 100-degree-plus extremes — in normal years!) possible in […]
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What to Wear in Various Weather

Dictionary of Cycling Lingo
A List of Common Terminology to Decipher the Sometimes Arcane Patois of Road Cycling Ever wonder what cyclists are talking about when they start throwing around weird slang? We’ve created a bicycling dictionary for you, with definitions of the most common phrases and words related to cycling. Did we miss a word? Leave a comment […]
Anti-Aging: VO2 Max
By Coach John Hughes “Cardiorespiratory fitness, as measured by maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), is related to functional capacity and human performance and has been shown to be a strong and independent predictor of all-cause and disease-specific mortality.” Survival of the fittest: VO2max, a key predictor of longevity? Further, physiologists agree that declining VO2 max as […]
Move Around Before and After You Eat
By Gabe Mirkin, M.D. Always try to move your muscles before and after you eat because moving muscles helps to prevent a high rise in blood sugar after eating that can damage cells and increase your risk for diabetes, blood vessel damage, heart attacks, strokes, some types of cancers, and dementia.
‘Connect’ to Diet-Reverses-Diabetes Study: Even If You Don’t Have the Disease
By Kevin Kolodziejski Let’s say our paths cross three days from now, and you tell me you skipped reading my RoadBikeRider article this week. That you recently took a fasting blood sugar test and the doctor found your number to be optimal. Nowhere near the range that indicates you’re among the one in three Americans […]
Weak Muscles Predict Accelerated Aging, Disability and Death
By Gabe Mirkin, M.D. A study of 1,275 men and women found that those who had very weak handgrip strength had signs of accelerated aging, as measured by deterioration of the DNA in their cells (J Cachexia Sarcopenia Muscle, Nov 9, 2022). Previous studies have shown these DNA tests:
Intense Exercisers Have More Plaques but Fewer Heart Attacks
By Gabe Mirkin, M.D. The MARC-2 study followed 291 older men for 6.3 years with a test called Coronary Artery Calcification (CAC), and found that the amount of calcium in the arteries leading to the heart increased most in men who exercised at the highest intensity, even more than those who exercised the most (Circulation, […]