Bike shorts, as with any kind of exercise clothing, the need to be comfortable and do the job you need them to do. Not only should the right bike shorts not pinch when you ride, they need to conform to your body and not shift during the movements you’ll make while cycling. Unfortunately, the best way to find the right pair of shorts will ultimately be to try them on and test them out. This is because everyone’s body is different, so everyone will have a different preference of brand, size, and fit. However, here are a few tips to keep in mind so that the process doesn’t seem so hit or miss. [Read more…]
The Perfect Sprinting Technique
The Perfect Sprinting Technique
To be a great sprinter not only do you need great tactics but you need the perfect sprinting technique.
Choosing the Proper Gear
Before you can even begin to sprint it is crucial to select the proper gear, it has to be one that you can accelerate very quickly, but not one that you are going to spin out of too soon. Gear selection will come with practice. Challenge yourself to mini sprints while on training rides to get a better feel for gear selection.
A more advanced technique to keep in mind is that suddenly changing gears can signal to people that you are about to get up and sprint, so try to soft pedal for a moment and then feather the gear change if you are trying to catch them off guard.
The Jump
Once you have selected the proper gear it is time to start the sprint. Wait until your “power foot” (likely your right foot if you are right handed) reaches the 2 o’clock position then get out of the saddle, push down on the pedal and go like a bat out of hell. To generate the maximum amount of explosive power you should be pulling down on your drops while pushing down on your pedals. Use your weight to your advantage and rock the bike side to side so that your weight is over the pedal on each down stroke. The first 5 pedal strokes should be extremely explosive.
Sprinting
Now that you have started to sprint it is important to keep technique top of mind. Keep your body low and elbows in as much as possible as you continue to accelerate. You are able to go faster with the same amount of power if you are more aerodynamic as the air resistance increases exponentially as speed increases. Keep your upper body quiet, low and focused on where you want to go.
If you are not racing for the line, look back once or twice to make sure you have created enough of a gap to continue to breakaway but do not keep looking back. Find a steady hard effort and continue to push.
Changing Gears
Ideally in a sprint finish you have selected the proper gear to use the entire sprint; however, in a breakaway sprint you may need to change gears once you have created the gap. Changing gears effectively while standing takes a lot of practice, so it is a good skill to hone in while you are out training.
Tactics
Tactics is a whole other art that is equally as important as the perfect sprinting technique. Stay tuned.
How To Be a Road Biker
How To Be a Road Biker
NSMB.com put together another hilarious video on the 26 steps on how to be a road biker.
If you liked this one check out How To Be a Mountain Biker
Four Steps To Avoid Overtraining
Four Steps To Avoid Overtraining
Anyone can suffer from overtraining and in fact, it’s more likely to occur in beginner cyclists as they try and do too much, too soon.
As you go about doing your regular cycling sessions, one thing that you do need to keep yourself very aware of is the concept of overtraining. Some people mistakenly believe that overtraining will only happen to serious athletes and top notch cyclists who are training for hours each day, but this just isn’t the case.
To help ensure you are doing everything you can to prevent overtraining, let’s look at four steps you should take.
Sleep Well
First, one of the top things that you must keep in check is your sleep needs. If you are not sleeping enough each evening, this is going to sacrifice the recovery you make between rides and will most definitely put a dent in your recovery.
You should be sleeping at least 7 hours, preferably 8 or more during intense training times.
Take At Least One Off Day and A Cross Training Day Each Week
Second, it’s also important that you take at least one day off each week to allow for complete rest and recovery. Don’t exercise 7 days a week or you are on a fast road to overtraining. Remember, your body needs time to recover, so don’t be afraid to give it that time.
In addition to that, you would be best suited to doing a day of cross training as well at a moderate intensity level. Go for a swim or take a leisure walk with a friend. There are many ways to move and keep up your fitness without it being an intense ride.
Don’t Fear Carbohydrates
Make sure that you are eating enough carbohydrates as well. If weight loss is your goal, you may be cutting back on this particular nutrient quite readily in your diet, but that will set you up for some problems down the road. As your glycogen stores become more and more depleted, you will notice that it becomes harder and harder to do the rides you set out to do. Eventually, high amounts of fatigue will set in and when they do, your rides will cease to exist. Overtraining will set in and you’ll be required to take time off.
