Making Endurance Great Again

“In the midst of an ordinary training day, I try to remind myself that I’m preparing for the extraordinary”

-          Shalene Flanagan, American 3000m, 5000m and 15k record holder, Olympic medalist, NYC Marathon winner

Shalene Flanagan winning the NYC Marathon in 2017. This was the first time an American woman had won the race in 40 years.

Cycling, though unique in many ways, is an endurance sport. Good old endurance rides, though not as “sexy” as a lot of other workouts are (or at least should be) the backbone of any cyclist’s training plan. Advocates of a polarized training approach recommend spending about 80% of rides or 90% of training volume at relatively low intensity (i.e. recovery and endurance). Unfortunately, many riders treat these rides more like “filler” workouts than giving them the respect they deserve. There are many reasons for this; some find endurance rides boring, some find them difficult to complete when it’s dark, cold, wet or snowy outdoors. Many athletes, when pressed for time, prioritize their high intensity workouts. Some choose to complete their endurance rides with a group, only to get sucked into prolonged, but unstructured periods of high intensity as well as long periods of coasting and soft-pedaling, resulting in workouts that take a lot of time but are limited in their training value. Others, even when riding by themselves, either lack the discipline to keep their intensity low or have a “no pain, no gain” attitude towards training, leading them to ride moderately hard all the time and ultimately, not hard enough on their hard days.

In previous articles, I’ve explained the importance of endurance rides and how to complete them properly. I’m not going to rehash all of that again here, but as a reminder, the 2 most important rules for endurance rides are 1. Keep your heart rate in zones 1 and 2 (under 83% of threshold HR or about 75% of max HR) and 2. Minimize coasting time. These are simple rules, but I am continually surprised at how difficult it seems to be for so many athletes to execute them properly. The following is a list of ways that athletes can add value to their endurance and recovery rides, make them more enjoyable and easier to accomplish properly, given the real world constraints we all face:

1.       Mix up the cadence. Most cycling events require power and efficiency at a range of cadences. While this range may be much tighter in flat time trials than in Criteriums and Cyclocross races, most riders can benefit from widening their “cadence comfort zone”. Making a conscious effort to increase cadence at least one gear above where you would normally ride will benefit pedaling efficiency. If you’re riding indoors using a VR program such as Zwift, it can be helpful to ride a rolling or hilly course that forces you to shift and ride at a wider range of rpm, even when your power remains relatively constant. Even those riding “dumb trainers” should consider changing up their cadence every 5 minutes (e.g. 5 min at 85 rpm, 5 min at 90 rpm, 5 min @ 95 rpm, 5 min @ 100 rpm…). In addition to expanding your range of efficiency, changing things up every few minutes also serves to make these indoor rides less mind-numbingly boring. Some riders might consider riding a fixed gear bike outdoors over rolling terrain, which will improve muscular strength on the uphills, leg speed and efficiency on the downhills and as a side benefit, keep your primary bike clean.

VR apps such as Zwift can make indoor riding a lot less boring, but most riders should still reduce their volume if riding endurance rides indoors. It’s also important not to get sucked into the competitive aspect if the goal is Endurance. Save the intensity for your hard days!

2.       Cut the volume down when riding indoors. I don’t know about you, but a 3 hour outdoor endurance ride is something I usually look forward to. A 3 hour indoor endurance ride, on the other hand, is something I usually dread. Hence, there is “The 2/3 rule”, which basically states that you can cut out 1/3 of the volume if you’re riding indoors because there is little or no coasting or stopping. In an age when most serious cyclists are using power meters, we now have actual data to back this up. When planning workouts, I assume an intensity factor (IF) of 0.60 when riding endurance outdoors, which means that a 3 hour endurance ride would produce a Training Stress Score (TSS) of 108. Indoors however, I’ve found that most riders will maintain an IF closer to 0.70, which means that they will rack up a TSS of 108 in just over 2 hours (2 hours and 11 minutes to be exact). With that said, I still prefer for riders to complete endurance rides outdoors when possible, I just know that in the real world it is not always possible, be it due to daylight, weather, or road/trail conditions.

3.       Mix up the modality. For example, if it’s cold outside you could spend the first half of your ride outdoors and the second half indoors. If there’s snow and/or ice on the roads and outdoor riding is unsafe you could spend the first half skiing or snow-shoeing and the second half on the bike. If you’re getting bored with your fixed wheel indoor trainer, you could spend the first half of the ride on the trainer and the second half on the rollers (which will have the added benefit of improving balance and concentration).

Including rollers in your indoor training regimen can help with leg speed, balance and concentration. If you’re Eddy Merckx, it might also be a the perfect time to have a talk with your daughter…

4.       Slow it down. One of the worst parts of riding outside on a bitterly cold day is the “wind chill”. 20 degrees might not feel too bad at first if you’re properly dressed, but riding down a descent at 40 mph when it’s 20 degrees can chill you to the bone. Though most of us are used to looking for ways we can ride faster, it may be helpful on those cold days to have the opposite mentality. One way to do that is to ride a mountain bike, cyclocross bike or fat bike in the woods. Your speed will be lower and the trees can give you some added shelter from the wind. If you still want to ride on the road, consider outfitting your bike with fenders, thorn proof tubes and thick tires. It may feel like you’re riding in wet cement but the wind won’t be as bothersome (and you’re less likely to have to change a flat tire on a cold day). Many opt to ride a separate “winter bike”, which will save the primary bike from being subjected to the harsh winter conditions. Note: it’s important to be properly fitted on each of your bikes by a professional fitter. Even if you carefully match saddle height, setback, reach and drop, the fit will be slightly different.

5.       Work on “body management”. When examining workout files from endurance rides, a couple metrics I look at are Efficiency Factor (EF) and Pw:HR. EF is simply Normalized Power/Average Heart Rate and Pw: HR compares EF in the first half of the ride to EF in the second half of the ride. An athlete who is fit, efficient and does a good job of body management (i.e. eating, drinking, staying relaxed, staying cool, avoiding excessive muscular fatigue, etc.) will have a lower Pw:HR. Conversely, athletes who are inefficient, fail to consume adequate fluid and Calories, waste a lot of energy or overheat during a ride will have a high degree of aerobic decoupling, meaning that they will see their heart rate drift higher and higher even at a consistent power output OR see their power drift downward even at a consistent heart rate. Overall, EF and Pw:HR on endurance rides should go down as you get more fit and efficient, but these improvements are equally about body management. To use a car metaphor, even if you drive a Ferrari, you have to change the oil, change the tires and put gas in the tank.

Endurance rides are a good time to work on cornering, descending and other skills, but you should practice the skills that are in line with your level of ability and confidence

6.       Work on your bike handling skills. Low intensity rides are perhaps the best time to work on the bike handling skills that many riders neglect. Try riding with your hands off the bars. Try taking an energy bar out of your back pocket and unwrapping it while riding. Try removing your vest, gloves, booties or leg warmers, putting them in your back pocket, and putting them back on while riding. To be clear, riders should practice skills that match their experience and ability. Safety should be the first priority. For example, beginner riders might want to practice riding out of the saddle comfortably on the uphills before they graduate to removing their base layer on a descent or cooking an omelet on the rollers. When cornering and descending, all riders should practice choosing lines, weighting their outside leg, sighting the turn and other cornering techniques. If you’re riding off road, there are limitless possibilities for skill work and because endurance rides will be done at lower speeds, you won’t have the added momentum that can sometimes make up for poor technique.

7.       Work on your pedaling efficiency. I mentioned increasing cadence in order to improve mechanical efficiency in #1, but even when you’re not doing anything specific to work on your pedaling efficiency, simple awareness may help. If you’re riding with a dual-sided power meter, it could be a good time to check your L/R power split and try to ride as close as possible to 50/50 (note: this is particularly important for riders with significant leg length or strength discrepancies). Some power meters are also capable of producing real-time efficiency metrics such as pedal smoothness, torque effectiveness, power phase and platform center offset. If you feel pretty confident about your efficiency metrics under normal conditions, there are a few “handicaps” you can give yourself, such as riding in the drops or aero bars. Doing so can help you improve flexibility, hip flexor and core strength as well as get you more comfortable riding in the positions that you will eventually have to race in.

8.       Try depletion rides. Though it would be wrong to suppose that a 1 or 2 hour endurance ride isn’t even worth doing, most riders will spend the first 15-30 minutes of their ride burning a high percentage of muscle glycogen, which means that most of the gains in metabolic efficiency (i.e. burning a higher percentage of fat) will come later in the ride. There is however, a way to “shortcut” this process by beginning the ride with depleted glycogen stores. Typically this is done by riding first thing in the morning (i.e. before breakfast), but it can also be done in the late afternoon or early evening when you haven’t eaten in 6+ hours. A word of warning though: depletion rides can be a lot more painful than regular endurance rides and depletion rides over 2 hours long are not recommended except for elite and professional cyclists.

You have to get to work one way of another. Why not use it as training?

9.       Commute. If you are able to ride your bike to and from work, it’s a relatively easy way to tack on some extra miles. Most commuters will have a tough time working in structured intervals during their commutes, but riding recovery and endurance rides is usually possible. A 45-90 minute commute may not seem like it’s that long, but if you multiply by 2 times a day and 5 days a week, you’ve already got yourself 7.5-15 hours per week! Some riders may wish to do depletion rides (see above) on certain days by eating breakfast after they arrive at work and refraining from eating in the afternoon until they arrive at home. If you do rely on commutes as your main source of endurance time however, make sure that you choose safe routes that minimize coasting and soft-pedaling time and allow yourself adequate time to get to work and get cleaned up so you don’t end up having to go harder than you wanted just so you can make it there on time. Finally, make sure you have another form of transportation available in case it’s unsafe to ride or you just plain need a day off.

10.   Listen to podcasts and audiobooks. OK, I always feel like I need to have a legal disclaimer with this one so before I go any further, I will say that I do not recommend riding with headphones if it is illegal in your state/city/township or if you just don’t feel safe doing so. In other words, ride with headphones at your own risk. That said, if you are OK with it, listening to a good book or podcast can make a long endurance ride a LOT less boring and on top of that you will be educating your mind and training your body at the same time. Personally, I like to listen to music during harder training sessions but on those long endurance days, I love nothing more than listening to a good book or podcast. As someone who never seems to find time to read as much as I’d like, this has been life-changing, though admittedly some books are better to listen to than others on rides (pro tip: think Stephen King, not James Joyce) By the way, this blog is brought to you by Audible (just kidding, but Audible… if you’re out there, call me!)

