Be Sportive Ready - Emily’s Endurance Cycling Tips
With the 2022 Tour de France fast approaching at the beginning of July, and the Commonwealth Games later in the Summer, there are plenty of incentives to get out on your bike. Cyclists are beginning to enjoy the longer, sunnier days, and it’s the perfect time to think about your next cycling event.
You may be ramping up the miles now for your next sportive, or fitting your cycling around your running and swimming for a triathlon. But how can you ensure that you are in your best cycling performance shape?
Our sports massage therapist and triathlon coach, Emily, recently gave us some great advice about training for long-distance running events. Check out Emily’s advice below to ride stronger, ride faster, and stay injury-free!
Strengthen Your Key Cycling Muscles
Your job may require a lot of desk-sitting. You may also have a car commute and other weekly family commitments. So, if your main opportunity to ramp up mileage on the bike is at week-ends take care not to condense your training into a tight timeframe. Instead, build your mileage gradually over a number of weeks.
Sitting for long periods can reduce your hip and knee range of movement and deactivate your gluteus muscles - key road cycling power muscles. The downward pedal stroke involves hip and knee extension - this involves a combination of the gluteal and quadriceps muscles. In the sweep back phase, the hamstrings and calf muscles kick in. In order to balance and hold good form, you’ll need good core stability.
“A little bit of strength and conditioning as well as stretching goes a long way and keeps you away from injuries”
While double legged squats, leg extensions and hamstring curls will give you some basic strength, single-leg exercises are more specific for cycling. So try single-legged leg press, split squats, single-legged deadlifts and weighted step ups to replicate the movement on a bike. Also, core strength is key to keep you balanced - particularly if you use a time-trial bike.
“Try doing reps of planking with your forearms on an exercise ball for 30 seconds, then switch around to having your toes or shins balanced on the ball”
Not only is strength key to improve power output, but also vital in holding good form to avoid injuries. So if you’re strapped for time during the week, and only have 30min to spare, then spend it well in the gym.
Learn Cycling Skills - Outside
There are 3 elements to every sport – strength, cardio fitness and skills. While you can train for strength and cardio on an indoor bike or turbo trainer, bike handling skills need to be honed by riding outside in different conditions. Certain skills are required for basic bike handling – taking one hand off to signal or drink, being able to stand up on the pedals and shift off the saddle and of course being able to clip in and out. Everything from the timing of gear change, to feathering the brake on a descent, to figuring out what to eat and drink while riding are things that you want to have practised before a big event.
For any group riding situation, you’d want to get comfortable drafting, know all the hand signals and how to rotate from being at the front to the back. You can save energy by getting close behind other riders and using their slipstream, you can learn these skills by joining a cycle club or from a coach.
“You can also start a safe distance away from a trusted cycle buddy, then as your handling improves and your riding gets smoother, you can gradually get closer to their wheel.”
Emily’s bike assessment
Have A Bike Analysis
If you are already feeling pain on the bike in your upper back, in your wrists, or in your hips and knees, these are all warning signs that your bike set up needs adjusting.
“By having a bike assessment to check that your bike is fitted correctly, you can take any unnecessary injury risks out of the equation and achieve your best performance!”
We regularly carry out bike assessments for people who suffer from pain when cycling. This involves a full biomechanical analysis, looking at you on your own bike on the turbo trainer. We check your muscle balance both on and off the bike, looking at your posture and gait as well as carrying out strength tests. If necessary, we can refer you for a new bike fit with top London bike fitters, Bespoke Cycling.
Get in touch to find out more.
