Training & Nutrition - The best cycling tips in the world...ever!

This thread works like this:


Post your cycling and training tips here

All disciplines are welcome
Keep your post to the point
If you feel you need to go into debate regarding someone elses post, start a new thread and discuss it there. A link to the topic will be added to the post by the Administrator or a Moderator.
All posts not related will be removed.
This thread is ad infinitum


I'll start:

Hydration Tip: Prepare your drinks for the race the night before and refrigerate them overnight. Your body absorbs cold liquid faster.

Never ride clipless for the first time, in heavy traffic.

Change your grip position on the handlebars regularly during a long ride. This will help ease the pressure and stimulate blood circulation to your hands.

Try to keep your drinks at body temperature (37c). It takes a lot of energy out of your body to heat it up or cool it down if it's not around that level. Use the energy to push the pedals a bit harder instead.

Stretch your muscles as part of your cool down after each ride.

Drink plenty of water during the last two or three days leading up to your next race. This will ensure that you start the race properly hydrated.

Eat breakfast at least 2 hours before a race.

Take some dry clothes for after the race. Driving home in wet lycra isn't fun!!

I have many, I just can't be bothered typing them all down, lol... Your favourite tips???...

Enjoy your biking using whatever definition of "enjoy" you might like. Biking should not be a chore, but a pleasure.

Never poop without toilet paper
Ride more.

Never ride after pooping without toilet paper

always wash your shorts after riding after pooping without toilet paper

Take a piss before you depart on a ride !!

Eat before you're hungry, drink before you're thirsty. Poop before you're ready :D

Prepare your drinks for the race the night before and refrigerate them overnight. Your body absorbs cold liquid faster.


Try to keep your drinks at body temperature (37c). It takes a lot of energy out of your body to heat it up or cool it down if it's not around that level.

?????

All else fails: keep peddaling.

yeah i agree with bobatin... i dunno where you got that piece of pseudo-science from (i know you didn't originate it.. someone on cyclingforums did), but it does not take energy to heat up water. your body is generating heat from breaking down glucose anyways, so it's not like your body has to go into overdrive to "heat up" the water... it just heats up naturally through convective heating. On a hot day, in fact, one of the best things to conserve energy is by staying cool. now on a cold day, you want to keep your core temperature warm, because it does take energy to keep you warm.

yeah i agree with bobatin... i dunno where you got that piece of pseudo-science from (i know you didn't originate it.. someone on cyclingforums did), but it does not take energy to heat up water. your body is generating heat from breaking down glucose anyways, so it's not like your body has to go into overdrive to "heat up" the water... it just heats up naturally through convective heating. On a hot day, in fact, one of the best things to conserve energy is by staying cool. now on a cold day, you want to keep your core temperature warm, because it does take energy to keep you warm.



Well it does take more energy to heat up water. Your ambient temp will drop slightly and your body will have to compensate. This burns so few calories it wouldn't matter. So yes cold water causes you to spend more energy. No it does not make you slower. Yes it helps to drink cooler liquids. Pro's outway cons.

OK now back to the thread hehe (sorry):

Don't forget to breathe
Passively in, completely out.

Accelerate through the top of a hill.

Perfect circles.

Well it does take more energy to heat up water. Your ambient temp will drop slightly and your body will have to compensate. This burns so few calories it wouldn't matter. So yes cold water causes you to spend more energy. No it does not make you slower. Yes it helps to drink cooler liquids. Pro's outway cons.

Uh, if you are working hard enough to break a sweat, then you're generating enough heat that your body is actually trying to get RID of the heat. In fact sweating is a cooling mechanism (evaporation is an endothermic process). And sweating costs energy, believe it or not. This is why your heart rate is significantly higher in the heat at equal perceieved effort as in the cold... because your body is spending energy pumping blood to your sweat glands and pumping that water out of your pores. If you are sitting on the couch eating a gallon of ice cream watching the boob tube, then yes, you'll have to actually burn some calories to generate the heat. But pumping away at the pedals, you're generating more than enough heat to keep your body warm. That glass of ice cold water is a relief, not a burden.