Road Cycling - Bought Lance Armstrong's Performance Program...

It's not very detailed. I really should have looked it over more carefully. I might bring it back and pick up another book.

Also, in the section on cornerning, it says to lean the bike but not the rider with the bike. That doesn't make sense to me. I always thought you were supposed to lean with the bike?

greg lemond's complete book of cycling is great. i also have the LA performance program, and the lemond book was recommended to me by a friend. it's a general overview of how to structure your season, and it has detailed info on how each individual segment of your season should be spent. it is an older book, i had to special order it from barnes and noble. the same person who recommended this book to me also told me about a great new training book from carmichael, which he says is MUCH better than the first LA/carmichael attempt and is actually as good as the lemond book. i still haven't gotten a copy, so i can't comment, but i really trust the guy who told me about it.

for the record though, the performance program book just tries to shove too much stuff at you at once; for example, it describes about ten different types of intervals, and tells you why you should do each one, but it doesn't tell you how to fit it into your own training. the lemond book is much easier to follow without losing any of the detail.

I have the Armstrong one, do you have more info on the charmichael one?

the only info i have on the new carmichael book is what i've been told, which is that it's more comprehensive and easier to follow than the LA performance program. more like the lemond book only more up-to-date, if you will.

here's what he told me in his email:

first, there is a great new book out by carmichael, which i happen to have
bought yesterday at barnes/noble. it is a great synopsis of all the
guidelines and theory of all the other books on the market, a true tour de
force in describing a complete program and approach to training! it is
truly the best book i have seen and i think you can buy it and throw all
the others away (except the lemond book, of course). it should be
sufficient to guide you for teh next 10-15 years. truly.

Also, in the section on cornerning, it says to lean the bike but not the rider with the bike. That doesn't make sense to me. I always thought you were supposed to lean with the bike? That's not a very good explanation. I read a better one somewhere. When done right you can make tight corners.
The book I read said to have you outside pedal down, be slightly out of the saddle, push the inside handlebar down which will lean the bike. If you stay relatively upright. Look for some photos of pros cornering (shots from the front) and you can see what they mean.

This "review" is based on a quick skim of my copy... I haven't read the book carefully yet.

Carmichael's book is OK. I hate his use of (TM) everywhere for exercise descriptions and at least 1/2 of the book is fluff (to me anyway).

Don't pay full retail for it. I only bought it 'cause Amazon had it cheap with free shipping.

It's OK though... Lemond's book while dated is probably the better reference.

I agree with F1, Carmichael put a damn (TM) on practically every descriptive term for workouts in the book. I'm sorry but this cat does not have a monopoly on use of terms that have been in the cycling world for a long time.

He is good but he does not own common verbage like he seems to think.

i think i'm going to return the Lance armstrong book this week. It's pretty lame.

The cornering technique sounds like what we are supposed to do to take gates on snow, not that I have a good handle on that either.

Good to know, I was just about to buy it, think I'll hold off now.

IN 86 or so I bought the Lemond book just after starting riding on the bike paths in Columbus, ohio. I was thinking of racing already and I kid you not-I followed that book to a T and I bet 98% of everything I did and do when riding came from his book. From position on the bike, cadence, pedal stroke, etc. Although I'd like to think I had some natural cardiovascular fitness, neverthe less-I was winning club races and doing well immediately from following his book. My first century was under a 5 hours and it took only two tries to break the hour in the 40k time trial. This all I owe to Lemond's book (and the group I rode with of course).
Every beginner in cycling should read this book and every bike shop should have it on the shelf!!! And every bike shop owner should recommend it!!

BTW-I alo met Lemond at Mid-Ohio when he was racing cars and he was amazingly friendly!!!

Once youve read Lemonds book-I think any book from any top rider/coach will add perspective to your training regimen. As we all know but wont admit-serious cycling leads to a lot of paranoia so we need to feed our brains in an effort to improve ourselves and re-assure ourselves were doing the right thing on our training rides and races.

I have the latest (last?) Serious Cycling by Ed Burke
excellent book and it does have some stuff by
Chris Carmichael (tm) of CTS (tm).
Covers all the basics, similiar to the Lemond Book (tm?)
It goes into position on the bike (tm),
training methods (tm), Nutrition (tm),
injury (TM) to mention a few(tm).
I did look at the Lance book but felt this one was
better (has Lance (tm) on the cover tho!)

Lotek(tm) aka Marty(tm)


:roflmao:

You da man lotek (TM) ! :D