Cycling Commentary

Cycling Performance: Practical Ways to Improve Cycling Performance

Cycling Commentary focuses on practical ways to improve cycling performance. Written primarily for recreational cyclists and triathletes that like to race their bikes, Cycling Commentary provides relevant and timely topics geared towards improving cycling performance.

Articles include:

Cycling Performance and the Aging Athlete

Developing Aerobic Capacity

Improve Lactate Threshold

Functional Threshold Power (FTP): A Key Metric for Cycling Performance

Improve Cycling Performance with FTP Intervals

Improve Cycling Economy

Optimizing Body Weight

Tips to Get Lean and Improve Cycling Performance (Part 1)

Tips to Get Lean and Improve Cycling Performance (Part 2)

Tips to Get Lean and Improve Cycling Performance (Part 3)

Hiring a Cycling Coach

Bicycle Aerodynamics

Bicycle Aerodynamics and Cycling Performance

Training Tools to Improve Performance - TrainingPeaks

Training Peaks WKO+ Performance Manager

 

Enjoy these articles with my complements!

 

 

 

 

Bicycle Aerodynamics

Improve Cycling Performance with Optimal Bicycle Aerodynamics

If you are an aspiring time trial specialist or triathlete, then you should be very concerned about optimizing bicycle aerodynamics in order to improve cycling performance.

  

 The bottom line is that there are only three ways to go faster on a bike – generate more power, reduce aerodynamic drag or mitigate rolling resistance. A successful cyclist must work on all three elements.

Athletes tend to put a lot of time and effort into improving fitness (i.e., pushing more watts). But let’s face it, unless you are a young, emerging professional athlete, you can only become so fit as a cyclist or triathlete. Yes, taking full advantage of your God-given V02 max through focused endurance training is important. Likewise, improving your functional threshold power is also a vital aspect of improving cycling performance. But, if you are an age group cyclist or triathlete, you only have so much time to train, recover, adapt and improve. Even then, your improvement in cycling performance will be limited by your physiology.

So, why not work on “free speed” as my favorite cycling coach calls it? That is, get faster by reducing aerodynamic drag.

(And, oh, by the way, it’s not all free).

What Is Aerodynamic Drag?

As the bicycle and rider move along the road, air exerts a force that increases sharply with speed. As this graph shows, it may only take 200 watts to roll along at 35km (21.37mph), but it takes almost 300 watts – a 50% increase in power – to travel at 40km (24.84mph) for a mere a 16% increase in speed. So, the ratio of power output to speed rises dramatically as speed increases. For example, it takes approximately 15 extra watts to go from 20 to 21 mph. However, it takes an additional 37 watts to go from 30 to 31 mph, more than double the effort for the same increase in speed. Thus, a rider who is able to push 300 watts at threshold reaches terminal velocity – the point at which forward force (bike speed) and opposing force (air resistance) equalize – at approximately 40km/hour. The only way to go faster is push more watts (a physiological challenge) or reduce aerodynamic drag (a physics challenge with high potential reward).

Next up: Overcoming Aerodynamic Drag.

Tips to Get Lean and Improve Cycling Performance (Part 2)

These tips to get lean and improve cycling performance are part of a three part series on the topic of optimizing body composition and achieving race weight.

6. Eat more healthy fats

A message that says eat more fats is a tough message to swallow, especially since our goal in becoming leaner cyclists is to lose fat. Eating fat may seem counter intuitive. However, our bodies need essential fats to perform the most basic functions. And while it’s important to eliminate trans fats from the diet and to limit the amount of highly saturated animal fat, the consumption of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty foods from sources like nuts, olive and canola oils, and fatty fishes like salmon and mackerel is not only essential to good diet and a healthy body, they have the added benefit of making you feel full.

7. Drink plenty of water, especially before meals

Drinking water not only keeps you well hydrated (most Americans, for example, are chronically dehydrated), the consumption of water before a meal also helps create a feeling of fullness sooner than you otherwise would. Try it – have a 16-ounce glass of water before your next meal. It will help you control the amount of food you consume in a sitting, which leads to the next point…

8. Control portion sizes

Controlling portion size is difficult for the hungry cyclist or endurance athlete, particularly after a big workout. Just ask my cycling coach! The key here is to begin with a modest size plate of food. Consume the food slowly; savor the taste; then wait 20 minutes prior to going back for a second serving. Signals from the stomach to the brain lag. Know the lag, exercise some self-control and wait a few short minutes before strapping on a larger food bag. If you’re still hungry after 20 minutes, then it’s okay to consume more. Your body is telling you that you need the calories.

