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Winter Training For Cyclists: Fundamentals for a Strong Season

Spring is Just 2 Months Away!

How do you want to feel when spring 2012 rolls around?

a)      Toned
b)      Strong
c)      Cardio-fit and ready to go
d)      Flabby and tired
e)      a, b, and c

If you answered “e” then you need to start thinking about training today. Winter’s inclement weather can trap you indoors, making exercise more challenging

Read more . . . Winter Training For Cyclists: Fundamentals for a Strong Season

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Your Most Important Muscles on the Bike

By Clair Cafaro

Think those razor cut quads are responsible for your cycling prowess? Think again.

 The legs tend to get all the credit when it comes to spinning your wheels, whether you’re indoors or out. In fact, it’s usually the quads and hamstrings that complain the most when your terrain

Read more . . . Your Most Important Muscles on the Bike

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How Effective is Slow Riding?

By Fred Matheny

Question: My boyfriend is doing a 300-hour regimen of slow riding (recommended by a coach) to build capillaries. The coach says if he rides harder during this period, he will prematurely destroy the budding capillaries. He rides three times a day — at dawn, lunch and dusk. Great for

Read more . . . How Effective is Slow Riding?

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Nutrition for Century Rides

Q: I’m doing my first 100km ride this fall. How do I know how much and how frequently I need to eat before, during and after the ride?

Beth Mansfield: The Best Energy Booster for the event day is a Carbohydrate-Rich DIET!

* Prevent the need for quick

Read more . . . Nutrition for Century Rides

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How Can I Remedy a Weak Leg?

Question: While riding, I sometimes feel my left leg drop off significantly in its contribution to powering the bike. Is there a training technique for dealing with this? — Don B.

Coach Fred Matheny Replies: Yes, and you don’t have to use a leg-press machine or any other

Read more . . . How Can I Remedy a Weak Leg?

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Should I Go Hard on Every Ride?

Q: I’m 43 and riding 250-300 km (155-186 miles) per week, which is a bit of a challenge in the wet winter we’re having here in Adelaide. This distance is broken into one 100-km (62-mile) ride plus 2 or 3 rides of 50-80 km (31-50 miles). Some are in a bunch, some solo.

As

Read more . . . The Roadies: Should I Go Hard on Every Ride?

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Flabby Core? Tone Up and Improve Your Cycling Technique

By Laurel-Lea Shannon

You’re on a long bike ride—pedalling hard up steep hills, flying down the other side, barrelling along the flats. Your legs, like powerful, well-tuned pistons, push through the kilometers. Twenty fly by, thirty, then forty—at 50 kms, your legs are still going strong but you notice you’re starting to wobble in the saddle

Read more . . . Flabby Core? Tone Up and Improve Your Cycling Technique

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Training for a Two-day Cycling Event

By Sheila Ascroft

Photo: Perry McKenna, OBC

For 1300 cyclists, riding from Ottawa to Kingston and back on an early June weekend is a cherished annual club event. For the first‑timer though, doing the Rideau Lakes Cycling Tour (RLCT) is a huge cycling challenge. The following eight‑week training plan culled from veteran

Read more . . . Training for a Two-day Cycling Event

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Women-Specific Bikes: Is Pink Political?

By Laurel-Lea Shannon

Photo: Trek Bicycles

If you’re in the market for a new bike this spring, you may be considering a women-specific bike. Most of the major manufacturers build them now. But beware. There’s a lot of misinformation about these bikes.

Ever heard of “shrink and pink”? That’s how some bicycle manufacturers, such as

Read more . . . Women-Specific Bikes: Is Pink Political?

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Warming Up and Cooling Down

By Laurel-Lea Shannon

Cyclists, especially new ones, are notorious for not warming up before rides or cooling down and stretching afterwards. It’s easy to jump on your bike and snort off down the road at top speed. But skipping your warm up before cycling can cause injuries, sore leg muscles, and make you feel short of

Read more . . . Warming Up and Cooling Down

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Cycling For Weight Loss

Finally, A Weight Loss Program For Women That Works!

Cycling For Weight Loss takes you back to basics.

No gimmicks . . .

No diet food . . .

No bull . . .

Just the basic facts about how you can
lose weight now and keep it off forever.

Cycling For Weight Loss

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Keeping Fit in the Off-Season

Get 4 Months Coaching from a Pro this Winter and Lead the Pack this Spring!

 

World-class cyclist and certified coach Diane Stibbard will help you reach your fitness goals with her training program, Keeping Fit In The Off Season.

With this easy-to-follow four-month cycling and

Read more . . . Keeping Fit in the Off-Season

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Spring into Training

By Gillian Scobie

Photo by Jerry Manco of JLM Studio

Some of you have been slogging away all winter on your trainers. Others have been skiing, skating or running. Now it looks like spring is finally here. Time to get back on your bike—outside! I talked to Jenny Brown, owner of Reactivated Personal

Read more . . . Spring into Training

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Building a Solid Base for Spring Cycling

By Jen Fawcette

While riding my big steel commuter bike to work last November I was hit by a car door. The collision damaged the door of the tiny Yaris more than it hurt me, but I took this accident as a sign to put my bike away for the year. Like a cat, I only

Read more . . . Building a Solid Base for Spring Cycling

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Keeping It Positive When Injury Takes You Out Of The Saddle

By Heather Pardon

If you had to make the choice between spending time on crutches or spending time in the saddle, I’m going to take a guess that you’d prefer to spend time in the saddle.

You’re a cyclist, so that makes sense. You love to ride your bicycle. For fitness, for friendship, for challenge, for the

Read more . . . Keeping It Positive When Injury Takes You Out Of The Saddle

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Greater Endurance with Aging

BY Gabe Mirkin

I’m 74 years old and ride my bicycle more than 200 miles per week, often in pace lines with younger riders. I have noticed that younger riders can easily pull away from me in short bursts, but I keep coming back on them and seem to be better able to keep

Read more . . . Greater Endurance with Aging

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Cross-Training for Fitness

By Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Fitness refers to your heart, and the harder you exercise, the more fit you become. But every time you exercise vigorously your muscles are injured, and the harder you exercise, the longer it takes for your muscles to heal. Muscle biopsies done the day after a person exercises vigorously show bleeding into

Read more . . . Cross-Training for Fitness

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Stretching Pros and Cons – Dr. Gabe Mirkin

Researchers at the University of Sydney in Australia reviewed the world’s literature and concluded that stretching does not prevent muscle soreness that follows vigorous exercise (1). Athletes train by taking a hard workout, feeling sore the next day, and then taking easy workouts for as many days as it takes for the soreness to go

Read more . . . Stretching Pros and Cons – Dr. Gabe Mirkin

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Debunking The Max HR Formula

[MAXIMUM HEART RATE FORMULA-Gabe Mirkin, M.D.]
Many of the standard tests used to measure heart function are based on a nonsensical MAXIMUM HEART RATE formula, that predicts the fastest your heart can beat and still pump blood through your body. Although this formula is the golden standard used today, it is not based on science.

In 1970,

Read more . . . Debunking The Max HR Formula

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Get Coached and Get Fit For Spring

What’s stopping you from reaching the level of fitness you want? Maybe you exercise a lot but aren’t getting stronger or faster. Maybe you have an injury you can’t shake, or a problem with fatigue. Maybe you’re not sure how to train for a new event you’d like to enter. Or, maybe you’re having trouble

Read more . . . Get Coached and Get Fit For Spring

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