Racing in Heavy Crosswinds, Adaptive Muscle Shortening, Commuting and More – Ask a Cycling Coach 243

Pro tips for racing in heavy crosswinds, how cyclists should deal with “adaptive muscle shortening,” using your commute to get faster and more is all covered in Episode 243 of The Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast.


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4 Likes

One idea for seated sprints in ERG mode, based on some discussion earlier this morning.

  1. Consider shifting up to harder gears. Something like 2-3 in the rear about 5-10 seconds early before the sprint.
  2. Hold the same power initially, which will make you decrease your cadence a bit.
  3. Right before the sprint (about 2 seconds to go is when TR sends the resistance change), HAMMER for the sprint and get your cadence up to your “sprint” rpm’s. This should “over-power” the trainer and get your watts ramped up quickly.
  4. Upon completing the sprint, let the flywheel spin down 5 or more seconds and let your cadence drop to what you had right before you sprinted.
  5. Then undo the shifts (2-3, or whatever you did) to return to your normal ERG gearing.

It can help you bridge the gap by effectively getting the resistance unit set harder via the cadence drop. I have used mild forms of both of these tricks on all my trainers.

3 Likes

Some thoughts on skiing for @chad , you can wear a watch that you just need to start when you leave the lodge and stop when you finish to track the data. No need to ever look at it (unless you are lost and need to know altitude!) The Garmin Fenix 5 onwards (I think), the 935 and the 945 all have a ski mode.

I’ve also used an Apple Watch series 5 to track a full days touring which also worked fine (although the app Ski Tracks didn’t parse my HR [now supposedly fixed])

That’s what I did, @kitenski, and even if I wore it facing inward, when I’d cock my wrist it’d still hit the start/stop button. Hmmmm, gotta be a way to use my 935–I love that watch.

You need screen lock…

System Settings

Hold Menu symbol, and select Settings > System.

Auto Lock

Allows you to lock the keys automatically to prevent accidental key presses. Use the During Activity option to lock the keys during a timed activity. Use the Not During Activity option to lock the keys when you are not recording a timed activity.

Manual Lock

Hold down the Light button, which will push you into the options and you’ll find the option to lock the keys. When you need to unlock , simply hold down any button and you can start skipping through those screens again

2 Likes

Ah! How did I overlook something so obvious!? I’ve even used it before. Thanks for the reminder, @kitenski.

1 Like

best book another trip to try it out :rofl:

So is Jonathon a Cat 3 road racer? Not being US based I don’t really know who all the grades work but I’m guessing he wouldn’t have been able to do all three races that were talked about if he was graded higher (wasn’t one of them Cat 3 only?). Just curious more than anything.

The guys from EuroSport made a great video on how an Echelon works. In my opinion it’s a must read for every cycling fan and of course also for every racer who might face this situation in real life: Redirecting...

Late to this one - but I love ski touring, and I really enjoy hearing how you guys also do these mutli-day backcountry hut trips! Such a great way to get out in the winter.