This has been a fantastic Tour thus far. In my opinion it’s been the best in many years, hand’s down. Each stage has brought drama; from the opening Prologue Time Trial, through the initial flat sprinter’s stages (culminating with Mark Canvendish’ lead-out man, Mark Renshaw, being dismissed from the Tour) through yesterday’s exciting and controversial stage in which Alberto Contador accelerated away from Andy Schleck as he experienced a mechanical incident.
In years past, the Tour was decided early on with many of the stages being mere formalities. This hasn’t been the case this year. Each stage has forced the contenders to race – and race hard. There have been no free rides to this point, and the race will continue to be more competitive right through the final stage in Paris.
Between now and the finale in Paris, there are 2 mountain stages and 1 long Time Trial on the eve of the final day. The race has typically been decided in the mountains, but the Time Trial will add tension and excitement right up until the very end.
This years’ competitive Tour has also brought a very human element to the race, and this has been largely missing in the past.
Lance Armstrong dominated the Tour for many, many years. He’s back this year as a (nearly) 39 years old, trying once more for glory. Even Lance has realized this year that Father Time has marched on and has passed him by. While he’s a phenomenal athlete, competing at this high a level against riders who are 5, 10 or even 15 years younger is nearly an impossible task. And Lance is learning this.
However, Lance will still try to leave this, his final, Tour with some glory. As I write this, Lance has accelerated out of the peloton and will try to win this stage, which is likely the hardest of the entire race. Whether he can pull it off it questionable, and we’ll find out soon, but you have to give him credit.
Lance’s spirit and competitiveness are unparalleled, and we can all learn from this. Whether we’re a top-level athlete like Lance or a weekend warrior, we can all give our best effort.
The human element was also brought to the forefront yesterday. Andy Schleck, the race leader at the time, had a mechanical problem at the worst possible time. He was climbing a very difficult mountain and put on a huge surge in order to drop his rival, Alberto Contador. Schleck’s chain came off and got stuck in his gears as he pulled away from Contador. The unwritten code of ethics in cycling is to not take advantage of a mechanical issue and to wait for the rider to catch back up. This act of sportsmanship has been demonstrated over and over in bike racing, and especially in the Tour.
Contador took advantage of the situation and beat Schleck with enough time to spare that Contador took the Yellow Jersey and the overall race lead from Schleck.
History will decide whether Contador’s actions were sporting or not. The fact of the matter is that Schleck was visibly upset and he was not afraid to show it on the post-race interviews. This was a very human reaction, and one that we don’t see often in the Tour. Schleck promised to extract his vengeance from Contador on the road. The next several days will prove whether or not he has the legs to back up his promise, but either way it’s going to be fun.
The riders of the 2010 Tour de France have put on display for the entire world a tremendous amount of courage, determination, tenacity and a downright “I’ll Show Him!” attitude.
We can learn from these riders and adapt their attitude to ourselves and our everyday lives. So tune in now and don’t miss another day. It’s going to be exciting!
Add your comments below, then GET OUT AND RIDE!
Hey riders,
A video is floating around on YouTube that raises the question of whether Fabian Cancellara is riding a “doped bike” in his huge Spring Classics victories at Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders earlier this year.
Check out the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nd13ARuvVE
The theory is that he has an electric motor concealed in his frame which is controlled by a button which is located near his shifter/brake lever. The video shows him making a move with his right hand just prior to his incredible accelerations in each race that proved to be the decisive move. And they make a case that he’s not shifting, that instead he’s pushing the button which activates the motor.
The entire video runs about 6:30. The first half discusses the fact that the electric motor truly exists and goes on with the details of how it’s placed in the bike frame, etc. The second half (about the 3:30 point) brings Cancellara into the picture.
I’m in no position to judge whether he in fact uses one, and of course Fabian denies. I fully understand the tricks that can be used with video and how it’s easy to build a case for just about anything by selectively choosing the clips to use. So I make no accusations.
It certainly does open the door for a lively discussion, however.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Nd13ARuvVE
Take a look then add your comments below. The, GET OUT AND RIDE (using nothing more than leg power)!
The #1 question I’m asked – by far, is this:
“Now that the cycling season has begun, should I continue to lift?”
Let me answer this question with a question: “Are you paid to ride your bike?”
If the answer is no; if you don’t get paid to ride your bike for a living, the short answer to “Should I lift weights during the season?” is a definite…….it depends. It depends on which body part is in question.
Upper body and core are a definite – YES.
Legs continue to be ……. maybe.
Let’s begin with upper body strength training. We should continue to lift for a variety of reasons:
- We maintain muscle mass, definition and tone that we gained during the off season
- As we age, we naturally lose muscle mass. Resistance training counters this.
- Cycling uses very little upper body strength (especially road riding). “Use it or lose it.”
