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How To Choose a SUV Bike Rack

January 26, 2023 by Guest Post

As cyclists, we love the sport. Apart from providing freedom, the simple two-wheel bicycle offers physical and mental health benefits such as relieving stress and maintaining a healthy weight.

Cycling can be an expensive sport, and with bikes costing thousands of dollars, cyclists need to ensure their bikes are secure. Enter the SUV bike rack. Fortunately, these bike racks won’t break the bank like many other cycling accessories. Moreover, choosing the best bike rack for an SUV is critical not only to the safety of your bike but also to the size of the hole in your wallet.

So how exactly do you choose an SUV bike rack? And are there different types of bike racks for SUVs? You bet there are. When choosing the best SUV bike rack, you need to consider a few factors.

So without further adieu, let’s take a look at the different types of bike racks and some of the important factors to consider.

Important Factors To Consider When Purchasing A SUV Bike Rack

Generally speaking, the two most frequently asked questions that pop up are how often and how far do you intend to travel with your bikes? Next up, you need to tackle the question of the type of bikes you have and how many bikes your SUV bike rack will have to carry.

Are these questions really necessary to answer? YES. Taking the time to answer these fundamental questions will not only save you money but a big headache later on.

Other factors to consider:

Does your bike have thru-axles?
Do you own heavy mountain bikes?
Do you own light road bikes?
Are they expensive bikes made from carbon?

As you’ll see, there are several types of bike racks for SUVs, so it’s essential to consider how you want to carry your valuable bikes. Do you prefer to carry them on an SUV bike roof rack or a no hitch bike rack for an SUV?

One additional factor that many cyclists don’t consider is the simple fact that most bikes are entirely different in terms of weight, style, dimensions and price. Because of this, you need to do plenty of thorough research on the many SUV bike rack brands on the market.

Simply put, you’ll probably want to invest in a quality SUV bike rack that doesn’t cost a third of one of your Pirelli P-Zeros.

Types Of SUV Bike Racks

Before we look at the best bike racks for SUVs, let’s look at the types of racks available. Each rack serves a different purpose, so it’s important to know which rack serves what purpose.

Roof Bike Racks

SUV roof racks are remarkably adaptable and offer some of the best safety for your pricey bikes. That being said, they tend to be a bit more costly than other SUV bike racks.

Hitch Bike Racks

As the name suggests, the hitch mount bike rack fits directly into your trailer hitch. These bike racks are pretty common among bike enthusiasts as they are generally cheaper and still provide a decent amount of safety compared to a no hitch bike rack for SUV’s.

Trunk Bike Racks

Trunk bike racks attach to the trunk of your car via a series of unsightly straps and hooks. These SUV bike racks are cheap but tend to move around during travel, damaging your bikes.

Truck-Bed Bike Racks

These types of bike racks are perfect for SUVs and are incredibly versatile. They are easy to install and can also carry boats, mini-bikes and ride-on mowers.

The Top Five Bikes Racks For SUVs

Saris Bike Rack

Price: $215.93

Boasting one of the lightest yet strongest frames, the Saris Bike rack utilizes an “arc design,” enabling bikes to be transported without hitting each other. Made in the USA, this bike rack is perfect for your SUV and can carry two bicycles. Amazingly this SUV bike rack suits 90% of the most popular cars on the market.

Things We Liked

Sleek and stylish design
Rust resistant
Lightweight
Robust and durable

Things To Consider

Only comes in black

Young 2-Bike Rack Hitch Mount Platform Style

Price: $249.99

The Young 2 bike rack is safe and secure, comes with a 1-year warranty and can hold up to 200lbs. Not only does the Young 2 SUV bike rack use a tilt-back design, but it also folds away easily, saving you plenty of space. The padded hooks are an excellent feature that secures your bike without scratching it.

Things We Liked

One-year warranty
200lbs carrying capacity
Tilt-back design
Folds away

Things To Consider

Not the best-looking SUV bike rack; that said, it does a great job

KAC K2 2” Hitch Mounted Rack 2-Bike Platform Style Carrier

Price: $359.99

The KAC K2 is a platform-type, hitch-mounted SUV bike rack that allows you to transport 2 bikes. The KAC K2 simply attaches to your 2-inch trailer hitch for a secure ride. With a total carrying capacity of 120 lbs, it provides more than enough durability to give you peace of mind on the highway.

Things We Liked

Limited lifetime warranty
Tilt-action to access your trunk easily
Easy-to-follow assembly instructions
Supports even the widest E-Bikes

Things To Consider

Slightly on the pricey side but well worth the money

Thule EasyFold XT 2 Hitch Bike Rack

Price: $999.95

Undoubtedly the cream of the crop in the SUV bike rack category, the Thule EasyFold is the premium option for cyclists who want a safe and secure rack with all the bells and whistles. Thule is one of the industry’s most reputable brands and has built quality bike racks since 1962.

With easy trunk access via a smart foot pedal and a fully foldable design, the Thule bike rack screams style while remaining functional. Best of all, it requires no tools to assemble.

Things We Liked

Reputable brand
Quality build materials
Rust resistant
Sleek design
Functional
No tools needed to assemble

Things To Consider

Price; but as they say, if you want the best, sometimes you’ve got to pay

ROCKBROS Suction Cup Bike Rack

Price: $238.18

The ROCKBROS Suction rack takes a unique approach when it comes to securing your bikes. As the name suggests, the rack uses suction cups and attaches easily to your roof. The cups are made of soft yet highly-durable rubber, so they won’t damage your car paint.

The ROCKBROS suction rack comes with an easy-to-install video that guides users through an easy 5-step installation process. All ROCKBROS bike racks come with a one-year guarantee.

Things We Liked

Easy-to-install
Super lightweight
Sleek design
Affordable
Fits all types of vehicles

Things To Consider

Can be a bit fiddly

That’s A Wrap

So there you have it, everything you need to know before purchasing an SUV bike rack. Remember, several factors should be considered before you pull the trigger and spend your hard-earned cash.

Factors such as:　

How often you’ll be using the bike rack?
What type of bikes do you own?
How many bikes do you have?
Do your bikes have thru-axels? And, of course,
Your budget

Take your time, explore all the bike rack options, and I’m sure you’ll find the right SUV bike rack for you and your beloved bikes.

Happy biking!!

What Is a Hybrid Bike? (A Beginners Guide)

January 18, 2023 by Eric Lister

You may be a road cyclist, mountain biker, non-participant or somebody just getting into the sport of cycling. But whoever you are, it’s not at all uncommon to have posed the question upon visiting your local sporting goods store, “What is a hybrid bike?”

You may have had the experience of being one of those poor souls entering into a bike shop for the first time. It is then that you were encountered by an enthusiastic young salesman asking what kind of rig you might be in the market for.