On a final note, I want to loop back to the beginning and remind readers that these are tips to help make your endurance rides more achievable, valuable and fun, but it needs to be said that they can also be misconstrued in ways that actually lead to lower-quality endurance rides (which more often than not means riding too hard). If you increase your cadence, make sure that your heart rate remains low even if you have to ride at a lower power. If you cut your volume down indoors, it doesn’t mean you should bring the intensity up. Increases in IF will occur because there is less time stopped or soft pedaling, not because the actual riding intensity is higher. If you supplement your endurance work with cross training, it is true that heart rate zones can be different in different sports, but if the goal is endurance, keep it at endurance HR. If you decide to ride on a mountain bike, fat bike or cross bike in the winter, it’s understandable that the terrain might include a few more power spikes but it’s important to select routes that don’t require prolonged periods of high intensity just to stay on the bike. Lastly, although you may feel less hungry on a long endurance ride than a long high-intensity ride, you still need to eat and drink. If you’re looking to lose weight, do it through consistent training and incremental and sustainable modifications to your off-the-bike nutrition.

Simply put, whatever methods and tricks you use to get through your endurance rides, know the difference between endurance and “endurance”. One is the foundation of your fitness and the key to sustainable improvement. The other is just gets in the way of making long term gains… what’s the word I’m looking for? Oh yeah, junk. That’s it.

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 road racer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading!

Z

I suppose it's a natural human instinct to seek meaning in our pain, suffering and loss. As athletes we take for granted that our suffering will be "productive", eventually making us stronger, smarter and more resilient. At times such as now though, I feel like this search is nothing but a fool's errand and the words of Macbeth keep ringing in my ears:

"Out, out brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." - William Shakespeare

Last Saturday night, I put my daughter to bed. I read her 2 stories, sang her 2 songs, then picked out 2 stuffed animals for her. This is the normal bedtime routine and if all goes well it takes about 40 minutes. I kissed her on the head, told her I loved her, then walked downstairs. My daughter is only 3 and I still carry the conceit of a younger parent; the notion that some day I will worry less every time I leave her... that I will feel she is completely safe in this world. 

I had to leave early the following morning for a race and I was scurrying around trying to pack. My wife looked at me and told me to sit down because she had to tell me something she had just seen. 

"Zach Houlik died. His mom just posted it on Facebook"

That couldn't be right. Zach is only 22 years old. That's not supposed to happen. In some weird and selfish way I imagined that he might speak at my funeral, that he would stand up and tell everyone what a great coach and mentor I was and that he never could have been the successful businessman/entrepreneur/leader he had become without me. Or at least that's how I imagined it... 

I met Zach Houlik in 2011. I had just become involved with the Young Medalists Cycling Team and was preparing to take over the program from May Britt Valand/Hartwell, who was moving back to Norway. I remember being told early on that I should keep my eye out for the 15-16 year old riders coming up in the ranks: Greg Ratzell, Dakota Schaeffer, Will Pestcoe and Zach Houlik. 

2012 Young Medalist Bronze medal winning Team Pursuit Squad: Will Pestcoe, Chris Meacham, Greg Ratzell and Zach Houlik

To a certain degree, Zach's accomplishments were overshadowed by the results of his teammates, but he had some impressive results in his own right. He won the Chris Hind's Memorial Criterium, the Lower Providence Criterium, the Bighamton Circuit Race, and the Nockamixon TT. He was second at Steel City Showdown and the Tour de Syracuse Criterium. He was 4th in the Points Race and part of the 3rd place Team Pursuit Squad at the 2012 Track Natz. More importantly, he was a consummate team player. He would turn himself inside out to help his teammates in any way he could. He also provided some much needed levity, always finding a way to smile and laugh when so many of us (including myself) were overly serious. 

Zach helping us all laugh at the breakfast table prior to the 2012 Tour of Battenkill

One time, at our West Virginia training camp, I remember someone making beets for dinner. I mentioned the fact that there was some evidence that beets and beet juice could be performance enhancing. Zach ate this up, quite literally. Now, for those who didn't know him, it's important to understand that Zach was never in his life referred to as a "climber". His strength was more in the ability to put forth one tremendous effort, usually 10-60 seconds long. With that as well as being a larger rider (at least by cycling standards), his abilities were much more suited to flat roads and velodromes. For that one day though, in the mountains of West Virginia, when we probably rode 60 miles and climbed 6,000 feet of elevation, he was the best climber at the camp. I don't know if it was the beets, or something in the water, or maybe the placebo effect, but I've never seen anything like it. 

In the summer of 2013, Zach did an internship with me, coming down from the Lehigh Valley to Philadelphia 3 days a week to sit in my small office, help me with clerical stuff and learn about the coaching business. On his first day, I handed him about 20 books to read: everything from a textbook on Exercise Physiology to "Joe Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible" to Eddy B's book to the CONI manual to "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People". I was never sure if he read them or not, but every once in a while, out of the blue, he would ask me what my thoughts were on the Italian bike fitting system or what the "Atom Bottle" was. He helped me get organized, helped me start a national database of group rides and he acted as my assistant coach for our Young Medalist team practices.  Generally speaking, he would work with the younger kids while I would work with the older kids. Today, 5 years later, those younger kids are the older kids and they all remember a coach who was funny, energetic, patient and helpful. Zach helped them learn the most important lesson early on: that cycling can be something really FUN. 

In 2015, Zach came with us to the Tour de l'Abitibi as a soigneur. The truth is that he really wanted to come as our mechanic, and felt slighted that I hadn't offered that. He did a fine job as soigneur and did everything I asked, but it was clear that he resented what he considered to be his "lower status". After the race, I sent him a long, strongly worded email telling him that he had squandered an opportunity to learn and he had let his frustration get the better of him. After I sent it though, I wondered if I had made a mistake. I thought back to how immature I was at 19 years old and I wondered if I would have been receptive to such criticism. Probably not.

2015 Young Medalists Tour de l'Abitibi squad. From left: Bill Elliston, Zach Houlik, Chris Goguen, Alec Ratzell, Zach Lyons, Andrew Dapper, Marcello Cesario, Wyatt Goral and myself

To my surprise though, I received a response from Zach a couple weeks later telling me that he had read over my email 30 times and tried his best to absorb everything. What impressed me most was that he didn't cede his ground. He was still frustrated, he just realized that it was possible to deal with that frustration in a productive way. Zach wore his emotions on his sleeve sometimes and it's easy to confuse that with immaturity but the truth is it's just youth. Not only that but it is a beautiful and wonderful quality of youth. Zach was naturally ambitious, hard working and caring. If he was occasionally naive or short sighted, these things can be forgiven because deep down I knew that he would grow up and be just fine. Better than fine in fact. His best days were ahead of him and I was excited to see what that might look like. 

In the Quaker religion, we refer to that of God within us all as "the light". Today I find myself unable to shake this feeling that our world just got darker, and I grieve for the loss that his family, friends and all that knew Zach have suffered. I struggle unsuccessfully to find some sort of greater meaning in his death. Perhaps we should all live each day to the fullest because life is fragile and it can be taken away in an instant. Perhaps we should always try to tell the ones we love how much we care about them, because we never know when we won't get another chance to say it. To be honest though, these notions seem so banal and I am left with the unbearable conclusion that there was no greater meaning in Zach's death. No lesson to be learned.

Placing 1-2-3-4 at the Steel City Showdown: Zach Houlik, Chris Meacham, Dakota Schaeffer and Greg Ratzell

In his life, however, there was meaning and there was purpose. Though I cannot escape the tragedy that the world has been robbed of him, I am thankful for the time we had together on this earth. I am thankful for his energy, his inquisitiveness, his compassion, and his smile. Rest in Peace Z. You will not soon be forgotten. 

The Difference between Tactics and Strategy

100 years ago today marked the beginning of the last major German offensive of the first World War. Since 1914, the Central Powers had been locked in an effective stalemate with the Allied Powers across the Western Front. Each side tried to find creative ways to break that stalemate, and for the most part, each side failed. They tried to outflank each other, but they ran into the North Sea on one end of the line and the Alps on the other. They tried concentrating their forces in one massive attacks. They tried attacking everywhere at once. They tried small teams of fast moving “infiltration forces”. They invented tanks. They invented poison gas. They developed better and better planes. Nothing worked, and even after 3 and a half years of bloody war, neither side seemed any closer to victory, but by mid-1917, the Allies could do one thing the Central Powers could not; replace their casualties. By 1918, 10,000 American troops per day were streaming into the Continent, and the Germans knew that the war would quickly become unwinnable if they didn’t deliver a knockout blow.

The German plan, code named “Operation Michael”, involved one of the biggest buildups of troops, artillery and aircraft ever assembled and incredibly, it was pulled off in relative secrecy. They camouflaged their guns. They ran their trains at night. Troops were forbidden from using fire to cook their food because the light might alert the enemy to their numbers. When the attack began on March 21st, the Germans were able to achieve what neither side had been able to do on the Western Front since 1914: a breakthrough. Within days they had reversed the losses of the Battle of the Somme; land that had cost the British a half a million men in 1916. When all was said and done, the Germans had captured 1200 square miles of territory and 75,000 British prisoners. The success of Operation Michael had exceeded the wildest expectations of the German high command and it turned out to be the turning point of the war… for the Allies.

Much of the captured territory of 1918 was strategically useless. To make things worse, without the protection of the trenches, casualties skyrocketed. 

The problem with Operation Michael was that despite brilliant tactics and superb organization, it lacked a grand strategy. For all the land they captured, the Germans captured few strategic targets. With their fast progress, they outstripped their supply lines. Units of soldiers became isolated and easily picked off as soon as the Allied forces were able to regroup. Though the Germans would be able to mount a series of smaller offensives in the Spring of 1918, each would be substantially less powerful. With hundreds of thousands of casualties, the Germans were unable to mount an effective defense against the inevitable Allied counter-attack and they were forced into a steady retreat until the Armistice was signed in November 1918.

So why the history lesson, you might ask? Isn’t this blog supposed to be about bike racing? As it turns out, many individual bike racers and cycling teams make the same mistake that the Germans made in 1918: all tactics, but no strategy.

In the context of bike racing, tactics is mostly about how you use your energy and use the energy of the peloton to your advantage. Think of your energy like currency. Some people have more than others, but no one has an infinite amount. We all make choices about how we spend or save it. When we attack in a bike race, it “costs” a lot, and if the attack doesn’t materialize into a successful breakaway, it might very well lead to bankruptcy. When we sit in, find a better person to draft, avoid hitting our brakes excessively, take better lines and stay out of the wind, we save our energy, but we also risk missing opportunities.

Bike racing tactics are not very complicated, though they can be difficult to execute. I boil tactics down to 3 basic rules:

1. Know when you need to be at the front of the pack, and get there.

2. Know when you can relax, and relax.

3. Attack when it’s hard, preferably when it’s hard but about to get easier.

The best time to attack is usually when the pace is hard and the pack is strung out. 

