Most cyclists don’t consciously “select” a training system… it just happens…

They jump on their bike every day then based on how they feel they “decide” just what training they should do. This could be a 60min time trial, or a group ride with their mates… usually letting the senior riders dictate the days workout… sound
familiar?

 For the record… this is NOT the way to achieve your true potential as a bike racer. 
In truth, there are three different training systems, namely “racing into shape”, the “always fit” method and “periodization”…
 
The “Race into shape” method:
 This is the most common training system used by cyclists as it’s easy to do… 

Step 1 involves building a large aerobic base by pedaling around 1500km – 2000km at an easy pace. While this amount of “easy” riding works, in truth for some it’s simply too much while for others it’s just not enough…

Step 2 involves racing every weekend and getting in a mid-week race (if available) or a hard group ride. The result will be a higher level of fitness…
 There are some good reasons to use this method of training, the most important being that the fitness gained is specific  to the demands of racing.
Training this way however is unpredictable as there is no planned rest and as a result overtraining can occur.
 
The “Always fit” method:

 In warm climates, cyclists often try to stay in race-shape through the year. The cooler weather and frequent races through-out winter entice them to keep a constant level of fitness by doing the same training riding week in and week out.
The greatest issue facing this type of athlete is boredom and burnout. Burnout is not a pretty sight. All interest in training, racing and life in general goes for a “ball”…
Another problem has to do with physiology as after about 12 weeks of training the same way, improvements seem to plateau… since fitness is never static, if you are not improving you must be getting worse!!!
 
The “Periodization” method:

 This is the system used by most successful athletes today.
The basic principal of all periodization programs is that training should progress from general to specific.

Yes, periodization means more than simply training more specifically. It also involves arranging your workouts in such a way that the elements of fitness achieved earlier in your training are maintained while new ones are addressed and improved. This modular approach to training means making small adjustments in your workouts every 4-8  weeks.

Flexibility of training or the lack of it may be the biggest obstacle facing a cyclist using periodization as successful  periodization requires flexibility. 
The language of periodization seems to confuse many; however the following are the terms that I like to use as these are the terms made popular by the likes of Joe Friel, Hunter Allen and Dr Andy Coggan amongst others…
The terms are as follows: Preparation Phase, Base Phase, Build Phase, Peak Phase, Race Phase and finally the Transition
Phase.
 
Training Phases:
Trying to improve all aspects of training at once is simply not possible hence the need to break your training down into manageable“phases” as indicated above.
The elements common to most periodization plans are increased volume at the start of the training season followed by
increased intensity as the volume decreases.
 
Preparation Phase:
This phase generally marks the start of your training year and is included only if there has been a long transition following
the end of your previous Race Phase.
The purpose here is to prepare your body for the next phase of your training plan. Workouts are low intensity with an  emphasis on aerobic endurance, especially in the form of  cross-training.
The total volume of training is low when compared with most other training phases. Speed skills can be developed through drills, usually done on an indoor training or a set of rollers.
 
Base Phase:
The Base phase is your time to establish your basic fitness abilities of endurance, force, and speed skills. Generally, this
is also the longest phase of your season and should last around eight to twelve weeks.
The base phase is divided into three segments: Base 1, Base 2 and Base 3.

Base 1 marks the start of steady increases in volume to boost your aerobic endurance and increase your body’s resilience to handle larger training loads.
In Base 2, on-bike endurance work begins to replace crosstraining as the training volume increases. As your road rides
become longer, the companionship of a group helps to pass the time. Just make sure that you ride with a group that rides at YOUR required pace and does not turn every ride into a “race”.
The majority of your road rides should be on continuously rolling to hilly routes that place controlled stress on your   neuromuscular system. The best routes at this time of the season keep your efforts below threshold and allow cadences of around 80rpm and higher while seated on a hill.
 Muscular-endurance training is also introduced in Base 2, with the addition of Tempo workouts based on hear rate or  power output.
Base 3 marks a phasing-in of higher intensity training with the introduction of some proper hill work done at or slightly
above threshold. Base 3 also brings about your highest total weekly volume of  training with aerobic rides accounting for more than half of your training time. By the way, your longest training rides should now be as long as your longest
race of the season, or two hours… whichever is the longer…
Group rides are still the best way to get the miles in but while it’s ok to occasionally put the hammer down in a sprint, just
make sure you don’t turn these rides into “races”!!!
Your purpose now is to get as fast as you can with low-effort rides before turning up the heat in you Build phase.
By now, several weekly workouts should now have you riding at threshold, while your Speed-skills work is done mostly as
“Form Sprints” on the road.
 
