women’s cycling
The Road to UCI Gravel World Championship
Hire a Source Endurance Coach This past month, Team USA’s Elite UCI Gravel World’s roster came out for said race taking place on October 5-6th in Leuven, Belgium. On that roster, two Source Endurance athletes were selected to participate in the Elite Women’s race. This is quite a big deal, as our small coaching company…
Read MoreThe Art of Team Tactics
Team tactics help effectively apply assets to bring the best team result possible. Bike racing is also full of nuances that lead to a different race outcomes.
Read MoreCoach Kristen Arnold Featured on Fast Talk Labs
National Team Coach and Nutritionist Kristen Arnold helps us explore maximizing your nutrition as an athlete, gives advice for how junior women can reach the next level, and shares her experience managing national projects.
Read MoreSource Endurance Welcomes Sofia Schugar
Sofia comes from a background of elite triathlon, road, and gravel racing. and is available now to work with athletes at all levels.
Read MorePlanning Your Season
Start next season NOW The best part about planning your season for next year is that we get to plan our epic adventure(s). Many of these adventures involve travel to faraway lands which ultimately means you’re committing significant time, energy and funds to create a life enriching experience for yourself. You would be in the…
Read MoreA Guide to Choosing a Cycling Coach
Hire a Coach! Choosing a cycling coach is very important… and it can also feel very overwhelming! In my opinion, it’s as important as choosing a bike frame, wheelset, or drivetrain. A coach is someone who not only keeps you accountable, but works together with you to achieve your goals. If you choose to hire…
Read MoreCoach Kristen’s recap as USA Cycling Women’s Development Road Director
My first season working with the road National Team as the Women’s Development Road Director at USA Cycling was a fun, fulfilling, and healthy challenge for me.
Read MoreDr. Echo Dahl Rowe’s Leadville Trail 100 PR, 8 Years Later
Of all the athletes I’ve ever worked with, Echo’s drive to succeed in whatever she chooses is among the very best. This need to succeed is directly reflected in her work ethic and can be seen in everything she does.
Read MoreUnbound Gravel: Kelly Bastman Tells Her Kansas Experience Story
This was my first Unbound Gravel so I had no idea what to expect. This is a story of my adventure in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
Read MoreFemale Cyclists: Hormones and Performance
Are there certain times of the month when you feel like you’re on fire and then other times you feel like a load of bricks? You are not alone! Most individuals who have female reproductive organs have a menstrual cycle. That menstrual cycle impacts many aspects of our physical and mental health and performance.
Read MoreStructuring 2023 for the SoCal Race Calendar
Most of us have already closed the book on our 2022 season. Perhaps you’re already in a transition phase and craving some much-needed soul riding. Once the season is finished in earnest, usually taking 2-3 weeks away from structured training can be one of the best things you can do for yourself to start to…
Read MoreHow to Avoid DNFing the BWR
Many begin an epic adventure like the one you’ve just embarked upon expecting moderate discomfort and glory to await us, but only the most prepared will triumph over the Belgian Waffle Ride. Although the numbers are not public, we know a high percentage of riders never cross the finish line and get their own ride…
Read MoreAma Nsek: USAC Collegiate National Champion in the Criterium
Ama Nsek wins NCCA Criterium Championship
Read MoreTackling the Dubbel Header
For those of you uninitiated to the Dubbel Header, the concept is simple; race the Waffle ride on Saturday and turn around and race the Wafer on Sunday. Easy enough? Ha! The Waffle ride was 135+ miles long, sure to be my longest ride of the year and the Wafer was 75 miles, yet still…
Read MoreEpilogue and Epitaph of a Glorious BWR Finish
Epiligue an Epitaph of a Glorious BWR Finish Evolution doesn’t always occur incrementally. Sometimes change is sudden, surprising and painful. The Belgian Waffle Ride has always been different. Different is challenging; it’s new; it’s unique. Then, for 4 years the course did not change substantially. Yes, there were small tweaks but nothing that affected overall…
Read MoreThe Best Tire for the Belgian Waffle Ride CA (San Diego)
The Best Tire for the Belgian Waffle Ride CA (San Diego) Monuments are generally considered to be the oldest, hardest and most prestigious one day races on the professional circuit and winning one can immortalize an athlete in the annals of history. As such, Monuments define spring racing success in the professional ranks, dictating future…
Read MoreNat MacLean: Doctor, Mother, Athlete, Friend, Ambassador of Cycling.
