Time-Crunched Cyclist Parents’ Guide to Cycling Success

  Balancing a career, home life, and training can be difficult. Adding children to the mix further increases the degree of difficulty (and joy). For Time-Crunched Cyclist Parents, creativity and flexibility are essential for success – defined as the ability to continue achieving your competitive or non-competitive sporting goals. CTS has coached Time-Crunched Cyclist Parents …

longest training ride

How Long Should Your Longest Training Ride Be?

How many miles do you need to ride in training to be ready for your event? We get asked some variation of that question all the time from cyclists getting ready for their first century, or for a gran fondo, gravel race, or endurance mountain bike event. Do you need to ride 60 or 75 …

better cyclist

How to Be a Better Cyclist in 6 Weeks

Cyclists who ride year-round sometimes get lulled into a routine that long ago stopped being challenging enough or engaging enough to improve performance. It’s not that you’re out of shape or that you’re not training, it’s that you haven’t changed anything is so long that there’s no reason for your body to adapt and improve …

cobblestones roubaix

How to Take Cycling Performance from Ordinary to Extraordinary

As sports fans we are accustomed to witnessing extraordinary performances, like CTS Athlete Alison Jackson’s victory in last weekend’s Paris-Roubaix Femmes. (Stay tuned for Coach Adam Pulford’s analysis of her training and race data on Tuesday!) Huge wins are inspirational. Many cyclists go out after watching an amazing cycling race like Paris-Roubaix and have storming …

cycling training

Decoding Interval Workouts: How to determine the number and duration of intervals

Creating interval workouts with the appropriate amount of time-at-intensity and recovery between efforts is an essential skill for any athlete or coach designing training plans. Individual workouts are the small building blocks that build upon one another to create training stress that leads to physiological adaptations and improved performance. Workouts don’t have to be complicated …

gravel racing

Gravel Training: Workouts and Tips on Training for Gravel Races

By Nina Laughlin, CTS Pro Coach, Land Run 100 Champion & 5th Place Finisher SBT GRVL Once the excitement of registering for a great new gravel race has subsided, the reality sets in that you have committed to a major challenge. Riders should prepare for long hours on the bike because most gravel races are …

cycling training periodization

How to Ramp Up Cycling Training for Spring

  By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “Ride Inside“ and “The Time-Crunched Cyclist” Spring can be a tricky time for cyclists. You have spent a long time in base or foundation training and spring and summer races are on the horizon. It’s time to shift from building fitness to optimizing performance for specific …

zone 2 hype

Why Zone 2 Hype is Bad For You

Easy is in. If you are an athlete and paying even a little attention to endurance sport media, you have likely been inundated with content hyping easy training intensities. ‘Go slow to go fast’ is trending, with loads of content creators going all in on Zone 1, Zone 2, more rest days, fewer intervals, and …

coffee brevard busche

The Best Coffee Facts for Cyclists

  By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “Ride Inside“, “The Time-Crunched Cyclist” Coffee has long been engrained in cycling culture. Many group rides start, end, or sometimes include stops at coffee shops. Coffee-related companies have sponsored some of the most iconic teams in the sport’s history, including Eddy Merckx’s 1969 Tour winning Faema team, …