ASK THE COACH…

WHAT’S THE BEST ALL ROUND TRAINING PROGRAMME TO INCREASE SPEED AND STAMINA FOR LONGER RIDES AND FTP? I’M NOT PLANNING TO RACE AT ALL, I ONLY WANT TO IMPROVE FOR RIDES UP TO 5 TO 6 HOURS.

Training is like building a house. We start with the foundations, not the roof. So, it’s important that we have endurance miles in your plan. Those weekend rides with the club or on your own are good to get that done. Say 3 to 4 hours on a Saturday/sunday - easy miles summer smiles as they say. It’s a good rule.

To develop you as an all-round cyclist then you need some strength work, sprint efforts, tempo and if you want to develop your FTP then sweet spot work also. Your sweet spot zone is 84% to 97% of your FTP value. The great thing about training in this zone is that you get all the benefits of developing threshold without the fatigue.

Also ensure that you factor in recovery weeks say after each 3rd build week. The development of you as a cyclist comes in the recovery process not with you doing endless hard sessions so allow some downtime for your body to embrace the work you have put in. That’s not you sitting on your backside doing nothing but ensure that any work you do this week is super easy and has you sitting around Z2 for your sessions. Ignore recovery weeks at your peril. No recovery generally means overtraining, more prone to injury and with no recovery you will, unfortunately, not really get very far and your training will stagnate.

WHATS THE BEST FOOD TO TAKE ON A BIKE RIDE?

Anything other than a gel!!! Ok they have their place but like most things in life everyone wants the easiest option and if I had a euro for every

person I saw on rides munching gels only, I would be worth a few euros.

Start with normal food so things like the humble banana, maybe a rice cake (homemade so saves you some money) perhaps a small madeleine or cake, then move onto an energy bar. Make sure that anything you eat doesn’t dry your mouth out and always take a few swigs of liquid to help wash it down.

The other good way to get carbs into your system is of course using a carbbased drink which means that your body can absorb it easier and quickly. Ok, now the gel that I mentioned above. Use a gel as a last resort when you are flagging maybe, as the “nutrition” will enter your system pretty quick but still takes around 15 to 20 mins to feel the effects. If 15km from home and you are struggling, then a gel is going to kick in when you have finished. So, it’s pretty pointless although maybe the placebo effect will help anyway.

Next ensure with gels that you drink a good few glugs to aid the process of absorption into the body. Too many gels with little liquid will cause you an upset stomach and cramps. Remember that gels are concentrated carbs, and it gets very difficult for your body to process so much in a short amount of time. Check out the rice cake recipes of Nigel Mitchell, Chef to the old Team Sky. They are easy to make, store and, of course, eat!!!

HOW DO I ADJUST MY PLAN WHEN TAKING TIME OFF THE BIKE?

It really depends on how much time you have taken off the bike. If it’s one or two days, then you can just pick up where you left off, skip the sessions you have missed and just carry on.

If its longer say a week or two then you will need to make some adjustments as you may well be falling into a recovery week where in fact you need to start building again and the recovery weeks are out of sync. You could also be coming into build week 4 when you could benefit from entering into week 1 or 2. In general, in this instance, start back with less rather than more as the recovery and “easier” sessions will benefit you more with a slower increase in volume, rather than full gas efforts where you are generally still recovering.

I AM GOING ON A CYCLING HOLIDAY AND DON’T WANT TO TAKE MY OWN BIKE AS THE COMPANY I AM GOING WITH SAID THEY CAN SUPPLY ONE. WHAT INFORMATION DO I NEED TO TELL THEM TO ENSURE THAT I HAVE THE RIGHT BIKE FOR ME?

Oh, this is such a great question! First up, if you are a female then ask them if they have women specific bikes/saddles. So many times, I see companies say they can provide bikes and all they do is give the same bike to both sexes. It drives me mad. Two things then you need to take with you are your saddle and your pedals if using a clipless system, both of which are easy to take off.

If a male, take your pedals and the saddle you will probably live okay with. Next up, give them all your measurements. So, size of bike for a start, then bar width. Measure the saddle height. So, 88.3% of inside leg length for centre of the bottom bracket - to top of saddle is the first port of call. Then measure your stack and reach. Stack is the vertical distance from the (middle of the) bottom bracket, to the top edge of the head tube and the reach is horizontal distance from the (middle of the) bottom bracket to (middle of) the top of the head tube. Make a note of these and keep them with you so when you rock up you can check if they have set them up correctly.

Ask them also what bikes they use. The tour operator I work with, ITAL CYCLING www.italcycling.it are partnered with Cinelli and the mechanic will rock up on the first day to set your bike up for you so you know that you are going to be on a top end bike and it will be in the right position. One thing to remember if using a bike abroad the brakes, left and right are on the opposite sides, don’t forget that !!!

I WOULD LIKE TO ENTER MY LOCAL TIME TRIAL WHEN RACING STARTS AGAIN BUT DON’T HAVE ALL THE EQUIPMENT I SEE OTHER PEOPLE HAVE, WILL THAT BE A PROBLEM?

TT’S are just the best form of racing to get into to start you off. No one cares who you are or what equipment you have. At the end of the day, it’s you against the clock. Sure, you might feel a bit intimidated when you rock up to sign on and you see people in figure hugging skin suits with all the latest TT Tour De France equipment spinning away on the rollers with the headphones on, but there are also plenty of people just riding around the block on a normal road bike who just want to have some fun.

For your first 10 if you come in under 30 mins then that’s a decent result. From there, it’s all about chopping the minutes and seconds off your previous time. There is nothing better than seeing you move closer to the person in front of you that was 1 min faster than you last week but is now only 30 secs. As you develop then you will want to get a new areo helmet, a disc wheel, some aero bars, a new bike, etc. Need I go on?

But to start off have some fun and enjoy yourself. The great thing is at the end of the TT there is tea and cake to be had in the hall and people chatting about how they got on. It’s very old school and very friendly too. So give it a go…what have you got to lose?