Tag: smart cycling
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Why the Smartest Cyclists Rest When Everyone Else Trains
Every fall, the same conversation starts circling through group rides and coaching groups: “Don’t take too much time off.” Some programs even claim the off-season is where you “get ahead,” or that you can only afford one real break a year if you want to keep progressing. It sounds logical. It feels productive. But it’s…
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Durability Wins Races — The Untapped Power After FTP
Why the real advantage starts when your FTP stops working. The Race That Taught Me What Really Wins It was the final lap of the 2025 Canadian Masters National Road Race — an attritional day stacked with climbs, heat, and surges that felt more like trench warfare than sport. By the third hour, everyone was…
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Building the Launch Pad: My System for 2026
From the Lab Series Recap In Part 1 — FTP Isn’t a Ceiling, It’s a Launch Pad, I challenged the idea that FTP is a finish line. It’s not a number to hold — it’s a system to launch from. That post reframed performance as metabolic integration: the ability to surge, clear, and sustain above…
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FTP Isn’t a Ceiling — It’s a Launch Pad
Part 1 The Ceiling Myth For most riders, FTP is the number. The one they test, brag about, and chase like a badge of identity. But the more I trained and tested, the clearer it became: FTP isn’t a ceiling — it’s a launch pad. When I used to train to FTP — building up…
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Surge and Clear: The Smart Rider’s Secret Weapon
How the ability to recover while riding hard wins races — not FTP There’s a reason I felt stronger than ever at Road Nationals this year. It wasn’t just because I’d built a solid FTP or spent months riding tempo. It was because I’d learned how to surge and clear — to attack, settle, and…
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Tempo Training: Why the “Grey Zone” Is Actually Gold
The Grey Zone Myth If you’ve been around cycling training long enough, you’ve probably heard this advice: “Avoid the grey zone.” The argument goes like this: tempo is too hard to recover from, but not hard enough to stimulate real gains. Better to stick to pure endurance on one side, or threshold/VO₂max work on the…