Posts Tagged ‘gravel cycling’
Can Rider Support at Gravel Races be Pro, Grassroots & Safe?
Coaches Zack and Adam discuss an intricate dance at gravel races: Pro support (or even rider support) regarding mechanics and feeding while staying compliant to the varying rules of individual events while balancing rider safety and the ominous spectre of an influx untrained and unaware drivers on course.
Read MoreBraving the Elements: Racing BWR Utah Amidst Extreme Weather
The notorious Belgian Waffle Ride (BWR) Utah kicks off this week, but alongside the usual challenge lies an extraordinary test: extreme weather with temperatures expected at the start to be a chilling 26F.
Read MorePre-race Meeting: The Mid South Gravel Race
Coach Adam Mills of Source Endurance discusses how to prepare and ride the Mid South Gravel Race
Read More2024 Rock Cobbler Pre-Race Briefing
Coach Adam discusses best strategies for Rock Cobbler. Everything from course features to aid station strategy. Even equipment review like, “is there a tire that works equally well in both MUD and LIVING ROOM CARPET?” Find out those answers and more! How much can coaching help you improve? How much can coaching help you improve?
Read MoreGravel Aid Station Strategy for Racing: Interwoven Variables
Improving your gravel aid station strategy is key to furthering your success
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 MoreMid South: Becoming Faster and More Spicy
The quality of the athletes at the pointy end of races like the Mid South has dramatically improved. Gone are the days where local heroes battle it out for glory amongst the rare traveler from far away lands. The time is now and the races resemble more of a Monument than they do a gravel race.
Read MoreEveryone Trains 28 Hour Weeks on Instagram
You’re scrolling the gram, you look up intermittently and look out your window. The weather is either absolute trash, or you’re feeling firmly imprisoned by your day job. You look back down at your phone and you see, yet another proud screenshot, of someone’s 28 hour riding week with 1520 TSS points, and they got a tan.
Read MoreGoal Setting in an Age of Social Media and Too Much Data
Goal Setting is both easier and more difficult than ever. Here are some guidelines to help you set your goals for the coming year.
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 MoreGravel Worlds: Comparing Jay Thomas’ Championship in 2012 to 2022
The year is 2012 and Jay Thomas is a young 43 years of age and newly minted Gravel Worlds Champion. Even though he is officially an “aging athlete” Jay was very much holding his peak form from his mid-30’s. Jay came home with a victory, brand new rainbow-ish striped jersey, a sabre* and the swagger of a Gravel Worlds Champion. The winning time was 9 hours and 6 minutes.
Read MoreAlex Hoehn: SBT GRVL 5th. A Closer Look at the Power of Fatigue Resistance
The legendary races of cycling all tell a similar story of overcoming adversity through beautiful suffering. At its core, this very romanticization is excellent at engaging fans while inspiring all of us to persevere through hard work. This suffering is universal across all competitors and it seems like the only difference is if one suffers…
Read MoreShadd Smith, Multi-Discipline Master
From long-time SE athlete Shadd Smith: Big shout out to Source Endurance coaches for keeping this guy in the mix. I am certainly a creature for training and riding so I can not stress enough how important the coaches are to properly keeping the sword sharpened. Cyclocross is in full swing now with racing every…
Read MoreTrey Harrison sets new course record at Cannonball 550
I thought I’d give a synopsis on the fun I ride completed a few weeks ago. I decided to partake in the 5th edition of the Cannonball 550 bikepacking race, which is a big old 550 mile loop that starts/finishes in Emporia, KS. The self-supported route traversed portions of the Flint Hills, the edge of…
Read MoreBWR Kansas: An Insider’s Guide to Lawrence
Make the most of Lawrence, KS Source Endurance owner and coach Adam Mills spent many years living in Lawrence, Kansas, and is a Kansas native. Here are some of his favorites from one of his favorite places: You registered for BWR KS and if you’re like many people, you’ve probably never been to Lawrence unless…
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 MoreShadd Smith wins his age group at Unbound 100
From Shadd: I’ll start off by saying I really, really, really, like riding bikes but more than that I would say that racing them is even better. I am racing for the Steve Tilford Foundation Racing Team in honor of my teammate and world class bike racer, Steve Tilford. I realized from the start list…
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 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 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 MoreLori McCarty ups gravel skills at the BWR Survival Camp
From Lori: Incredible. Source Endurance knows how to do camp. My 1st time in California and I rode alongside my favorite cycling celebs, we even squished in vans together. The coaches were open, resourceful and encouraging. They looked out for us and offered advice and humor along the way. The different group options made it…
Read More5 ways to NOT DNF at Unbound Gravel
Many begin Unbound Gravel but only the prepared and enduring finish. Although the numbers are not public, we know a high percentage of riders never cross the finish line and need to be picked up by support or get their own ride home. 200 miles is a tall order for most, and likely the longest…
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 More2019 Canyon Belgian Waffle Ride: When Good Plans Go Sideways. A Lesson In Humility
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 More10 Fueling Tips for Belgian Waffle Ride and other long cycling events
Mass 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 at BWR
Cornering 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 MoreShould you incorporate strength training into your BWR preparation?
