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Your road cycling resource since 2001

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20 Tips for Your First Century

By Coach John Hughes For many cyclists riding a 100K or 100 miles is the classic achievement, something you focus on, train for and worry about for months. Although you’ve trained hard and think you're ready, you may also feel like a pro racer about to start his first Tour de France—nervous and not entirely sure you can finish. Here are 8 tips on your final preparations and … [Read more...] about 20 Tips for Your First Century

14 Nutrition Tips for Endurance Riders

By Coach John Hughes “I has been a great week for me. I feel much more comfortable on the bike and I think that is due, in part, to your advice to eat more on the bike. I really worked on that this week and especially on the 80-mile ride I did. It seems to have worked.” — from one of my client’s weekly reports. Summer is here and you’re probably planning a long ride. You … [Read more...] about 14 Nutrition Tips for Endurance Riders

15 Tips for Riding Your Best Century

By Coach John Hughes For many of us the big event of the season is a specific century or a gran fondo in which we want to do our best. You may want to finish your first century. Or have more fun and finish your local century without feeling trashed. Or set a PR in your club’s classic century. Or conquer a particularly hard 100. Or compete against others in a gran fondo. Or … [Read more...] about 15 Tips for Riding Your Best Century

Overtraining: A Guide for Cyclists

by Arnie Baker “What drives you to succeed, drives you to screw up.” —Mari Holden, World Champion, Time Trial, 2000 Overtraining is a physical and a psychological or emotional state. It is an imbalance between training and recovery, exercise and exercise capacity. The “training effect” is the body’s response to workload stress. If stress is too great, the body cannot … [Read more...] about Overtraining: A Guide for Cyclists

14 Ways for Big Riders to Improve

By Coach John Hughes Despite being a big rider in the peloton, "Miguelón" or "Big Mig," won the Tour de France from 1991 through 1995, the fourth, and last, to win five times, and the only five-time winner to achieve those victories consecutively.  He won the Giro d’Italia twice, one of seven racers to achieve the Giro-Tour double in the same season. Miguel Induráin was … [Read more...] about 14 Ways for Big Riders to Improve

Hairy Situation

by Scott Martin Noted bicycling expert Abigail Van Buren once wrote in her Dear Abby newspaper column that cyclists shave their legs so they won't get hair caught in the chain. Now, I always defer to Abby on sneaky spouses, meddling in-laws and anybody else who needs to Wake up and smell the coffee! But here I think she might've been sniffing something … [Read more...] about Hairy Situation

Ask The Coach: Bicycling Options for a Leg Length Discrepancy

Question: Arnie Baker’s recent article on saddle sores mentioned that a rider may experience discomfort on one side if a that leg is shorter. A possible fix is to shimmy the shoe of the shorter leg. Since this may apply to me I am curious if the shim should run the length of the shoe or just needs to be more in the area of the ball of the foot, where the foot contacts the … [Read more...] about Ask The Coach: Bicycling Options for a Leg Length Discrepancy

Exercise — It’s only Natural

by Coach Dan Kehlenbach Why do we exercise?  People often answer this question with responses like “to look better, to feel good, to relieve stress, to lose weight, to gain weight, to play basketball without getting hurt,” etc. The answers are virtually limitless, because exercise plays an important role in the daily lives of many people. … [Read more...] about Exercise — It’s only Natural

Getting the Picture

by Scott Martin Yesterday I was so busy scraping my shoes, playing the piano and putting my head in a box that I rode into a ditch.  Perhaps I should explain.  Pedaling looks like an easy skill to master. You push on the pedals and the bike goes. It’s not like hitting a curveball, heading a goal or walking down a fairway in a lime-green argyle sweater.  … [Read more...] about Getting the Picture

Running 101 for Cyclists

by Jordan Galeles We walk every day and have since we were about a year old, but how often do we run? “Only when someone’s chasing me!” is what you'll hear from many cyclists. Cyclists are often turned off by running, and sometimes for a good reason. If you don’t start slow and make sure the body has plenty of time to acclimate, it can be a miserable experience! You … [Read more...] about Running 101 for Cyclists