Build Phase:
Anaerobic-endurance is now introduced in your Build phase and just with force, hill work, and muscular-endurance training,
this should be done with caution to avoid injury.
Feel free to race during this phase of your training, but remember that these are low priority races and you should regard
them as a substitute for some of your anaerobic-endurance workouts. Anaerobic-endurance workouts may also include intervals and fast group rides.

 During Build 1, endurance work is reduced but is still a prominent focus of your training. You would be better off by doing
your long easy endurance rides at this stage with one or two team mates or training partners rather than a large group. Use the group rides for the development of muscular-endurance and anaerobic-endurance.

In Build 2 you again slightly decrease the volume of your training while increasing the intensity. Training in Build 2
emphasizes intensity to a greater extent than in the previous four weeks. Anaerobic-endurance and muscular-endurance sessions become longer while recovery is decreased between your efforts. 
 
Peak Phase:
Now is the time you consolidate your racing fitness. It’s time to reduce your volume and keep intensity levels high relative
to your expected demands of your targeted races while emphasizing recovery between workouts. Ideally you would
want to train at race-pace intensity every 72-96hrs.
These workouts may also include “B” or “C” priority races that serve as a tune-up for the “A” races that follow.
 
The purpose of periodization is to reach peak form just as the important races occur.
 
Race Phase:
Whoop, Whoop… this is the FUN TIME!!!! Now all that is needed is to race, work on your strengths and recover…
In weeks where there are no races, a race-effort group ride is the best option.
 Until now you have been working on your “limiting factors”, now it’s time to improve your strengths, so make them as
strong as possible!!!
 
Transition Phase:
Your transition phase is a time for rest and  recovery following your race phase. This should always be included after your
last race for the season, but may also be inserted early on in your season following your first Peak phase to help prevent burnout later in the year.
Early season Transition phases may be brief periods of perhaps five to seven days, while at the end of your season such a
break may be four weeks or so. 
Use this time to “recharge your batteries” for your training and racing to come….
 
Remember, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it!”
 
Until next time…. Ride safe!

AUSTIN, Texas - August 23rd, 2012 - There comes a point in every man's life when he has to say, "Enough is enough." For me, that time is now. I have been dealing with claims that I cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a  two-year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart's unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today – finished with this nonsense. 

I had hoped that a federal court would stop USADA’s charade. Although the court was sympathetic to my concerns and recognized the many improprieties and deficiencies in USADA’s motives, its conduct, and its process, the court
ultimately decided that it could not intervene. 

If I thought for one moment that by participating in USADA’s process, I could confront these allegations in a fair setting and – once and for all – put these charges to rest, I would jump at the chance. But I refuse to participate in a process that is so one-sided and unfair. Regardless of what Travis Tygart says, there is zero physical evidence to support his outlandish and heinous claims. The only physical evidence here is the hundreds of controls I have passed with flying colors. I made myself available around the clock and around the world. In-competition. Out of competition. Blood. Urine. Whatever they asked for I
provided. What is the point of all this testing if, in the end, USADA will not stand by it?

From the beginning, however, this investigation has not been about learning the truth or cleaning up cycling, but about punishing me at all costs. I am a retired cyclist, yet USADA has lodged charges over 17 years old despite its own 8-year limitation. As respected organizations such as UCI and USA Cycling have made clear, USADA lacks jurisdiction even to bring these charges. The international bodies governing cycling have ordered USADA to stop, have given notice that no one should participate in USADA’s improper proceedings, and have made it clear the pronouncements by USADA that it has banned people for life or stripped them of their accomplishments are made without authority. And as many others, including USADA’s own arbitrators, have found, there is nothing even remotely fair about its process. USADA has broken the law, turned its back on its own rules, and stiff-armed those who have tried to persuade USADA to honor its obligations. At every turn, USADA has played the role of a bully, threatening everyone in its way and challenging the good faith of anyone who
questions its motives or its methods, all at U.S. taxpayers’ expense. For the last two months, USADA has endlessly repeated the mantra that there should be a single set of rules, applicable to all, but they have arrogantly refused to
practice what they preach. On top of all that, USADA has allegedly made deals with other riders that circumvent their own rules as long as they said I cheated. Many of those riders continue to race today.

 The bottom line is I played by the rules that were put in place by the UCI, WADA and USADA when I raced. The idea that athletes can be convicted today without positive A and B samples, under the same rules and procedures that apply
to athletes with positive tests, perverts the system and creates a process where any begrudged ex-teammate can open a USADA case out of spite or for personal gain or a cheating cyclist can cut a sweetheart deal for themselves. It’s an
unfair approach, applied selectively, in opposition to all the rules. It’s just not right. 

