Life In The Saddle

Riding a bike is not just about turning the pedals. Your body and cycling will benefit from integrating strength and conditioning exercises that build your core strength, leg power, and help reduce the risk of injury. These five exercises are simple strength-building drills taken from yoga and 'functional trunk strength' (a.k.a. core stability) workouts; they will help increase your comfort on long endurance rides, and also aid cycling performance improvements. 1. Squats If you do one thing, SQUAT. Squatting is the most natural but most powerful weight training exercise that we can use for building cycling strength. The motion uses our powerful quadriceps, glutes, and lower back muscles in one fluid motion. The key thing with squatting is to display good form. You do not want to be bent over like a hunchback. A simple set of instructions for good squatting technique: Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart, splayed at 30 degrees With your arm...

I do not own a turbo trainer. It is a decision not based on principle, but on a preference—for riding outdoors, even when the weather is abysmal. Turbo trainers have a valuable place in many cyclists' world though; allowing safe and time-efficient training, especially through the winter months. These three turbo workouts will help you to train efficiently and get the most from your time during a turbo trainer workout. 20 Second Power Output Warm up for 20 minutes Select the big chainring at the front and a gear halfway down the block at the rear Ride for 20 seconds at the highest cadence you can maintain Spin easy for three minutes to recover Select one gear harder and try to match the cadence of the first interval for 20 seconds. If you can match the cadence of the first interval, move onto the next hardest gear and try again Make six attempts at matching the cadence, then take a 10-minute easy spin recovery and make another six attempts Speed Cadence Pyramids War...

Cycling rollers are a superb training tool that will help both beginner and experienced cyclists improve technique and fitness. I reviewed the Tacx Antares Rollers and Feedback Sports Omnium Rollers on Life In The Saddle; in this post I follow up with three simple training sessions that are easy to follow when using cycle rollers. Rollers are particularly useful for working on pedalling technique, cadence training, and active recovery. The low resistance means they allow you to easily spin at a high RPM—working on elements of your cycling technique such as balance and efficiency that can be hard to target out on the road. Recovery Spin Session – 30 minutes This session is designed to be done post-race, or on a rest day. The objective is to get blood flowing to your muscles to flush out lactic acid that has built up during hard efforts. The "intervals" are very low intensity, but are added to bring variety and interest to what could otherwise be a monotonous spin se...

Cyclists can underestimate the power of a good base layer — it is the foundation of a layering system, and wicks sweat away from your body to leave you cool and dry. The Chapeau base layer is a great example of summer cycling base layer. A base layer is not a complicated piece of clothing: it is a single layer of fabric, which needs to fit like a second skin in order for it to perform its wicking function effectively. The key for any base layer is the fabric, which must be both moisture absorbing and super-fast drying, in order for it to transport sweat away from the skin's surface to the outside atmosphere. UK brand Chapeau Cycling is new to the base layer market, but their summer cycling base layers are a great first venture. The lightweight fabric fulfils the required attributes, and the short-sleeved layers fit well, even in the cycling position. It might not be summer as I write this review, but summer weight base layers are also ideal if you are into indoor training o...

It is the start of turbo trainer season. Dark winter nights and icy roads may well drive you inside before long; to sit on a static bike in front of the television. I don't often find myself riding indoors, but when I do, I'm grateful of having a good quality trainer to ride on. Here's what I'm using this winter... The Elite Crono Hydro-Mag ElastoGel Trainer. It probably has one of the longest turbo trainer names out there. There is a good reason for that though, because it is a feature packed static trainer that is a great tool to add to your 'pain-cave' arsenal. Here is what sets it apart from the pack, in my opinion... Fluid and Magnetic Technology Combined Fluid resistance turbo trainers are renowned for providing a smooth progressive resistance as you increase your effort and speed. Fluid technology gives a great road-like feel, and the resistance can be controlled by moving through the gears on your bike, with a harder gear equalling a higher l...

Wearing earbuds when riding is a no-no for me; it blocks out vital warning sounds and can affect your balance. There are some headphones, such as the Aftershokz Bluez 2 (recently reviewed on the blog), which do allow you to safely mix the noise of the outside world with your tunes, through clever bone conduction technology. In the main though, I wouldn't advocate using headphones whilst you ride. That said, there is one significant exception: indoor and static training. When you're riding on the rollers or turbo trainer, it's in your interest to block out the background whirr and ambient noise. A good set of earbuds, which stay in your ear and block out the majority of the noise, can let you get on with your session without any distractions. The DeciBullz brand was established with one objective: producing earbuds and earplugs that stay in your ear, and isolate your ear from outside noise. They do that, through custom mouldable plastic casings, which under high tempe...

The Mission Athlete Cooling Towel utilises an interesting new technology, which allegedly can cool the area it is in contact with by 15 degrees Celsius. The TechNit fabric used in the towel allows for rapid heat conduction, to water molecules that are held within the towel when soaked. The result, is that you can generate a great cooling effect when the towel is draped around your neck or over your head. I thought this might be useful for hot turbo sessions, or racing in hot climates; so I've been giving it a test run... The towel is pretty simple to use, you soak it in water, squeeze out the excess, and then 'snap' it tight three times; before draping it over yourself to cool. I used it during some hot afternoons out in Mallorca, particularly when I had forgotten the sunscreen and was a bit pink. It seems to work, and has a notable cooling effect. I'm not quite sure what the "snap to activate" does, apart from shaking out excess water, but it does w...