Road?

Mountain?

Commuter?

Touring?

City?

Hybrid?

It can be a bit overwhelming…

Hearing the word hybrid no doubt implies the combination of some such things…all of which you know absolutely nothing about!

Well, we’ve today endeavoured to mitigate this experience to the best of our ability, by teaching you a little bit about what this style of bicycle entails, its uses, and who it might be best suited for out there in the vast landscape of buying possibilities. We hope that by the end you’re able to approach the matter in a way that makes you a little more comfortable, especially for those out there getting into cycling for the first time.

Sales associate helps a woman pick out a bike at a bike shop.

torwaiphoto/Adobe Stock

What Does “Hybrid Bike” Mean?

Hybrids are basically a blend of the two major cycling disciplines, road biking and mountain biking. They are a composite that seeks to address some of the major components of both types of bike in one, so as to create a machine that is versatile enough to accommodate activity performed on the road and on the trails.

Some of these components include the following:

Handlebars – Hybrids typically have flat handlebars, like those of a mountain bike, as opposed to dropped handlebars like you would see on a road bike. This contributes to a more upright riding position.

Tires – Modern hybrid bikes can be fitted with several sizes and types of tires that you’ll find on both road and mountain bikes. 26” used to be the standard, but it is now common to see 27.5” and 29” as well.

Suspension – Typically hybrid bikes are limited in suspension, and some don’t have any at all. It’s not uncommon though to see front suspension forks that offer some relief if you were to head out on some light-medium duty trails.

Gears – Some hybrid bikes have only one speed (and are aptly named “single speed bikes”). Others can have a wide range of gears, which is something you’ll want to pay attention to. Less gears means less variability in intensity, which for a beginner rider can be overwhelming.

The term hybrid bikes can mean a lot of things. In general, yes, it means the combination of a road and mountain bike in one. But depending on the brand, style, etc. that hybrid bike could lean more towards a road bike or more towards a mountain bike. Let’s look at the pros and cons of this bike category to better determine if it’s going to be the right choice for you.

MarekPhotoDesign/Adobe Stock

Pros of Hybrid Bikes

If you’re someone who is just getting into bike riding (or haven’t done it in a long time), a hybrid bike is a good way to start acclimatizing your body to the sport. The more specialized you get with a bike into a particular discipline, the more aggressive the positions you’re going to be in on the bike. Different parts of your body are going to be subject to more load and intensity, and it’s going to vary depending on the specialty of your machine.

A hybrid bike keeps you in a more upright position, which lessens the load on your hands, wrists, shoulders and lower back. Your body needs time to adapt to spending time on the bicycle, and if you eventually decide to get into road cycling, for example, your body will appreciate the time it had to strengthen itself on a hybrid before dropping into a more loaded, aerodynamic position.

The cost of a hybrid bike is another excellent benefit, and is reflective of its more generalized nature. If you were looking for the tip of the spear in terms of performance, parts and quality…you wouldn’t be buying a hybrid bike. That’s not to say they aren’t well-built and dependable pieces of technology. But it is to say that they will only take you so far in any such direction…

…which takes us to the cons.

Cons of Hybrid Bikes

By far the biggest con of a hybrid bike is going to be its limited performance. If you start to become more serious about a particular type of biking, a hybrid bike is going to quickly fail you as soon as the demands exceed its capabilities. A hybrid bike rapidly becomes just a bad road or mountain bike as soon as you venture further into one discipline or the other.

If you want to become a competitive triathlete, you better be able to ride a road bike – fast – and maybe for hours on end. If you want to rip down gnarly mountain terrain – tackling tight turns, huge drops and acute changes in speed – you better be able to harness the unique feel and frame of a high-end mountain bike. A hybrid bike just won’t cut it either way.

This can also have a troubling psychological effect, particularly on people who are getting further and further into mountain biking (which is what hybrids are often marketed for). Not knowing the potential performance metrics of your bike can be catastrophic when trying out new terrain that is more difficult than you’re used to. These types of bikes have to be treated with caution, and the trails you’re on have to always be respected for their level of difficulty.

Is a Hybrid Bike Right for You?

Hybrid bikes are perfect for people who want to cycle recreationally and on different types of terrain. They’re great for commuting and weekend rides with the family. They allow you to get into the sport at perhaps a slightly lower price point, and at the same time experience all the diversity of the outdoors, which is a major part of what makes cycling so engaging and attractive to its participants.

They help your body mold to the bike without putting it into positions that can lead to injury. This helps prepare the body for more aggressive postures that might need to be sustained in things like road racing somewhere down the line. But being more upright and taking things slow is always a good approach. The hybrid bike allows for that.

As soon as you start to become more specialized, it’s time to start looking at more specialized bikes. Not only will a more specific rig be more functional, efficient and durable for the tasks it is designed to do – it will be safer and more dependable as well.

vit/Adobe Stock

Become a Better Cyclist!

Dynamic Cyclist is a training platform for cyclists that offers interactive, follow-along videos and programming that addresses mobility, strength, injury prevention and more! No matter what type of bike you’re riding, it’s always good to make sure your body is in check, healthy and prepared for the demands you’re about to place on it. Sign up for a 7-day free trial HERE!

The Reasons Behind Your Cycling Knee Pain

January 4, 2023 by Eric Lister

The two main areas that cause cyclists the most headache are the lower back and the knee. Ride long enough and you are almost guaranteed to experience some sort of pain, discomfort or injury in one or both of these parts of the body. Today we are going to focus on the knee, why cycling knee pain occurs, and what we can do to prevent it from happening.

Halfpoint/Adobe Stock

When a particular sensation is prevalent amongst athletes participating in the same sport, it can be tempting to throw the baby out with the bath water and think that the sport itself is the problem. Take running for example. A large percentage of the population believes running is bad for the human body, when in fact the evidence supports an entirely opposite hypothesis, that human beings are actually the best and most efficient runners in the animal kingdom.

Cycling also carries some of these stereotypes.

Because so many cyclists have knee problems, the conclusion must be that cycling is bad for your knees – right? We don’t think so. In our view, the fact that it’s a commonly experienced problem simply means that most people’s knees are not prepared to do the work that they’re doing on the bike, and/or perhaps are doing that work improperly.

Just like running, everybody thinks riding a bike is just riding a bike. Something you learned when you were a kid and kept with you for the rest of your life. How could you mess it up? But they fail to consider the differences between these two time periods. The truth is cycling as an adult is far different from riding your bike as a kid, and our bodies are quick to remind us of that through the telltale signs of pain and injury.

Let us consider these differences, and take into account everyone from beginners to professionals, by analyzing some of the causes of knee pain from cycling.