Of course, bike handling skills come into play because good bike handling will allow you to slow down less around turns and other obstacles, move through a pack efficiently, stay out of the wind and stay out of trouble. Learning how to read the pack is also critical because a rider who reads the pack well can use its energy and momentum as one would ride a wave.

Equipment selection, tire pressure, clothing choices, how many gels, chews, bars and bottles you consume during a race also fall into the tactics column. Tactics is the line you take around a turn. It is the choice of the “A line” or “B line”. It is choosing to go all out or to hold back at the start of a mountain bike race. It is the choice between riding at the front, back or middle of a small group in a cyclocross race. It is choosing to run or bunny hop the barriers.

There are also “team tactics”, such as lead outs, chases, counter attacks and setting tempo.

Tactics are very important, but tactics alone do not win you race. To win, you have to have a strategy and that strategy is enabled by solid tactics. Now, a strategy does not necessary have to be complicated and the strategy can certainly change during the race. Here are some examples of simple bike racing strategies:

• Sit in, ignore all attacks and breakaways, start moving up in the last 5k, try to come through the last turn in the top 5 and sprint.

• Look to get in a breakaway after the decisive climb, attack the breakaway in the last 5k.

• Put your team at the front in the crosswind sections and rip apart the field. Then start attacking aggressively until you have a small break with multiple teammates in it.

• Go with every attack made when the pace is hard. Only start working when most of the strong teams are represented.

• In a stage race, win the time trial, make all the splits on the mass-start stages and pick up a few time bonuses

• In a criterium, look to go with a breakaway in the first third of the race, recover in the middle and look for splits in the last third.

• In a points race, try to finish in the top 3 of each sprint.

• In a cyclocross race, get the hole-shot, then  try to recover a little bit, stay with the lead group and outsprint them in the final stretch.

There are lots of strategies. Some are good and some are not so good. Some of them seem good at first, but not so good in hindsight. Some are more aggressive and some are more passive. Some are extremely detailed and some are very basic. Some involve individual riders taking advantages of opportunities and some involve teams creating opportunities.

With experience you will learn to refine your strategies and to allow your strategies to be more responsive to changing conditions in races. You will learn to better cater your strategies to your individual strengths and the strengths of your team. Whatever your strategy is though, it should always be a strategy to win. You don’t jump in a race, ride along, and then suddenly find yourself off the front soloing to victory. If you have a strategy to win, you will win sometimes. If you have no strategy, you will never win.

As you gain experience and start to refine your strategy, don’t fall into the trap of confusing strategy and tactics. It’s easier to do than you might think. Here are some examples:

• Brooke has a strategy to sit in and sprint. The race comes down to a sprint but she is too far back and gets boxed in. The problem here is tactics (positioning). The strategy was probably the right one, given that the race came down to a field sprint. Riders who find themselves uncomfortable in large pack sprints may be tempted to change the dynamic of the race by racing more aggressively and taking the sprint out of the equation, but this is usually either stupid, arrogant, or both. A smart rider recognizes her limitations and looks for opportunities rather than trying to force the issue against the will of the pack. This is not to say that there aren’t opportunities for attacks, just that a smart rider can see the hidden door in the wall and walk through it when others try to smash through the wall with brute force.  

• Chad has a strategy to attack the third time over the climb. The pack is going easy into the climb and he attacks and gets a gap, but is chased down by the field. Shortly afterwards, the winning move goes but Chad is too tired to go with it because he is tired from the first attack. This is an example of a poor tactics (Chad failed to read the race, attacking when it was easy, rather than hard) but also of a poor strategy, because the strategy was too rigid and wasn’t flexible enough to account for changing conditions in the race. Where there is a hill, there is often an opportunity to attack, but if the pace isn’t hard going into the hill, even the strongest attack may not be enough, due to the fact that the pack can easily recover and reorganize afterwards. It’s important to know the course, but at the end of the day, it’s the riders who make the race.

• Maria researches the course in detail. She knows every place where she has to be at the front, and every place she can relax. She follows her nutritional plan perfectly and she makes every split. She winds up in the lead group but get outsprinted at the finish. Here, just like the German Army of 1918, she employed excellent tactics, but lacked a winning strategy. For a rider confident in her sprinting ability, making all the splits and then sprinting might be the right strategy, but if this is not the case, throwing in an attack or two is the smarter move. Even if the move didn’t stick, she might succeed in dropping or pacifying the sprinters in her group. In the moment, it can be tough to fight the thoughts of “If I attack, it’s going to hurt”, and “If it doesn’t work, I might get dropped from the group” but at the end of the day, if you want to win you must risk losing.

History is filled with examples of tactics without strategy or strategy without tactics. A pattern is clear; tactics and strategy are both important, but if given the choice, it’s also better to have a good strategy. In other words, it’s better to lose every battle and win the war than to win every battle and lose the war.

Luckily, bike racing is not war. In most cases the worst thing that can happen is that you lose the race, then you get back out there and try again next time. Most of the time you lose, but every once in a while, with the right strategy, enabled by solid tactics, a little strength and a little luck… you win.

Heartbreak and Dissapointment

You train hard and smart. You do everything you can to recover. You eat well. You buy the right equipment and you take good care of it. You practice your skills and tactics. You get to the race fit and fresh. You warm up. You follow your plan. You win. Right? Well, sometimes, but most often, that isn't how the story plays out.

Bike racing is a tough sport mentally, and to be honest there are far more athletes out there who have the physical potential to be successful than those who have the necessary mental attributes. To be a successful bike racer, you have to go into every race with the belief that you can win. This takes a lot of confidence. In a way, it requires that you ignore the odds. These are the odds that tell you that even when you are the strongest rider in the race; even if your preparation has been flawless; even if you have the best equipment, the best team and the smartest tactics, you will probably lose most of the time. A successful bike racer ignores those odds and goes into every race with a plan. Not a plan to finish, not look bad, or get some upgrade points but a plan to win. 

But there is also another side of this coin. How do you respond to failure? What happens when you did everything right and you still didn't win? Better yet, what happens when you crash? What happens when you get sick at the worst possible time? What happens when you get injured? What happens when you miss your start time? What happens when you get a flat tire and never catch back on? What happens when you make a split-second tactical error that ends your race? What happens when you burn out physically and mentally? What happens when you don't even want to look at your bike anymore? 

Just when it was starting to look like Vincenzo Nibali had the Olympic road race locked up, he crashed on the descent. 

Let me pause and say that I find it difficult to offer advice in this area because I am not great at it myself. Whenever I have an athlete who crashes, gets injured or sick, feels burnt out or disappointed, it affects me. I struggle to find the right words to say to them and I struggle to stay positive. The downside of doing something you love for a living is that it's impossible not to care. 

Perhaps though, not caring should not be the goal. It's OK to feel bad. It's OK to be disappointed, sad, angry, jealous or robbed of your goals. Saying "look on the bright side" or "think of what it means just to be there" isn't helpful. Whatever it is you are feeling, let yourself feel it.  What is important is what you do about it. What do you do with that anger, sadness and disappointment? Do you give up? Do you quit? Or do you find a way to turn those feelings into fuel you can use to reach your next goal? 

"It is not the critic who counts. ... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly ... who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt, 1910

The point is simple: keep moving forward. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Keep putting yourself out there. Keep trying and keep failing. At the end of the day, the most successful athletes are not the ones that did their training perfectly. They aren't the ones with the nicest equipment. They are not the ones who were lucky enough to never get sick or injured or crash or have a mechanical. They aren't the ones with the best genetics. They aren't even the ones who worked the hardest. They are the ones who rolled with the punches. The ones who adapted to the challenges of living in the real world and having real problems. They are the ones who turned their weaknesses into strengths. They are the ones who turned their failures into success.

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 roadracer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. He is also headcoach at Young Medalists High Performance and race director forTeam YoungMedalists. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading! 

Too Much of Everything

OK, it has to be said. My writing in this blog hasn't exactly been prolific over the last year. If you know me you are probably aware that I have a 1 year old baby at home who I take care of most of the time. To say that it's been a huge challenge to be a good parent and husband while keeping my business alive, taking care of my current athletes and bringing in new athletes as well as trying to make time for a little of my own training... well, that would be an understatement. At the same time, I recognize that many of you have 2, 3, 4 or more children. I recognize that many of you work 60+ hours a week, sometimes working weekend and night shifts, sometimes performing demanding physical labor and sometimes traveling all over the world across many time zones and never being able to rely on a consistent schedule. I recognize that many of you don't have the benefit of a wonderful supportive spouse who can take care of the children and the household when you are away; someone who can carry the bulk of the financial burden so you can follow your dreams; someone who loves you unconditionally and forgives you for sometimes being home late, exhausted, irritable and drained. Because I am acutely aware of these challenges that so many of you face, this blog, my first in almost 8 months, is not about me. It's about you. This is my attempt to summarize my admiration and awe of you and of the way you are able to so gracefully balance the various aspects of your life.

"You can't have too much of everything" - Ahmad Badawi

The above is a quote that I use to talk about the importance of balance in life with my junior athletes. It shouldn't need to be said that there are only so many hours in the day and most people don't have time to do everything the way the really want to do it, so compromises must be made. 

How much is enough time at work? 8 hours/day? 7 hours/day? Many would argue that Americans work more hours than we need to, but still, there is only so much you can reduce your hours before you no longer have a job. On top of that, you have to tack on your commuting time... probably at least 30 minutes per day and for many people closer to 2 hours!

How much is enough sleep? Many elite athletes feel they need at least 9 hours of sleep to recover properly from training. Studies have shown that mental function starts to decline below 8 hours/night and decline steeply below 7 hours/night.

How much is enough family time? I suppose there could be many interpretations of what "family time" means but I would argue that most people need at least an hour per day with their spouse and/or children. Single people might not have those obligations but they still have dates and social outings with friends. Those that love you will understand that you can't always be there but it's unreasonable to expect people to stick around forever when you are perpetually absent. Not to mention, when it comes to children, they grow fast and you don't get to go back and make up for lost time when it's convenient

How much time do you need to take care of your household? (by household I am including indoor and outdoor chores as well as car and bike maintenance) Again, I would guess at least an hour, right? You can neglect this stuff but you will regret it when you start getting sick because of it 

How much time do you need to train? 2 hours/day? 1 hour/day? Remember too that you also have to factor in all of the small activities that go along with that training such as changing into your workout clothes, driving to the group ride or the park or the gym, pumping tires, taking a shower afterwards, preparing a recovery drink, downloading your workout file and putting your comments on Training Peaks (of course)

How much time do you need to prepare your meals, eat them and clean up after yourself? It's generally healthier to prepare your own food but that involves driving to the supermarket, buying groceries, cooking and cleaning. You might be able to save a little time by going out or ordering take out, but this will be generally more expensive and less healthy. I'm sure it varies a lot but if you are like me, you probably spend at least 3 hours a day between grocery shopping, food preparation, eating your meals and cleaning up.

