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Pro athletes develop simple techniques that become automatic. A three-point shooter’s follow through or a golfer’s silky stroke are techniques they’ve honed until they no longer think about them.

Pro cyclists, too, develop characteristics that separate how they look on a bike from the rest of us. It’s not simply a matter of appearance. Unlike golf, when you’re riding, you can get scuffed up out there. Looking like a pro means safety as well as style.

Want the look? Master these three techniques and you’ll be on your way.

1. Relax. Great athletes in any sport let it flow, making impossible moves and extreme effort look easy. Here’s how to be loose as a goose on the bike:

• Face Off. If your facial muscles are tight, your whole body follows. Consciously relax your face and neck. Loosen your jaw muscles. Don’t clench your teeth in grim-faced determination.
• No Turtles. Tense riders hunch their shoulders until their ears disappear. Drop your shoulders and relax the muscles that run from the top of the shoulder to your neck. Don’t look like a turtle hiding from danger.
• Get a (Light) Grip. Bend your elbows slightly and relax your forearms and hands. If you hit a bump or get bumped, loose arms absorb the blow without affecting the front wheel. You keep your line and stay in control.

2. Pedal Smoothly. It’s easy to spot the smooth pedal stroke of a pro compared to a novice’s lumpy plodding. Here’s how to get supple stroke:

• Practice Slowly. A rapid cadence of 90 to 110 revolutions per minute is efficient and stylish. But it’s hard for your brain to keep up with your feet going that fast. Practice at a slower rpm of 60 to 70 so you can concentrate on your stroke all the way around.
• Remember Mud. Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond first gave us this tip in 1985, and it’s just as helpful today: When you pull your foot through the bottom of the stroke, imagine you’re scraping mud off your shoe. This will help you pull your foot through smoothly with added power. Try it and see how well it works.
• Knee the Bar. As your foot comes up and over the top, pull your knee forward like you want it to touch the handlebar. This adds power to the weakest part of the stroke.

3. Recover Fast. Pro riders can do a three-week race and go just as hard on Day 20 as in the prologue time trial. Here’s how to recover like a stage racer:

• Pump Fluids. The loss of as little as one percent of body weight as sweat can compromise your performance. So drink at least one bottle of sports drink each hour you’re on the bike. After the ride, drink more until your weight is back to normal. If you aren’t getting up twice each night to urinate, you aren’t sufficiently hydrated.
• Replenish Glycogen Supplies. A 150-pound cyclist needs 80 to 100 grams of carbohydrate in the two hours immediately after riding. An energy bar contains about 40 grams of carb, a bagel and banana about 60.
• Rest. Pros sleep nine or ten hours a night and often take an afternoon nap after training. We can’t do that because we have real jobs and the boss would frown. But because sufficient rest is crucial to recovery, try to fit in at least eight restful hours of sleep each night and catch a 15-minute “power nap” in the afternoon.

Receive a FREE copy of the eBook “29 Pro Cycling Secrets for Roadies” by subscribing to the RoadBikeRider Newsletter at www.RoadBikeRider.com. No cost or obligation!

We shouldn’t feel excessive admiration for pro racers who log 600-mile weeks. They have plenty of time to ride and recover—that’s their job. The real heroes are people like you, who find time to ride while still having a life away from the bike.

Full-time work, family commitments and cycling can be efficiently interwoven into your busy day. All it takes to schedule everything into 24 hours is maximum use of time-budgeting techniques.

Here’s where to look for time slots that can accommodate your love for riding:

Commuting

Riding your bike to work or school and back may be the best way to create time cycling time.

When you commute by bike, time normally spent sitting in a car is used productively as part of the training day. An eight-mile ride to work or school takes about 30 minutes each way. Even if you do no other riding, that’s still an hour of cycling each weekday. The trip home can be lengthened as much as time, daylight and energy allow.

Another benefit is arriving at your job refreshed and alert. It may be tough to get up earlier for the ride in, but the physical and mental lift of exercise will carry you through that 10 a.m. letdown that your sedentary colleagues experience. Then you ride home, clearing cobwebs and blowing away job-related frustrations. You’re refreshed and ready for evening responsibilities or family fun.

Commuting Logistics

• Use a small backpack to carry clothes, lunch and papers. A waist strap helps eliminate swaying and bouncing as you ride.
• Keep a pair of shoes at work so you don’t have their weight and sharp edges in the pack. Take the week’s clothes to work on Monday morning and shuttle them home Friday afternoon, or whatever arrangement fits your situation.
• Clean up in the restroom with a lightly soaped washcloth. Meanwhile, get coworkers interested in commuting and lobby your boss to install a shower.
• Dress in your office if it has a door. If not, use the restroom or a storage room.
• Play on the way home. Scout out a longer route and ride for an hour or more as time and commitments allow. Do intervals, time trials, or hit the hills hard to get a great workout while you’re homeward bound.

If commuting simply won’t work for you, here are two popular options:

Early Bird Special

Consider an early-morning workout. By the middle of March it’s usually light enough to get in a ride before work. At dawn there are few cars on the road and the day is brightening every minute.