Increasing Volume Too Quickly

A classic mistake of anybody entering into a sport or trying to regain their fitness after injury is doing too much too soon. It doesn’t help that many people are recommended or even prescribed cycling as an activity that is low impact that they can do despite their lack of overall strength, health and wellness (this is the case for several elderly people, for example).

Our sport is indeed a great way for people to get their health in check, but that doesn’t mean its unique demands on the body can be disregarded and instantly capitalized upon. You have to earn a healthy body, and the price is not small. Going from zero to 50 miles a week on your new road rig is an approach that is going to humble you very quickly.

The knees are uniquely positioned to cause you agony in this scenario. Because of the tremendous forces produced by our quadriceps (front thigh muscles) while pedaling, and our position on the bike in general, the knee joint is susceptible to the bulk of those loads being constantly transferred across it. If it has not had the time to slowly adapt to such loads, you could be in for a painful awakening.

Cyclist’s knee is a broad term used for conditions such as patellofemoral pain syndrome, patellar compression syndrome, patellar tendinitis, and a host of other names that are describing pain on the front of the knee, just below or above the kneecap, and even inside the knee joint itself. Often increasing with use and subsiding with rest.

It is outside the scope of this article to go into each of these with detail, but it should be noted that they can all be exacerbated by an unprepared knee that the athlete is asking too much of in their training. Like any sport, jumping on the bike is going to have you using your muscles in new ways you’re not used to. You have to give the body time to adapt to these new demands, by slowly and thoughtfully increasing training volume when it is ready to do so.

Axel Kock/Adobe Stock

Weak Hips

A sport can be looked at as a more advanced level of physical activity, just like going to university is a more advanced level of education. To get into university, there are prerequisites; the attainment of certain grades or passing of certain exams, for example. In sports, there are also prerequisites, we just don’t usually consider them before participating.

One of these prerequisites for a new or current cyclist should be having strong hips. Having strong hips not only stabilizes the pelvis and contributes greatly to the overall function of the body, it also helps keep the knees in good alignment. Strong hips are not going to develop on the bike, however, adding to the importance of this particular tip.

Hip abduction (moving the leg away from the midline) and hip extension (moving the leg behind you) are severely limited when cycling. The saddle immobilizes the pelvis, and the degree to which your hips flex and extend is nowhere near their full range of motion. This, played out over a long enough period of time, is likely to get us hurt.

When doing a squat, for example, one of the functions of your glute (butt) muscles is to keep your knees from collapsing inward. In fact, a common cue when having someone squat is telling them, “push your knees out”, this activates the gluteals and helps you maintain balance and activation in the hips when squatting. If you see a person’s knees falling inwards during a light-moderate intensity squat, they likely have weakness in their hips.

Why does this matter for cyclists? If you have weak hips, your knee is likely collapsing inward while you pedal. This is a problem, because you are going to further exacerbate this imbalance the more you ride your bike, and this can lead to your muscles developing improperly, pulling structures like your patella (kneecap) out of alignment.

Supplementing your time on the bike with a balanced strength and conditioning program is going to help ensure that you maintain balance throughout your body, and reduce the chances of your cycling causing knee pain down the line.

Rido/Adobe Stock

Saddle Height

Your bike fit can have a tremendous amount of influence over how your body feels and functions while riding. The saddle height in particular can be a culprit when it comes to cycling knee pain, because the loads on, and angles of, your knee are going to be different depending on where your seat is positioned.

Having a seat that is too low is going to be the most detrimental when it comes to developing pain in the front, sides and inside the knee. This is because it’s going to keep your knee in a more bent position throughout the whole pedal stroke, and you’re going to be pushing from a mechanically disadvantaged position that puts huge force right through the knee joint. This also leads to quicker fatigue and overall breakdown of form in the athlete.

Having your seat too high isn’t good either, however, because now you’re going to be at risk of hyperextending the leg, and putting excessive strain on the internal ligaments of the knee (ACL/PCL) as well as the hamstring tendons and calf musculature in the back of your leg. The lower leg will also take more load than necessary, putting tissues like the achilles tendon at risk of developing further problems.

A correct saddle height will leave you with a slightly bent knee at the 6 o’clock pedal position. If you straighten your leg in this position your heel would drop 1-2 cm below the pedal. This position keeps the knee stable, and allows enough extension to properly utilize the force of the quadriceps, hamstrings and lower leg, but not too much to overextend and strain the ligaments of the knee.

Knee Rehab Program for Cyclists

Looking for a program that will help you address the muscle imbalance that is likely causing your knee pain? Dynamic Cyclist is an online training platform designed to help cyclists become stronger and faster while riding pain free for years to come. Complete your regimen with an all-inclusive program that addresses mobility, flexibility, strength and injury prevention, all for a fraction of the cost of one physiotherapy appointment. Try out their 6 Week Functional Rehab Program and experience the results for yourself. Click here to try 7 days free!

How To Choose The Best Women’s Cycling Gloves

December 1, 2022 by Guest Post

Do you aspire to become the next Marianne Vos but feel like your fingers might fall off while cycling? You are not alone to have taken an unexpected tumble and cut up your palms, lost grip on handlebars, or had sweaty hands.

These are the most common complaints among women cyclists trudging through the miles. Thankfully, a pair of cycling gloves can solve all these issues. Cycling gloves provide more control, protection in a crash, and a comfortable grip.

Cycling gloves improve the grip on handlebars and protect the palms from road rashes in the event of a crash by preventing friction and absorbing road vibration.

women's cycling gloves helmet and water bottle

Choosing The Best Women’s Cycling Gloves

The ideal cycling gloves must fit perfectly to retain sensitivity between the bike and hand. They serve as your second skin, so they shouldn’t cut off blood circulation or cause discomfort during cycling. After all, you need a comfortable grip to change gears, ring bells, and pull brakes efficiently.

Always go for touch-sensitive material and breathable fabric, as nothing is worse than sweaty hands inside a cycling glove that isn’t moisture wicking. A winter ride can cause your extremities to drop in temperature, so to avoid a disconnected feeling in your fingers, go for the best cold-weather cycling gloves made of insulating fabric. Cycling gloves come with both full-finger and half-finger covering and padding options.

Are you looking for the best road cycling gloves? We have tested dozens of pairs in the quest to find the best gloves for cycling.

Here’s our pick of the best women’s cycling gloves.

1. Terry Women’s Windstopper Bike Gloves

Price: $54.95

Terry Full Finger WINDSTOPPER gloves are designed to deliver enhanced warmth during a chilly winter breeze with suede palms that are pre curved.

They come with thin gel inserts and Amara palms for better road shock absorption and enhanced comfort. These gloves are water-resistant, breathable, and windproof, which is why they come first in our list of the best cycling gloves for hand numbness.

