The human body naturally adjusts to different elevations. Although you may not notice, on the cellular level it’s constantly adjusting to support your external environment. Cyclists have learned to use this knowledge to their advantage through what’s known as altitude training. Altitude training helps to adjust the amount of oxygen your body is exposed to…
Alcohol is intimately related to cycling and racing in general. Post-ride trail brews, podium champagne and “recovery beers” are all a regular part of our cycling vernacular and culture, but if you’re trying to take your training seriously, should they be? The effects of alcohol on performance can be narrowed down to two things: how…
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…
5:30 a.m. isn’t a good time to wake up — it’s a great time to be at work. That’s how our Head Coach Chad Timmerman sees it. By the time most people come into the office for their first cup of coffee, Coach Chad is several pages deep into a science-dense training book (a routine…
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…
Big wins don’t just happen. They’re the culmination of tens, often hundreds of smaller everyday wins that mold you into a stronger, faster cyclist. These small wins, better known as marginal gains, can help you overcome that all-too-often frustratingly small gap between winning and losing on race day. To help you bridge that gap, I’ve…
There are some races you can go into with confidence without a lot of prior training — a 100-200 mile bike race is not one of them. These one-day epics take a lot of preparation. And we’re not just talking about getting your body in good physical shape either. There’s equipment, your bike set up…
Despite her talent, Liz Lyles never wanted to be a professional triathlete in her twenties. She wanted a family. After the self-described homebody proudly had her two gorgeous kiddos with her husband Chip, she finally decided it was her time to do what so many athletes dream about: turn her passion into her career. That…
If you’re brand new to racing, it’s pretty straightforward to know which racing category you should start out in. But what if you’re coming back to racing? What category should you race and, more interestingly, what does it say about you as a racer? These are just a couple questions I’m about to dig into. Cycling…
Time and time again we’ve heard our users say they love watching their favorite TV shows while putting in time on the trainer. In honor of the new season of Game of Thrones returning to HBO this weekend, we decided to figure out just how fast TrainerRoad athletes can get while making their way through…