The most important times to consume carbohydrates are during your rides (especially ones at high intensity) and immediately after rides. After you have replenished the glycogen and carb stores you can go back to your paleo diet that is low in carbs or The Paleo Diet for Athletes.
Assess Your Stress
Finally, be sure that you assess your stress levels. Remember that it’s not just exercise stress that can add up and impact your cycling performance. You can also start to experience stress from relationship, financial, or work related issues and this can wear you down as well. You want to keep your life as stress free as possible and that will go a long way towards helping you avoid overtraining.
So keep these quick tips in mind and you can forge onward and put the risk of overtraining behind you.
How To Stay Cool While Cycling
How To Stay Cool While Cycling
The summer heat can press down on you like a sweaty blanket learn how to stay cool while cycling.
What Do You Wear to Stay Cool?
One of the most important considerations is what you are wearing on days where you are cycling in the heat. It’s important to wear clothing with the following traits:
- Light colored – to reflect away the sunlight. I now only buy white jerseys because I am very prone to overheating.
- Wicking – to move sweat away from your skin and to the outer surface where it can evaporate.
- Zippers – so you can unzip and catch a nice breeze.
Another way… wear as little as possible. While this could keep you cooler, it also opens you up to sun damage. However, there is something to be said for at least keeping your arms and shoulders bare as these are places where your axillary arteries are. Axillary arteries carry cooled blood back to the heart to cool the rest of your body, so it’s worth keeping them exposed if possible.
Accessorize
Accessories are not just for looks, they are for functionality as well:
- Sunglasses – a surprising amount of heat can be absorbed through your eyes. Keeping the sun out, as well as bugs and dirt, will keep you cooler.
- Helmet – pay a little extra for well ventilated helmets, no one enjoys heat stroke.
Water
Not only do you need to stay well hydrated, but you should keep extra water to soak yourself. Take advantage of those big vents you paid extra for on your helmet and spray some water down them. Keep your head cool first, and if you have enough to spray under your armpits, near your groin and down your back as these are the places that your blood vessels are close to the skin.
Sunscreen
I used to hate wearing sunscreen, but I noticed a major improvement in performance when I slapped it on… now I don’t leave home without it. I have read that applying sunscreen can keep your body temperatures 10% cooler.
Avoidance
Take a look at the forecast and if you know it is going to be hot, ride in the morning/evening when you don’t have to battle the heat.
A little common sense goes a long way in the heat. If you start to feel woozy or start overheating stop and take the time to cool down because heat stroke can kill you or cause permanent damage to your brain and internal organs. It is serious stuff… so stay cool.
How To Bike Safely On Wet Roads
How To Bike Safely On Wet Roads
Braking
Braking on wet surfaces is much more dangerous than braking on dry surfaces and requires a bit of practice and skill. Most of your braking power is still in your front brake; however, apply to much pressure and you are sure to have a front wheel slip out. It is important to get a “feel” for your bike and know how much brake to apply front AND back. On wet surfaces I apply a little more even braking; approximately 60% front brake and 40% back brake depending on the conditions. The dryer the surface the more front brake you can apply.
Since the surface is wet there is less traction, since there is less traction you need to start braking earlier not to mention that your braking is slowed even further because of the water on your rims. You will notice when you brake on wet roads that your brakes take a few seconds to “kick in” that is because there is water on your rims and your brake pads must clear it before you are able to get adequate friction on the rims.
One trick to better braking is actually shedding this water before you even want to start braking; this is done by gently squeezing the brake so that the brake pad caresses the rim and clears the water without slowing down.
When you are ready to brake apply more pressure on the front brake than the back, but not so much as to cause a front wheel slip out. You will get a better feel for this the more you practice. You will even get to a point where you can start to feel the front tire want to go on you and that is how you know to back off a little.
Turns
Don’t forget to brake much earlier than you are normally accustomed and make sure that you have slowed down enough so that you are not required to brake during the actual turn. Braking during the turn is one of the more common mistakes and I have seen a few people go down as a result.
Try to take the turn as wide as possible to cut down the angle as much as possible (straighter line = safer). Always look ahead at where you want to go and not at what you are trying to avoid. Keep in mind want kind of tires you have on, racing slicks in a turn can be disastrous at the same speed where a winter treaded tire can be safe.
