Blog: The Coaching Chronicles
When I first moved to SoCal in late 2014, I heard of this groovy and “weird” ride in San Marcos called the Belgian Waffle Ride. It went on dirt some, pavement lots, and was ridiculously hard. Back in Kansas, we always took gravel roads and dirt paths as connectors between cool roads. Also, with my…
Read MoreThe Belgian Waffle Ride has a 30-40% Did Not Finish (DNF) rate. That is roughly 1 in every 3 people who start BWR don’t finish and need to be picked up by support or get their own ride home. With proper preparation and following these tips you will make sure you are not one of…
Read MoreMass start, dust up the nose, endless climbs, stretches of captivating scenery, clock ticking. Long Classic-style 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. Do I want to be a finisher, or do I want to try…
Read MoreCornering in gravel is hard. It’s a traction issue. On a road bike, your tires grab, sliding is bad, and you can really lean the bike over. On gravel there’s not really any major bike leaning. When the speed is high enough that you can lean the bike over, if you’re on gravel you’d just…
Read MoreI’m going to paint a picture and it may resemble your situation. Minnesota in February. You’re working during the day, watching the weather, and it does not look good for your weekend ride like it did in July. Looks like another evening on the trainer. You’ve found Zwift, you’ve tried TrainerRoad, your coach writes some…
Read MoreTo lift or not to strength train, that’s NOT the question. In your run into BWR, you will be gaining fatigue. If 100% of your CTL (chronic training load) is from riding, you’re leaving some potential power behind. We’ve seen the BWR course. Besides some major tweaks that Michael Marckx may throw at us the…
Read MoreHowdy folks, Today we’re going to talk a little bit about running. Cyclocross running, that is. A couple of years ago, I wrote this: With certain regional exceptions, the way folks are designing cross courses in the US these days you might not need to train your running at all to be really, really damn…
Read More“When it comes to gravel, play it as it lies” – Joseph Schmalz Gravel bikes are not limited by any national governing body in any way. Therefore they are not restricted by any rules for equipment the likes of which are in the 49 page UCI equipment rules and regulations. By any logical discussion, cycling…
Read MoreAs life began to fill every corner of the globe, it has become adapted to each area. Every environmental niche has an organism that is perfectly suited to it. That sort of evolution is exactly what we expect from life. It’s also what have come to expect as we become more adventurous in our ever-expanding…
Read MoreA few weeks ago I hosted a webinar for USA Cycling on the Nutrition Care Process. I discussed how Registered Dietitians conduct nutrition assessments and how coaches can apply these concepts to identify nutrition-related issues in their athletes. The webinar inspired this article where I present a few cases where athletes were unable to complete…
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