DIY Energy

We all want to ride faster and harder for longer. Many competitive bikers resort to expensive energy drink powders and jells but you can get the same effect without the hefty price tag. For rides or races over one hour in duration you should be consuming something to keep your sugars up to prevent bonking - a drop in your sugar levels that impact performance. Drinks and gels are ideal for riding/racing because they are absorbed quickly and wont sit in your stomach like solid food.

One of the easiest recipes is to mix some cordial and add some salt. You may also like to add some table sugar if you think you need a stronger energy kick. The water in the drink will rehydrate you, the sugar in the cordial will raise your energy levels and the salt will help you retain water and replace some of the salts that are lost in through sweat.

Another option is to drink flat Coke for an energy boost. The drink is loaded with sugar and the caffeine will give you that extra kick.

Build Strength and Endurance - Goblet Squats

Hi all. The goblet squat is an awesome exercise for building strength and endurance for a cyclist. This is a kinetic chain exercise that requires you to engage your entire core by linking static strength from your upper body with dynamic strength in your legs. This is very beneficial for cyclists who want to increase their peddling power and efficiency while improving posture and preventing lower back fatigue while riding. All you need is a dumbbell or kettlebell(s). Lift the weight so it sits comfortably under your chin, stand with feet slightly beyond shoulder width, and squat down until your knees reach a 90 degree bend. Then repeat. Its super important that your back stays straight throughout the entire movement and your knees stay behind your toes. You should feel this exercise engage your core muscles more as you get deeper into the squat. To build endurance, aim for 15 to 20 reps/set and for power aim for 6 to 10 explosive reps/set.

The Best Way To Train

Hey everybody.

There is so much debate on the best types of exercises and workouts for athletes to achieve their performance goals. Some athletes/coaches swear by weights intensive training programs, others rely purely on riding volume, some rely heavily on dry land workouts and so on. If your browsing articles on fitness I guarantee you'll find a whole range of opinions on the best way to do things. So what's the answer? How should we train?

The answer is everybody is different - we all have different body geometries, lung capacities, muscle densities, natural levels of fast/slow twitch muscle fiber, lactic acid thresholds and a whole heap of other stuff. Because we are all built so differently, what works for one athlete may not work for the next. Its a matter of being in the game for long enough to learn and experience different training methods to find what works for you.