At this point we are already at 21-30 hours per day of activities and we haven't even included any miscellaneous activities like paying bills, taking showers, answering emails, going to the bathroom or gasp! relaxing. Bottom line is this. Something has to give. For competitive people (like most people that probably read this) that is a tough pill to swallow. Personally I'm not willing to accept the idea of being an average cyclist, an average coach, an average husband or an average father. I can probably live with being an average house cleaner or lawn mower...  

This is the point where I would normally give you some tips and strategies for dealing with this problem, but in this case I can't say much. In fact I am pretty lucky. For the last 11 years, I've had a schedule that was flexible where I could almost always find time to train, sleep, spend time with loved ones or whatever. Even now, I have one child and a lot of help. I work from home. I have a supportive wife, a nanny that comes for a few hours a day 3 days a week. My family and my in-laws are close by. I shouldn't complain and I won't complain because the fact is, if I had to deal with the challenges that many of you have, I don't think I could do it. Without naming names, here are some of examples of some of the amazing people I currently coach or have coached in the past:

- A lawyer who works at least 60 hours/week but also manages to ride his bike every day and play golf with his 14 year old son every Sunday

- A woman finishing her medical residency (think 100 hour weeks) while training for olympic distance triathlons

- A chef who owns a chain of restaurants where he works long days and nights and never has a free weekend, but trains to race the Leadville 100 MTB race

- The president of an asbestos removal and demolition company who sponsors an elite cycling team while training for Paris-Brest-Paris, a 1200 mile endurance race

- A college student who takes extra credits so he can graduate a semester early in order to travel to Europe to race professionally

- A woman who is the deputy director of a major agency in the city government and a board member in a number of local charities and advocacy organizations who rides her bike to work every day and comes out to mix things up with the men on the fastest group rides in the area

- An eye doctor trying to open an additional clinic while keeping his current office going AND training for road cycling, mountain biking, triathlon and XTerra with the goal of making the 2016 Rio summer olympics

- The owner of a real estate development company AND a chain of bike shops who is reigning 2015 Masters National Cyclocross champion

To all of these people and so many more that I have had the pleasure of working with I say "Thank You". Thank you for inspiring me. Thank you for proving that it can be done.

If there is one thing that I've learned about balance it's that balance is a struggle you never win. The ones who are successful are the ones that keep struggling. The ones who aren't successful are the ones that stop trying. Sometimes they just stop riding. Sometimes they get divorced. Sometimes they quit their jobs. And just to clarify, there are lots of legitimate reasons why people stop riding, get divorced and quit their jobs but simply giving up should never be one of them. There is no magic bullet. Is doesn't get any easier or less stressful. You always have to make compromises and sacrifices and you never achieve perfection. You just keep trying. You keep struggling. And you are better because of that struggle. 

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 roadracer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. He is also head coach at Young Medalists High Performance and race director for Team Young Medalists. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading!

How to wash your bike

I was just going through the files on my computer and I realized that I had this video on bike cleaning that my intern, Zach Houlik helped me make last summer. This is an instructional video on basic bike cleaning, not an extreme bike cleaning/rebuild that may be necessary if your bike if you were riding in severe conditions. 

Required Tools

- Garden hose

- Bucket of soapy water

- Sponge

- Bike cleaning brushes

- Degreaser 

- Clean rag for drying bike

- Dirty rag for cleaning drivetrain parts

- Chain lube

Optional (but recommended) Tools

- Workstand

- Apron

- Chain cleaner

- Goof Off

Note: at the end of the video I say "Don't use WD40 to lube your bike" and I need to add a disclaimer. I was referring to basic WD40, not the excellent line of bike cleaning products that WD40 now makes. 

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know. 

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 road  racer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. He is also head  coach at Young Medalists High Performance and race director for Team Young Medalists. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading!

Monday Morning Quarterbacking: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

It it were a few years ago, I would have been out riding in the 15 degree weather last Saturday. A few years older now, I instead was sitting indoors, sipping my coffee and watching Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in the comfort of my living room with my 3 month old daughter on my lap. I am glad I did, and not just because I was able to stay warm and comfortable. I also got to witness live the race finish that everyone is is still talking about on Monday morning. 

Watching the bike race with my daughter. After the race, she told me "Man, even I know that Etixx screwed that one up, and I'm only 3 months old!"

With 40 kilometers left to go in the race, Etixx-QuickStep had put Niki Terpstra, Tom Boonen and Stijn Vandenbergh in a 4 man breakaway with Team Sky's Ian Stannard. With 3 out of 4 in the winning move, victory seemed certain for Patrick Lefevre's team, it was only a matter of how and by how much. The situation seemed very similar to the famous 2001 Paris Roubaix where the Domo-Farm Frites team (also managed by Lefevre) finished 1-2-3 and destroyed what would be George Hincapie's best ever chance at victory in that race and coined the term "Domo-Nation". Ironically, Servais Knaven, the winner that year, now works for Team Sky. I was also reminded of US Postal's director Johan Bruyneel saying after the race, "When it's 3 on 1, you lose. Every time."

What played out in the last 5 kilometers was the perfect storm of tactical mistakes, bad luck and less than peak fitness on the part of the Etixx team and brilliance on the part of Stannard. At 4.7k to go, Etixx forced Stannard, who had been sitting on, to finally take a pull. As soon as he did, Boonen, who had skipped a few pulls in order to rest up, put in a massive attack. This is team tactics 101. When you have 3 on 1, one guy attacks, you force the other guy to chase... if he brings it back the next guy attacks... you force the odd man out to chase again... rinse & repeat until you have one guy off the front. At this point, you can still force the other guy to pull since you have a man off the front. When he is worn down enough you can attack again, putting a second guy off the front. Now it's 1 on 1 but with 2 guys off the front you can still force the other guy to pull and tire himself out enough for you to either beat him in a sprint or attack again. If everything plays out as it should, your team should finish 1-2-3. 

Unfortunately for Etixx, it didn't play out exactly like that. Here's a timeline of what happened:

4.6k to go: Boonen attacks. Stannard is at the front after having just taken a pull. He puts his head down and chases Boonen.

3.4k to go: Stannard, with Terpstra and Vandenbergh in tow, reels Boonen back in. Immediately upon making contact, Terpstra attacks with Vandenbergh on his wheel. Stannard is again forced to chase (of course) but this time when he jumps, Boonen (after just having raced a kilo) is unable to hold Stannard's wheel and he has to dig deep to stay with him. 

3.0k to go: Stannard (with Boonen just behind him) re-connects with Terpstra and Vandenbergh.

2.9k to go: Stannard attacks the trio and opens up a gap. Vandenbergh gives it all he's got but the gap holds.

2.6k to go: Vandenbergh pulls off and then falls off the pace. Terpstra pulls through.

2.2k to go: Terpstra is able to reconnect with Stannard but he drops Boonen (who has been hanging on for dear life) in the process. At this point, it might be tempting to think that Etixx has completely lost their numerical advantage, but it's important to remember that Terpstra, with Boonen just behind him, has no obligation to pull through. Stannard continues to drive the pace until 250m to go. Boonen never falls more than a couple seconds behind.

275m to go: Terpstra opens up his sprint to the left, but with a slightly uphill finish and dead legs, he doesn't get much of a jump on Stannard.

50m to go: Terpstra, in seeing that Stannard is still on his right hip, swings to the right to try and force him to come around on the left. Of course, he can't take him all the way into the barriers without being relegated. Stannard has room to come around just in time to take his second consecutive win in this race. 

(For a great 5 minute summary of the entire race, check out Cosmo Catalano's "How the Race was Won")

Most of the commentary I have seen has been pretty critical of the whole Etixx team, saying that they got cocky, and blinded by their desire to sweep the podium, they underestimated Stannard. While I don't believe that this criticism is wholly unwarranted, I do think that some of it is a bit harsh.

Let's examine the alternatives:

Alternative 1: Etixx should not have let Stannard sit on. The idea here is that the 3 Etixx riders should have forced Stannard to do his fair share of pulls in the break. On Stannard's part, it's probably a smart move to sit on as long as he can. He knew that Etixx would eventually start attacking and the odds were already stacked against him. If Etixx didn't like this, they could try to "ride him off the back". This means that the third rider in the group would let a gap open up and force Stannard to come around and close it. At this point, the 3rd rider would jump on Stannard's wheel and let him tow him back up. This tactic would most likely have either dropped Stannard (though probably at the expense of one of the Etixx riders) or at least forced him to concede to taking his pulls. Another tactic that could presumably have had the same effect would have been for Etixx to have started their attacks sooner in the race instead of waiting until the last 5k. 

Here is the problem: there was a group of riders just behind led by Sep VanMarcke (Lotto-Jumbo) and Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) with Phillipe Gilbert (BMC) stuck in no-mans-land. Although VanMarcke eventually finished a minute and a half behind, his group was hovering at 20-25 seconds for most of the last 40k. If Etixx had started trying to ride Stannard off the back, that gap could have easily evaporated. In a post-race interview, Lefevre defended his team's tactics, saying that VanMarcke was the strongest rider in the race and his team could not afford to play games. In fact, the only reason VanMarcke wasn't in the lead group was because he had flatted at the key moment of the race. Whether Lefevre was right about VanMarcke or he was simply making excuses for his team's disappointing result, one can't deny that the odds are much better with 3 out of 4 than 4 out of 8. 

Alternative 2: Etixx should not have gone on the attack at all. After the race, Boonen said that this would have been his team's best strategy. After all, he was the best sprinter in the group he should have been able to beat Stannard head to head. Boonen could have let his teammates drive the pace all the way to the line and then sprint with 150m to go. This was exactly what worked for Boonen when he won Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2014

Waiting for the sprint worked for Boonen in last year's KBK, but it was close.

Of course, the situation was quite different in last year's KBK. Yes, QuickStep had 5 out of 10 riders in the final breakaway, but the Belkin team also had 3. This means that they would most likely have been able to neutralize any QuickStep 1-2 attacks. Leading Boonen out was the only real option. Second, Moreno Hofland (Belkin) finished a very close second to Boonen in that race. It's always a gamble to let the race come down to a sprint. QuickStep got lucky that time but it would not have taken much for it to have gone the other way. Finally, it's worth noting that in that race, Boonen's teammates finished in 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th in the 10 man final group. To wait until the finish and then lead Boonen out for the sprint would have meant giving up all hope of sweeping the podium. Hindsight being 20/20, 1st, 3rd and 4th is a lot better than 2nd, 3rd and 4th, but you can't blame Lefevre for kicking his chops at the thought of another glorious sweep, can you?

