you are an athlete

Hell Yes, You’re an ‘Athlete’

Last weekend, the New York Times presented the fact Dick’s Sporting Goods refers to customers as “athletes” as if it is something new. It’s not. At CTS, we’ve referred to the people who work with our coaches as athletes from day one, nearly 23 years ago. Perhaps what’s worse is that the NYT views it …

erin carson

Off-the-Bike Training: Body, Brain, and Breath Training with Erin Carson

Topics Covered In This Episode: Absolute strength vs. Resilient strength The principles of Foundation Training The differences between Foundation Training and Yoga for performance Foam rolling (does it work and should you do it?) The role of movement in hydrating tissues Getting stronger and faster without increasing muscle size Increasing ‘rate of force production’ Breath …

off-season

Should cyclists train hard during the off-season?

  By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “The Time-Crunched Cyclist”, “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning”, and “Ride Inside“ Trends in endurance training come and go, and long and easy workouts for building aerobic endurance are back in fashion. We’re talking 2+ hours at Zone 2 or even Zone 1. Long easy rides work wonderfully if you …

ultramarathon gravel race

An Ultramarathon Legend’s First Gravel Cycling Race

Although I have enjoyed a quarter century of long-distance trail and ultrarunning, I actually had my first exposure to endurance sports on a bike. In the early ‘90s my wife Shelly and I spent our summers traveling the country by bicycle. Then, between 1994 and 1996 we traveled the world by bike, covering 19,000 miles …

cycling at night

Cycling at Night: Skills and Tips for Night Rides

With Daylight Savings Time ending this weekend, we’ll be rolling the clocks back an hour and ushering in the months of earlier sunsets. Commuters will spend more time riding home in the dark. For mountain bikers and gravel and road riders, it’s a great opportunity to clip on some lights and enjoy cycling at night! …

strength training

How to Include Strength Training in Your Cycling Training Plan

Topics Covered In This Episode: Benefits of Strength Training Why strength training shouldn’t be just off-season or cross training If you’re going to do strength training, it’s best to do it year round A Simple Process to Follow: 4 Strength Training Levels we use at CTS to identify where to start How to use these …