Measuring cadence can be a great way to check efficiency and notice when you need to be changing down a gear to keep your legs spinning optimally. In the past, measuring cadence has required a two part sensor, with one part on the chainstay and a magnet on the crank. That was the case at least, until the new Wahoo RPM sensor was released a few weeks ago. The RPM sensor is just a little bigger than a C2032 coin battery, and mounts to the surface of the crank. It provides a cadence measure through inertia readings, and transmits it via Bluetooth or ANT+ to your phone or GPS unit. Neat! Having to mount one less sensor/magnet is certainly a benefit, and makes this easier to change between bike and even mount to a spin bike in the gym. There is no faffing around with magnet alignment, you just strap it on in the zip-tie silicon case, or with the double-sided tape provided. The sensor seems to work very well: I mounted it up running parallel to a second bike computer using ...

First heard this going up the side of a mountain in a shuttle, on the way to another downhill run in Provence. What a pump up break down! Then I found the video... Awesome!

I've been testing a number of Wahoo Fitness products over the last week or two, and the TICKR is the third in the trio including the Blue SC Speed/Cadence sensor and the clever RFLKT+ handlebar control unit . The TICKR heart rate monitor isn't the most revolutionary piece of kit, but it is something that I have been keen to see for a while; a HR strap that you can use with all your devices. The TICKR is clever because it is both Bluetooth Smart and ANT+ compatible; so you'll get data whether your using your iPhone with an App like Wahoo Fitness, or if your using an ANT+ device like a Garmin.  Are you likely to need to use both? Well if you use an app on your phone to monitor resting heart rates and running, but you use a Garmin for riding, then it is very useful, and saves having two sensors.  It's well made too; a theme that seems to be common with the Wahoo products. You get a good quality strap and the sensor itself looks smart and even has little ...

Last week I reviewed the Wahoo Blue SC Speed/Cadence Sensor (Link) ; now it's time to complete the package with the rather clever RFLKT+ handlebar display unit. It's all well and good having your iPhone as your GPS computer, and you can get a huge amount of data when you upload your rides online; but mounting an iPhone on your handlebars is both a bit unsightly and precarious. This is where the Wahoo RFLKT+ comes in; it "reflects" the display on the Wahoo iPhone app onto your handlebars, in a simple and neat display unit. The RFLKT+ is even more than just a reflection though, it also allows you to customise your display, link in ANT+ sensors with your Wahoo iPhone App through the ANT bridge, and even control your music and workout data through the sleek compact unit. In addition, you also get barometric altimeter readings that are far more accurate than the GPS generated ones used on most iPhone apps, and this is clearly a more weatherproof solution that having ...

For most, there is one thing that goes with you on almost every ride... your mobile. That GPS equipped phone could be the best cycling computer that you've ever had; with a good app, be it Wahoo Fitness, Strava or another recording app, you can use your mobile to record a huge amount of data about your rides. One thing though, that you can't normally record with a phone cycle computer is your cadence; or your speed if you are on an indoor trainer. This is where the new Blue SC Speed/Cadence sensor from Wahoo Fitness comes in... The Blue SC easily pairs with your phone, with it's own unique bluetooth sync. It's unique because previously if you wanted speed/cadence data on your phone, you needed an ANT+ sensor and then an ANT+ dongle as well. There's no dongle needed here though; the Wahoo App will receive it straight from the sensor through Bluetooth, you can then record your cadence and speed on your iPhone, either for live viewing (the Wahoo Rflkt is awe...

Autumn is rolling in, which means shorter days and wet and colder weather. For some that means night riding, for some that means indoor training. I like to do a mix of both, and having borrowed a set of Tacx Antares rollers from a friend last winter when the weather got bad, I decided that adding a set to my training arsenal would be a great addition. Mention cycle rollers and the blue conical drums of the Tacx Antares will often spring to mind—they are widely recognised to be one of the best value and best made sets of rollers available. They have not changed a lot since their first incarnation, but they have been tweaked to make them a superb example of the product. In this post, I give a review of Tacx Antares, then in a subsequent post I will give you some example sessions that are perfect for rollers . Built to last Tacx have a strong reputation for building high-quality products. The Tacx Antares Rollers follow suit—they use high-quality bearings in the rollers and str...

This is my 'Power and Agility' Workout Plan. It's a good indoor workout that can be done without much equipment and should help to improve core muscle groups and power output. Some of the exercises and photos in this post come from a Cycling Plus article 'Off The Bike Power Workouts' [Link] , whilst some of them are exercises that I have learnt in other fitness classes. Warm-Up: 4 sets of Bunny-Hops (Crouch down, knees bent, one foot in front of the other, fingertips touching the floor. Then with as much power as possible spring upwards and land with your feet in the alternate position. Repeat this alternation for one minute; that is one set). Main Set: 3 Sets of One Leg  Bridge Changeovers "Lying on your back with your knees at 90 degrees, feet flat on the floor and arms by your sides, lift your hips and tense your glutes. Then lift your left leg, tense your right glute and hold for two seconds. Switch legs and repeat for 30 seconds - that is one set....