- Core strength is important for both on the bike and off. Core training should be a year-round activity.
We must continue to perform resistance training with our legs. The best way to build your cycling-specific leg strength is to ride hills. And these hills should be steep hills that require hard, hard efforts and recruitment of all your leg muscles.
Riding the flats at a relatively high cadence only require engaging a relatively few muscle fibers. Riding this way on this type of terrain over the course of the season will result in a significant amount of leg strength LOST.
Riding hills will not only help you maintain your leg strength, but it is also very specific to cycling, so you’ll get the best of both worlds.
If you don’t have hills, you can ride into the wind pushing a big gear (50-60 rpm). Another option is to perform “Power Starts.” This is accomplished by starting from a near-standstill in a big gear (53 x 11-13) and pushing as hard as possible for 8-12 seconds. Just as you’re getting on top of the gear, back off and recover. These can be done either standing or seated.
Don’t become a one-dimensional athlete by doing nothing but riding during the season. Continue to strength train and you’ll be in good shape for both the bike and the beach! 
Add your comments below, then GET OUT AND RIDE! Unless you’re going to lift, that is.
Race season is here, and with this comes travelling to the race site. This could be across town or across the country, and this requires some organizing, pre-planning and thinking ahead. Because what happens if you get to your destination without your stuff? Well, depending on what you forgot you could be totally SOL!
I suggest you create a checklist of the items you’ll need to take. Be thorough, be complete and don’t leave anything out. I’ve got my own, which has grown and changed over time. Having this checklist saves a huge amount of stress and allows me to pack much quicker, and be confident I have everything after I’ve finished.
The major categories on my checklist are:
- “Trip” portion (wallet, ID, credit cards, all I need for my car for the trip, hotel and race check in info, etc)
- Clothing and toiletries
- Race morning needs (food, supplements, medications, etc)
- Clothing (prepare for all types of weather)
- Event day food, sports drink, etc
- Bike and all related items
- Separate category for shoes, helmet and pedals
- Post-event change of clothes, towel, etc
Everyone has their own system for keeping organized. I can give you a copy of mine if you like, but I recommend you start thinking about it NOWso you’re prepared for your next race or event.
Add your comments below or get back to me with questions. Begin creating your personal pre-event checklist, then GET OUT AND RIDE!
Cycling fatigue is like flu shot. In order to effectively fight the flu, we first must be injected with a dose of it. Our body adapts to it then is able to rebuff the flu when we’re exposed to it.
Similarly, we must expose ourselves to relatively high levels of exercise-induced stress to create fatigue. Our body adapts to this level of fatigue, gets stronger and is able to absorb even more as our training progresses.
But……and this is a “big” but……….we can only adapt and improve our resistance to fatigue if we rest and recover when our body screams for it.
As endurance athletes, we’re of the “bring it on” mindset. “No pain, no gain” is our mantra. It’s fine to feel this way, and working hard is the only way to improve. And being mentally tough is a requirement to continual improvement as well. We must be willing and able to suffer – mentally and physically. And let’s face it; we love this aspect of the sport. So we seek out and accept the hard work willingly and with a smile on our faces – right?
However, when we need to rest, we need to rest. And at a certain point, we must either back off for several days or we’ll pay the price. And we’ll pay by getting sick, by getting injured or by getting mentally burned out.
How do know when we “need to” rest? There are a couple schools of thought related to this question.
1. First of all, we can simply plan recovery weeks in our schedule. For example, many coaches advocate a 3:1 strategy. In other words, build intensity and/or training duration for 3 weeks, then back way off on both training time and intensity for about 1 week before resuming again.
Along this same thought process, many of these same coaches favor a 2:1 ratio for “older” athletes, typically those over 40, with the thought that master’s level athletes require more recovery.
The athlete benefits by scheduling the rest week by theoretically always having enough rest to stay fresh, thereby rarely hitting a plateau in their training. The athlete also knows that they can train hard, that they can really push themselves in training because recovery week is never too far away.
2. The other school of thought still believes in the concept of rest, but doesn’t formally schedule it until the athlete raises their hand and says that they need recovery. This works fine in theory. Not everyone needs a full recovery week after each 2 or 3 weeks, so by never getting to that “highly fatigued” state, the athlete misses some potential upside.
The downside to waiting until “you really need” it is that many athletes are unwilling to admit they need rest. There’s always another hammer fest group ride to join; there’s always another event or race to participate in.
So the athlete keeps going until he or she is forced to stop because of sickness, injury or mental fatigue.
I advocate planning recovery weeks and plugging them into the training schedule. Once athletes get used to planned recovery weeks, most quickly see the benefits and look forward to them.
Contact me if you have questions about your own training or recovery. Add your comments about your own personal experience with recovery (or lack thereof), then GET OUT AND RIDE!
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