2. Fox Racing Women’s Mountain Ranger Bike Glove

Price: $29.95

At just $ 29.95, Fox Rangers are one of the best cycling gloves you can get. They come with compression molded cuffs for an excellent and secure fit.

Fox Ranger gloves are made with absorbent micro-suede material and conductive threads at the index finger, allowing smart device touch sensitivity. These gloves set the standard in performance and comfort by offering high functionality and protection for a smooth cycling trip.

3. Gore C5 Cycling Gloves

Price: $60.00

Like other Gore gloves, the Gore-Tex Infinium technology supports well-being and an active lifestyle without compromising functionality or comfort during cycling. Being the best cycling gloves for the winter season, they are windproof, water-repellent, breathable, and versatile.

They come with touch screen compatibility, Velcro wrist fastener, pre-shaped fingers, and silicon print with outstanding grip.

4. B-Forest Lyna Winter Gloves

Price: $18.88

B-Forest Lyna gloves are loved by thousands of women cyclists, mainly due to their versatility, durability, and reliability. They are lightweight, breathable, and anti-abrasive, with hook closure and high elastic microfiber. Lyna gloves feature touch-sensitive pads on all fingers, allowing you to use your smart devices without removing them.

Powerful shock absorption, reduced road vibration and lower hand fatigue are some of its best characteristics.

5. ROVOS Cycling Gloves

Price: $16.99

These half-finger cycling gloves make it to our best cycling glove list as they are designed to meet women’s anatomy and size and deliver optimal performance and grip. The foam padding placement in the palm lowers pressure and absorbs road vibrations and shocks.

They are made with breathable lycra and spandex, delivering seamless construction for unbeatable comfort. ROVOS cycling gloves are available in different colours and sizing options with Velcro closure to provide a custom and secure fit.

6. LuxoBike Cycling Gloves

Price: $15.99

An affordable yet superior pick in our list of the best-padded cycling gloves, LuxoBike cycling gloves are your ideal partner for all types of cycling. The interior padding minimizes road vibration and absorbs road shock, while the durable micro suede palm delivers maximum comfort, flexibility, and a firm grip on handlebars.

These gloves are available in 8 different colours and sizes. They offer convenient features like pull-on closure, 4-zone shock adsorbing pads, moisture wicking, impact resistance, soft thumb towel, and innovative finger loops.

Wrapping Up

Always look for anti-slip, breathable fabric, cushiony comfort, and adjustability when choosing the best cycling gloves. A snug fit on the wrist, easy-pull lugs, and versatility are a few other points to consider.

No matter the type of women’s cycling glove you purchase for your next cycling trip, ensure that they meet your style and needs.

The Best Way to Avoid Cycling Injuries

November 17, 2022 by Eric Lister

“How can you prevent injury while cycling?”

It’s one of the first questions you should be asking as a cyclist. We all want to get faster, stronger and better on the bike, and while there’s definitely tried and true methods to attaining those things, there’s also a guaranteed way to prevent them from happening: Getting injured.

Being sidelined from the saddle is a cyclist’s worst nightmare. We all know the exercise-induced-junkie-type behaviour that is all too common in ourselves and our fellow riders. We love to ride and we love to ride often. Being “injured” is almost a misnomer for many members of the cycling community, and we’re all too inclined to take a position of out of sight, out of mind.

But that can only go on for so long. Anybody who has been riding for a while knows that the aches turn into pains if you give them enough time, and because of the repetitive nature of our sport, cycling injuries in general tend to stick around longer than others.

This calls for action, a plan, something to have in place and fall back on. It’s not a pill, it’s not a tool, and it’s not a quick fix. It’s more of a philosophy, a necessary component. Something you need to build yourself and your cycling practice around. Something that will help you keep your status not just as a cyclist, but as an overall strong, healthy human being.

One of the best ways to avoid cycling injuries is by implementing a strength, mobility and conditioning program into your training.

Common Cycling Injuries

Think about it, apart from falls and collisions (which, admittedly, make up a large percentage of cycling injuries), how do we get injured in our sport? There are no rapid changes of direction that blow out our ACL’s. No violent kicks, throws or punches to tear a hip or shoulder. No lifting of heavy loads to herniate a disc…it’s just different from other sports.

There is one word, though, that could characterize the plight of the average cyclist…

That word, is overuse.

Overuse injuries are the bane of your existence if you are an avid bike rider of any kind. The bike keeps you in a more or less fixed position while riding, which is something the body can adapt to, but only so much. There comes a time where you cross the point of adaptation and creep into the realms of imbalance; a place where lurking, recurring injuries love to dwell.

Knee pain, neck pain, lower back pain, groin pain, hamstring tightness, headaches, shortness of breath and so much more can all be the result of overworked muscles. Not necessarily just in the area of pain, but somewhere in the chain of the human body’s unbelievably complex web of connectedness.

How do we restore function? How do we get rid of pain? How do we find balance? It is something we have to achieve in our time spent off the bike.

Strength Training for Cyclists

prevent injury while cycling with strength training

fizkes/Adobe Stock

Exposing your body to exercises that work opposing muscles from the ones you use while cycling are going to help pull joints back into alignment and strengthen the tissues that get neglected through our sport. It is common for cyclists to think that any time off the bike is wasted time, but going back to the beginning of this article, if you end up injured, you might not be spending any time on the bike at all.

Some people fear the idea of strength training because they don’t want to get too bulky, and are afraid it will actually hinder their performance on the bike. Nothing could be further from the truth. Several studies have shown that in both men and women, one of the best things you can do to increase cycling performance is to increase the cross sectional area (size) of your muscles.

Remember this as well, building muscle is a slow and tedious process. It requires weeks, months and years of consistent week-in-week-out effort. So the idea that you’ll wake up one day and be too bulky to ride efficiently is a myth you should be all too willing to dispose of.

What Should My Program Consist Of?

Dedicating time to bringing harmony back into your body is the only way to counter everything we put ourselves through on the bike. A strength training program isn’t all about lifting heavy weights, there are several other components as well to ensure it remains balanced and complimentary to your body and the sport of cycling.

We can not only increase our strength, but our endurance as well. The higher our fitness level the less likely it is that our form will break down while riding, which can lead to our muscles being used improperly and adding significant stress to our joints.

We can also work on our mobility and flexibility to help keep tissues supple and vascular. Too much cycling activity can really start to limit our ranges of motion due to its relatively minimal amount of movement. The pedal stroke doesn’t take our hip or knee through a full range, and the rest of our body doesn’t move that much at all. Resultant stiffness can lead to constriction, which means less blood flow and nutrients delivered to the area, and an increased risk of injury.

How Do I Start?

