By Chris Carmichael Founder and Head Coach of CTS Does standing in a supercooled environment for 2-3 minutes provide meaningful recovery benefits for cyclists? Whole body cryotherapy (WBC) is a recovery modality some athletes and cycling teams have added to their post-workout routines, but does it work? How Cryotherapy Works To experience WBC you need …
By Chris Carmichael Founder/Head Coach of CTS If you ride a bicycle long enough, you eventually end up on the ground. Sometimes it’s from your own mistake, and sometimes it’s the result of mistakes riders make near you. Other times – hopefully more rarely – it can be from a collision with a vehicle. Whether …
By Chris Carmichael Founder and Head Coach of CTS There will come a day, in the not-so-distant future, when the cars that pass you as you ride down the road will be driving themselves. With the known dangers posed by woefully imperfect humans behind the wheel, it’s tempting to view autonomous vehicles as the savior …
By Chris Carmichael, CEO and Head Coach of CTS What a wild Tour de France! We’re one day from the end and the yellow jersey is still up for grabs. Julian Aliphilippe held on to the leaders jersey right up until the summit of the Col d’Iseran, and then a HAIL STORM led to the stage being …
In addition to some of the most riveting racing in years, the extreme heat is the big news out of the Tour de France. The country is currently gripped by a heat wave, and the Tour peloton has been working its way through the oppressive heat in the south of France. Staying cool and hydrated …
By Chris Carmichael CEO/Head Coach of CTS There are a lot of cyclists who live for climbs, whether they are short and punchy hills or massively long mountain passes. If it’s uphill, they love it. And there’s no doubt that climbing is hard, but the question is whether spending all your time in the …
By Chris Carmichael The first week of the Tour de France is traditionally the time for the pure sprinters to shine. This year, however, the organizers have added specific challenges that have made it more difficult for the sprinters to prevail. Instead of long, straight, and flat finishing stretches, the first stage was an uphill …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS I came across a graphic this week that really stuck with me, particularly because it does a great job of quantifying the issues of trust and beliefs in coaching and athletic performance. Trust is essential in a coach-athlete relationship, so the question becomes: What do you …
By Chris Carmichael Many cyclists – particularly as we get older – gravitate toward one, steady speed and effort level. It’s not slow, necessarily, but the problem is that once you spend too much time training at your one sustainable speed, you lose the ability to accelerate. You lose that snap you need to …
By Chris Carmichael CEO and Head Coach of CTS Recently, while riding a lightweight Pinarello F10 on the 10-mile commute between my home and office, a middle-aged man in work boots and overalls blew by me like I was standing still, and it brought a big smile to my face. Like many of you, I’m …