Nat MacLean is coached by Zack Allison and has made many improvements in a short amount of time!
Read MoreLess Pain, More Gain: 6 ways for cyclists to reduce soreness from strength training and running
Get DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) every season you start working out in the gym? Can’t walk the day after going for an easy 2 mile jog? Tried doing a 15 minute HIIT workout once and now your arms feel like jello on the bike? Check out these strategies to reduce soreness from exercises that…
Read MorePower Analysis – Whitney Allison’s BWR Cedar City Win
Photo: JPov Photo Whitney Allison had a breakthrough ride at Belgian Waffle Ride Cedar City winning the climbing jersey, the sprint jersey and the women’s overall race. Here’s a power analysis of her race winning file. Setting the stage This edition of BWR Cedar City had a 10 minute separation between the men’s Waffle wave…
Read MoreReturning to Training and Racing After Covid19, an Update
As the pandemic began to tighten its grip, the United States and the world began to enter lockdown. Meanwhile, professional sports leagues including Major League Soccer (MLS), Major League Baseball (MLB), National Hockey League (NHL), National Football League (NFL), and the men’s and women’s National Basketball Association (NBA, WNBA) were already planning the massive undertaking…
Read MoreConsistency, the Most Important Aspect of Training
What is the most important aspect of training? Is it nailing the fundamentals? VO2 max intervals? Squeezing out every marginal gain? I’d argue each of these has validity but the king and queen of them all is consistency. Cycling is a highly aerobic sport and most of the training adaptations simply take a lot of…
Read More10 Tips and Tricks for Fueling for Long Gravel Races & How to Maintain Stamina in the Heat and Dirt
Race Day Nutrition Plan Mass start, dust up the nose, endless climbs, stretches of desolate scenery, clock ticking. Gravel races are sweeping the hearts of cyclists across the country for the opportunity to complete something epic, try something new, enjoy beautiful scenery, and challenge oneself. As one of the newer disciplines of cycling, racers are…
Read MoreHow to make mountain biking friendlier
SE coach and ambassador Nikki Peterson recently wrote an article for Trek Bikes entitled “How to make mountain biking friendlier.” If you’ve met Nikki, you probably know that she is a professional MTBer for Competitive Metals Trek, runs the GRiT podcast, has been working for NICA for years, and is, well, incredibly friendly and welcoming!…
Read MorePatience in Racing: Often Overlooked, Never Underrated
HERE. WE. GO! Whether you’re ready or not, the 2021 racing season has started. Many of us are emerging from the months of Zwift training and working up the courage to do that first race. It’s likely racing will be analogous to our first post-pandemic group social interactions. We’re all going to be excited, a…
Read MoreIncorporating other cycling disciplines to improve your cycling performance
Perhaps you are in the middle of a training block and your fitness is starting to plateau and stagnant or maybe you’ve been road riding the same loop day in and day out and motivation is starting to wane. Picking up another discipline of cycling might be just the right move to boost fitness and…
Read MoreKeeping a Positive Mindset When Things Seem Not So Positive
Not to sound like a broken record, but 2020 has tested a lot of people, physically and mentally. With so many changes and people feeling more isolated than ever, it can be hard to keep a positive mindset. However, it has been proven that having a positive mindset can have a lot of health-related benefits…
Read MoreTraining Methods for Breaking Cross State Records, a Case Study
Case study by Kristen Arnold MS, RDN, CSSD, Sports dietitian and Cycling Coach Coach Kristen here! I have had the pleasure of coaching Meagan Gehrke for 4 years now. It has been a rewarding experience to be a part of her successes and progression through her athletic career in cycling. She has a strong PMA…
Read MoreMeagan Gehrke of Lady Gnar Shredders’ Cross Ohio Prep
Meagan Gehrke broke the Women’s Cross Ohio West to East this fall and shared how she prepped for her attempt with no prior ultra experience. We think you will find it inspiring for your own FKT attempts! Thanks for the guest blog post Meagan! What’s a girl to do when her 2020 dream gravel race…
Read MoreFlavors Make You Fast
It’s no secret that food is fuel. Kristen Arnold has written many pieces giving excellent nutrition advice on how to fuel exercise and an active lifestyle. If you want to nail your workout, recover like a Pro, and keep making improvements, it’s imperative that you take in enough nutrition. But did you know that flavors…