Tire Pressure
Biking with a lower psi in your tube will allow greater traction as more of the tires surface area will be in contact with the road. I know most roadies jack up the psi as high as possible as they think it results in faster times, (not always true) but try and avoid this especially on a wet road. I reduce psi from my standard 105 psi to 95 psi in my tubes.
Any other tips? Leave a comment below:
The Basic Goals of Training
The Goals of Training
The principles of cycling training are fundamentally basic. Your goal is it overload and then allow for adaptation. Rinse and repeat.
So what are you trying to overload?
There are three variables in cycling training:
- Volume – How much
- Intensity – How hard or how easy
- Frequency – How often
In training the goal is to increase (overload) either volume, intensity and/or frequency in order to obtain “overreaching” (explained below) then allowing yourself to recover (adaptation). Repeat that process until you reach your desired goals.
The key to training is finding the correct combination of these three variables.
Great – What is the correct combination?
That really is the art and science behind a training plan. It really depends on the individual and their goals. For instance, someone trying to complete a century ride is likely going to focus on volume, where as, someone preparing for a criterium race is going to focus on intensity.
There are a lot of factors to consider when developing a training plan. Take something as simple as age, imagine a person at 20 and how quick recovery is. Now imagine that same person at 55. Generic training plans are much better than nothing and serve as great bases to work from, but you should take the time to educate yourself on what your body requires and when.
Overreaching
There are 4 classifications when talking about cycling training:
- Undertraining – When you spend too much time resting or recovering and not enough time on the bike, your performance does not improve.
- Acute overload – Positive physiological adaptations and minor improvements in performance, you are getting better albeit slowly.
- Overreaching – Optimal physiological adaptations and performance, your training plan should be designed to overreach.
- Overtraining – Physiological maladaptations and performance decrease, you feel very fatigued and have a lackluster attitude for training.
At the end of last season I spent a lot of my time in the overtrained classification, mostly because I solely focused on intensity and it drained my batteries at a very rapid rate. Again, overreaching is the goal, but it is difficult to know how little is too little and even more so how much is too much.
The essence of cycling training is very simple, but there are so many different ways to achieve the same goal. If you are new to training I suggest a cycling coach, even if it is just for a few months, they can save you a lot of wasted time and energy.
Information for this post gathered from: USA Cycling
How To Ride A Bike With A Flat Tire
How To Ride A Bike With A Flat Tire
Out cycling and punctured all your inner tubes? GCN has got a couple of ways to get you home.
Puncturing all your spare inner tubes is one of those things that you hope never happens when you’re cycling. It’s worth being prepared just in case disaster strikes.
How To Change a Flat Bike Tire
How To Change a Flat Bike Tire
A flat tire is the most common bike repair that you are going to have to do. Find out how to change a flat bike tire by watching this short video.
Additional items to note:
Partially inflate your new tube
Some added items to note are the fact that it is a good idea to partially inflate your new tube so that it can hold its shape a little bit. In the video this had already been done. So, when you take your new tube out put approximately two pumps of air in it before trying to seat it in the rim, this will make it easier to work with.
Putting the tire back on the rim
Additionally, in the video the tire was extremely easy to put back on the rim, I do not know about you but this is generally not the case for me. If you are struggling to put the tire back on the rim it is important to remember that you should not require the tire levers to put it back on. It is actually a bad idea to use the tire levers as this can often pinch your new tube and cause another flat. That would be embarrassing.
After you have put as much of the tire back on as possible, put your palms on the remaining portion and wrap your fingers over the tire until they grab the opposite side of the rim now “roll” the tire onto the rim with your palms. Use the leverage from your fingers by grabbing the rim. The motion is more of a roll because you should be forcing the tire to go up AND over the rim.
Any additional helpful tips? Leave a comment below:
How To Be a Mountain Biker
How To Be a Mountain Biker
The boys over at nsmb.com put out an amazingly hilarious video on how to be a mountain biker. This spoof accurately depicts some of the common behaviours including the jargon we use, getting trail dogs, using GoPros and being weight watching wienies… anything to save a few hundred grams, God forbid we give up some of the beer we worship! Enjoy! Let us know if they missed anything in the comments below!