Starting to exercise off the bike can be the most intimidating part of the process. We’re taking you away from what’s familiar and plunging you into a whole other world that applies to not just cycling, but every other sport and activity that there is. Sometimes the best thing to do is hire a professional, but coaching costs can be discouraging. That’s why we decided to come up with something better…

Dynamic Cyclist is our partnered training platform designed by cyclists, for cyclists. We’ve integrated mobility, conditioning and strength training into one, easy to use, 100% online user interface that our members can use 24/7 to fit their schedules. There’s no need for a gym membership, because all of our routines can be done at home with little to no equipment!

Everything has been prepared for you with high quality instructional videos led by world class coaches. All you need to do is press play and follow along!
For a fraction of the cost of a single physio appointment or personal trainer session, you can become part of our community of cyclists who want to ride pain free and be the best version of themselves on and off the bike. Try it for yourself by signing up for our 7-day free trial!

9 Tips on How to Build Your Own Cycling Training Plan

November 9, 2022 by Eric Lister

Whether you just bought your first rig or are an experienced road racer, a cycling training plan is going to be (or become) that friend who always tells you the truth, no matter how ugly that truth is. Saying you want to do something (increase your fitness, be a better cyclist, lose weight, etc.) is something entirely different from actually seeing your progress written down on a piece of paper.

Perhaps that’s why most people never do it.

It can be both heartbreaking and encouraging to look down at a planned workout or multiple week program, and then to see how you’ve been succeeding (or failing) throughout it. There’s no sense lying to ourselves, though. It’s better to see it in front of you than live in the delusion of doing better than you actually are.

This is one of the most important reasons to have a cycling training plan. It keeps you on track, makes you responsible for something and holds you accountable. While all that sounds great, actually building a training plan can be another monster all on its own. There are a lot of variables and areas of focus that you need to consider, all depending on your experience and current state of fitness.

Today we’re going to give you three tips and/or things to focus on whether you’re a beginner, intermediate or advanced cyclist. These ideas can be combined with any current training program you’re working through or currently building, and can be used for reference whenever taking consultation from a coach, training template or fellow rider.

Beginner

Source: jul14ka/Adobe Stock

Beginner cyclists can vary to a wide degree. You could have zero experience on the bike, or, be a once avid cyclist who hasn’t rode in a long time. This is the only stage out of the three that has a sliding scale, especially due to the cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance required for our sport. But whether you’re fresh to the bike or revisiting it after a prolonged absence, the beginner cycling training plan principles will remain the same.

1. Build Consistency

Getting used to regular riding is something your body needs time to adapt to. The pressure from the saddle, the energy requirements, the time allotment…all these things add up, and they’re just a few of the components required to build on more advanced levels of cycling. So focus on getting on the bike often, at least 3-4 times a week.

2. Try Different Intensities

This can be explored in a number of ways, one of the most freeing and encouraging for someone new to the sport would be to try different routes and terrains wherever it is you live. This will present a number of challenges depending on how many hills there are, the contours of the ground, etc. Start learning where your boundaries are in terms of pushing yourself.

3. Increase General Strength & Conditioning

In many ways, as a beginner, you are most susceptible to injury. You’re going to be asking your body to do a lot of things it’s not used to. This is why it’s important to carve out some time in your training schedule to develop overall strength and conditioning. It will help balance you on and off the bike and prevent injury long term.

Intermediate

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If you’ve built up the discipline and capacity to put in six to eight hours/week, and have been doing so consistently for at least six months, you might be able to call yourself an intermediate cyclist. People in this range are typically training for races around the five hour mark, and will aim to put in around eight to 10 hours/week of training.

1. Learn to Use Fat as Fuel

Don’t really, this isn’t really a conscious thing, but more of an experiential one. When people talk about “hitting the wall” in long duration aerobic exercise, the sudden halt in energy is often the point at which their body is switching from carbohydrates to fat as the primary fuel source. It’s a jarring feeling, one that takes getting used to. Longer rides will help you adapt to this.

2. Develop Your Muscles

The intensity and length of road races favours your slow-twitch muscle fibers. These are highly oxygenated muscle fibers that are capable of producing low amounts of force over long periods of time, which is exactly what needs to be done on the bike. They are workhorses, and can only be developed through sustained, long duration, consistent time riding.

3. Improve Your Cycling Economy

Your economy on the bike refers to the amount of oxygen required to move your body at a given speed or power output. As you build up higher training volumes, the capillarization of your muscles increases, you produce more mitochondria and your aerobic fitness goes up. All contributors to how well you will use your oxygen intake while riding.

Advanced

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Advanced riders have been training for a bare minimum of one year. They’ve completed several races and are used to putting in a lot of volume on the bike. Because of the adaptive changes their body has made in terms of fitness and resilience, they’re able to push their bodies much harder than a beginner. This opens up new possibilities for training, especially at higher intensities.

1. Develop Your Anaerobic Threshold

Anaerobic threshold is the highest exercise intensity you can sustain before lactic acid starts to quickly build up in the blood. In other words, your submaximal effort. A place that tilts on the edge of serious discomfort. To become a serious competitor in cycling, you need to become very comfortable with that discomfort, because you’ll be spending a large portion of your races there.

2. Changes in Intensity

Advanced riders are more free to play with interval training, and expose their bodies to large scale changes in intensity over short periods of time. This can help mimic race conditions when going over varying terrain, hill climbs, attacking for and defending position. Your body should be built up by this point to where you can throw anything at it without worrying about injury.

3. Improve Your VO2 Max

Cyclists have some of the highest VO2 max scores ever recorded. It refers to the maximum amount of oxygen you’re able to utilize during intense exercise. The combination of aerobic base training (long duration, low intensity) and maximum effort training (short duration, high intensity) is key. This should become a prime goal in the last phase of training before a race.

Ready to Ride Pain Free?

Our partner Dynamic Cyclist is a world class training resource for cyclists worldwide. They have a comprehensive library of follow along instructional videos with routines for stretching, mobility, strength and injury prevention. We invite you to join the community and try their programming in a FREE 7-day trial that can be accessed here.

What Muscles Does Cycling Work?

November 2, 2022 by Eric Lister

It can be hard to discern just through sensation what muscles we actually used during a ride, and you might find yourself wondering what was really accomplished in terms of muscular activity. What muscles does cycling work? Some people say their lungs are working, but the lungs aren’t a muscle. It’s obvious our legs are working, but the leg is a big thing with many parts. Which of them are doing what? How? And at what time when we’re on the bike?

The science of cycling is unique in several ways because our sport is quite different than most. There’s those sports where you operate on your own two feet, and others (like cycling, rowing and kayaking) that support and move you in a seated position.

Today we want to tell you, and give you a brief overview of the different muscles you use while cycling. Some are far bigger contributors to your cycling performance than others, and some are just completely misunderstood. So let’s start with busting a major myth right off the bat. The idea that cycling builds big glutes.