Getting up in the pre-dawn hour may be the ultimate test of whether you really want to ride. Roll out of bed the minute the alarm rings and don’t think about anything. The longer you lie there moaning about how early it is, the harder it is to extricate yourself from the sheets.

Sleep loss is the biggest risk. Make up the deficit with an earlier bedtime because it’s vital to get enough rest. Lack of sleep can lead to deep fatigue and poor performance in everything you do.

Evening Rides

If your schedule prohibits riding most of the day, try from 9 to 10 or 10:30 p.m. For most people, the kids are in bed, the chores around the house complete, and you’re probably wasting time watching TV.

To make this work, eat a moderate dinner at 6 or 7 p.m., allowing the food to digest by riding time. As an additional benefit this provides motivation not to overeat.

Riding in the dark used to be dangerous because lights were poor. You couldn’t see road hazards clearly, and motorists couldn’t see you. Modern lighting systems make night riding safer, but it’s still smart to use lighted parks or suburban streets if they’re available.

Receive a FREE copy of the eBook “29 Pro Cycling Secrets for Roadies” by subscribing to the RoadBikeRider Newsletter at www.RoadBikeRider.com. No cost or obligation!

By Matt Allyn (original article from Bicycling magazine: )

Whether you’re looking for an excuse to down another cup of joe, or legitimately want to recover from workouts faster, a study recently published in the Journal of Applied Physiology has good news for you. The only catch that you better really like coffee. A team of Australian researchers studying glycogen, your number-one fuel while cycling, found that downing five to six regular cups with carbohydrate-rich meal helps your body refuel faster.

For the study, a group of seven cyclists performed a two-day trial. On the first day they biked to exhaustion and ate a low-carb meal to deplete glycogen stores. The following day they again biked to exhaustion, but followed the workout with either a plain high-carb drink, or one with eight grams of caffeine for every kilogram of body weight (or 3.6 gram per pound). The test was repeated a second time with subject taking the opposite drink on the second day.

Results showed that after one hour, the cyclists showed no difference in recovery. After four hours, however, the caffeinated group’s glycogen levels were 65 percent greater. The exact cause for the recovery boost is unknown, but the scientists believe it may come form the higher levels of glucose and insulin levels in the blood, caused by caffeine, which could help transport the glycogen.

The researchers recognize that most folks can’t consume caffeine or coffee on the same level as their study and they say plans are underway to investigate smaller dosages. Not surprisingly, some of the test subject reported problems of jitteriness and insomnia. They also recommend average folks experiment with smaller amounts of caffeine to find what works best for the. For anyone looking to recreate the recovery gains of this study, the eight grams per kg of body weight come out to about 600 mg of caffeine for a 165-pound person. That’s also the equivalent of nearly eight cans of Red Bull, four Monster Energy Drinks or two Starbucks Grande coffees.

Pacelines are organized. They have specific rules. But in big groups like you find in centuries or charity rides, things will be disorganized. This can intimidate even experienced riders.

Sooner or later you’ll find yourself in a big group amid some riders with sketchy skills. It pays to learn how to survive (and also make yourself welcome) in a crowd.

• Look for Risky Riders. These are the unsteady people who wobble, appear nervous, have a tense grip on the handlebar, and frequently grab the brakes. Avoid them! Move up to keep them behind you, or slide to the other side of the road.
• Stay at the Front. This is easy to say but hard to do in some groups. At the front you have more control over your destiny because most crashes occur in the rear two-thirds of the bunch. It may take a bit more work to reach the front and stay there, but it’s worth the effort.
• Watch the Wind. Wind direction determines on which side the greatest draft is found. If the wind is from the right side of the road, smart riders move to the left of the wheel in front of them for greater protection. If you’re doing this, beware of overlapping wheels with inexperienced riders. They may swerve and take out your front wheel.
• Be Wary on Climbs. A major cause of group crashes is riders who stand abruptly. They slow for a second, causing the rider behind to hit their rear wheel and spill. To avoid this danger, let the gap open a bit on hills or ride a foot to either side.

To avoid being the one who causes such a crash, pull your bike forward as you leave the saddle. Don’t lunge and make a hard pedal stroke. Keep your speed steady. When sitting again, push the bike forward a bit.

Cycling isn’t a contact sport, but it’s not uncommon to have your arm brushed when riding near others in a group. It pays to learn how to bump into other riders without swerving or falling. It’s easy when you practice this drill used at the Carpenter-Phinney Bike Camps.

First, go with a cycling friend to a large grassy area like a soccer field. Ride side-by-side at a walking pace. Keep both hands on your bar. Start by gently touching elbows, then shoulders. As you gain confidence, lean more vigorously on the other rider. Soon, you’ll be bumping each other with abandon and throwing in a few head butts for fun, all without going down. (Of course, always wear your helmet just in case.)

Riding relaxed is the key to absorbing contact without swerving. Have slightly bent elbows, a firm-not-tight grip on the bar, and loose arm and shoulder muscles. If you’re relaxed, your body can absorb the shock before it gets to the handlebar.

Receive a FREE copy of the eBook “29 Pro Cycling Secrets for Roadies” by subscribing to the RoadBikeRider Newsletter at www.RoadBikeRider.com. No cost or obligation!