Case Study: Tyrel Fuchs' Journey to Cat 1 Upgrade

Tyrel Fuchs just got his Cat 1 upgrade at 19 years old! Nice work! It took a ton of work on Tyrel’s part to get here and this article is a way to highlight his work and a follow up the Junior / U23 trajectories article before this.
Tyrel’s brother Caleb was a very fast bike racer and Source Endurance client. Caleb had a high ability to move oxygen to his muscles and a high level of muscular strength. Tyrel with the same build and genetics, after some testing, shows the same characteristics. Also like his brother, Tyrel is a student of the sport, and I would argue a better student than Caleb. I think Caleb would agree. Where Tyrel’s weaknesses may be in total anaerobic capacity still he is learning how to mitigate this with tactics and always working on his corning skills.  
With Tyrel being in Texas and New Mexico most of the time we have to choose a different trajectory than a rider residing in a larger city. On the east coast, a rider like this may go directly to a bigger Junior program, but with supportive parents and some local clubs, Tyrel has a real ability to push himself on his own and train to a high level for big races. We can plan out some larger peaks and really push towards race goals and plan out the season accordingly.

Natural talent + hard work + proper coaching + fun = success in cycling.

Tyrel for the last two years has really focused on training with some key races each year. While racking up points is easy for him at local time trials, the crits prove a bit tougher. The major goal this year was to finish off his Cat 1 upgrade and have good legs at Tour of the Gila in the Cat 1/2 race.  For that race we really focused on long term power for the 30 min+ climbs. He also kept track of nutrition so as not to focus on weight loss on a hard run into Gila. From 2017-2018 we saw the largest overall gains in sustained power from Tyrel. Some of this is due to cadence work and variable durations of threshold work getting more specific and intense as we got closer to race day.
Tracking Tyrel’s power though Gila (last 90 days) versus the previous history since 2016 we see here that we had a successful peak and hit some great new numbers and Tyrel is still progressing. He had a great race with top 20’s every stage and a 4th place on the Mogollon at Stage 1.

With some later race goals we rest post-Gila. There won’t be a need for a full “base” period but we are always training aerobic powers and we will be ramping back up the intensity to build anaerobic capacity on this amazing aerobic base.
Moving forward, the biggest thing I can do for Tyrel as his coach is making his career sustainable as he makes his way onto better and better teams. We have to work hard and progress yes but we have to have fun doing it. Natural talent + hard work + proper coaching + fun = success in cycling.

Zack Allison earned his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science at Colorado State University. As part of his education, he participated in many hands on exercise science practicum and internships, coaching many types of athletes, specifically cyclists.
Zack’s affinity for cycling started at the early age of 14 racing on the east coast. He quickly moved up the amateur ranks to race on the elite national circuit. This level of competition sparked his interest in exercise science, taking him to Colorado State University. While racing for his alma-mater and on various amateur teams he saw many podiums at the Collegiate Championships and Pro/Am events. Zack is currently living in Fort Collins, Colorado and has raced for Elevate Pro Cycling and currently races for Clif Bar.
Growing up with great mentors and coaches, Zack has a goal of paying it forward. He hopes to use his education and racing experience to bring success to Source Endurance and his clients. Zack also owns and operated the Source Endurance Training Center of the Rockies, a training and bike fit studio in Fort Collins, CO.