Alternative 3: Terpstra or Vanderbergh should have attacked instead of Boonen. Perhaps one of them could have held off Stannard better than Boonen did, but even if they didn't, Boonen would have been fresh for the the sprint. 

Of all of the options, this one seems to me like it would have been the best, but you still run into some of the same problems. Both Terpstra and Vanderbergh had been working hard and were close to their limit. Most likely, Vanderbergh would not have been able to put in a serious attack, so it would have to have been Terpstra. Stannard was able to catch Terpstra when he counter-attacked Boonen's move, so in all likelihood he would have reeled in an earlier Terpstra attack as well, even if Terpstra had been a little fresher. If we assume that Vanderbergh was too tired to make a good attack, that again leaves Boonen. While Boonen vs. Stannard in the final sprint would have been a much better match for Etixx, there are no guarantees and if Boonen were a little tired, the race could still have gone to Stannard. 

The truth is that looking at the end of Saturday's race should teach us a few valuable lessons about racing:

1. It's a lot easier to "Monday morning quarterback it" than to have to make those decisions in the heat of the moment. It's important to realize that back in 2001, all the racers had radios. A clear headed director sportif sitting in his car with access to the exact time splits, would presumably have more chance of making the right call.  It's not so easy to do this when you are suffering, excited about the possibility of winning (and in this case, possibly sweeping the podium) and nervous about blowing it. After all, being the favorite carries a lot of weight with it. Now, these guys are all professionals., which means that they should be able to think (and act) under pressure. They wouldn't be where they are if they couldn't. In my opinion, the decisions that were made on the road weren't as bad as many of the critics in the cycling press (not to mention social media) would imply. They just turned out to be wrong.

2. No one could have anticipated how strong Stannard would be. It would be a mistake to focus only on the mistakes of the Etixx guys and not at all on how incredibly good Stannard was. Despite the fact that he was sitting on for most of the last 40k, he was able to pull back Boonen's attack, then pull back Terpstra's attack, then put in his own attack, then stay in the wind for almost 3k riding hard enough to hold off Boonen, then win the sprint. This is not even to mention that he had the clairvoyance to attack at the absolute perfect time.

I guess we probably should have known that Stannard was having a good day...

3. Omloop is traditionally the first big race of the season in Belgium. While it's always interested to see who is riding well and who isn't, it doesn't really mean all that much in the long run. It is essentially a "tune-up" race. It's worth noting that no one has won Omloop and then one of the "Monument" races since Musseuw in 2000. In fact, the Etixx team redeemed itself the very next day with Cavendish's win at KBK. The lesson to be learned is that even the pros need to race with their teams a bit before they are able to operate as a well-oiled machine.

4. In my opinion, the biggest error for Etixx was simply that Terpstra started his sprint too early. If he had forced Stannard to start the sprint or at least waited longer, I think that he would have won and we wouldn't even be talking about this. The lesson: practice your sprints. It's only 10-20 seconds of the race, but it can end up be the most important 20 seconds. I advise my athletes to practice sprinting in different gears, starting from different speeds, on uphills, on downhills, by themselves, with one partner and with a large group. A sprint will very rarely be perfect but the more you practice, the more chance you have that it will be good enough. And as is often the case in life, good enough is all you need. 

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 road  racer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. He is also head  coach at Young Medalists High Performance and race director for Team Young Medalists. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading!

Surviving Winter

Being that we're currently in single digit temperatures here in Pennsylvania and bracing for up to a foot of new snow (and we're counting ourselves lucky compared to those in New England), I thought that this post might be timely. 

The end of winter is in sight and the racing season is right around the corner, but there are times when it seems like it couldn't be further away. Many of us look at our training and shake our heads, thinking that there is no way we can actually do this, short of getting on a plane and flying to San Diego, Miami or Mallorca. But alas, all is not lost! In fact, there are many benefits of living somewhere with a real winter. Aside from toughness and grit, one of the biggest benefits is that training in winter forces us to be flexible and creative. Here are a few tips to help you through these dark, cold and snowy days.

1. Look at the weather forecast and play the "shell game". In a word, plan. If you know that there will be one or two days when you won't be able to train outside, move your workouts around in order to get your long outdoor rides in when you can. Of course, this doesn't help much when there is 2 feet of snow on the ground and the mercury never rises above 20 degrees, but it does help when your ability to ride outdoors changes from day to day, as it often does towards the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring. 

It's not great weather for riding, but it's great for skiing!

2. Embrace the snow and ice. Sure, it's not great for riding a road bike, but it is for skiing, skating, snowshoeing and fat biking. Be creative and try something that you don't normally have the chance to do. Don't worry too much about it not being exactly what your training says. There will be plenty of time to ride your bike later in the year so go out and enjoy the outdoors in a different way. 

3. Add variety to your indoor training. Replacing a 2 hour outdoor endurance ride with 2 hours of endurance indoors on the trainer sounds miserable to me. But if you replace a 2 hour endurance ride with 2 hours of structured intervals, 2 hours indoors might not seem so bad. This doesn't mean that you have to add any intensity. Variety can be added to a workout just by changing up your cadence every 5 minutes or adding some fast cadence or one legged drills to your workout. You might also consider switching back and forth between the trainer and the rollers.

An indoor cycling class at Cadence Cycling and Multisport in Manayunk, Philadelphia, PA

4. Misery loves company. Whether you're indoors or outdoors, having a training partner or a group to train with can help you out. If you're on the road on a cold day, having other riders to hide behind may keep you from getting too cold. Training with others also adds a sense of accountability and possibly a little competitiveness to the workout. Though competitiveness may backfire at times by encouraging us to go a little harder than we should be, most of us give our best efforts when our pride is on the line. 

5. Be patient and hang in there. It may feel like winter will never end, but it will. Maybe you'll have to ride indoors for a couple more weeks. Maybe you'll have to keep freezing your butt off outside, or find other non-cycling aerobic activities to try. It's not perfect, but it never is. Of course, no race will ever play out exactly the way you expect it to and the ability to adapt and respond to changing circumstances is not something you're born with. You have to practice it. 

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 road  racer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. He is also head  coach at Young Medalists High Performance and race director for Team Young Medalists. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading!

Let the race come to you

The downside of good fitness is that it can lead to an over-inflated sense of control. Sometimes I feel like a broken record when I tell athletes "Don't force it. You can't impose your will on the race single-handedly. Keep your head up. Look for opportunities and do your best to take advantage of them." When we feel good we are excited to translate that fitness into results. Blinded by our own desire to succeed, we don't always pay attention to what is actually going on in the race. This is like an investor dumping all their money into stocks that they like without any regard to the movements of the market. Now, Warren Buffet or George Soros can probably dump millions of dollars into a stock and make it's value go up... but then again, they didn't get to be where they are by being reckless. 

Don't Force It

The peloton is like the ocean. A surfer doesn't know exactly when the next wave will come or how big it will be, but he knows that it will come. If he is patient and pays attention to the tide and the rhythms or the ocean, he will be able to time it right and ride the wave. Just like the ocean, the peloton has it's own rhythms. Hills, tight turns, attacks and riders pushing the pace cause the pack to string out. Non technical downhills, wide open flat roads and riders deciding to sit up have the opposite effect: the pack bunches up. No race stays strung out or bunched up forever. Riders that understand and predict the "waves" of the peloton can use it's energy to move up to the front when it's bunched up instead of fighting the tide and use much more energy to move up when the field is strung out . This principle can also be used to time attacks. Smart riders move up when it's bunched up and attack when it's strung out but just about to bunch up again. The result is that a small gap quickly turns into a large gap and by the the time the field picks up the pace again they are out of sight. Dumb riders attack when it's easy, which means that the field will catch them as soon as the pace picks up again. The first step to being a smart peloton surfer is realizing that the ocean is more powerful than you are.

You can't impose your will on the race single-handedly

A dominant team is different from a single rider or even a small team because the dominant team has a lot more bullets to fire. They can afford to sacrifice riders for the sake of imposing their will on a race and making sure that it plays out the way that they want it to. If they want a breakaway to work, they can sacrifice riders to make the initial attack(s) so that they can have their strongest rider(s) counter attack and get into the winning move. If they want the race to come down to a sprint, they can afford to sacrifice riders to chase down breakaways and lead out their sprinter. If they want to split up the field, they can sacrifice riders to drive the pace and keep it fast enough to rip apart the field. All too often, though, solo riders or small, less powerful teams try to implement these tactics and all of their hard work only serves to set other riders up. 

Rambo: not based on a true story

I am sure that some of you are thinking of times when you or someone you know did actually single-handedly dominate a race and impose their will on it, so let me say first of all: yes, there are exceptions. Most of those exceptions however, are when riders are far stronger than anyone else in their race (aka sandbagging). Most of the time though, even when a pro cyclist comes out to the Tuesday night training ride, they can't expect to just sit at the front and ride away from the field on strength alone even if they are twice as strong as the second strongest rider. It should be noted that for the most part when they do this, their intent is to get a good workout, not to "win". 

In last month's Tour de France, Vincenzo Nibali was head and shoulders stronger than all the other [surviving] contenders, yet many fans thought this year's edition of "Le Grand Boucle" was the most exciting in recent memory because it was so aggressive. Nibali did not have a dominant team in the likes of Froome and Wiggins' Team Sky that could keep the pace so high as to discourage any of these attacks. Although Nibali was left without any teammates by then end of most of the mountain stages, he patiently let the others put in their attacks, following the ones he needed to and letting his competitors tire themselves out. When at last they had nothing more to give, he would go his own, gaining time on almost every decisive stage. In other words, he didn't win by beating everyone into submission, he won by taking advantage of every opportunity. 

Keep your head up

The first thing my father ever taught me about riding a bike on the road was "Keep your head up", and to this day it's the best piece of advice I've ever received. He said this because he wanted me to recognize what was coming up ahead. If my head was down, looking at my front wheel, my bike computer or my legs, I might get caught off guard by a turn in the road, a pothole, a stop sign, a patch of gravel, a car, or any number of things. Keeping my head up allowed me to work out how I needed to react (if at all) well in advance. It also meant that I kept a straighter line and a smoother pedal stroke. 

You never know what can happen in a race so you better keep your head up

When we start to suffer from a hard effort, when we get nervous about road conditions or sketchy riders or when we get demoralized because we feel like we're not performing well, many of us react by lowering our heads. Some riders with limited neck flexibility or back/shoulder issues may have a difficult time keeping their heads up as well In an age where many of us have speed, cadence, heart rate, power, altitude, gradient, temperature and GPS measurements available, I see more and more riders that have trouble looking away from their bike computers. The bottom line is this: if your head is down, you aren't part of the race. Not only can this be dangerous, it can also lead you to make decisions based on the wrong information. With regard to attacking, too many riders attack because they feel good. Smart riders attack when they see a good opportunity to do so and more often than not, it's when the race is hard (which means they probably don't feel good).