Read MoreBelgian Waffle Ride Cedar City: Course Musings
Photo: Jake Orness The folks at Monuments of Cycling wanted a weekend of proper reconnaissance and feedback on the finalized Belgian Waffle Ride Cedar City course. A few of us made the trek with the mindset of learning what this course was all about and how it felt at speed. What follows is my initial…
Read MoreMeet SE Coach Nikki Peterson
Nikki Peterson is Source Endurance’s newest coach. A lifelong endurance athlete and current professional mountain biker, she backs up her experience with years of education in the Nutrition and Exercise field. We did a little Q&A with her so you can get to know her. What was your athletic career pre-cycling? I started running in…
Read MoreNikki Peterson wins Rim Nordic Time Trial-format XC Mountain Bike Race
I got to race on Saturday, July 18th! Rim Nordic, a legendary race venue in Southern California, held a Time Trial-format xc mountain bike race. The racers were started in 20 second intervals and the Pro Women’s Category had 7 racers. I started 4th and caught up to the 2nd and 3rd ladies by the…
Read More5 Benefits of Cycling Coaching in a Pandemic
The global pandemic is very real. If you’ve been fortunate enough to maintain your health and employment, you’ve probably also felt bummed to watch all your 2020 events and goals go up in smoke. We’ll never be taking events for granted again, that’s for sure… Here are five ways Source Endurance coaches are here to…
Read MoreAre V02 and Blood Lactate Tests Still Relevant? With WKO, probably not.
If we’re focusing on raising FTP or Lactate Threshold power, we need the best metrics to track change in FTP. 5 and 10 years ago, we sent our athletes into a lab or university to get the athlete’s blood lactate and maybe Vo2 max tested. Back then, that was the best way to check FTP…
Read MoreQuestionable Decisions World Tour 2020. Volume 2: Rock Cobbler Recap.
Of all the events on the QDWT2020, this one presents some unique challenges as a coach and also to Casey as an athlete. First, it’s early in the year. February 7 is dangerously early and most of the country spent the weekend shoveling snow while Casey was riding in weather good enough to warrant a…
Read MoreWhen To Start Training For Next Season And Why
Now. The time is now. As coaches and athletes, fall or early season is training season and this is the most exciting time of year. We can look back at last season and be objective in looking at the data and seeing what worked and what didn’t. We can sit down and map out the…
Read MoreHow to Ride a Break Away at the Amgen Tour of California
In honor of the Amgen Tour of California week, we’re throwing back to 2018 where SE athlete Whitney Allison of Hagens Berman Supermint took the Most Courageous Rider jersey in the first stage. “Be aggressive. Ride hard. Make sure the Supermint team leaves a memorable impression on the race.” That’s been a general strategy from…
Read MoreSETCR Spring Road Camp Recap
The 2019 SETCR Spring Road Camp finished up on March 24th. It included four days of big miles all around Fort Collins, CO, for a self-selected A, B, and C group. The camp was run by SE coach Zack and Whitney Allison, along with SE coach Kristen Arnold. After a weather-phenomenon bomb cyclone the week…
Read MoreHow to Get Better at Bike Racing Skills
Bike racing is a puzzle requiring numerous pieces. When an athlete fits all of the puzzle pieces together as one, great things happen, like winning! As a coach and a racer, I cannot emphasize the importance of ‘skills’ in racing and training. Typically, when asked how to define skills for bike racing, coaches focus on…
Read MoreHow to Choose your Peak Events
To peak means to reach a highest point. In endurance sports this means training intensity and volume accumulate over time to reach top-level fitness at a specific time for a given individual. Reaching peak fitness can be tricky as there is a balance for every athlete to reach their highest fitness at the right time,…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Sonja Johnson secures win at Tour de Big Bear Grand Tour – 70 mile Female
Sonja not only took the win at Tour de Big Bear, but she essentially took it from the gun- crusher! Here’s her story: On August 4th I competed in the 70 mile distance of the annual Tour de Big Bear in Big Bear Lake, CA. Right from the gun, I took an early lead and…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Whitney Allison finishes 7th at US Pro Nationals Time Trial
Whitney Allison of Hagens Berman Supermint Women’s Professional Team recently competed at the US Pro Nationals Time Trial in Knoxville, TN, where she sat in the hot seat all day, ultimately finishing 7th. Photos courtesy of SnowyMountain Photography. How’d the race go down for you? The course was new this year- I had a good idea…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Whitney Allison takes the Most Courageous Rider Jersey at AMGEN Tour of California Stage 1
