Sick and tired of trying to train in the winter? It’s cold, cloudy, snowy, and you have little motivation to ride (or at least we do). In this latest edition of Tips From a World Champion, Alison shares the ways she keeps winter training exciting. The written article below is all about how to keep the dreaded trainer exciting. Enjoy and good luck!

Learning to Love the Trainer

Staying fit throughout the winter can be a challenge, especially if you’re trying to ride your bike. We all love hiking the Incline and backcountry skiing, but if you want to race this coming spring, you really need to spend time on your bike. And with the cold temperatures and snow on the ground, that can mean time on the trainer.

Aaaah the dreaded trainer. There are some easy things you can do to make riding the trainer tolerable, if even enjoyable. First, I recommend riding the trainer in front of your TV or laptop. Watch an action-packed movie that will keep your attention. No love stories. Next, have a purpose when riding the trainer. Even if you are supposed to do a 2hr endurance ride, you can still spice things up to keep it interesting. For example, ride for 10 minutes at a cadence of 50rpms. Then do 10 minutes at a cadence of 120rpms. Then ride for 5 minutes standing up. Then ride with one leg. Switch to the other leg. Before you know it an hour has passed. The third thing I recommend is breaking down your ride into one hour segments. Don’t jump on the trainer thinking you’re going to do a 3hr workout. It won’t happen. Instead, start your ride and only focus on the first hour. Once the hour is up, get off the trainer and stretch, go to the bathroom and have a snack. Then get back on the trainer and focus on riding for another hour. When that second hour is up, get off and do the same thing. I’ve used this technique for a four hour trainer ride. Call me crazy but it really works!

Riding the trainer is never going to be as fun as going outside, but for those of us that sometimes have no choice, riding indoors can still be a great workout. It’s all in the attitude. Figure out a way to make it fun and you’ll get a heck of a lot more out of your workout.

Happy trails!

Alison

Here’s the latest Tips from a World Champion.  In this edition, Alison talks about and demonstrates how to ride steep climbs, and also how to get started on a steep climb if you’ve stopped.  Check it out!

Here’s the latest Tips from a World Champion. In this edition, Alison talks about training with heart rate vs. training with power. Check it out!

Welcome to the first edition of “Tips From a World Champion”!  After 20+ years of racing I have a world of information on training, nutrition, bike maintenance, and of course racing, that I would like to share with the cycling community.  Of course that would take thousands of pages of text, so we’re going to instead start small and give you little bits and pieces every couple weeks or so.  The tips won’t go in order or follow a nice progression.  It is going to be more along the lines of what I think is important that week or month, what you might need to know for the time of year or season it is, or what things might be good to eat for the particular training you’re doing.  All of it comes from my experiences, both good and bad, and I hope you can benefit from what I’m sharing with you.  From time to time we might have a special guest on Tips, bringing items from their area of expertise to you.  Enjoy!  –Alison

Below, you’ll find a video on proper fueling during rides.  For those of you who prefer text, Alison’s written a bit on the same subject below the video!

Food is a cyclist’s best friend, and getting to eat a lot of it is one of the best perks of being a cyclist.  But eating the right kind of food is extremely important, especially on the bike, and can be the difference between dropping your friends up that big climb, or bonking so hard you can’t see straight.

Carbohydrates are where it’s at for cyclists, especially during a ride.  On a hard ride your body will typically burn between 500-1000 calories per hour.  To keep from bonking, which is an abrupt and dramatic end to your energy supply; you need to replace these calories by eating on the bike.

What should you eat on the bike?  I recommend bringing foods loaded with carbohydrates.  This might include: pretzels, Fig Newton’s, boiled potatoes, energy bars, gels, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, grapes etc.  It is important to start eating before you are hungry.  Even after the first 30min to one hour I would start snacking on the food you’ve brought.  You don’t have to eat a lot; you just need to eat often.

You should also use a sports drink that has carbohydrates and electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride).  This will keep you from getting dehydrated, which we all know leads to muscle cramps.  Just like eating, you need to drink before you are thirsty.  There are lots of sports drinks on the market so find one that tastes good and doesn’t upset your stomach.

Properly fueling with carbs and energy drink will make your ride a heck of a lot more fun.  You’ll have more energy for a longer period of time.   Bonking, or hitting the wall, is a miserable experience, but one that easily avoided with the right nutrition.