To 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 MoreAthlete Highlight: Blaize tackles RPI
Rebecca’s Private Idaho is a 96 mile gravel race at elevation in the mountains of Idaho. Source Endurance Athlete Blaize Baehrens showed up to last years event self-coached and finished in a respectable 5 hrs 45 mins. This year training under coach Adam Mills, this race came up as a long training weekend leading into…
Read MoreHow to get a Bolo- Tie at the FoCo Fondo
The FoCo Fondo has all the makings of an iconic gravel event that flirts with the mountains and is based out of Fort Collins, Colorado. The 2018 event started and finished at New Belgium Brewery and I think that should be a requirement for all epic gravel events. Coach Zack and Co. put on the event…
Read MoreHow to Corner in Gravel
SE Coach and FoCo Fondofest promoter Zack Allison spends a lot of time training on Northern Colorado’s gravel roads…while cornering in gravel is instinctual to him, for a lot of folks, it’s something that takes a hot moment to learn if you are unfamiliar. Check out these tips from Zack (originally posted for FoCo Fondo…
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 MoreAll about that gravel endurance training…
When Neil Shirley and I started discussing his 2018 goals I did most of the listening. When a legend such as Neil takes his time to reach out and discuss his goals and ask for guidance to meet those goals it means a few things: Neil is focused and no longer satisfied with just finishing,…
Read MoreBWR Survival Camp: Meet Mentor Janel Holcomb
Janel Holcomb began her cycling career in a way most of us only dream of…she picked up a bike in 2006, started racing in 2007 and was racing professionally in Europe by 2008. We interviewed her recently as we have the honor of having her as a mentor at our upcoming Cervelo Belgian Waffle Ride…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Robert Ellis finds success at Gravel Worlds
Name: Robert Ellis Event and Category: Gravel Worlds Masters 50+ Course: 146 Mi hilly 7000 ft + Coach: Adam Mills Event Day: Things that worked: Eating every 45 min. Riding in groups for drafting. Not spending very long at rest stops. 3 water bottles sufficed. This is the first distance gravel ride I have done…
Read MoreGravel cycling tips for women from Karen Pritchard
Meet Karen Pritchard. She’s a member of Source Endurance sponsored gravel team Panaracer/Stan’s NoTubes p/b Bicycle X-Change, with some fantastic results such as Unbound Gravel- 2015: 2nd place finish in age group and 7th overall female Land Run 100- 2015/2016- 1st in age group and 2nd overall female Karen loves gravel and was so kind…
Read MoreRider Highlight: Casey Cohenmeyer
Casey recently completed her first Belgian Waffle Ride after volunteering last year. She’s been riding bikes for about a year and a half now. She not only finished the BWR, but finished 24th out of 40 female starters and 407 out of 548 overall starters for men and women with a time of 11:35:55. Way…
Read MoreIntervals to prep for your next gravel grinder
Gravel riding and gravel racing is a unique cycling venture. With long durations like road racing but equipment similar to cyclocross, training for gravel races is different from other styles of events. By applying the same principles that guide us through all aspects of coaching- specificity and overload- we can design new workouts specific to…
Read MoreSeven Things you Should Know Before Your First Gravel Cycling Race or Epic Gravel Ride
Gravel racing is booming in popularity…it’s not quite mountain biking and it’s not quite cyclocross or road riding. This might leave you with some questions on how best to prepare for your first big gravel grinder. And there are quite a few coming up like the Belgian Waffle Ride. While this list isn’t all-inclusive by…
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