9. Make strength-training part of your workout routine

As cyclists we tend to emphasize aerobic conditioning and intensity workouts and neglect strength training. This is particularly so once the weather improves (if you live in colder climates) as trips to the gym are relegated to the colder winter months in preference to miles on dangerous, snow covered roads. Granted, the development of aerobic conditioning and the ability to tolerate intense workouts is essential to improving cycling performance and burning calories. But these types of workouts really do very little to build lean muscle mass according to sports medicine specialists, and lean muscle mass in the key to achieving optimal body composition. Lean muscle mass burns more energy in a resting state than does fat. So, a cyclist with a higher percentage of lean muscle mass (read, lower body fat percentage) burns more calories in a resting state than his or her “fatter” friends. The most effective way to build lean muscle mass is through a strength training regimen. One to three times per week will do the job.

 10. Track and count your calories

Tracking calories consumed against calories expended is probably the single most important activity an aspiring cyclist can do to achieve optimal body composition and reach and sustain race weight. The reality of weight loss is simple math; calories expended must be greater than calories consumed. Since there are 3,500 calories to a pound of fat, the cyclist seeking to get lean must restrict calories by 500 per day if he or she wishes to lose a pound of fat each week, a realistic goal. But how will you know if you do not track it? You won’t. So, the only way to make sure that you are on the right path is to track calories expended versus calories consumed. Again, TrainingPeaks.com offers an excellent tool to help you with the task. It offers an easy to use meal journal and a meal-building tool that enables you to track what you eat quickly and easily. Likewise, the training log feature allows you to track calories consumed on a daily basis. TrainingPeaks.com also provides a tool to help you estimate your resting metabolic rate (the amount of energy you expend sustaining daily bodily function) and average daily caloric expenditure to give you an accurate picture of your calorie restriction profile. At first, it’s a bit of a hassle to track your food consistently. But with TrainingPeaks.com easy-to-use tools and mobile accessibility, there is really no reason not to track your progress on a daily basis. Again, tracking calories consumed versus calories expended is the single most important component of a sustainable “get lean for maximum cycling performance” program. So, why not do it?

(Continued... Tips for Getting Lean and Improving Cycling Performance Part 3 provides more tips ranging from burning more fat for fuel to nutriet timing and buying new threads!)

Race Weight and Body Composition: Tips to Get Lean and Improve Cycling Performance (Part 1)

Achieving optimal race weight and body composition is essential to cycling success. In fact, optimal body composition is almost as important as building aerobic capacity, improving lactate threshold and achieving cycling economy for the aspiring cyclist.

You’ve seen the guys in the Tour – the top performers boast power to weight ratios in excess of 6.0 and body fat levels in the 4-6% range. Whatever you call them - skinny or lean - these guys are built to go fast. And while you may not be able to achieve their power or weight, you can improve cycling performance by optimizing both weight and body composition.

According to Joe Friel, top cyclists have a body mass – defined as pounds per inch of body height – in the 1.8 to 2.0 ranges for male climbers and 1.6 to 1.8 for female climbers. That means that a top climber like Andy Schleck (2^nd in the 2010 Tour de France) who is 73 inches tall likely has an optimal body weight between 135-140lbs come race time. Top time trial specialists, who are often the most powerful cyclists, have a slightly higher body mass in the 2.1 to 2.4 range for men and 1.9 to 2.2 for women. That suggests that Fabian Cancellera (also 73” tall) has an optimal body weight of 151-155lbs, while Kristin Armstrong (68” tall) has an optimal body weight of 129-133lbs.

While these metrics are great for top cyclists in the world, what does this mean for the recreational cyclist and their cycling coaches seeking to improve cycling performance?

Tips for Getting Lean

If you are serious about optimizing body composition, then these experientially proven tips will help you arrive at the start line with optimal race weight and improved chances of cycling success.

