- It helps the enjoyment
and training effectiveness of your cycling,
by avoiding, at all costs, these pre-ride mistakes.
- Don't do it.
Or do it.
(upbeat music)
- Now this is a classic mistake
that we've all made at some point in our cycling career.
Filling up on too much breakfast before a ride,
leaving us feeling bloated, nauseous,
and in no fit state to train effectively at all.
(crunching)
I mean Matt, I thought I ate a lot of breakfast,
but that is just incredible.
Are you sure that's a good idea?
- [Matt] Ideally you shouldn't eat anything
for around two to three hours before a ride.
Which is generally something that's easy to stick to,
when you're doing a race or a sportif,
or when you're training later in the day,
as you'll have had sufficient time to eat earlier.
Things get a little bit trickier
when you're training first thing in the morning,
as the zone between getting up
and riding is that much narrower.
That's why keeping a close eye
on the timing of your nutrition, is important
as our digestive system isn't quite as effective
on the exercise as it is at rest.
- [Emma] This is because the blood flow
from our gastrointestinal system
is redirected to our leg muscles when riding.
So, if you have a large meal
without sufficient time to digest it,
then you might run into problems.
- Yeah, precisely.
So if you have less than an hour
to eat your food before heading out on the bike,
you need to get it right to avoid running into gut problems.
- One idea is to postpone breakfast altogether.
Which is something that has become popular
over recent years, and is known as fasted training.
Another is to eat something relatively small and light,
but that will provide us with a solid fuel source.
Porridge is the classic example.
- [Matt] If you do choose the fasted route,
just make sure you've eaten plenty of carbohydrates
as part of your evening meal the night before,
and ensure that you eat as soon as you get back.
Now this sort of training is more suited
to rides of a shorter duration,
so you don't deplete glycogen stores too much.
(saxophone music)
- [Matt] 30 minutes or so into a four hour ride
on a long descent with your mates,
isn't a great time to realise
that your brake blocks are worn out.
- [Emma] It definitely isn't.
Or for that matter that your gear cable
has frayed to the point of snapping,
and you can't get into the big ring.
Or sticking with gears,
if you haven't charged your e-tackle Di2.
Uh, Matt, not looking great here, sorry.
- [Matt] Or, you have a rear tyre blow out
because you didn't check the big cut
in the side wall of your tyre
before you came out on the road.
- [Emma] Sorry.
- [Matt] Emma.
To avoid these sorts of problems,
that range from the inconvenient
to the potentially catastrophic,
just make sure you get into the habit
and the routine of giving your bike
the good once over when you get home.
- And by that we mean, just a quick visual inspection
of tyres, brakes, gears, the bike's moving parts,
just to make sure everything is ship-shape
and in good working order before your next ride.
- If you don't check your bike...
- You might get a fright.
(playful music)
(gravel crunching)
- [Matt] I forgot me loo roll.
- [Emma] The state of utter panic
of needing to do a number two whilst out riding
with no toilet or bathroom on the horizon,
really is the stuff of nightmares.
And again, many of us have been there,
forced to take a call of nature
quite literally surrounded by nature.
- [Matt] I mean it happens
to the very best riders in the world.
Take Tom Dumoulin's exploits
at the 2017 Giro d'Italia as an example.
- To be fair, though, Matt, I think that was a one-off,
and I think usually Tom would've had a normal number two
in good time before the stage start.
You know queuing at the port-a-loos,
or pathway toilets with the other pros.
- Yeah, that's because they're acutely aware of their body's
well, cycles, shall we say.
And you should be aware of yours too,
and factor into your preparation.
Now the problem often arises when you're cycling
at really early hours in the day.
So, a sportif, or a Gran Fondo.
So that's something you definitely need to consider.
And also make sure you pack loo roll
in your kit bag as well.
- And our final word on the subject.
If you are the kind of person
that regularly gets caught up by a call of nature,
why not pack some toilet paper or tissues
or wet wipes in your pocket or your saddle bag
so that if you did get caught out,
your sensitive areas are not
damaged by nettle rash, shall we say.
- Hmm, one way of putting it.
(slow jazz music)
- Have you ever headed out on a training ride
when you're not really feeling up for it?
And I don't mean, not really fancying
headwinds to yourself on a climb, for example.
I mean genuinely feeling tired, and fatigued.
Perhaps you told yourself to HTFU
after coming back from a cold,
is that really a good idea though?
- I mean, have you ever stopped to ask
why your body is making you feel that way?
- Yeah, there's possibly a reason.
It could be because your immune system
is on the edge after you come back
from a cold or illness just a bit too quickly.
- [Emma] Or that those previous three days
of back to back high intensity training sessions
have taken their toll.
- [Matt] Yeah, don't be afraid of listening to your body,
and honestly making a judgement call
on whether it's a good idea to go training at all.
If in doubt, turn around and head home.
Or best of all, don't leave the house
and take a well-earned rest.
- It's a far better option that risking your health
by over training or making worse an illness
that your body hasn't fully recovered from.
- Yeah, have you ever heard of taking a day off
ruining a whole season?
No, neither have we.
(slow jazz music)
- This really applies when you're heading out on the road
to do some specific efforts
like pull reps, intervals, or sprints for example.
- Yeah, or it could be a session on the indoor trainer,
or basically any sort of session
where you're gonna go very deep and into the red.
- [Emma] A warm up will allow your body
to get to the point it can effectively
cope with the training intensity.
Not only will it help you to perform better,
but it will also protect your body from potential injury.
- [Matt] So, as part of any ride
that contains intense efforts, no matter how short,
prime your body by doing a progressive warm-up
to get your system firing, increasing vital blood flow,
lifting your temperature, and elevating your heart rate,
to fully oxygenated blood reaches your muscles.
- [Emma] Ride hard without a warm-up,
and you risk a torn muscle, oxygen debt,
and non-optimized training.
It's just not worth it.
- Emma, could you just ease off,
I'm not warmed up yet, just...
Tone it down.
Easy, a progressive warm-up.
- Well you should've warmed up before we left.
- Just go on...
- Just get up too late, don't you.
- Just go on your own then.
Well we certainly hope you
picked up something handy from that video.
What we'd like to know is,
what are your classic pre-ride training mistakes.
Leave your comments down below.
- And for Five Training Myths Exploded with Louis Passfield,
click here.
- And don't forget, to like and share.