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Glutes

Unfortunately, it does not. Not to any great degree anyways. If you’re cycling to lift things up, make them more round and so on – you’re going to be quite disappointed. That is unless you’re coming from a place of very low fitness and activity (i.e. cycling is your first real form of exercise), in which case you will likely notice a difference, but only the same difference you would notice if starting any form of exercise.

If you’re relatively fit with a healthy body composition, the sport of cycling just doesn’t stimulate the gluteus maximus (your butt) enough for any real development. The gluteus maximus is the body’s primary hip extensor, it’s strong and big, and responds to intense, powerful hip extension like you see in a person sprinting or coming out of the bottom of a full depth squat.

The reason cycling negates its use is due to the range of motion your hip goes through while on the bike. If the hip doesn’t go past a certain degree of flexion, your body will not use the gluteus maximus to extend it. It’s too expensive, and the body is an energy conservation machine. It will instead resort to your secondary hip extensors, which are the hamstrings.

Electromyography analysis of the lower extremity during pedaling.
What muscles does cycling work

Source: Electromyographic Analysis of the Lower Extremity during Pedaling

Hamstrings

The graph above details this situation perfectly. This study placed individuals on a bicycle ergometer and had them pedal against changes in workload, pedal rates and other variables in seated and standing positions. The graph shows measures in electrical activity of different muscle groups throughout the test. Notice the difference between gluteus maximus and biceps femoris (your outer hamstring).

Your hamstrings have a primary function of flexing the knee, and a secondary function of extending the hip. When circumstances ask for hip extension, but the intensity requirement of that extension is low, your body resorts to a principle called synergistic dominance. This principle states that when a prime mover is inhibited (gluteus maximus), your body will use secondary movers (biceps femoris) to save energy and properly perform the function.

Conclusively, the hamstrings are far more responsible for hip extension while cycling than the glutes. On every downstroke your hamstrings are working to extend the hip down. Further, they also use their knee flexing function to start the upstroke. All of this work presents itself in the hamstring stiffness often seen globally among cyclists.

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Quadriceps

Let’s move on to the real workhorse muscles used while cycling, the quadriceps. Particularly the rectus femoris, also seen in the electromyography graph above. There is extreme and vigorous activity of the quadriceps on every pedal downstroke you perform. That’s because the range of the movement and your ability to produce force is operated primarily via your ability to extend the knee, which is, you guessed it, the main function of your quads.

Particularly when standing on the bike you are going to get more of a pump in your thighs due to the fact that you’re contracting them with the addition of a huge percentage of your bodyweight that would otherwise be supported by the saddle. The quadriceps are big, powerful muscles and that burning feeling you get climbing a hill or doing a sprint is because of the lactic acid that gets accumulated as a result of all their contractions.

Knee pain, IT band tightness and even hamstring injuries can be the result of overworked, stiff quadriceps muscles. Using foam rolling, mobility and stretching exercises to help release some of the tension they’re liable to hold on a cyclist can do a lot to increase blood flow and allow other muscles to do their jobs properly while riding.

Lower Leg Muscles

The all too forgotten muscles of the lower leg serve important roles while cycling. If they’re thought of at all we tend to only focus on the back of the lower leg, your gastrocnemius and soleus (calf muscles). These muscles work to flex the foot or point the toes down, which is a huge part of transitioning through the bottom of your pedal stroke.

It may surprise you to learn that there is also a whole other side to your lower leg! The tibialis anterior is a large muscle that runs along the front outer part of your shin with its tendons actually wrapping down into the arch of your foot. It’s responsible for picking your foot off the ground and lifting your toes. Which happens every time you transition to the upstroke and is accentuated drastically through the use of cycling shoes.

Cyclists with achilles tendon problems, knee issues and foot pain often have dysfunction somewhere in the lower leg muscles as well. We can mitigate a lot of those problems, however, by ensuring our lower legs are strong, supple and getting some focused attention in our training programs.

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Hip Flexors

Especially if you’re wearing cycling shoes, the hip flexors (primarily the psoas muscle) can help produce a more powerful upstroke while pedaling. Their function is in the name, hip flexion, but that’s not all they do. Because of their attachment to all five lumbar vertebrae, they are major stabilizers of the lower back.

Low back pain is one of the most common complaints amongst cyclists at all ages and skill levels. A good chunk of that responsibility has to fall on your poor psoas muscle, which can really get crushed if you’re putting in long hours on the bike. This is because the hip is always in a semi-flexed position, which for the psoas means a semi-shortened position.

If you constantly put a muscle in a shortened position you’re basically teaching it to stay there, and by chronically shortening a muscle it will eventually start to lose sarcomeres (base units of muscle), becoming permanently shorter. We want to avoid this at all costs, and implement stretching and mobility measures to return the psoas to its normal range.

Strengthen the Muscles Used in Biking

Our partner, Dynamic Cyclist, has intelligently designed programs to address all the stiffness, injury and common muscle weaknesses seen in cyclists! They have hundreds of follow along video routines that have been organized into balanced training programs for you to try, all for a low monthly cost! See for yourself by signing up for a 7-day free trial!

Here Are 5 Tips To Correct Your Cycling Posture

October 11, 2022 by Eric Lister

As cyclists, we want to be economical and good cycling posture plays a significant role in doing this. Because of the countless hours we end up sitting on our bikes, it would be wise to figure out how best we can achieve efficiency in order to avoid damage to our bodies and improve overall cycling performance.

The question here is: How can we improve cycling posture?

To become better at something, you need to become more efficient. The truth(s) we are actually seeking is how do we get better on the bike? How do we avoid overuse injuries? And how do we get more for less while cycling?

torwaiphoto/Adobe Stock

A great question can sometimes be answered with an equation – and one for efficiency already exists. Borrowed from physics, it reads as follows

Efficiency = Output/Input

In cycling terms: Greater output (cycling performance) divided by lesser input (work done on the bike & wind resistance) will equal more efficient cycling.

One way to lessen the input is by improving posture.

Cycling Posture

After you’ve had a professional bike fit done to reduce hot spots and accommodate your unique proportions, the next thing to address will be your posture. The reason is because using the wrong postures at the wrong times (or just doing them poorly) while riding can make you a far less efficient cyclist…

Increased wind resistance, bleeding force, overloaded joints and overworked muscles are just some of the damage we do to ourselves and our biking when posture gets compromised. You end up putting in more work (higher input) for less reward (lower output), opposite of the desired variables in our formula above.

Today we want to give you 5 tips to improve your cycling posture so you not only feel better on the bike, but also increase your longevity, lower your injury risk, breathe better and enjoy yourself more – even on tough rides.