1. Set a goal to optimize race weight and body comp

Having the desire and commitment to reach a certain weight or body composition is absolutely essential to success. Begin with a realistic goal and take the necessary steps to achieve that goal. So, if you’re 72” tall and weigh 175 lbs (body mass = 2.43), a reasonable goal might be to achieve a body mass of 2.3 or 165lbs. Yes, achieving this goal will require diet, exercise and discipline, but it’s not as difficult as you might think.

2. Establish a reasonable time frame to reach your goal

Many diet books promise quick and sustainable weight loss. And while some of these methodologies (Atkins, for example) result in quick weight loss for those who are overweight, these diets and rarely sustainable, nor are they optimal for the aspiring cyclist or endurance athlete. If, your goal is to achieve a .13 reduction in body mass (10lbs in our example), then give yourself at least 3 months to achieve that goal and build sustainable dietary habits designed to keep you lean throughout the year.

3. Invest in the tools to measure your progress

To achieve your goal of optimizing body composition and reducing weight, you will need the tools to measure your progress along the way. Specifically, you will need a meal journal, an accurate scale that provides weight and body fat percentage (Tanita has a good one), and an accurate estimate of the number of calories burned per workout. TrainingPeaks.com offers a free training journal that includes a meal journal, estimates of resting metabolic rate and a good way to accurately track calories burned. TrainingPeaks.com software is highly recommended.

4. Choose nutrient rich foods

To lose weight, optimize body composition AND improve your overall health, you simply must emphasize nutrient-rich foods in your diet. That means choosing fruits, vegetables, nuts and lean protein over grains and especially sugary and starchy foods. This is much easier said than done. Our culture and our grocery stores are chock full of highly processed foods that are full of sugar and trans fats. These foods are not the fuel for performance you desire to build a lean, mean racing machine. So, skip the chips, the cookies and the bread, and shop the outer aisles of the grocery store. Avoid the processed foods and select fruits, vegetables, lean meats, beans and nuts.

 5. Break yourself of the sugar habit

When an athlete consumes highly processed sugary and starchy foods (yes, that means white bread), the body responds by releasing insulin from the pancreas to absorb the sugar into the cells to convert it to energy. Sugary and starch-laden, low fiber foods are considered high glycemic index foods, according to a favorite sports medicine specialist practice. When consumed, these high carbohydrate, high-calorie foods cause a spike in insulin, followed by an equally drastic fall. The rapid fall in insulin causes the athlete to feel hungry again, even though a high calorie food source has just been consumed – a prescription for weight gain. Avoiding the consumption of these types of foods requires discipline and focus. Begin by substituting sweet tasting fruits (even dried fruits) for foods with added sugar. Substitute whole grain breads and granola for white breads and pastas. Experience shows that eliminating sugary and starchy foods from the diet results in a commensurate reduction in pounds from your waistline and/or buttocks, where fat is stored.

(Continued... Tips for Getting Lean Part 2 provides more tips ranging from eating healthy fats to tracking calorie consumption and expenditure)

How to Improve Cycling Performance – Developing Aerobic Capacity

 During his workshop “Winter Base Training for the Endurance Athlete” conducted at the OA Performance Center on December 12, 2010, Joe Friel addressed the issue of what it takes to be a successful endurance athlete. From this presentation, we can infer that there are only three things a cyclist can do to improve cycling performance.

1.    Develop aerobic capacity

2.    Improve lactate threshold

3.    Improve economy

This article on improving cycling performance will focus on developing aerobic capacity.

 

Aerobic Capacity

According to Friel, aerobic capacity, also called VO2 max, is the volume of oxygen used to produce energy at maximal aerobic effort. The more oxygen a cyclist is able to use, the more energy the cyclist produces and the greater the power output (applied force to the pedals converted to watts.)

Typically, the fastest cyclists in a race have the highest aerobic capabilities. Joe calls aerobic capacity or VO2 max, the “ticket to the club.” He is also quick to point out that aerobic capacity, in and of itself, cannot be used as a predictor of success. VO2 max readings will not tell us how the race will unfold; VO2 max will only tell us who the contenders will be. Aerobic capacity is literally the heart of cycling success - the more oxygen the athlete is able to deliver to the muscle the higher the V02 max will be and the greater the cyclist’s potential to go fast.

 

 Improving Aerobic Capacity (VO2 max)

Improvements to aerobic capacity are largely the result of how much blood the heart pumps to the muscles per beat. Therefore, one purpose of a comprehensive training regimen designed to improve cycling performance is to increase the stroke volume from the heart (more blood per beat).

