Category: Racing

Starting with TrainerRoad is a powerful step toward becoming a faster, stronger cyclist. Whether you’re new to structured training or transitioning from another coaching platform, setting yourself up for success is simple and straightforward. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know, from creating an account to pairing your training devices. […]

Struggling to finish strong in Zwift races? TrainerRoad’s “Getting Faster for Zwift Racing” Training Plan is built specifically for Zwift’s unique demands—helping you respond to surges, sustain high power, and sprint when it matters most. Learn how structured training can give you the endurance, power, and race-day confidence to stop getting dropped and start winning.

If you’re wondering whether it’s too late to train for your next event, the answer is absolutely not! Even with just a few weeks’ time, TrainerRoad’s AI-driven cycling training plans can get you race-ready by following three simple steps. Step 1: Create a Custom Training Plan Your training should fit your goals, not the other […]

What’s the fastest way up Alpe du Zwift—virtual upgrades or real fitness?

Most Zwifters grind for months unlocking top-tier bikes, convinced they’ll shave minutes off their climbs. But what if structured training made you even faster—without the endless grind?

We ran the numbers, and the results are clear: A 10-watt fitness gain—achievable in just 1-2 months with TrainerRoad—saved nearly twice as much time as Zwift’s best bike unlocks. Meanwhile, unlocking the fastest bikes can take up to 42 months.

Forget the grind—unlock real speed. Start training smarter today.

Struggling to upgrade your Zwift race category? No matter how much you ride, getting stuck in the same category can feel frustrating. TrainerRoad’s AI-driven training takes the guesswork out of getting faster, ensuring every workout builds the power and endurance you need to move up. With personalized training plans and adaptive workouts seamlessly integrated into Zwift, you’ll always know exactly what to do to keep progressing. See how smarter training leads to real results—start leveling up today.

It’s finally here! After years of planning and excitement, our TrainerRoad teams are finally in South Africa for Cape Epic. Follow along here to meet our teams, learn about each stage of the race, and get daily updates!

While preparing for the Silver Rush 50, athlete Kate McLaughlin sustained an injury that would keep her off her mountain bike for months. Eager to keep her Leadville goals on track, Kate found a new approach to training, that resulted in an all-time personal fitness and the fastest women’s time at the 2021 Silver Rush 50. Here’s how Kate trained for her first long-distance mountain bike race and her tips for success at the Silver Rush 50. 

Hot weather’s adverse physical impact on endurance performance can elevate the difficulty of any workout, race, or ride. Fortunately, you can improve your execution in the heat through heat acclimatization and mitigate its adverse effects with additional preparation.

We cyclists spend lots of time thinking about how to win bike races, but what if we should actually spend more time thinking about losing? Hear us out— maybe by better understanding what leads to an outcome we want to avoid, we can prevent common mistakes, and fine-tune our efforts to achieve better results. In that spirit, we present our top 15 most effective and time-honored ways to lose a bike race. Tested and perfected by generations of disappointed cyclists, these ill-advised techniques are guaranteed to work for you, too.

Target the power fundamental to criterium racing with these five workouts for crit racers. Use them to fine-tune your established fitness, build essential skills, or introduce criterium-specific interval training to your schedule.

An upcoming season of racing means it’s time to run through your pre-season checklist. Here are five things you can do before the first race of the year to round out your preparation and increase your confidence on race day.

There’s a variety of aspects to think about when you’re preparing for long solo rides. Whether it’s an epic time trial or even a long-distance mass start race, you can assume you’ll be riding alone for a good bit of time. Here are five tips to help you on those long solo rides.

Erica Carney won the 2017 US national criterium championship, but like every racer she started as a beginner. We asked Erica what advice she wishes she’d received when she was just getting started racing bikes.

Getting started with bike racing can be intimidating. It’s easy to overthink it, and convince yourself you’re getting in over your head. But in reality, your first few races are some of the most exciting experiences you’ll have as a cyclist. If you approach these events with an open mind and a sense of curiosity, you can lay the foundation for a long and successful future in the sport. These are our top 10 tips for your first season racing bikes.

We’ve all been there—nearing the finish of a ride or race with exhausted legs and more steep hills yet to come. Facing steep climbs near the end of a ride is a challenge. But it’s one that you can overcome with training, planning, and these tips.

We rode one of the most popular Gran Fondos in America, Levi’s Gran Fondo, to learn firsthand what riders need to do to best prepare for the race. Here are 10 tips for Levi’s Gran Fondo.

Road Racing is one of the most diverse and challenging disciplines in cycling. These events take many forms, and require a specific mix of skills and fitness. This article will explain the most common types of road racing, and consider how you can target your training for success in these events.

Criterium racing is a wildly exciting form of road racing. But what is a criterium, and what is the best way to train for one? In this article, we’ll cover the ins and outs of crits and how you can be successful as a criterium racer.

24 Hours in the Old Pueblo is a wildly popular race that happens every year outside Tuscon, Arizona. 24-hour mountain bike racing is quite challenging because of fitness, nutrition, and equipment demands. This guide to 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo will help you prepare for the course, select your strategy, and provide tips for your race.

