Tune in live for Episode 218 of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast where we will be discussing our takeaways after racing Enduro World Series, how to find your limiters as a time trialist, how to tell if you’ve reached peak fitness and much more!
Some tips on cleaning muddy kits: when you get home, shake out the dirt chunks as much as you can, then rinse (outside with the hose if possible), then scrub the dirt from any white areas of your kit. (I use a toothbrush.)
Is it good idea to do the scrubbing in the sink to make sure that the white areas come clean. Then throw in the laundry machine and wash as usual, or hand wash in fresh water. Hang outside to dry. (But don’t hang by the bib straps or you will stretch them. Hang by the leg cuffs.
@Jonathan, you aren’t the only one - I handwash all my kits, even my socks! And use cold water with detergent for delicates. They will last forever and I have had the same bottle of wash for prob 2 decades.
@Jonathan on the metric “time spend braking”, the Garmin 530 and 830 have a metric called flow for MTB and that does take into account how hard and often you brake on a trail.
Perhaps this could be something for cyclocross as well especially if you race or train on a certain track more than once, you can compare the flow scores between the events and see if you improved.
Granted it will also largely depend on how the race plays out and if you are really forced to brake more in one than the other.
Jonathan. Stans race sealant isn’t supposed to be poured into the value that’s what causes the blockage. You have to break the bead and pour into the tire.
Dirty kit: If really muddy, put it in a bucket with warm water first and rinse the worst of the mud off. Also when it had time to dry a bit, soak it in a bucket first. Empty the bucket into the toilet to not clog the drains up.
A mate if mine spreads the kit outside on the pavement and jet washes it when its extra dirty.
For really dirty kit in an appartement, just pre-wash it in a camping dry bag, or even do the full laundry in it. Once done, you can let the sand and mud in water and wait for decantation.
Hi guys, Matt from Boardman Bikes here - I was super excited to hear @Jonathan mention the Cycling Weekly testing we did with Michelle in our tunnel over in the UK.
It’s a perfect comparison for the listener who got in touch as Michelle is pretty small too. For smaller riders, a TT bike may not offer a huge aero saving as smaller road bikes tend to have steeper seat angles and short head tubes, not dissimilar from a TT bike.
In the video, we were able to get Michelle into exactly the same position on the road bike with clip one as we chose on the TT bike, hence the small saving (as you rightly say, position makes up a huge percentage of drag compared to the bike). For riders on larger bikes though, this won’t always be possible, so smaller riders have an equipment advantage!
@Nate_Pearson, when trying to hit your carb numbers per day, do you count what you intake during training as part of the daily overall, and hence the grams of carb per kg? That can radically chance things mealtime.
I did this for a year using my fitness pal but at peak training and racing stress - plus work and family - constantly typing in foods became added mental tss.
Yet once educated, it’s fairly easy to know which foods to eat and avoid especially as we all usually are quite habitual in our diet, and sports drinks /Gels are easy measures.
Outside of that avoiding anything over 10% fat or 10g per 100g of fat on the food label is an obvious guide.
Hey @Nate_Pearson - I’m a little late to the party but I thought I should highlight this website in light of your discussion about comparing conditions on outdoor rides.
mywindsock.com allows you to check weather data from your rides by dropping in any .gpx files.
If you’re filthy after a ride your bike will be too. Hose yourself down when you’re hosing your bike down when you get home. You’ll probably be super cold so you won’t faf about washing your bike for any longer than you need to. And the hot shower will be so satisfying.