Whitney Allison of Hagens Berman Supermint Women’s Professional Team recently competed at the AMGEN Tour of California Women’s Race. The three day Women’s World Tour stage race kicked off with a 77-mile pancake-flat loop around Elk Grove, California, where she took the Most Courageous Jersey. How’d the race go down for you? The AMGEN Tour…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Casey Cohenmeyer tackles the Italian Sausage Ride
SE Athlete Casey Cohenmeyer recently tackled the Italian Sausage Ride. While not an official event or race it is a gathering of riders possessing questionable judgement: 127 miles, 12k feet, 62 miles off road. Here’s Casey’s Recap of the epic self-supported day: So what are you doing this weekend? ISR…. it’s kinda like Belgian…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Esther Thais takes the win at Grunnlovsdagen Kriterium Cat 3 Womens Race
Esther Thais recently took the win at Grunnlovsdagen Kriterium Cat 3 womens race. The course was a 1.07 mile L-Shaped loop that was flat with good blacktop/concrete surface. Three of the five curves were smooth, fast curves with the other two corners were hard right turns. How’d the race go down for you? This was…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Emily Rodger wins the TT & Road Race at the New Brunswick Provincial Championships
Emily Rodger recently competed at the Tour de Dog -New Brunswick Provincial Championships and took the win at the 7.5km TT and the 75km RR. Nice, Emily! How’d the race go down for you? I won both the TT and the RR. During the RR, I attacked at the top of a descent with 28kms…
Read MoreSETCR Spring Road Camp Recap
Source Endurance Training Center of the Rockies hosted their second annual Spring Training Camp in Fort Collins, Colorado this past weekend. The “A” Group saw 4 days and 18 hours of riding, 355 miles and over 20,000 feet of climbing. The “B” and women’s groups were not a whole lot less!! When you get a group…
Read MoreTop 5 Mistakes of the Self-Coached Athlete
Every so often at Source Endurance we get individualized consults done for the self-coached athletes or we get athletes signed on that have been self-coached and we get to see what they were up to before they signed on for coaching. There’s a few patterns that we see with self coached athletes along with patterns…
Read MoreA journey to Top 10 GC at Cascade Classic
The week before Cascade Cycling Classic, I was talking to a teammate about the race and how hard it is- the climbs, the courses, the heat. I’ve done the race a few times through the years and it’s always ended with me climbing alone. However, I have been riding really great this year and felt…
Read MoreTransitioning roles on a professional team
Hi it’s Whitney Allison again. I recently wrote about my experience racing some of the Spring Classics for the first time with Colavita-Bianchi. The 2017 season ended up being my best year yet and I ended up having some real GC opportunities this year. While I never quite made the podium, I made huge leaps…
Read MoreMy first Spring Classics
Whitney Allison here. I’ve raced for Colavita-Bianchi Women’s Pro Cycling Team since 2013 and have worked with Source Endurance coach Adam Mills since late 2012. This season, my team was fortunate to have the opportunity to do a big spring block in Europe this year. Here’s a little on my experience and my takeaways from…
Read MoreAthlete Highlight: Casey Cohenmeyer takes the BWR Hardwoman Award
SE athlete Casey Cohenmeyer completed the 2017 Cervelo Belgian Waffle Ride despite suffering a separated shoulder just over a month before. This 132 mile (41 miles of dirt), 12k feet of climbing race is already a beast on it’s own. Casey showed a lot of grit and determination to stay focused on the prize and…
Read MoreNew Service: Group Coaching
Source Endurance recently added Group Coaching to it’s range of services as a way to better serve cyclists in different places and with different goals. Why might one choose group coaching? Group coaching is a great introduction to coaching with custom workouts for a group and discounted rates. While you won’t be able to get…
Read MoreMale to Female, What’s the power difference on the bike?
Make this your best season ever! Training Plans HERE We all know there are some wicked fast women bike racers. Watching the women’s races it can sometimes seem more explosive and aggressive than the men’s race. Similarly, as a cat 2-5, good luck holding to that Pro Women’s wheel when she really gets going. What is the…
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