Here’s how professional mountain bike racer Alex Wild warms up for XC MTB races and preps his starts to make them as smooth and as powerful as possible.

It’s a strange time for endurance athletes. With pandemic-related cancellations affecting events around the world, many of us face a question: What now?

In road racing the size of the field plays an important role in the demands of the race. You can use the tactical principles of field size to adjust your tactics for different field sizes.

Criteriums are fast, intense, and unpredictable. How can you use team tactics and sprinting strategies to up your crit game? We asked an expert.

Mid-race communication between you and your teammates can make or break your race. Plan and communicate and your team can control the race, setting you up for victory.

Life happens and plans change. If your events have been canceled or rescheduled, don’t worry. Plan Builder can help keep your training on track. You can adjust your training plan, event schedule, and calendar to make sure you can reach peak fitness on race day.

Picking the right wheel to follow is essential when the race comes down to a sprint finish. But the best plans don’t always work out. These pro tips can help you find the right wheel in a sprint, and make adjustments when things don’t go as planned.

Crashes are a scary, but a very real, part of racing. When you race in bigger events with larger fields the likelihood of seeing or dealing with a crash only increases. Knowing how to protect yourself in a tight field, and when you should go to the pit, can help you safely stay in the race.

A strong team can command a race making your hopes of victory slim. Their mix of talent and strategy can seem overwhelming. When racing, the cards you have may not be winning cards, but it would be a shame not to play them. These tips from Team Clif Bar can push the odds in your favor when racing against a dominant team.

Technical sections, like rock gardens, can be the most demanding part of a XC race. With the right line choice and proper technique, you can ride through technical sections faster, and without having to dab your foot. These pro tips can help you feel confident in the most demanding sections of a XC course.

You don’t need a big team to accomplish a race winning leadout. You can execute a successful lead out with just one other teammate. With a good plan and intentional execution you and your teammate can stack the odds in your favor and get one of you across the finish line first.

Mountain bike races start out hard as racers push to get to the singletrack first. But while all riders start out going hard, the best riders can do so efficiently without blowing up.

Not every breakaway is successful, but your race doesn’t have to be over just because you got caught. These pro tips will help when you need to sprint for the win after your breakaway fails.

Moving through a large field in a mass start event can be stressful. But whether you’re racing a crit or riding a gran fondo, these pro tips will help you get to the front of the field efficiently so you can put the power down at the finish line.

Nailing your pace is essential in long cycling events. The right pacing plan will remove the guesswork before your next event and help you cross the finish line faster.

A sprint can come down to mere inches. So in any sprint, leaving a gap between you and the athlete in front of you might seem crazy. But this gap might be exactly what you need to win your sprint.

You can upgrade race categories faster by filling your season with high quality events that suit your abilities and make the most of your time. Picking the right races is easy to do and can make a huge difference when you are aiming to upgrade quickly.

Riding in crosswinds can be a challenge, especially for smaller riders. But no matter your size, these tips will help you ride confidently and faster in crosswinds.

A powerful sprint is more than a burst of acceleration and power. Proper tension, body position and rhythm will improve your sprinting technique and allow you to execute an explosive sprint.

While every breakaway is going to be different, there are always things you can do to optimize your performance in a breakaway and increase the probability of a win. For more on race tactics check out our Race Analysis YouTube Playlist. Establishing a Gap Establishing a gap is the hardest part of a breakaway, both […]

Enduro World Champion Richie Rude analyzes Coach Jonathan’s onboard footage from every stage of EWS Northstar 2019, giving actionable takeaways and pro insights.

Chloe Woodruff is an Olympian, multi-time National Champion and bonafide legend in the cross-country mountain biking space. As the owner and manager of the Stans-Pivot Pro Team, she has a unique perspective and set of responsibilities that provide a ton of learning opportunities for us. More show notes and discussion in the TrainerRoad Forum. Topics […]

In just one season of training, TrainerRoad user Justin Thomas achieved a top 5 finish in one of the most competitive fields at the 2018 Cyclocross Nationals. Translating success from one discipline of riding to another takes hard work. When Justin, a former mountain bike champion and Masters racer, learned that Cyclocross Nationals was going […]

Only three percent of age group athletes qualify for the Ironman World Championship. With such small odds, it begs the question: what exactly does it take to vie for a slot at triathlon’s biggest event? In 2016, we started interviewing TrainerRoad users who have made their Kona-qualifying dreams a reality. We kicked things off with […]

We put GoPros on two of our strongest riders, Dave and Pete, giving you an inside look at our local Tuesday Night Worlds criterium. I sit down with the riders and analyze the two different ways they approached the race. If you like the race commentary, leave a comment on the video letting us know […]

50 miles in three and a half hours may not sound impressive to your average road racer, but digging into the details of Keegan Swenson’s 2nd place ride at the Epic Rides Carson City Off-Road, it’s clear this is a world-class performance.  The Carson City Off-Road has 15-, 35- and 50-mile variants for amateurs, […]

