I have absolutely no professional training as a coach or trainer and have never even read any of Chris Carmichael’s training articles. Obviously he is an authority on cycling training for competition, but I just don’t have the time to read those wordy articles!

That being said, at this point in my cycling life, at age 47 I can say that I feel weight training has helped me to be a better cyclist. For the last 3 years I have been on a ‘comeback’ after racing and training heavily from 1987 to 1995, then sort-of falling off the wagon while coaching a zillion rec-league team sports with my kids. In the ‘falling off’ period I rode my bike now and then and gained almost 30 lbs.

A big part of the ‘comeback’ effort is weight training in the months of December through February with indoor trainer efforts and outdoor riding (weather permitting) mixed in.

All I can say is at 6’4” tall and 200 lbs, I am within 5 lbs of my racing weight of 1991 and almost as fast. I ride slightly smaller gears on long climbs now and pack a 39/25 which would have gotten me laughed at back in the day…

I think the weight training helps with power and if nothing else, gives one something to do at the gym when you cant’ ride!