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Tactics in Road Racing
27/03/2012 (Ramin Minovi)
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How do you win a road race? asks an inexperienced reader. I think I may assume that he doesnt want a detailed set of training plans beginning when he was 16. I assume that what hes asking is primarily a question of tactics. Tactics as used in cycle racing describes a sort of syndrome of factors which combine to enable the rider to work out how to maximise his strengths relative to those of his opponents in order to achieve the best possible result for himself. It is primarily a mental exercise but is closely related to physical skills: for instance, a rider skilled at cornering will have tactical advantages on a technical course, and so will a skilled descender on a descent.
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How To Ride A 12 Hour Time Trial
10/02/2012 (Firth, Malcom)
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Before I started coaching in 1968 I rode in about eight 12hr time trials and since then I have looked after numerous riders of all standards in this event. I remember early in my coaching being told by a former national 12hr champion that the best way to ride the event was to use a schedule that kept the speed at a conservative level for at least the first 100 miles. But what is the best way to compile a schedule, and how do you decide what a rider is capable of doing?
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How To Set Up Your Road Bike
10/02/2012 (Firth, Malcom)
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In order to make effective use of your fitness the riding position on your road bike must be correct. This involves the optimum setting of your three points of contact with the bike: the pedals, the saddle and the handlebars. To be able to set properly these points of contact, the first requirement is a bike frame of a size that is suitable for you. The best way of achieving this is in consultation with a good frame builder who has experience of building all types of bike frames.
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Drugs and the Tour De France
01/01/2007 (Ramin Minovi)
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In 1998, while the Prologue stage of the Tour de France was being run off in Dublin, an apparently trivial incident occurred at the French-Belgian border which exposed the widespread use of performancing-enhancing drugs in professional cycling and almost finished the Tour.
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Training with Power
27/03/2002 (Richard Stern)
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With the advent of bicycle-based power-meters such as Grabers Power Tap power-measuring hub (UK price approx £750), or SRMs power-measuring cranks (UK price from approx £1200), coaches and athletes are now able to accurately ascertain actual racing/training power outputs. As power output defines our performance, either as power to mass ratio uphill, or power to aero drag in time trials, it is possible to predict actual performance levels, or specific goal improvements needed to meet race/performance criteria.
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High Performance Interval Training
01/08/2001 (Gordon Wright)
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During the 2001 season Stuart Dangerfield broke Graham OBrees 11-year-old 10 miles time trial Competition Record when he turned in an 18 mins 19 secs ride on a course in Yorkshire: the fastest time trial ever ridden in the UK under RTTC competition rules. One week later he won his third National 25 miles Time Trial Championship by more than two and half minutes. Later in the season he won his third Isle of Man International time-trial, did the second fastest ever 10 miles TT in 18 mins 25 secs, and took his fourth British Cycling Time Trial Championship. He then went on to win the National 10 miles Time Trial Championship. In his build-up to the competition record 10 and his National 25 win in particular. Stuart made extensive use of a form of interval training we have been developing and refining for some three years.
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How to Use Your Turbo Trainer
03/05/2001 (Malcom Firth)
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Midweek quality training needs to be done during the winter months if you want the standard of your racing to improve each year, and the ideal place to do it is on your turbo trainer. Indoors on your trainer you dont have to worry that it is dark outside, or that the weather may be bad, or that the roads are busy. Instead, you can get on with your essential high quality bike training, without your concentration being constantly interrupted. At this time of year these turbo training sessions will be more productive than trying to get out on the local chain gang, and a good deal warmer too!
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Pace Judgement in Time Trials
27/10/2000 (Kris Tilford)
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Malcolm Firths 10 mile TT pacing suggestions agree with my thinking very much. I arrived at my conclusions over a lifetime of poor time trial riding (and a wish to improve), and much close observation of great time trial riders. In the 80s I worked for several professional teams, and was able to observe many great riders in person. The key observation for me personally was a Tour de France yime trial of more than an hour in which Bernard Hinault was one of the favourites. Hinault rolled off the start ramp, and when he hit the transition to the pavement, his sunglasses were knocked off his face. He somehow caught them in his hand, and then sat up and rode no handed, calmly placing the sunglasses back on his face, even looked around at the crowd for a moment. I was amazed, many of the others had started so seriously, some almost sprinting away. But the finish was completely different. On the run into the finish, Hinault came in like a freight train, his eyes totally focused. This was 110% riding, nothing but pure power.
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Using SRM Power Measuring Cranks
11/02/2000 (Richard Hanson)
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I always figured that it would be very useful to know exactly how much effort I was expending at any given time whilst riding my bike. So I bought a pair of SRM Power Cranks and here is what I think so far.
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If it works, do it!
10/02/2000 (Bob Hayward)
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The training schedules of professional roadmen are now fairly well known to us. Whatever their role in the team, most of them will expect to compete in 150-mile classics and a number of stage races, at least one of them over three weeks, averaging 100 miles or more per day. Under the guidance and supervision of the team manager or coach and his staff they will prepare with a couple of months of long daily rides of up to six hours at reasonable speed but low intensity, in a warm climate, before the early season races begin towards the end of February. Some will get in as much as 38 hours training in a week. Of course, they have the benefit of being able to ride in a group, which keeps the perceived speed up but the effort down.
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Be Very Afraid
01/01/2000 (Roger Iddles)
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Normally I break my training down into four sections. Section: 1 From end of racing, usually early to mid October to the end of November. Section 2: December This is when it all starts again. Section 3: Pre-Racing Season
From 1st January to start of racing - 1st April. Section 4: Racing Season
Once Ive started to race I get into my normal weekly routine ...
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A Look At Time Trial Pacing Strategy
01/04/1998 (Malcom Firth)
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One thing I often notice when I go to ten miles time trials is that many riders set off too fast, and by the end of the first mile are struggling to maintain an overambitious pace. This article is intended to show how adapting a piece of research using modern high-technology could form part of a coaching strategy to help improve the situation. It will suggest how the use of simple low-tech equipment, allied to the Coachs flair for innovation can help increase a riders understanding of how to ride a ten miles time trial.
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Working on your sprint
01/01/1997 (Ramin Minovi)
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A century of competition has shown us that a finishing sprint is an invaluable asset for a roadman. While its no good having a terrific sprint if youre never there at the finish, youre equally unlikely to win if you always get to the finish with the leaders but five out of six of them can outsprint you. Its not just the finish either: youll want to bridge gaps, go for the occasional prime, perhaps.
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Arousal and Anxiety
01/01/1997 (Ramin Minovi)
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There have been greater riders, but there has been no greater champion than Louison Bobet, winner of three consecutive Tours, of half-a-dozen classics, national championship, and a world title. From his first successes at a national level the French sporting public idolised him: the downside of being idolised, of course, is that your worshippers are never satisfied with anything less than perfection, and when Bobet failed to live up to his early promise the French press savaged him. In addition Bobet had an inordinately high level of self-esteem even for a Breton, and felt he always had to live up to the standards he had set for himself.
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Training On a Dailey Basis
01/01/1996 (Doug Dailey)
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First published in Coaching News magazine #1, 1996. Former National Coach Doug Dailey’s three-year case study of one rider serves as a useful model of phased training.
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An Interval Training Method for Racing Cyclists
01/01/1987 (Malcom Firth)
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This article was first published in Coaching News in February 1987 and is based on data collected in 1972. Nevertheless, the concepts of progressive
overload and the specificity of training are still valid today, as is the training method presented here.
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