That's a lot of data

Keeping your head up is the also the first step in getting out of your own head. If you can do this, you stop worrying about how much your suffering or how nervous you are about crashing or under-performing. You just figure out what needs to be done and you do your best to make it happen. The other upside to this kind of mentality is that when you are not able to make it happen (which, to be honest, for most racers is most of the time), there's no mental anguish. It's a lot easier to accept when you fail because you asked your body to do something and it refused than because you just didn't know what you needed to do. You only have so much effort to give (so many matches to burn, bullets to fire, whatever metaphor you like best). The trick is to learn to focus your effort at the times it really matters. 

Look for opportunities and do your best to take advantage of them

Someone once told me that if you are in a breakaway and you have to go harder than everyone else in the break for it to survive, it's not the right break to be in. Those of us that are not field sprinters recognize that getting in the break is probably our only chance of winning. We may want so badly for the break to work that we are willing to work harder than anyone else in the break to ensure it's success. The thought of having to go back to the pack and either try to attack again or duke it out in a dangerous field sprint may seem unbearable. Here's the thing though: if we are working harder than everyone else in the break, we're not racing to win, we're racing for a top 5. 

"Never tell me the odds" - Han Solo

This doesn't mean that if you think the race will probably end in a field sprint your only option is to sit and wait for a sprint, it just means that there may be fewer opportunities for breaks to get away, so you really have to pay attention to see them. It's also important to realize that "the odds" aren't everything. When you think about it, bike racing odds are almost never in your favor. In a field of 100 racers, there are 99 losers and only 1 winner. To be a bike racer is to never stop believing that you could be the 1 winner if you are smart and a little lucky, but also to have the ability to get over it when most of the time, you are in the 99. Being a smart racer isn't about choosing the strategy with the most likely odds of winning, it's about picking the strategy with the most likely odds of you winning.

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 road  racer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. He is also head  coach at Young Medalists High Performance and race director for  Team Young  Medalists. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading!

Cycling Fundamentals: Braking

It's been a while since my last blog post, so I apologize to all my loyal readers out there. So far, it's been a busy July. I started off the month with a trip to Madison, Wisconsin for the US Road National Championships where I had a number of junior and U23 athletes racing. One of the things that shocked me during the week was how there were so many athletes (juniors in particular) who were so physically strong, yet had a poor grasp of some of the fundamentals of the sport. Now, I'm not just trying to make the point that some of these kids should be working on their bike handling a little more instead of staring at their power meter numbers all the time, or that they should make sure their tires and chains are in good shape before they drop $4000 on a set of carbon wheels or $10,000 on a new TT bike (although there were certainly many examples of both of these). I am talking about basic things like braking and shifting... skills that most people don't think much about or work on, yet can be a little more complicated than they appear. 

"If you brake, you lose" - Mario Cipollini

Did you ever think about why track bikes don't have brakes? It's because if riders had the ability to quickly decelerate, there would be many many more crashes. To be fair, there are also a few crashes that could be avoided if brakes were allowed, but all in all track racing with brakes would be much more dangerous. It's tempting for new riders to think of their brakes as something that saves them from danger, yet forget about how much danger brakes can cause. If you hit your brakes when riding in a pack, there is always a chance that the rider behind you might ride into you. Not to mention, the thing that caused you to hit your brakes is still in front of you. Experienced riders learn to accelerate around problems, putting them in the rear view mirror.

As a sprinter, you have to learn to lay off the brakes and keep going as hard as you can, even if it looks like certain death awaits

You don't have to be riding with other people to have a braking related crash though. If the road surface is wet or loose, a simple touch of the brakes could have you skidding along on your side before you know it. When you are riding on gravel, dirt or a wet road, the coefficient of friction between the tires and the ground is reduced. Braking creates force in the opposite direction as the forward movement of the tires. If that force is greater than the friction between the tires and the ground, your tire will begin to slide. Once sliding, your tires can slide easily in any direction. Now, you may be able to let go of the brakes and adjust your center of gravity in time to save yourself from crashing if your rear tire "fishtails" a little bit, but if your front tire slides sideways, you will be on the ground. 

The other problem that brakes cause is that they can cause you to work harder. This may seem like a no-brainer but it's something a lot of people don't think enough about. When you are riding along, the bike is propelled by your power, but there are also a lot of opposing forces working against you. I like to use this equation:

Speed = Power - [Aerodynamic Drag + Gravity + Rolling resistance + Drivetrain resistance + Braking force] *

I've seen a lot of riders conveniently forget the braking force part of this equation. They train to improve power output, they diet and buy expensive bikes to be as light as possible, they buy aero wheels, helmets, skinsuits and frames to make themselves more aero,  nice tires to reduce rolling resistance, ceramic bearings and special chains to reduce drivetrain resistance. All of that advantage is negated if your increased speed is only met with increased braking. As your power improves, your technical skill must improve in accordance. Otherwise whatever speed you gain through increased fitness is lost whenever you go around turns, on descents or anytime you get into tight situations in the pack. 

One thing I notice a lot on the bikes of less experienced riders is what I call "hair trigger brakes". In essence, riders set their bikes up so the slightest touch of the levers can slam on the brakes with maximum force. There are a few problems with this: a) This type of setup does not allow for much modulation (light or moderate braking). b) If the riders wheel is out of true or they hit a pothole their brakes will rub against the rim and c) This type of setup encourages nervous riding. The next time you see a pro's bike, try squeezing the brake levers. Chances are you will have to almost bottom them out on the bars to apply maximum force. This is because, for the most part, pros realize that their brakes are something to be used judiciously. I have told some riders that have a problem with this to imagine that their brake pads were made out of gold. Chances are, they would be a little thoughtful about how they use them if they cost $500 a pair! 

If you can'e pull your brake levers back most of the way to the handlebars, they are probably too tight

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to argue that brakes are unnecessary. There is a reason we have brakes on our road, cyclocross and mountain bikes and proper braking can actually help you go faster in the long run. I'll give you a couple examples:

Example 1: You are going down a steep descent with sharp, blind turns. Even the most technically proficient riders can only take these turns so fast. If you attempt to take these turns without braking, you will only be able to go so fast on the straighter sections. Having the confidence that you can safely slow down whenever necessary means that you can confidently fly down the side of the mountain, scrub as much speed as necessary before the turn, set yourself up to take the proper line, then let go of the brakes and accelerate through the apex of the turn. 

Proper braking on descents will help you take better lines on the turns and give you the confidence to go faster on the straightaways

Example 2: You are riding in a paceline, tucked nicely in the slipstream of a really good draft. The riders at the front of the group decelerate and if you don't do something you will run into the rider in front of you. If it's a slight deceleration, you can just slide out into the wind a little bit and the extra wind will slow you down to where you need to be. However, if it's a big deceleration, you will slide out into the wind and go flying up the side of the pack. Now, unless you were planning on attacking at this time, this may place you in a position you don't want to be in. Suddenly you are right at the front and exposed to the wind. If you stay there, you will have to do some work. If you slow down and try to move back where you were, you may find that someone else has taken the wheel you wanted and won't give it up. So before any of this happens, you should consider lightly hitting your brakes and staying in your position. You can still slide out to the side a little bit if you want to combine the slowing effects of the wind and the brakes and make the re-acceleration a little less severe when the speed picks back up. 

Front Brakes vs. Rear Brakes

The most common braking mistake I see riders make (on the road at least) is that they use too much rear brake. This could be because a) They are afraid of going over their handlebars if they hit too much front brake, b) Their right hand is stronger or most likely c) They just aren't thinking about it. Unfortunately, even though a little rear tire slide won't usually cause a crash, under normal road conditions, it takes a lot less braking force to slide the rear tire than the front. This is because when you decelerate the center of gravity shifts forward due to momentum. In fact, it's very difficult to flip yourself over the handlebars without running over something unless you absolutely slam on your front brake and make a concerted effort to shift your weight forward.

When riders flip over their handlebars (aka "Endo"), it's usually because their front wheel has come to a complete and sudden stop and they are caught off guard with their weight too far forward.

If you are looking for a good/fun way to practice your braking skills, use 4 cones or water bottles to set up a square that is approximately 10' x 10'. Come into the square as fast as you feel comfortable with and hit your brakes hard. The goal is not to hit your brakes until you enter the square and slow to a stop before the end without sliding the rear tire at all. Spoiler alert: the key is to keep your weight back (really far back) and use mostly front brake.

Under normal conditions, you should see your front brake pads wear out approximately twice as fast as your rear brake pads. If you see your rear pads wearing out faster, or even at an equal rate, you are most likely using too much rear brake. Some have even argued that rear brakes are unnecessary. This is why many motorcyclists looking to save weight remove their rear brakes entirely and many fixed gear riders (who can scrub speed by applying reverse pressure to the pedals) use only a front brake. I would not go quite that far because there are a couple situations where the rear brakes are very important. If you are riding down a very steep (>20%) grade or descent with extremely low traction (e.g. sand, gravel, rocks, ice), you will want to use your rear brake exclusively. In these situations, some tire slippage is unavoidable. You just want to make sure that it's the rear tire, not the front that slips. It should be noted that these situations are very common in mountain biking and cyclocross. Although rare on the road, you will learn the hard way if you forget what to do. 

Some rear tire slippage is inevitable in some conditions. Just make sure it is the rear, not the front!

Next up in this series, I will talk about shifting. If you have any other requests for topics in this series, I'd love to hear them.

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 road  racer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. He is also head  coach at Young Medalists High Performance and race director for  Team Young  Medalists. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading!

* A pre-emptive apology goes out to my college Physics professors on this equation. I know it's not technically a viable equation I didn't put any thought into the units at all, I'm just trying to keep things as simple as possible to illustrate my point in ways that every cyclist can understand. If you would like me to send you the full equation, I can.

Making the most of your time

Have you ever wondered how much better you could be if you didn't have a "day job"? Do you think that you could make it to the next level if only there were 2-3 extra hours in the day to train... or to prepare better food for yourself... or maybe just get a little more sleep? If you have you aren't alone. In fact, I would venture to say that every athlete asks these questions from time to time, even those that don't have day jobs. After all, even pros have to pay their bills, go to publicity events, travel, do their laundry and clean their houses (not to mention, spend time with the ones they love).

Training is more than just doing workouts. You may hear that you should try to get 9-10 hours sleep every night, get a massage every week, see a chiropractor, see an acupuncturist, do yoga, do your core work, get an altitude tent, use compression boots before and after every ride, meditate, do your recovery spins, eat natural and healthy fresh foods, take naps and drink a gallon of water every day. I could go on and on with these tips but I'm pretty sure your eyes are already beginning to roll. Whether cycling is your profession or a hobby that you do on the side after working 60 hours a week, you're probably thinking the same thing: "That all sounds good if I only had the time."

