RIDE FASTER NOW
Is there a quick fix to boost your performance? We talk to the experts to find out
10 essential tips from our experts to see you pick up your pace without spending hours training or emptying your wallet.
Free speed, instant gains, low-hanging fruit - everybody has a name for the magical tweak that will have an immediate effect on your performance. And like the curmudgeons so many cyclists are, we tend to ignore them in favour of the relentless pursuit of miles, junk or otherwise.
There are plenty of sports where a little finesse here or there can make a big difference, but so much of cycling comes down to physical fitness, which can only be built through sustained effort, that any promises of instant gains are usually dismissed as a nostrum or, worse, a precursor to being offered the sort of chemical assistance that doesn’t come from the coffee shop.
Cynicism aside, there are plenty of coaches, physiologists, mechanics and data-bashers who believe that there are substantial gains to be made for most of us. Even the fittest rider can tweak their equipment, the best equipped rider can adjust their training and, more contentiously, the most profligate can find a free improvement, while the pinchpennies can buy speed. Whichever peg you hang from, our experts are sure you’ll find at least one thing here to give you a performance boost without demanding any more than half an hour of your time or the bare minimum of your cash.
01 Go low
“The most effective way to gain free speed is to become comfortable riding for extended periods of time in the drops. Most club cyclists spend the vast majority of their time on the hoods and very little in the drops. This is usually due to a lack of flexibility and core strength to maintain a stable posture and position in the drops. The difference in aerodynamic drag between the drops versus the hoods or the tops are enormous and fixing it with core exercises (see step 8) is the best path to free speed,” explains Brock University’s Professor of Kinesiology and author of Cycling Science, Stephen Cheung
Rob Kitching of data analysts Endurance Analytics concurs. “If you’ve got no more than half an hour a week, put that time into strengthening your core. It makes such a difference to the way you bear weight on the upper body and soon aggressive positions that once felt impossible will be within reach.”
02 Up the intensity
Almost all of our experts’ clients, from beginners to elites, have an old-fashioned excess of base miles. “Many amateurs spend too long in the grey zone riding hard but still within their comfort zone,” says Richard Mellik, bike fitter with FreeSpeed. “You should pick one session a week and include some short anaerobic intervals that leave you begging for mercy. You should come to dread this session but enjoy the gains in your power.” “So many riders lack intense training,” agrees Matt Rowe of Rowe and King Coaching, “most riders are good at riding ‘quite hard’, in Zone 3 [75-83 per cent of maximum heart rate, brisk effort], but don’t give any focus and attention to the anaerobic aspect of their cycling, where our Type II muscle fibres are used most. Factor in some 1min aerobic capacity efforts and hit your neuromuscular max power by doing some sprints. There are opportunities for all riders to improve, get faster and gain ‘free speed’, by increasing the quality, not the quantity, of their training. For a new rider, simply completing some specific intervals and High Intensity Interval Training will stimulate your Type II fast twitch muscle fibres, where we see the greatest positive adaptions.”
03 Skills without bills
“There are so many ways that the typical club or recreational cyclist can get free speed without buying anything or without any significant extra time investment,” says Professor Cheung. “Learn to ride in a tight pack. Being comfortable riding near others is essential, along with reading the wind to know where to find the best draft.”
The best method for doing so, according to Professor Cheung, is one that will be more familiar to schoolboy BMXers than road cyclists. “Do regular skills days with your mates, on old bikes in a grassy park – learn to bump elbows, bash shoulders, rub wheels and lean on each other.” As well as learning to stay upright in a tight, aero group, such rough and tumble skills have knock-on effects.
“You’ll have the confidence to really attack a corner on flats and descents without just riding the brakes. You learn how to let your bike and tyres move under you. This can give you free speed because you won’t be always slamming on the brakes at every twitch.”
04 Bike fit
“Free speed is elusive,” says Mellik. “Expensive speed is easier to find - better wheels or aero helmets will make you faster with no extra effort apart from opening your wallet. True free speed can be found by optimising your bike fit, the faster you are riding the more impact drag has on your speed. Getting more aero, more efficient, less injury prone and a better pedalling technique are all positive outcomes from a good bike position.”
05 Indoor training
Beyond bike position, Mellik suggests that the next most important free change that riders can make is to put aside posturing and junk miles in favour of repeatable, reliable rides. “I always raise an eyebrow hearing people talk about Velominati’s Rule 9 to ‘wrap up warm and get out in all weathers’. Regardless of weather, it is a fact that most cyclists, especially those living in urban areas, cannot train as effectively outdoors as they can indoors. Smart trainers and the new breed of training software are being used extensively by WorldTour pros because they are more effective ways of doing controlled intervals without being skewed by traffic lights, road conditions or headwinds.”