It never fails. After a winter of logging long miles and a spring of racing into top shape, summer rolls around and the bottom drops out of your form. With the first half of the season done and many target races come and gone, July is notorious for being many road and MTB riders' worst month of the year. A summer stage race or criterium series is a great incentive in the early season, but can turn into concrete shoes once it's over. It can feel like you haven't trained in ages, the heat's making you lethargic, and there's just no motivation to get out the door and ride anymore.At this point, one of two things typically happens. Many riders in the lower categories will simply pack it in ...
Swapping The Cycles
These days, there's an abundance of training information available that didn't exist even 10 years ago. Books written by Eddie B. and Greg LeMond were bibles in the 80s, and while they're still relevant today in some ways, they've been supplemented by more modern, scientific training literature. But despite all the good information that's out there, or maybe as a result of it, many racers still have the same question: what should I do for training today?I am still very much a fan of the classic weekly schedule laid out by LeMond in his Complete Book of Cycling, with some tweaks: easy on Monday, sprints on Tuesday, intervals on Wednesday, long ride on Thursday, easy again on Friday, ...
Mountain Bike Recovery
Author: Serena Bishop Gordon In a previous article, Adam talks about the importance of rest, recovery, and the difference between the two. Recovery serves to allow healing from recent efforts or training you’ve done, while resting prepares you to be fresh for what’s ahead. Recovery from a mountain bike race differs from that of road and cyclocross, and varies depending on the duration and terrain of the race completed. For mountain bike racing, in addition to the recovery needed from muscular damage due to repeated high intensity efforts, it is also necessary to give your body healing time from the jarring nature of a mountain bike course. When we ask our bodies to perform at ...