Part of scheduling is prioritizing. You must first accept that you can't do it all, which means you have to let some things go. The other side is learning to be more efficient so you can get more done in the same time. To do either of these things, you have to plan. When you look ahead and plan your training schedule, here is a simple list of the most important things to remember:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit" - Aristotle

1. Be consistent: A question I get asked a lot is "When is the best time to do my workouts?" Most of the time when in the day you train will be determined by either your work schedule or a pre-determined schedule for races and training rides. Those that have the choice, however, usually find that morning, evening and mid-day workouts can all work fine, but it helps to be as consistent as possible. In other words, don't train one day at 5 AM, the next day at 8 PM and then the next day at noon if you can help it. If all of your races are in the morning, do your best to train in the morning when possible. Consistency also applies to volume. Better to train an hour every day than 5 hours twice a week. Better to sleep 7 hours every night rather than 5 hours on weekdays and 12 on weekends. We are creatures of habit and we have a lot better chance of adhering to the plans we make if they become habitual.

You won't get healthy snacks out of vending machines, so you have to plan ahead

2. Plan your meals and snacks: You've probably heard that "if you wait until you are hungry or thirsty it's already too late". If you want to eat a healthy diet with a lot of fresh fruits, vegetables and preservative-free foods, you have to plan because these foods all spoil rather quickly. You won't be able to eat big salads, quinoa and sweet potatoes for dinner or snack on pears, carrot sticks and hummus if you don't plan ahead, go to the grocery store, prepare foods ahead of time and pack them to bring to work, training and races. It also helps to look into the proper storage method for every food to maximize shelf life in your refrigerator or pantry. If you're traveling for extended periods, research restaurants and grocery stores wherever you're going. To use an old saying, "If you fail to plan you plan to fail". Lack of planning will lead to inconsistent energy levels, calls for pizza delivery, trips to the vending machine at work and a lot of stops at gas stations after races.

There are a lot of things athletes can do to improve recovery but for many, sleep deprivation is the elephant in the room

3. Get your sleep: Though many claim they are "fine with only 6 hours of sleep", it's simply not true, especially for athletes. Ideal sleep is typically 7-9 hours per night for most adults, but the "magic number" varies from person to person. Simply put, it may be 7, 8, or 9 but it's definitely not 5 or 6. Sleep is also the number one factor in recovery, so the less you sleep the less your training volume and intensity have to be. For those that can swing it, a nap may also help speed the recovery process and improve mood, motivation and cognitive function. If you find that even 9 hours a night and a nap is still not enough you may want to consult your doctor, as there may be another underlying problem (e.g. depression, breathing issues). 

Perhaps increasing your quantity of sleep isn't really an option though. In this case, think about whether or not anything can be done to improve sleep quality, such as putting up room darkening shades, getting a better mattress or pillow, putting in earplugs or using a sound generator. If you have trouble getting to sleep, consider meditation, listening to relaxing music or taking a sleep aid (note: some sleep aids such as Melatonin, Unisom and Diphenhydramine are available over to counter, a prescription is required for most others such as Ambien and Lunesta). Needless to say, do your research and consult your doctor before popping any pills. Within an hour of bedtime, avoid exercise, eating spicy foods, drinking alcohol, watching TV or thinking about work if possible. At the end of the day (literally) it comes back to... you guessed it... planning. If you plan ahead to get to bed at a given time you will have a much better chance of actually doing it.

Zach Bell spends some time in his Normatec boots in between track sessions.

4. Make time for active recovery: Although sleep is the number one factor in recovery, there are many forms of active recovery that can help you achieve greater (and faster) benefits from your training. Some examples are easy recovery spins, massage, acupuncture, electric stimulation, yoga and using compression boots. The better you can recover, the better you can train. Even if your training time and intensity are relatively low, other factors in your life such as stress and standing on your feet a lot can impede recovery. Planning active recovery activities can balance out the effects of stress and decrease risk of illness and injury as well as helping to reduce recovery time.

5. Multi-task: Some activities are mutually exclusive. For example, you can't train in your sleep and you probably shouldn't be planning for your next board meeting in the middle of a crit. Luckily though, many activities can be incorporated. For example, you might combine an passive activity (e.g. watching TV, listening to a podcast) with an active one (e.g. indoor trainer workout, core, yoga or stretching). In some cases you can replace a passive activity (e.g. driving to work) with an active one (e.g. riding to work). A recovery ride may be a good way to spend time outdoors with your partner or children. Of course, compression socks or tights can be worn to work or during travel without having to give up much at all (though admittedly those tights can be a bit warm in the summertime).

You have to get to work somehow. Wouldn't a little more time on the bike be better than sitting in traffic in your car?

6. Decrease your transition times: If you've ever raced a triathlon you know how important transitions are. An experienced triathlete can get out of the water, take off their wetsuit and goggles, run to their bike, put on their helmet and sunglasses, then run their bike out of the transition area, hop on, slide their feet into their shoes, cinch down the straps and be at full cruising speed in as little as 30 seconds. This same process could take a newbie more than 2-3 minutes. If you think about how much more power you need to put out to make up the difference, it's clearly worth it to practice those skills.

In our daily grind, most of us don't think much about how much time we lose moving from one activity to another. If you're like many athletes, you might get home from work, have a snack, sit down at your computer to check the weather, maybe answer a couple emails or check Facebook/Twitter/Instagram while you're there. Perhaps you take a quick look at some pictures of animals wrapped like burritos. Finally, you think about what to wear, find the clothes you need (which may be scatted all over the house), put them on, fill your bottles, grab food for your ride, pump up your tires and lube your chain before you head out the door. By the time you actually start riding, that "post-work fatigue" may have set in and you may not even feel like training anymore. If there was a stopwatch running during this "transition time", you might do a few things differently. If you check the weather ahead of time, you should know pretty much what you need to wear and you can lay it out the night before. You can fill your bottles and take care of any necessary bike maintenance ahead of time as well. The best part is, before you start to feel the urge to take a nap, all that exercise induced serotonin is already pumping into your brain.

Your family will forgive probably forgive you for the occasional 3 hour ride turned 5 hour ride as long as you don't consistently make them your last priority.

7. Don't sacrifice your loved ones: When athletes decide to call it quits and give up training and/or competing, one of the most commonly cited reasons is that they want to spend more time with their partner, friends and family. The problem isn't just that they spend so much time training; it's all the other stuff that goes along with it. Athletes have special dietary needs, they need to sleep more, they get moody when they're tired and hungry, and they can't always travel, take a vacation, or even go out to dinner or a movie because of their racing or training schedules. To sum it up, athletes can be a lot like infants. The difference is that parents of infants know their kid will eventually grow out of that phase. If there is no end in sight, living with an athlete can get old. My advice is this: don't make training an all or nothing thing. You're training won't suffer if you take a 3 hour ride instead of a 4 hour ride or if you take every Monday off so you can spend time with your kids. A little bit goes a long way. Those that love us unconditionally should accept that we will be completely and utterly exhausted from time to time, but if we are consistently sacrificing time with our loved ones in order to get another hour of training or another couple more intervals in, it's not worth it. Period.

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 road  racer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. He is also head  coach at Young Medalists High Performance and race director for  Team Young  Medalists. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading!

10 things the pros don't want you to know

Cycling has a culture of secrecy. Most people aren't lucky enough to grow up with a network of parents and coaches that can help them learn the ropes of the sport, so they learn the hard way; often by trial and error. Unfortunately this culture often perpetuates itself. When inexperienced riders make mistakes they are often yelled at and made fun of or excluded rather than taught how to do things properly by the more experienced riders.

One of the reasons that I became a coach was to help change this culture. I want my sport to grow and thrive. I want cycling to be more welcoming and open, not more elitist and exclusionary. It took me a lot longer than it should have to learn the things I know now, so I want to help accelerate that process for new riders. Reading books, finding a good coach and asking for help from those that you respect can only take you so far. If you are really serious about getting to the next level, here are some things that you need to know that the pros won't tell you:

1. Slam that stem. Next time you watch a pro bike race, take a look at the bikes. How many spacers do you see under their stems? That's right, zero. When pro cyclists get their bikes each season, they are asked which size frame they ride and the team will order one size smaller. Busy pro mechanics don't have time to keep track of each rider's individual bike fit measurements, so they take out all the spacers under the stem and cut the fork. Done. Vertical drop from saddle to bars should always be at least 25 centimeters. If that's not easily possible, a stem with a steeper drop may be necessary. Some readers may ask "won't that make me uncomfortable?". The truth is, if you want to be comfortable, sit on your couch. The more your back hurts, the faster you get to the finish line.

A properly slammed stem

2. Keep your head down. Aero is everything and human heads are not very aero. Much as we might like to, we can't simply cut them off. Wearing an aero helmet is always an option but usually the best thing to do is simply keep your head down at all times. Pro cyclists are taught to look down at their bottom brackets in order to keep their head out of the wind as much as possible. Those new to this method and concerned about safety may wish to install a pocket mirror in place of their front brake in order to view the road ahead.

David Millar demonstrates proper aerodynamic head placement

3. Under-inflate your tires. By now, everyone should know not to inflate their tires to the maximum pressure limit. As I discussed in my article about tires, higher tire pressure can actually cause more rolling resistance. The real truth is, the softer the better. Most race tires can actually handle pressures 30-50 psi below their recommended minimum inflation guidelines. Lower tire pressure will result in a smoother, more comfortable ride and better surface contact between the tires and the road. Ideal tire pressure will vary depending on your weight, but the rule of thumb is to start at 50 psi and then ride over some potholes, a curb or a stretch of rough pavement just before your race. If you don't feel your rims bottoming out, let the pressure out until you do.

Example of a properly inflated tire

4. Wear clothes that are 2-3 sizes smaller than what's comfortable. I remember reading that when Pearl Izumi sponsored the Fassa Bortolo team, they had to create 5 additional sizes between small and extra small. Compare the average speeds of the pro peloton with that of a typical recreational group ride filled with middle aged men, all wearing extra large Primal Wear jerseys. I don't have to tell you which group is faster, and that is for one reason and one reason only. It's because pro cyclists know something those "reckies" don't: tighter is better. Tighter clothes will not only improve aerodynamics, they will help reduce the flow of "bad blood" to the extremities and make fat look more like muscle. Not to mention, if you're have trouble fitting into your cycling clothes, that's just another incentive to lose weight!