 Increasing stroke volume through endurance training can be accomplished in three ways, according to Friel:

• Increase volume of training above 50% of V02 max. To do this, the athlete seeking to improve cycling performance will need to know their current VO2 max output. This can be accomplished by taking a VO2 max test at a testing facility like the OA Performance Center. Alternatively, a cyclist with a power meter can do an all out, maximal six minute effort on the bike and use the average power from that effort as a proxy for VO2 max measured in watts. (Joe refers to this as Critical Power for six minutes or CP6). Let’s assume that our cyclist did such a power test with a measured output average of 330 watts. Using this figure, our athlete seeking to improve cycling performance would train as much as possible above 165 watts (endurance pace). The problem with this approach, according to Joe Friel, is that improvements to aerobic capacity will take months if not years. And even then, our cyclist may not achieve true aerobic potential.
• Perform high intensity intervals at VO2 max. High intensity intervals are essentially maximal efforts than translate into “strength training for the heart.” An example of a workout featuring high intensity intervals would be 5 x 3 minutes at CP6 with three minutes recovery between each effort. Using the example above, our cyclist would pedal at an average of 330 watts for three minutes, recover for three minutes, and then repeat for a total of five efforts. I suggest doing these types of intervals on a short, steep hill because it is easier to drive power on an incline than it is to do it on a flat. Likewise, I advise not doing these on the trainer, as they seem much more painful! In fact, high intensity intervals are very difficult, and they entail a fair amount of suffering. Using this approach, it will take 3-5 weeks to achieve aerobic capacity. According to Joe, high intensity workouts like this are very potent, but they also come with a fair amount of risk, because of the stress they create on the body.
• Do both - train at 50% of VO2 max + High Intensity Intervals. Most experienced athletes employ both methodologies to achieve their VO2 max potential through focused training. Joe recommends a training regimen that includes both.

 Other Physiological Contributors to Aerobic Capacity

During the workshop, Joe identified several other physiological factors that contribute to aerobic capacity:

• Presence of aerobic enzymes found in the muscle. Aerobic enzymes are predominantly found in the large, slow twitch muscle fibers of legs, thigh, trunk, back and hips.
• Blood vessel diameter and ability to dilate. This is often an issue for the aging athlete, as blood vessels tend to constrict with time.
• Blood volume and hematocrit levels, which dictate the ability to move oxygen carrying red blood cells to working muscles. We often hear about professional athletes seeking to improve cycling performance by taking EPO (Erythropoietin). While this is a topic for another time, EPO is used to increase red blood cell counts and thus increase oxygen carrying capacity.
• Choose your parents wisely. Genetics is the single largest determinant of the VO2 max ceiling. There’s not much an athlete can do about this one, but everyone can achieve potential through effective aerobic capacity training.

 The next article will focus on improving lactate threshold as a means of improving cycling performance.

V02 Max Test: Friel to Offer Insights

Endurance coach and author, Joe Friel, plans to visit the Greater Portland, ME area next week. Friel will present, "Winter Base Training for the Endurance Athlete" at the OA Performance Center to a group of triathletes and endurance athletes. During the course of the workshop, volunteer athletes will be asked to participate in a variety of physiological performance tests offered at the OA Performance Center. Friel will evaluate and share the results with the audience, offering an explanation of the meaning and the implications to the endurance athlete.

My personal interest is in the V02 max test. The V02 max test determines an athlete's maximal oxygen uptake and is a primary indicator of endurance performance. V02 max can only be determined in a controlled laboratory setting such as the one used at the OA Performance Center. The test involves placing a mask over the athlete's mouth and nose to measure the amount of oxygen being consumed. After an adequate warm-up on the bike, the athlete is asked (forced) to work at ever high levels of output to determine the maximal amount of aerobic work the athlete can perform before exploding in a bath of lactate.

VO₂ max is expressed either as an absolute rate in liters of oxygen per minute (l/min) or as a relative rate in millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of bodyweight per minute (ml/kg/min). While V02 max can be "trained," V02max is truly a gift (or curse) provided by your parents. So, once optimized through endurance training, V02max is a really a genetic test to determine what kind of endurance athlete you can be based upon your biological make-up. After the test, you can thank or blame your parents for the result.