#1. Adjust Your Hand Position

There are three hand positions that you’re going to use throughout your ride, and it’s important you use the right one at the right time. They each have significant influence over how the rest of your body will be positioned, all with their own advantages, disadvantages and specific use:

Tops

You should be using your tops when you’re at the front of the group, riding alone or climbing a hill. This allows you to be in a more upright position where you can take in deeper breaths, have a better view of the road, pedal hard and be overall more comfortable on the bike.

Hoods

This is where you’ll be the majority of the time, think of it as a maintenance position for when you’re cruising on flat terrain and maintaining a steady cadence. This is a good position to relax into and conserve energy with easy access to your shifters or brakes should you need them.

Drops

Your most aggressive position and ideal for descending down hills as it lowers your center of gravity. You’ll naturally be able to shift your weight back and literally “drop” into a more aerodynamic position; increased output (speed/distance) and lowered input (pedaling/wind).

#2. Remember To Breathe

Not getting enough oxygen in is going to force your body to compensate through your posture. You’ll start to crane your neck, your breathing will get erratic and exaggerated, your lower back will arch, and basically everything will fall apart. Breathing is not something you can mess with on a human being without some sort of consequence.

There’s a couple of ways to address this, number one is to improve your strength and conditioning so that the stimulus of cycling isn’t so stressful on your body. The better shape you’re in, the more calm you’ll be on the bike. You can learn to modulate when your body breathes deeply for recovery and when it should really push for a sprint or hill climb.

Number two, maintain good posture even when you’re at the limits of your fitness. “Fake it until you make it”, in a sense. The reason is because you want to send the signal to your brain that you’re in control. Try your best to harmonize yourself with the stress, and you’ll recover faster when you hit flat ground or return to a more steady pedal rate. Keep it together!

#3. Engage Your Core

Maintaining some degree of stiffness in your core is going to help support your back (keeping it from collapsing) and give your legs something solid to push off of. The lower extremity is connected to your torso through the hip flexors, and pushes/pulls on the pedals in concert with the contraction of your core muscles in the front and back of your body.

Especially as you drop into a more folded position, it’s important to keep your tail slightly tucked (pelvis rotated back) to keep your core engaged. This will increase the power output from your legs, and also disperse the load more evenly throughout your body.

Remember that any break in the kinetic chain (combined muscle activity to perform a movement) will cause force to bleed out and be wasted. For many people, this is the core, and it presents itself as an arched lower back on the bike or abnormal movement patterns that don’t look or feel natural.

#4. Relax Your Body

Too much tension on the other hand, is also going to affect the way you look and move on the bike. While the goal is to produce force, pedal hard and cycle fast while riding, we also need to be able to adapt, stay loose and complete the distance we’re setting out to do.

Put that chattering voice in your head to work by giving yourself reminders throughout the ride. Relax the shoulders and bring them down from the ears. Soften the elbows so they can act as your built-in natural shock absorbers. Unclench the jaw and relax your face. Loosen the grip and use only as much muscle as you need.

Bodybuilders know the effects of this all too well – they commonly report extreme muscle soreness and fatigue after doing a posing routine on stage. All their energy goes into those poses, but it doesn’t need to go into ours. Learn to catch yourself wasting unnecessary energy and gain it back through small reminders to relax.

Pattadis/Adobe Stock

#5. Control Your Exertion

Bursting too hard out of the blocks is a common problem among many types of athletes. In our sport, it can have some seriously negative effects on your cycling posture. If you overexert yourself too soon and use up all your reserves, you might not have the capacity to recover, and form will just slowly break down further and further as the ride goes on.

A proper warm up can really help mitigate this problem. It gives you the time to get yourself in a good headspace, go through the race or training plan in your mind, and figure out how best to approach the peaks and valleys of this session.

If you can stay relaxed in the right places, you’ll be able to fine tune the juxtaposition between your periods of recovery and moments of intense exertion (sprint, hill climb, attack, finish). This helps maintain overall composure, resulting in better race outcomes and training results over time.

Ride Pain & Injury Free For LIFE

If you’re looking for an all-inclusive training platform available to you 24/7 for a low monthly cost – check out, Dynamic Cyclist. They offer daily stretching and strength training video routines designed specifically for cyclists. Created by industry professionals, these programs will take your cycling to the next level and help you reach your full potential. So, whether you’re a beginner or an experienced rider, Dynamic Cyclist has everything you need to improve your performance and keep riding for years to come. Experience the results for yourself. You can try it for FREE by signing up HERE!.

These 3 Tips Will Make You Better At Endurance Cycling

September 20, 2022 by Eric Lister

The Basics

To get better at cycling, you’re going to have to spend a lot of time on your bike. Training for endurance cycling is, in some sense, a simple endeavour. We just have to create the infrastructure that can perform for long periods of time at a given intensity. This is what many people refer to as: Building your aerobic base.

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Building up a large aerobic base is the foundation that will support you through long, gritty rides on the roads and trails. By cycling at a low, sustainable RPM for extended sessions (on a consistent basis) your body will begin to make adaptations because of the demands you’re placing on it.

Being able to produce and utilize the adequate energy, while also effectively removing the byproducts of that energy production (lactic acid), would mean you’d be able to ride longer, harder and faster over greater distances for extended periods of time, just like professional cyclists.

A more comprehensive and robust capillary network will begin to form, and this will serve to supply more oxygen and nutrients to the working muscles. Further, it will increase the production of mitochondria, which can be thought of as the power plants of your muscle cells. These mechanisms combined create an efficient energy production and waste removal system.

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What Allows Us To Train For Endurance Cycling?

This is actually the first question we should be asking. Endurance training can be brutal and exhausting, yet we are often so concerned with the various training methods and desired outcomes that we forget to ask ourselves, “Am I ready to train today?”

The truth is that most people have not properly prepared for the training they put themselves through, evidenced by the high percentage of pain and subsequent injuries (non-traumatic) reported in the average cyclist. This could be due to a number of factors, all of which significantly contribute to an individual’s general health and well-being.

It will ultimately be a willingness to consider the various parts of our lives, health and bodies in combination with one other that determines how long we stay on the saddle, and how well we perform during that time. Despite the tried and true training protocols for endurance cycling, if we can’t ride due to injury or fatigue, none of them will matter.

How To Become A Better Endurance Cyclist

Here are three tips that will ensure you get the most out of your long distance training. By following this advice, you will also be mitigating your injury risk and working towards a sustainable, long term cycling practice that you can continue to do for the rest of your life. Staying on the bike and riding pain free should always be the number one goal.

Monitor Your Resting Heart Rate (RHR)

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This can be done in a number of ways with all sorts of fancy tools and gadgets, but there’s also a simpler method that costs no money and actually does more in the way of connecting you with your own body. That is by manually checking your pulse as soon as you wake up, and tracking your beats per minute in a simple journal or by creating a new column in your training log.

