do you want to get faster at riding your bike in this video we're going to go through
five things that fast cyclists do that you might want to as well
fuel well this goes for all types of riding it doesn't matter how well trained you are
if you don't fuel well you won't be performing your best and worst case you'll end up bonking and
then end up crawling on the bike fast riders will tend to have good habits around fueling so always
eating before they ride always eating during the ride using carb drink and the habit of eating
little and often will be ingrained in fast riders you'll see pros eating like clockwork during
pretty much any race but particularly stage races my friend will is the nutritionist from
ef pro cycling we've done a few videos together before and i'll put links down below to those
but he'll recommend sometimes up to 120 grams of carbohydrate per hour depending on the weight of
the rider and the race now that is a lot of food not all training sessions require that though if
your session is under an hour then you generally just need to eat beforehand if you want to start
creating these habits and you're struggling then you can set up an alert on your head unit
i have mine set up so every half an hour it just gives me a reminder to eat little and often is the
best way to go and the most stomach friendly too carbohydrate mix in your bottles is also
a brilliant way to fuel without having to chew sometimes you'll be doing races where you don't
particularly want to eat and you still need to get the carbohydrate in particularly with longer
sessions i really struggle personally eating after a few hours so carbohydrate mix is a savior for me
there's loads of types of pre-mixed carb drinks that you can buy i've been using the stuff from
sterka recently which is like stomach friendly but you can mix your own on a budget if you do a scoop
of melted extra in a dash of sugar-free squash a pinch of salt ideally pink salt because that has
different electrolytes in and then fill the rest up with water you got yourself a carb drink a
little bit more work than the premix stuff but it does the job bottom line you need to fuel properly
if you're going to train hard and reach your full potential and that's the thing all fast riders do
fast riders get aero aerodynamic but this doesn't mean just go and drop loads of money on supposedly
aero kit think about position on the bike and kit choices that really do make a difference riding
over 20 kph wind resistance is the dominant force that you have to overcome and luckily some of the
more effective methods to get more aerodynamic are actually quite cheap this topic can get really
complicated and sometimes some things that look aero or people think are aero are not so let's
just go through the basics here first of all position on the bike you want to get narrower
and lower so tuck your head down and your arms in the reason aerobars are used in time trialling is
basically to try and get that frontal area of your body as small as possible but you can get
similar effects on your road bike as well you just want to tuck your elbows in and what feels narrow
usually is second thing tighter fitting clothing so with jersey and shorts that fits nicely
will go a long way in making you quicker and a skin suit like a one-piece suit goes even further
some tests have shown that going from a jersey and bib shorts to a skin suit actually gives you more
saved power than going from a road bike to a tt bike position included so that goes to show how
much difference just clothes can make fit here is key though so a baggy skin suit with lots of
creases in it isn't going to be as fast as a tight one arrow over shoes and aero socks they make a
fairly big difference and super cheap and shaving legs and arms might seem silly but it's free and
does make a difference then you get onto helmet wheels bike frame which are all significantly
more expensive but quite small gains compared to what you can make with clothing and position of
your body so you might as well do those cheap ones first before delving into the more expensive kit
recovery drinks and meals but really that 15-minute window that you have after finishing
a training session or a race is really crucial in getting that first bit of recovery in with
training volume usually comes consecutive days of riding and if you're riding two days in a row
it's important to get your recovery started straight away most easily done in the form
of a recovery drink it's a bit of a myth that a protein shake will do the job carbohydrate is
actually the more important component studies are showing that four to one carbohydrate
protein ratio is what you want to be aiming for but there's ongoing debate and research going
into this what i'm trying to get across just get a drinking my favorite thing to drink as a
recovery drink is my protein whole fuel blend this is basically fake fuel i've been buying this for
ages it's actually like a meal replacement thing but also the perfect amount of carbs to protein
and it tastes nice like chocolate so what's not to love way cheaper than fuel and basically
the same thing it's really easy to forget i did all the time back when i was racing but
forming that habit of always having your drink ready pour some water and down it ready to go
makes a big big difference especially when you have accumulative days of training
you'll nearly always see professional athletes after races downing a recovery drink but it is
most important if you're training the next day funnily enough pro cyclists train consistently
it's all well and good riding hard but if you don't train consistently it doesn't matter if
you followed everything else on this list you're not gonna get fast you're better off
training three times a week consistently than trading seven days a week and then having random
weeks off in the hierarchy of training needs total volume of training is top priority and
that's what consistency helps towards it adds up quickly if you do multiple short sessions a week
and that's probably the best way to approach it if you're not pro
you have other things in your life that you have to balance with training and it's what
most coaches will recommend maybe it's your commute to work or evening escapes
all of these count towards training volume even if they're not structured sessions when i was
being coached anything other than a poodle to the shops without sweating was considered
volume so it's always worth recording your rides even if they're short to keep tabs of your volume
never stand up when you can sit down and never sit down when you can lie down
that's nothing to do with cycling i think that's a winston churchill quote but you kind of get the
gist rest properly resting seriously is a thing that all fast cyclists do because it's the only
way you can deal with a big training volume a typical week's training for a pro cyclist might be
about 20 hours in the saddle right up to 30 hours plus if they're on training camps that is a lot of
stress on your body so reducing activity elsewhere is really important to be able to sustain it
of course there are fast bike riders who aren't pros as well but i guarantee they'll have similar
habits around rest recovery fueling all the things we've covered in this video to be able to operate
at that level if you had all the time in the world then feet up on the sofa having a nap after your
ride is going to be the best course of action no extra strenuous exercise at all unless it's going
to be beneficial to the sport that you're training for granted this isn't the nicest lifestyle to
lead so you need to weigh up your priorities there is more to life than being fast on a bike
but do you want to do well in your race you need to balance these things in addition to this
sleep is also very important if you have a high training load then you need more sleep it seems
to be about an hour extra that will be beneficial compared to someone who's not doing any activity
so try and incorporate that into your training if you're doing a lot so that is a list of stuff
that i don't do but should do but it's really hard to stay on top of i really hope those basic ideas
and tips were useful in the future i hope to do some more videos along these lines but perhaps
a bit more in depth to actually get will from ef pro cycling coach ken involved and see if we
can go into these topics in a bit more detail if you have any questions put them into the comment
section down below and i'll do my best to answer them if you have any training tips or any habits
that you've developed to be able to perform well then let us know in that comment section thank you
as always for watching please like and subscribe and i'll see you guys soon recovery drink