BikeParts.com Team Rider Kyle Crawley on his way to finishing in 4th Place at the Gunnison Growler 32
Guess who is rocking the coolest bikes, the best bike parts, and crushing it in Colorado’s toughest road and mountain bike races?
You guessed it – Peak Cycles Racers! We’re super proud of Peak Cycles Bicycle Shop Sponsored Cycling Teams including Peak Cycles XC, Gravity and BMX teams, Colorado School of Mines, The Golden High School mountain bike team, Tough Girl Cycling, Twin Peaks Racing, and The Colorado Collective. Early season success has come easily to these athletes. Countless podium finishes and successful racing has caused many followers of the teams to wonder what are the secrets to combining racing and training for a successful summer cycling season? What are these athletes doing that we all can do to improve our cycling performance?
For starters, there are many different approaches to training and racing. Typical training weeks may vary in distance, intensity, and training hours. Some athletes prefer a structured approach to their racing season; whereas others prefer to keep it casual by mixing in shop rides and even front range bucket list rides to test fitness and keep training fresh.
But at a minimum, there are the basics which pretty much everyone follows. This includes ongoing bike maintenance, repairing and/ or replacing bike parts, continued bike nutrition while riding, and a strong focus on hydration on and off the bike. It sounds simple enough but a properly fit bike – that is ready to ride – makes cycling fun, easy, and keeps you riding!
Regardless of your approach, one of the winning secrets for training and racing is using tools for bio feedback. Cycling accessories, as in power meters and /or heart rate monitors offers bio feedback monitoring of your efforts with specific data so that you objectively know when you are pushing beyond your targeted indictors, as well as, when you aren’t pushing hard enough.
Our post, The Best Training Aids to Launch into Spring Cycling, dives into the benefits of training with power. You may also want to check out our post, Heart Rate Training – What You Need to Know for our staff picks at Peak Cycles Bike Shop. You can also learn steps in discovering your “threshold” heart rate range, setting up heart rate training zones, and identifying the daily variables that affect heart rate.
While it’s not a secret, and we hinted at it earlier, an often overlooked component of successful racing and training is a bike fit. If you haven’t ridden much this Spring, now is the best time for a bike fit. Why? Because your body is unaccustomed to the riding position. You have an opportunity to optimize your position and make needed upgrades to your road bike or mountain bike.
There are countless suggestions that we can offer for training and racing tips but nothing can replace the passion, discipline, and love of the sport that our staff and team riders embrace. For more winning race and training secrets, stop by the Peak Cycles Bicycle Shop and ask our staff for ideas and suggestions. Also, keep current by following our Facebook page for updates. Happy riding!
Posted by staffwriter8 
Peak Cycles - BikeParts.com Blog 