The Key to Staying Lean Through Fat Season

  Welcome to Fat Season! Halloween was a few weeks ago, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and then it’s party time through New Year’s! Let’s face it; this stretch of time is a minefield of dietary indiscretions. It’s hard to avoid packing on an extra few pounds with everyone shoving high-sugar, high-fat foods (and alcohol) …

The Proven CTS 9-Week Holiday Cycling Training Plan

Three Workouts, No Excuses. I talk with busy athletes juggling cycling goals with full-time careers and families pretty much every day, and when it comes right down to it you fall into two primary categories: those who figure out how to get it done, and those who rattle off a litany of circumstances that prevent …

6 Bike Maintenance Problems You Need To Tackle Right Now!

  As winter tightens its grip, I’m seeing a lot of bikes that are ‘plain tore up’, as one of my favorite old mechanics used to say. Your bike or fleet of bikes have seen a lot of hard hours and miles this year, and this is a smart time to get your equipment tuned …

Long Term Review: Ritchey Handlebars and Stems

  There is absolutely nothing more frightening than breaking a handlebar or stem while riding a bicycle. In the 40 years I’ve been riding, some of the worst non-collision crashes I’ve ever seen (meaning not getting hit by a car or colliding into a mailbox) have resulted from breakage or slippage of a cockpit component. …

What Time-Crunched Athletes Need to Know About Altitude Training

One of the reasons CTS headquarters are in Colorado Springs, Colorado is that there are a ton of smart sports science folks here. And those who don’t live here typically come through here for conferences or events, like the US Olympic Committee’s International Altitude Training Symposium. Because altitude training and performance at high altitudes are …

8 Tips for Your Best Gran Fondo Performance

  By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “The Time-Crunched Cyclist”, “Ride Inside“ and “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” Gran Fondos have something for everyone. If you’re just looking for a huge day on the bike, you’ll get one. And unlike a typical century ride, if you have a competitive streak you can race a Gran …