When it comes to aerodynamics, assumptions are often wrong. These lessons learned from aerodynamic testing challenge some common beliefs time trialists tend to have. Coach Chad, Coach Jonathan, and our CEO Nate are on a search for speed. In preparation for their time trial, they went to the Velo Sports Center and did aerodynamics testing […]

What sort of effort does it take to get third place on the fastest day in Dirty Kanza’s history? Let’s do some race and power file analysis of Geoff Kabush’s race with TrainerRoad’s new Performance Analytics features. Dirty Kanza is one of the most popular gravel races in the world, and although there are multiple […]

Faced with a long-distance race but aren’t sure you have the fitness you need? You may be surprised to learn that you can tackle long-distance races (and rides) with all the fitness you need, and more, by simply training smart. How the Time-Crunched Athlete Gets Faster The problem many athletes face is the limiting belief […]

Payoffs occur to those who put the right type of work in at the right time. The reason most cyclists don’t see the dividends they desire comes down to improper season planning at the beginning of their training season. To perfect your training season leading up to an important event, or series of events, ask […]

Every second counts on race day. Don’t let a poorly pinned race number add time to the clock and get in the way of your next win. How Athletes are Pinning Their Race Number Wrong The most common mistakes racers are making when pinning their race numbers is either positioning the number out of view […]

Professional triathlete and IRONMAN commentator, Matt Lieto, and your podcast hosts recorded a special episode to chop up Grinduro, one of the most interesting races on the calendar that you need to know about, and their preparation for one of the toughest climbs on earth, Mauna Kea. Topics covered in this episode Triathlon and gravel […]

Answer: It’s a process, and every rider will come to a different balance that suits them. Every step in the process can yield more power, greater aerodynamics, and/or higher levels of sustainability. Who Knew There Was So Much to Time Trialing!? Going fast in a time trial is a marriage, if a polygamous one, of […]

Answer: A lot. Structured training will get you faster, but structured training with a concern for aerodynamic positioning will have the greatest impact on your speed. What is Aerodynamic Drag? Aerodynamic drag, otherwise known as aerodynamic resistance, plays a major role in determining how fast we can push ourselves on our bikes. How much so […]

Answer: For most athletes, no. Depending on the familiarity and experience with an FTP value, athletes can realistically sustain the power level of FTP in a range from about 40-70 minutes. ** Our default testing format to estimate an athlete’s FTP was changed to the TrainerRoad Ramp Test since this post was published Why Your […]

Singletrack 6 presented by Transrockies was epic in more ways than one. Here’s a compilation of lessons learned. Singletrack 6 Preview To help get you faster for your next XC stage race and/or MTB adventure, the hosts of the Ask a Cycling Coach podcast signed up to race Singletrack 6, the epic six-day MTB stage race […]

Ninety percent of the time Pete Morris lines up at a race with priorities greater than crossing the finish line first. When it comes to riding his bike, the humble powerhouse who races for Team CLIF Bar Cycling has other measures of success. If you would have told Pete Morris eight years ago he’d be […]

Sonya Looney is no stranger to being on the bike for long hours, but the 2015 WEMBO 24-Hour World Champion admits she could barely get through an hour-long indoor workout in the past. Structured training with TrainerRoad and the Wahoo KICKR changed that. “I can now ride my bike inside and it doesn’t feel like […]

Could your tires be holding you back from your next win? As research develops, so does our understanding of how smart tire choices can help reduce the amount of time left on the table on race day. If you’ve ever walked into a bike shop or browsed a tire catalog online, you’ll know that the […]

For many cyclists, their warmup routines before a race look a lot like riding around at a moderate pace for 10-20 minutes, depending on how long their event is. This is changing. In place of loose, unspecific pre-race workouts are structured workouts that riders are opting to do on the trainer — you may have […]

Although not every race is won by a solo breakaway, multiple breakaways or breakaway attempts always form the outcome of a race. To make sure you’re at the pointy end of the race in the final kilometer, you need to have a specific type of fitness that allows you more than one shot at a […]

Last week we had the opportunity to join The Clif Bar Team for their annual training camp in Napa Valley, California. In between training sessions we sat down with some of the best criterium racers in the country to find out how to become a better crit racer. We covered how to train for criterium […]

“Why do I put myself through all this pain?” For Justin Rossi, the amateur time trialist who lost first place by a mere nine seconds at the 2014 National Time Trial Championships, it would be a fair question to ask. But he doesn’t. Rossi doesn’t have time to dwell on pain or the past. Nor […]

Once a novice to endurance sports, Daniel Clarke worked hard and trained smart. The culmination of all his efforts paid off this past July when he won his age group at Ironman Canada. For a guy who had a humble start to his triathlon career — he finished second to last overall in his first […]

Question: You’ve done several stage races, what have you found to work best for recovery methods to get through the stage race and how long will it take post-stage race before one can realistically expect to race in good form again? Answer: While many athletes put a large focus on training, fitness, and nutrition, I […]