By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS When you tally up all the workouts and rest days, Time-Crunched Athletes spend more than 95% of their time NOT exercising. Even cyclists on high-volume training plans rarely spend more than 10% of the total hours in a week training. What you do – or don’t …
By Alison Tetrick, Pro cyclist, Entrepreneur, CTS Contributing Editor There is always something to be thankful for – even missed workouts, breakups, and a lower FTP. Trust me, I know. When good things happen to us, being thankful is obvious, but the low moments, the frustrations, and the challenges, those too can be beacons of …
Caffeine is one of the world’s most widely used stimulants, with the average caffeine consumption in the United States around two cups of coffee (200mg) per day. Most of us are familiar with our afternoon coffee’s ability to help us through the workday and how strongly ingrained coffee is in cycling culture, but does caffeine …
There are a lot of things you can know about cycling training, but here are the 10 truths you need to know. The past several years has witnessed a surge in the number of devices, products, apps, and supplements promising to improve the effectiveness or convenience of training. Some are useful tools and others …
By Alison Tetrick, Pro cyclist, Entrepreneur, CTS Contributing Editor Find that flow. I currently have a rest week off the bike. Ordinarily that would make me anxious and twitchy, but I haven’t regretted this one for a moment. First of all, it is raining for the first time in a long while here in California. …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS When I was an elite athlete and even during the early years of my career as a coach, too little attention was paid to sports psychology, both in terms of how we could apply it to enhance performance and in terms of the ways harsh coaching …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS This weekend, female professional cyclists will finally–after 125 years–have the opportunity to race the “Hell of the North”, the legendary Paris-Roubaix cycling race that features sections of Napoleonic-era cobblestone roads and finishes with 1.5 laps of the famed Roubaix Velodrome. The past few years have been …
By Scott Mercier, CTS Contributing Editor, US Olympian, Retired pro cyclist Transitions: passage from one state, place, or subject to another: change (Mirriam-Webster) My wife and I are in a transitory stage of our lives. About a month ago, we dropped our son off at college. We are now officially “empty nesters.” When I look …
Cyclists tend to associate work on pedal stroke with winter training, but it is much better to focus on your pedal mechanics now, in the fall. This is a unique time of year. You have a season’s worth of fitness and power, but having completed your goal events, you are free to shift your training …
As the road and mountain bike seasons trail off, many athletes are left without a guiding purpose to be on the bike. If you’re wondering what to do with your hard-earned summer fitness and looking for a way to rekindle your childhood desire to play in the mud, then jump into Cyclocross! Cyclocross (CX or …