04 / find your rhythm

Sir Bradley Wiggins’ account of smashing the UCI Hour record in June 2015 is well-known thanks to My

Hour, a detailed account of the 36-year-old’s journey towards those 54.526km. But what remained either unsaid or unknown was that the start time of the challenge – 6.30pm – was optimal for a man of Wiggo’s age.

Research has shown that the performance of human beings, which even the super-committed like Sir Brad technically are, is dictated by circadian rhythms. “These are the physiological, mental and behavioural changes governed by the body and its own 24-hour clock,” explained professor of sport science Damien Davenne at the 2016 World Cycling Science Conference in Caen, France. “They fluctuate throughout the day with the majority of athletes and cyclists at their optimum later in the day.”

It’s partly why the majority of track-and-field world records are set in late afternoon and evening, and major championship finals take place late on. Research supports the anecdotal with the optimal time to exercise varying by age: in your thirties it’s around 7pm; forties, 6pm; and around 5pm in your fifties. Wiggins was 35 when he broke the hour record.

Body temperature, hormonal levels, impact of light and feeding status are all sprinkled into the stirring pot that dictates the brain’s efficiency at sending signals to the limbs and other organs. But interestingly, Davenne also focused on a relatively recent discovery that skeletal muscle has its own molecular clock, with later in the day again the optimum time to cycle due to muscles requiring less of ‘an electric charge’ to fire up. It’s another shot in the arm/legs for commuting by bike.