Monthly Archives: March 2015

Hills & Flat Riding

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Today coaches corner is all about the merits of hills and / or riding the flats. Why and when will aid you towards achieving your goal.

Winter hills: winter is all about building that strong base. Making your legs stronger will aid you come the increase in intensity during the season. Riding hills takes practice, knowing what gear to use, what cadence range, how much power you should be generating. Either way, riding hills will make you stronger. BUT if you only ever do hills, then will lose that cutting edge which riding the faster fasts can do, (see below).

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Cycling Calls

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Today’s coaches corner is all about Calls when cycling.
The louder the better when riding. Shouting out information will give all those who are riding within group the correct information they might need to make adjustments in their riding.
Knowing what to shout and why is key to a safe and enjoyable ride. Never be afraid to shout loud – you will kick yourself for not shouting loud enough if something was to happen!

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Gearing

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Today’s coaches corner is all about gears. Simon Tacx wanted to understand more about the variations in chain rings & gear ratios.

Firstly basic terminology:
Spider: this is the five probes which spread out from the centre of the cranks. Road bikes traditionally have five to spread the load where mountain bikes typically have four due to the smaller circumferences.
Crank length: this is the length of the pedal arm from the centre to the pedal. These came range from 160mm to 175mm. Depending on the length of your length the length of your cranks will vary.
Chain rings: these are the discs which go around the pedals which generates the momentum to cycle. See below for further information. Bigger = harder small = easier
Cranks sizes: 130 or 110. This is the circumference size of the cranks rings. 130 is standard & 110 compact. If you buy 110 chain rings they will not go onto a 130 crankset and visa versa.
Rear cassette: either 10 or 11 cogs on the rear wheel. Smaller = harder, bigger = easier. The opposite to the front chain rings
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Recovery

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Todays focus for coaches corner is all about recovery.

‘Recovery‘ for most athletes can be seen as a dirty word, a sign of weakness that you can’t cope mentally or physically with the demands of the sport & training. However recovery is key to progression and success. Rest can be more benefical to an athlete than training on through which can cause more harm than good. If you are needing that rest / recovery and try to train hard, the failure of the session could affect the mind set and this is simply avoidable by listening to the body.

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