Studies have shown that an elevated RHR of just five extra beats per minute is strongly associated with overtraining. You’ll notice the same effect when you get sick, are having a troublesome time at work, have been making poor food choices – and the list goes on and on. All of these things are associated with a person being under increased levels of stress.

Whatever the reason, it can be taken as a sign that today might not be a great day to try and push yourself. Today might be a day for rest and relaxation. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you’re not going to become an elite endurance cyclist in one either. Taking the time to focus on recovery could be the best option when this simple metric starts to stand out.

Follow The 80/20 Rule

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The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Distribution, basically states that 80% of outcomes are due to 20% of causes. It is quite a miraculous phenomenon that is rampantly prevalent in human activity and nature too. Surely our meager cycling endurance training can’t escape something so fundamental. Perhaps it means we don’t have to work quite as hard as we think, either.

Adapting the 80/20 rule to endurance cycling would involve deciding what amount of time to spend between low intensity and high intensity training. As mentioned in our introduction, it is important to spend the majority of it (80%, perhaps?) building a large aerobic base. That leaves 20% for us to dedicate to higher intensity training like hill, sprint and interval workouts.

Having a training plan makes a ratio like this easy to track, but even a loose adherence to this guideline will start to provide significant returns on your training investments over time. A great way to start is if you ride five days a week, commit one of those days to a workout that really pushes you, saving the others for longer, more manageable rides.

Start A Strength & Mobility Program

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Cycling positions can be tough on the body, and if the plan is to stay in those positions for longer stretches of time over greater distances, that means the chances of injury are going to increase as well. Incorporating a properly programmed and professionally designed strength and mobility program can help counteract this.

Supple joints that can move through varying ranges of motion and strength training in particular have been shown to increase endurance cycling performance. By increasing the cross sectional area of the muscles used while cycling, they’re able to produce more force over longer periods of time, and their fibers become more resistant to pulls, strains and tears.

Dynamic Cyclist is our recommended choice for an all-inclusive program that is accessible 24/7 through an easy-to-use online training platform. It has follow along strength training, warm up and mobility routines to help you optimize your cycling performance, reduce pain and stay injury free before, during and after your time on the bike.

Deciding what to do and at what time can be challenging with all of the conflicting information available online. Dynamic Cyclist gives our readers a personal trainer, physiotherapist and professional cycling coach all combined into one low-cost option that they can try here for FREE.

No matter what your end goal is with endurance training, be sure to look after yourself, make sure you’re prepared, and do the necessary work that is going to keep you riding for years to come!

This Will Make You Faster On The Trails

August 17, 2022 by Eric Lister

Mountain biking is that unique brand of our sport notoriously responsible for its abrasions, broken bones, banged up shoulders and the odd concussion from time to time. Strength training for mountain biking should prepare us for what can sometimes be a winding trail of hostility and potential danger. That doesn’t, however, mean it’s something we should avoid.

The chance to get into nature, explore new technical paths and take in the beautiful scenery are what biking outside is all about. Preparing our bodies to handle the sudden drops, body jolts, jagged turns and unorthodox terrain means we can enjoy ourselves with a built-in insurance policy that protects us from injury and improves our cycling performance as a whole.

Becoming a better, faster mountain biker is always going to be a dynamic, ever changing goal. There are so many areas we can pay attention to for a sport that shifts focus quickly depending on where we are and how we’re riding. We have some universal tips to help and a special routine excerpt from our Dynamic Cyclist training program at the bottom for you to try!

Build Your Confidence

Source: Simona

It’s one thing to preach this idea, it’s a whole other to actually go out and do it. Especially when you’re careening down a mountain at God knows what speed, with every tree and boulder just waiting to stop you dead in your tracks. Exposing yourself to those situations though is precisely the way you get better at mountain biking.

The mitigation of fear is a competitive mountain biker’s innate advantage compared to the amateur rider. They have dealt with almost every situation, and understand how to control the forces that are going to be applied to them. They know their bike and they know their body, so they’re free to let go of the brake and use it all to their advantage.

Riding on different terrain, paths and trails will help educate your mind and body to be more comfortable amidst all the chaos. High confidence has been shown to be one of the few differentiators in downhill mountain biking performance. Other factors included hand grip endurance and aerobic capacity which, if you lack, could be significant performance detractors…

Improve Hand Grip Endurance & Aerobic Capacity

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Surprise! In case that last sentence wasn’t a clue. Imagine the feeling of losing your grip on the handlebars or gasping for air with nature’s every creation flying by you at lightning fast speeds. That doesn’t sound to us like optimal conditions for the intense concentration required under such circumstances.

One of the best ways to get direct functional cross over from your mountain bike training to the trails is with the use of cables. As you can see above, the woman has her arms angled similarly to the position you’ll find yourself in on the bike. Cable machines can challenge the hands, forearms and shoulders to stabilize in a similar way to biking but with progressive loading.

For aerobic capacity, making sure to challenge yourself with lots of uphill riding is a surefire way to get your heart pumping. It’s important to remember too that your aerobic capacity and overall cardiovascular health are the first variables of fitness to decrease upon taking a break from physical activity. Quick to gain, quick to lose, so make sure you train it regularly!

Adjust Your Gaze

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Where you look actually has a significant influence on your overall body position, and this plays an important part in getting the most out of your muscles on the bike. Our eyes have a stimulating effect on the muscles in whatever direction we look, which is built into our nervous systems to help anticipate movement in that direction

The pelvo-ocular response is a reflex that orients our pelvis and lower extremities based on where our eyes are looking. Because of the positions we find ourselves in while mountain biking, there can be a tendency to crane the neck upwards to keep our eyes level with the horizon. This is indeed necessary sometimes, but not all the time.

Tilting the chin too far up will cause our lower backs to arch as a result of this pelvo-ocular response, this in turn will stretch the core muscles and cause them to disengage, which is not something we want. It is instead better, when possible, to keep the spine and neck in a neutral position, retracting the chin and letting your gaze fall naturally in front of you for a tight, stable core.

Deadlift Position & Mountain Biking

An interesting parallel to the fitness world is deadlift positioning in the gym. It has been shown that retraction of the neck and chin into a straight, neutral position helps a person to engage the erector spinae (back) muscles and exterior obliques in their core when lifting. Transferring this activation to the bike would result in far superior force production and absorption.

Ready To Get Stronger On The Bike?

Dynamic Cyclist offers an all around training platform for cyclists of all disciplines worldwide. We have comprehensive strength training workouts, injury prevention sessions, mobility and warm up routines all available with the click of a button!

Give it a try by following along today with our coach, Alisha. This is just one of the hundreds of videos from our library that is available for a low monthly subscription. Our goal is to make you a better, stronger cyclist who enjoys being on the bike and rides pain free. You can sign up here for a 7-day free trial and see what you think!

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