by Michael Lovegren M.S., FMS, CPBT, Biomechanist

Bike Fitting in cycling seems to be one of the most debated subjects surrounding our sport for the past several years. While some seem to believe the bike fit should just be about the bike. The truth is it's not! It's important to look at the bike and the body as one. The fact that every person is different, from body shape and flexibility to power output and race discipline, makes this equation even more involved. While everyone's fit will vary, there are a few principals that will benefit athletes of all levels.

#1 Cleat Position

Cleat placement is one of the most important parts of bike fitting. If the cleat is not properly aligned then the rest of the bike fit will be incorrect.  Every watt of power you produce is transferred to the bike through your feet and on to the pedals. If the position of the cleat is not directly underneath the ball of the foot you can end up developing some serious foot problems.  We will cover more about the cleat and power in the next series.

by Joel Friel, Coach, Author, Exercise Physiologist

Here you see two charts showing the power distribution by zone for the last 28 days for a half-Ironman-focused triathlete and a road cyclist focused on a criterium and flat road races, both of whom are peaking for events at about the same time.

Road Cyclist Power Distribution

Triathlete Power Distribution

The zones from left to right in each chart are labeled as…

AR (z1) – Active Recovery
E (z2) – Endurance
TE (z3) – Tempo
TH (z4) – Threshold
VM (z5) – VO2max
AC (z6) – Anaerobic Capacity

by Bob Seebohar, MS, RD, CSSD, CSCS

Race season is upon us and with that comes even more emphasis on improving your power to weight ratio. This can obviously lead to enhanced performance in competitions but often times, cyclists do not go about it the right way thus they actually lose power and force.

There are many ways to manipulate the power to weight ratio and from a nutritional perspective, creating a state of metabolic efficiency inside the body is the overwhelming main goal. Doing this will allow you to shed some pounds off of your body frame in a safe manner and at the same time, it will also allow you to more efficiently use fat as an energy source during exercise so you will not have to shove as many calories inside your body during training or racing.

There is a powerful connection between your daily nutrition plan and your body's ability to use fat as fuel. Controlling blood sugar is the most important factor because whenever it is spiked, it turns off the body's ability to burn fat. The easiest way to prevent this spike is by pairing a food that has lean protein with a food that is high in fiber (such as fruits or vegetables). These two nutrients will best stabilize blood sugar and at the end of the day, this is the main nutritional goal for improving race weight. Below are some strategies to utilize throughout the day to teach your body to become more metabolically efficient.

FasCat PowerTap Training Camp: June 14 - 17th, 2012

by Frank Overton, FasCat Coaching

This Summer FasCat Coaching is holding a power-based training camp in Boulder, CO where all the attendees will demo a powertap wheel and learn about the benefits of training with power.

Most cyclists understand the benefit of a training camp - it's an opportunity to ride much more than you can at home, over new roads under the supervision of experienced coaches. Plus there's sag vehicles, and support during the rides and coaches guiding you up climbs you might not push yourself up on your own.

What makes a power-based camp better than a regular training camp is the education. "Power is Knowledge" as we say. The camp's primary goal is to improve fitness and to educate the athletes about training with power.   

Robbie Ventura, owner and coach of Vision Quest Coaching, offers tips for preparing for a training camp. In addition to other tips, he reccomends the week before a training camp to focus on your sleep to go into the camp rested. Also spend time getting the rest of your life in order so when you get to training camp, you don't have work or life stresses holding you back during the camp.  Watch the video on YouTube

Join Matt Dixon as he discusses the underlying training beliefs that fuel purplepatch athletes.

Date: Wednesday, April 18th
Time: 7:30 p.m. Central (5:30 p.m. Pacific)

Click here to join the webinar

The Paleo Diet for Athletes was released in October, 2005 from Rodale Press. The revised version with research updates will appear in late summer of 2012. Written by Loren Cordain, Ph.D., author of The Paleo Diet, and Joe Friel, M.S., author of numerous best-selling books on training for endurance athletes, the book applies the concept of eating as our Stone Age ancestors ate to the extraordinary demands of training for serious endurance sports. Although it is now the 21st century, athletes still have Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) bodies. There has been no significant change in the human genome in the past 10,000 years. Physiologically speaking, we are still Paleolithic athletes. And because of that we function and perform best on certain types of foods.

by Matt Dixon, Elite Coach and Owner of Purplepatch Fitness

It is about this time of year that many triathletes head for a training camp, often in warmer climates, to get that end of winter boost into spring shape. Whether a few days, or weeks, is a training camp a worthy adventure and investment? The answer is certainly yes, if you go into it with the right purpose and goal of what you want to achieve from the camp itself.

by Joe Friel, Coach, Author, Exercise Physiologist

Should you buy a power meter? After all, they aren’t cheap and sport is already expensive. You’ve spent a small fortune on bicycles and all of their assorted and costly components. And don’t forget the entry fees, travel to races, special foods and supplements, and on, and on, and on.

And why get a power meter since you already have a perfectly good heart rate monitor? It’s just one more gizmo to have to figure out.

So why should you get a power meter? The short answer is that you simply are more likely to achieve your race goals by training—and racing—with a power meter than without. It is the most affective tool you can get to go faster on a bike.

Perfect your pedaling technique with Robbie Ventura's pedaling drills.