Example of properly fitting jersey but shorts that are too big

5. Get your bike lighter. With modern technology, most pro bikes weigh in at exactly the UCI minimum of 6.8 kilograms (~15 lbs). Unless you're doing UCI races though, you don't have to abide by this rule and you can go much much lower. Those who raced in the 70s and 80s remember a few old tricks such as drilling holes in their brake levers, chainrings and handlebars and not using bar tape. Another easy way to reduce unwanted weight is to remove the rear brake, which isn't really necessary anyway. If the race is relatively flat, you can remove your inner chain ring and front derailleur as well. Another trick of the trade that comes from the triathlon community is to simply not glue your tubulars, which can save you 50-100 additional grams of rotating weight.

This is how they rolled back in the 70s...

6. No sex within 4 days of the race. It is claimed that testosterone levels are 10-20% higher in men who describe themselves as "extremely frustrated". In a 2006 study, men who had abstained for more than 3 days proved to be more aggressive and less risk-averse. It should be noted however that for women, abstinence will produce negative results. A study in 2008 showed that women who had abstained more than 3 days were overly aggressive and likely to engage in risky behaviors. (Note: this is why it's generally not a good idea for male bike racers to marry female bike racers).

Stay frustrated my friends

7. Stop hydrating so much. For decades, so called "experts" have espoused the benefits of proper hydration for athletes. Have you ever noticed though that many of these studies are sponsored by the same people that are trying to sell you their hydration products? Do you really think that The Gatorade Sports Science Institute is giving you unbiased advice when they tell you that you should drink more Gatorade? Of course not. Leaving your bottles and cages at home on race day can lower your bike weight by as much as 4 pounds! Not to mention, you can lose as much as 5% of body mass in a single hour when riding on a really hot day. In the course of a 3-4 hour road race, a 160 pound rider could lose more than 20 pounds. Try getting those results with Jenny Craig!

For quick weight loss, leave the bottles home next time

8. Don't shower. An old but true cycling superstition is to never let water contact your skin before a race. Spanish rider Izidro Nozal famously refused to shower for the entire length of the Grand Tours he rode in. He claimed that showering would increase the risk of catching a cold, but the real reason was because it made it much more likely that his breakaway attempts would be successful. After all, who wants to be within 20 feet of the guy who hasn't bathed in 3 weeks?

Izidro Nozal looking a bit crusty, but in the leader's jersey at the 2003 Vuelta a España.

9. 3 words: beer, waffles and frites. It's no accident that Belgium, a country of just over 11 million, has almost 120 riders in the pro peloton, far greater than their logical share. But cycling is the national sport of Belgium. Belgian children learn to race bikes before they learn to walk. Belgium is home to some of the most famous monuments of bike racing; The Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Flèche Wallonne, Gent–Wevelgem and many others. Not so coincidentally, Belgium is also the home of frites (which American's call "French fries" because most of us flunked geography). The secret to their famous frites is that they deep fry them not once but twice in oil and then serve them with heaps of mayonnaise. Similarly, Belgian waffles are served with lots of powdered sugar and real whipped cream. And don't even get me started on Belgian beer! Belgium is home to over 180 breweries, including 6 Trappist breweries and many of the top rated beers in the world. Most Belgian beers are not only higher in flavor, they are higher in alcohol. It doesn't take a statistician to see the correlation between these quality of Belgium's delicious foods and beverages and the quality of it's riders.

Belgian Superfoods

10. Listen to the Pros. OK, I understand that you may be skeptical of some of my advice here. So listen to these tips direct from the mouths of some famous former pros:

"When you want to do something you just have to want it more than the others" - Richard Virenque

"Here's the secret: You can't block out the pain. You have to embrace it." - Tyler Hamilton

“When you’re a father, you think twice before doing something stupid”. - Ricardo Ricco

"The method is the same for you as it is for the pros. The only thing different is the workload." - Michele Ferrari

"Hard work, sacrifice and focus will never show up in tests." - Lance Armstrong

I couldn't have said it better myself!

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is still a Cat. 1 road racer but he is currently thinking about downgrading. He also coaches a junior team but he still doesn't know what "snap chat" and "twerking" are. If you have questions or comments, please don't send them. If you're still reading this, Happy April Fool's Day!

Locus of Control

Henry Ford. Orson Welles. Thomas Edison. James Polk. George Patton. Steve Jobs. Walt Disney. Jeff Bezos. Sam Walton. Graeme Obree. Each of these men made many enemies. They were called "micro-managers" and "control freaks", but in the history books they are remembered mainly as innovators and game-changers. Each of them revolutionized their respective fields because they found ways to take control of factors that their peers took for granted as out of control. A look at the most successful entrepreneurs, politicians, scientists, artists, athletes, educators and leaders in nearly every field reveals that those at the top leave little to chance.

In the 1966, Julian Rotter, one of the country's leading psychologists, published an article in "Psychological Monographs ", which spelled out his theory of "Locus of Control". Rotter used a forced choice questionnaire to score people on a scale of empowerment. On one end of the scale are those that believe that life is what they make of it, they can get anything they want if they're willing to work for it, they're in control of our own destiny, etc. On the other end are those that believe that they are bound by luck, circumstance, genetics and fate and that they're own actions mean nothing. Most people of course, lie somewhere in between these two extremes.

Athletes usually tend to view life as a bit more under their control. The fact that they train would be the first piece of evidence of that. Athletes understand that they push themselves they should improve, and they are constantly looking for ways to push themselves harder and more appropriately in order to improve more quickly and in the right ways. At the same time, most agree that performance is not simply a matter of good training and "who wants it the most". To a large extent genetics determine how we respond to the training, and as much as we like to say "you make your own luck", the importance of luck or chance cannot be completely ignored.

One could make a convincing argument that we are all products of fate. This is to say that we are essentially sophisticated robots. The probability that we react to a situation in a given way is pre-determined by the computer program that is our genetic code. That code may be changed over time based on experience, but it still binds us to react a certain way to a given stimulus. If this is true, we have no more free will to make choices in our lives than we have free will to stop our hearts from beating.

I cannot prove this theory wrong, but I can say that personally I am unable to believe it. I believe that we do have choice, if only because it's what I need to believe in order for this universe to make sense to me. I also think that most of society agrees with me. After all, if they didn't, how could we punish people for crimes they commit? The justice, educational and economic framework of our civilization all depend on the one simple idea: free will.

At the same time, it can be dangerous to attempt to control too much. In bike racing and in life, there are some things that just can't be controlled. You can't control the weather, the course conditions, how strong your competitors are or what they decide to do. While it's important to be aware of all of these things, attempting to control them will only leave you frustrated. Too many athletes spend too much time worrying about the things they can't control while neglecting factors they can control. So let's start there...

You may not know how you will feel at the end of the race, but you'll certainly increase the chances of feeling good if you eat enough

Things I can control:

- What I do for training

- What I wear on rides

- What and when I eat and drink

- What equipment I use (tires, gearing, crank length, bar width, saddle choice, etc.)

- How much sleep I get

- How I communicate with my coach, teammates, family, partner, etc.

Now, some of you may already question these. "But my coach tells me what to do for training", you say.  "I don't have enough clothing or equipment options", you protest. "I can't just choose to get more sleep... I have to __________ [fill in the blank: work, study, clean, make phone calls, spend time with my family/friends, watch TV]" you argue. These are the arguments of someone that refuses to take responsibility for their own life. With regard to a coach, a coach is an advisor but ultimately it is your responsibility to do your training or to communicate why you can't. The same principle is true if you hire a lawyer, accountant, interior decorator or wedding planner. You pay these people for their advice but at the end of the day it is your life.

As far as clothing and equipment, you always have choices. If you don't have the money to buy a new cassette, see if you can buy a used one at a bike swap. If you don't have the money to buy a new winter cycling jacket, see if you can buy or borrow one from a teammate that isn't using theirs. When there's a will there's a way. With sleep, I don't want to imply that you should try and get 9 hours sleep every night even if it means that you are late for work or school, don't feed your family or you don't spend any time relaxing at the end of the day. Just keep in mind that you always have a choice, it's just a matter of how you prioritize. Being 100% focused on training to the exclusion of everything else in your life will inevitably lead to burnout, but the vast majority of us can find ways to get enough sleep without feeling "off-balance" if we only plan ahead a little better.

I already mentioned some of the things that are firmly in the category of "Out of your control": the weather, who your competition is, course conditions, etc. The biggest category though is the factors that are partially, but not fully under your control...

Accidents can happen... that doesn't mean you can't make smart choices

Things I can partially control

- I can't control if I get a flat tire or not, but I can control which tires I use, when I replace them and what pressure I pump them to. I can also choose to take better lines, ride on "cleaner" parts of the road and improve my handling skills in order to avoid punctures and pinch flats.

- I can't control how I will feel at the beginning of a race, but I can give myself the best chance for success by eating a good breakfast, getting an appropriate warm-up and doing everything I can to put myself in a positive mindset.

- I can't control if someone crashes in front of me, but I can control who I ride behind, how closely I draft them, and I can try to give myself an "escape route" if they crash or do something unpredictable

- I can't control if I get sick, but I can get a flu shot every year, wash my hands and take emergen-C when I am exposed to a lot of germs. I can also choose to skip a workout or cut it short if I feel like I am getting sick.

- I can't control how fast/well I can recover, but I can try to drink my recovery drinks, eat a healthy diet, try to sleep well, wear compression tights, stretch and get massages when possible.

- I can't control how my body will respond to training, but I can pay attention to the signals that my body is giving me and make smart choices about when to push harder or ease up. I can also talk to my coach whenever I am unsure about whether I need to ease up or push harder.

- I can't control the workouts that my coach assigns me but I can choose to communicate with my coach better about how I feel and ask questions about things I don't understand. Ultimately, if I don't fully trust my coach I can get a different coach.

- I can't control whether I get nervous before or during a race, but I can work on managing that fear and anxiety better. I can work on meditation, breathing, and focus. I can also see a sports psychologist if this anxiety becomes paralyzing.

- I can't control how strong my competitors are and what they decide to do in a race, but I can learn to predict it better and I can choose how I react.

- I can't control how the field will react when I attack but I can be smart about when I choose to attack and I can choose to either fully commit or to back off.

My advice is this: sit down and take a good hard look at the things that hold you back. Be honest with yourself. Consider every possible angle: VO2 max, muscular strength, recovery, muscle composition, nutrition, anxiety, focus, finances, emotional support, equipment, motivation, illnesses, injuries, metabolism, or anything else you can think of. Sometimes these factors will be fully in your control, sometimes completely out of your control. Most likely though, there are some elements in your control that you can work to improve. Even if there are factors that are out of your control, you can at least understand them better so you can make sure they don't control you. Don't be a victim or a slave to circumstance. Empower yourself.

Colin Sandberg is the owner and head coach of Backbone Performance, LLC. He is a Cat. 1 road  racer, a USA Cycling Level II coach and a UCI Director Sportif. He is also head  coach at Young Medalists High Performance and race director for  Team Young  Medalists. If you have questions or comments, feel free to use the comments section or email us. Thanks for reading!