Your questions answered, part II

It’s something you hear in the automotive world and human’s engines seem to be quite similar. Keeping hold of the top end is hard - but as the likes of Cavendish have shown, not impossible.

Training wise, we’d suggest that you look towards a polarized schedule, look at really focusing on intensity. Keep in mind that most athletes can run the throttle wide open for about 45 seconds before the glycolytic energy system is exhausted, so if you are doing 60 second efforts, you are training "extensively" rather than "intensively". To raise the ceiling on the 1 min power, consider focusing on shorter efforts of 30-45 seconds with long easy recovery between. Also, strength training in the gym can compliment this ability well.

So - to answer this, we sat down with EF Pro Cycling's Team Nutritionist, Will Girling.

"First and foremost, let’s step back and say, more than anything, a supplement isn’t a replacement for food, but a compliment to a balanced diet. Before exploring supplements, we’d always recommend that you work first on building out a sustainable and sustaining diet that balances your needs. The benefits from this will be far greater than jumping straight into the world of supplements.

Once you've established this bedrock for your training, you can consider tweaking other elements of performance, and this is very much where supplements like beta alanine come in.

Firstly - it's worth noting that beta alanine is a legal supplement, however it's benefits come in extremely specific parameters due to it's function biologically as an intracellular lactate buffer.

This means that it effectively delays fatigue by actively preventing and delaying the build up of hydrogen ions within the muscle by helping transport them beyond the cellular wall. This in turn reduces acidosis - which is what we perceive as fatigue.

In terms of usage - it'll only really delay fatigue, and as such it's ideal for use with people conducting efforts between 1-5 minutes at threshold. In terms of dosage though, it will need to have been steadily loaded into your system previously over the course of 4-6 weeks.

It is however worth noting the mild side effects - and quite simply, that's the sensation of tingling or itchiness. Typically around the face, this isn't a massive detractor or medically significant consequence, but, as ever, your system is unique - and you need to interpret what happens to you."

Well - It’s not a nutritional program that works for everyone, but it’s not one we’ve really tried. Ultimately, it’s an unpleasant truth that once in a while, you might catch a bug rather than a breath when out on the road, and we’d probably say it’s just one of those things that adds color to life as a cyclist, just like soggy shoes and bad traffic.

This is a personal question. How riders sit can depend on a number of things. Do you prefer aggressive aero positions? Do you have back problems or knee issues you need to mitigate? All of these will influence how you sit.

Conventionally - your saddle should feel contact with your ischial tuberosites - or "sit bones" as they are know colloquially. These you'll know for having sat on a tough chair or wooden stool. Depending on the distance between your sit bones, you should select a saddle that reflects that, allowing your legs to spin freely, while also contacting the surface that is forward of these bony landmarks. We don't sit on a bike the same way we sit on a stool, the bicycle requires anterior [forward] rotation of the pelvis, so sitting bolt upright as you would on a stool won't allow for good posture on the bike.

For aero positions, riders tend to sit more nose of the saddle, and putting more weight on the perineum rather than their sit bones. This is why many saddles incorporate cut outs. This position allows for a lower profile that often equates to a faster performance.

One. Step. At. A. Time. There's absolutely nothing to be gained by rushing things post virus. Before anything, we'd make sure that you're testing negative, and you've had a couple of days post negative test in order to recover fully.

Your first ride back, don't look to complete a session or workout - you need simply to turn the pedals and gently feel where your limits are. Get a sense for how your lungs feel - and spin as easily as possible.

If that's easy enough, perhaps try and ride at a higher intensity for short bursts - essentially dipping your toe in the water and acclimatizing rather than jumping in at the deep end.

Well - like many things in cycling, strength training is about conditioning - it conditions you to be a better cyclist, whilst affording you numerous other tangential benefits. Being more supple, more robust, more resistant to injury - just like riding, the longer you spend off the bike or out of the gym, the less you benefit from these things.

That said though, a great deal of strength training can be done outside of the gym. Core work, simple weights, and resistance work can all be done using simple apparatus at home and in condensed periods. For the effort it takes - why not reap the rewards all year round?

What keeps you motivated in day to day life? Is it a dream, a goal or a destination? Harnessing the things that motivate you in your daily life is the most powerful means to transform your riding. Coming up with goals and building towards that success is in equal parts the easiest and hardest thing to do. Choosing a good goal that’s achievable, one that’s tough enough to require action, and one that you’re able to measure yourself against ongoing - that’s tough.

Why not check out our goal setting guide that we made ahead of the New Year for more tips?