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 …
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 …
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 …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS The days are numbered for my right knee. I’ve known for a long time that I would eventually need a knee replacement. I suffered a compound fracture of my right femur in 1986, cracking it between the femoral condyles at the distal end. In the ensuing …
Anyone who has made it to their 40s and 50s (masters), or 60 and 70s (grand masters) knows we can’t get away with some of the things we did in our 20s. All-nighters, whether for work or play, are harder to bounce back from. A few too many drinks lead to a bigger headache than …
By Alison Tetrick, Pro cyclist, Entrepreneur, CTS Contributing Editor It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. Nothing like riding an event with your partner to stretch the ol’ relationship rubber band. Will it snap back, or just snap? And no. We weren’t racing with or for each other. There …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS Fear of riding in a group has been a recurring theme in conversations I’ve had with cyclists this summer. Some are new cyclists who took up riding during the height of the pandemic, but there are also the experienced cyclists who have concerns about the indoor …