A RIDE WITH PHIL WHITE

Bike engineer Phil White created Cervélo in 1995 with GerardVroomen.Whentheysoldthegroundbreaking brand in 2011, Phil rediscovered his love of cycling...

TO BUILD BIKES YOU SACRIFICE CYCLING

“The best thing I ever did to improve my cycling was selling Cervélo. People would say: ‘you’re so lucky, you spend all your working day with bikes’. But everyone in the bike industry will tell you it’s really busy and the biggest problem is that you don’t get to cycle nearly enough.”

MOTIVATORS PUSH ME ON

“With more time, focus and less stress, I’m riding more. I ride on a Saturday with a group of guys – making a commitment to the group ensures you make the ride. I’ll do a long solo ride on a Sunday, a short weekly one, plus a couple of power rides on the trainer – they’re threshold and percentage interval sessions, controlled by a coach. I’m pretty wrecked when those sessions are done.”

I’D R ATHER KEEP IT REAL

“Virtual stuff like Zwift isn’t for me. I don’t feel I get the same intensity of workout from sitting alone in front of a screen as I do when there’s a coach screaming over my head. Also, if you’re riding in a studio you get to see other riders – so when you think ‘I can’t do this’ you see another guy who is doing it and that competitive streak kicks in to make you push on.”

WEIGHTS WORKS WHERE BEERS DON’T

“It’s pretty well established that weights don’t really help endurance training, but I do add weight sessions to my routine. I’ve found it’s helped my general fitness and as it centres on the core, I think helps improve my cycling generally and my upper body strength, which would only get exercised lifting beers otherwise!”

OFF"ROAD HELPS HANDLING

“I’m based in Toronto, which has some great mountain bike trails about an hour out of the city. I’m not the greatest of bike handlers – in fact, I suck at it. But when you’re offroading you live out of the saddle and the paths have helped me become a better overall rider and deal with any sketchy stuff on the road a whole lot better.”