As cyclists, we like to ride our bike. We like to be outside, we like the endorphins that come with pushing our bodies for minutes to hours at a time. We like the freedom that bikes provide us.
This past weekend, I took a 3 day mountain bike coaching course to attain my Level 2 BICP (Bicycle Instructor Certification Program) certification. It was amazing.
For most of us, 2020 has been a year long "off-season". Most races have been canceled, and personal and athletic goals have shifted. But, I would not call what most people did this year an "off-season". Some of you were training harder and with more quality than you ever have. Without races, we have had an 8 month training season.
We have created our $500 All the Surfaces Race. A 10 mile Strava Segment course, in Boulder, Colorado, that includes; pavement, dirt, and singletrack. We've sweetened the pot and are offering $500 in prize money. Bonus, if entries add up over $500, we'll add that money into the prize purse.
Two time National Time Trial Champion Alison Powers, and former Swiss TT champ Patricia Schwager, lead a ride and talk about the key elements of Time Trialing.
A few weeks ago my friend quarantine teammate, ALP athlete, and ALP designer Daphne, and I did a fun and interesting test. We did this test because the past few times we had been riding bikes together, she was dropping me on the downhills; fairly hard and I wasn't just sitting around coasting.
In the past two weeks, life has drastically changed. We’ve gone from excitement for the race season and ready to test our fitness and hard work, to being holed up at home and unable to see our friends and family. Our lives have been turned upside down.
A recent post-workout comment, one of my athletes wrote, was, "I had no idea this workout was going to be so hard. I could not complete it." That comment, for me, was puzzling because within the workout description was, "this is a hard workout. Be ready to suffer."
"At a recent event, to talk about and grow women's cycling, I was asked what the biggest limiter I see that athletes have to overcome to achieve success. My thoughts went right away to things like; kids, a demanding job, lack of financial resources, living in a place that's challenging to get quality training, etc. But the more I thought about it, I realized motivation can overcome hurdles like these."
As the last few days of 2019 come to a close, I'd like to give thanks to our community of athletes who have allowed ALP Cycles Coaching to be a part of their cycling journey. Our athletes represent many disciplines: road, track, para-cycling, cyclocross, mountain biking, gravel, and Zwift.
Come Cyclocross season, or during the lead up and build to CX season, we are often asked about running. Should our athletes run in preparation for CX? The short answer is - yes. But, it's not that cut and dry.
Summer is winding down and many parts of the country have already seen a shift of weather, signaling the end of a long road season and for others the start of cyclocross season. Whether you take a break now from structured training and racing or do it after cross, it's important to get the most out of your off-season. This is where the biggest gains can be made.
Since I didn’t post about Friday or Saturday, I’ll start there. Friday was a day off the bike. I packed, I worked, and I got ready to leave early Saturday morning. I do remember rolling and stretching in the evening.
Triple national champion Alison Powers prepares for the premier Colorado event SBT GRVL, a 141-mile race with 100 miles on dirt/gravel roads.This close to a big event, it isn’t really about the bike or the training anymore.
Since I have started this SBT GRVL blog, I have had 7 recovery days. Today is my 8th. I want this to sink in— in the past almost 3 weeks, I have had 8 days off.
Today was an early morning so I could get to Boulder to meet and ride with one of my ALP Cycles Coaching athletes. He is a very strong rider and would be on a TT bike, so I needed to bring my ‘A’ game (that’s part of the reason I didn’t go longer yesterday).