USADA cannot assert control of a professional international sport and attempt  to strip my seven Tour de France titles. I know who won those seven Tours, my teammates know who won those seven Tours, and everyone I competed against knows who won those seven Tours. We all raced together. For three weeks over the same roads, the same mountains, and against all the weather and elements that we had to confront. There were no shortcuts, there was no special treatment. The same courses, the same rules. The toughest event in the world where the strongest man wins. Nobody can ever change that. Especially not Travis Tygart. 

Today I turn the page. I will no longer address this issue, regardless of the circumstances. I will commit myself to the work I began before ever winning a single Tour de France title: serving people and families affected by cancer, especially those in underserved communities. This October, my Foundation will celebrate 15 years of service to cancer survivors and the milestone of raising nearly $500 million. We have a lot of work to do and I'm looking forward to an end to this pointless distraction. I have a responsibility to all those who have stepped forward to devote their time and energy to the cancer cause. I will not stop fighting for that mission. Going forward, I am going to devote myself to raising my five beautiful (and energetic) kids, fighting cancer, and attempting to be the fittest 40-year old on the planet.

Original statement here

The roads in and around the city of Pietermaritzburg in South Africa will be
the reserve of the world’s best amateur cyclists over the four days of the 2012
UWCT Final.

 Some 500 athletes from 31 countries and all five continents will be racing in
the age-group time trials and road races from August 23rd to 26th.

In its second year, the UWCT (UCI World Cycling Tour) comprised 15 qualifying rounds which were held throughout the world, with the top 25% of each age-group of the qualifiers winning the right to line up for the final in Pietermaritzburg.

UCI Cycling for All Coordinator Andréa Marcellini says she is delighted with the momentum that the UWCT has gained in just two years of existence: “We launched the initiative in 2011 and were very pleased to have seven qualifying rounds, but this year the UWCT has exceeded expectations with 15 qualifying races.”

 She added that all the events on the UWCT calendar had met strict organisational, sporting and touristic criteria.

Some of the 2011 World Champions who won their rainbow jerseys in Stavelot, Belgium, last September, will be in Pietermaritzburg to defend their titles.

The fact that this year’s Final is being held in South Africa has also encouraged participation from African countries that were not present in Belgium, such as Lesotho, Mozambique and Namibia.

Pietermaritzburg has an extremely successful history in organising major international cycling events, which have included the 2010 UCI BMX World Championships, and several rounds of the UCI BMX World Cup and the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup. Next year it will be the venue of the UCI Mountain Bike & Trials World Championships and the UCI Masters Mountain Bike World Championships.

The 2012 UWCT Final is being staged under the auspices of Cycling South Africa. Event Director Alec Lenferna, of Real Events Management said: “Preparations for the event are very advanced and we are looking forward to welcoming athletes from all over the world. The city of Pietermaritzburg and its region has already shown on numerous occasions that we are able and willing to host major cycling events of this nature and to have the 2012 UWCT Final here is
another feather in our cap. We are thankful for the continued faith the UCI shows in us as an organising entity.”

He added that various city and provincial departments as well as a large number of volunteers had facilitated the organisation of the event.

Original article can be found here

Cycling South Africa’s Road Cycling Commission has great pleasure in announcing that the following riders have been selected to represent South Africa at the 2012 UCI Road World Championships in Limburg, The Netherlands, taking place from 15 to 23 September.
 
The following riders have been selected according to
the 2012 Road Cycling Selection Criteria.

Elite Men:
Daryl Impey – road race
Jay Thomson – road race and time trial
Reinardt Janse van Rensburg – road race and time trial

U/23 Men:
Louis Meintjies –  road race and time trial

Junior Men:
Rohan du Plooy – road race and time trial
Ryan Gibbons – road race
Ryan Felgate – road race 
 
Elite Women:
Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio – road race
Cherise Stander – road race and time trial
Robyn de Groot – road race
Joanna van de Winkel – road race
Lise Olivier – road race
An-Li Pretorius – road race
 
Junior Women:
Heidi Dalton – road race and time trial 

View original article here

Not yet available, but will be interesting to see how this unit fair against the likes on the Garmin Forerunner range...

Thanks to Paul and Andre from Epic Sports in Centurion for giving VTC the opportunity to talk a little about our services.
It was a great evening with lots of greats questions being ask from a wide range of athletes.
Look forward to doing another one next time I'm back in South Africa...