Here are things I’ve heard (or maybe at times, even said myself) on group rides: “I need to drop 15 lb. And I’m not just talking about getting a lighter bike – the very definition of diminishing returns – I’m talking about the agonizing pursuit of a smaller waistline in the name of performance. (Remember Tyler Hamilton’s suggestion to chase sleeping pills with lots of fizzy water after a ride to keep from snacking before dinner?)īut what doesn’t make sense is that club racers, many of whom I race with, seem to share this same obsession. That’s why for pros, figuring out how to train and keep weight off seems to be as important a skill as moving up in the bunch. This focus on weight makes sense: when the road goes up, the draft’s effect is limited and unwanted pounds act as anchors, dragging you to the back of the bunch, and then out the back. Thomas’s book is filled with such anecdotes, all of which drive home the point that to be competitive as a pro, you wage a constant battle of the bulge. The pros dream of the day when they can retire and do the same. Longingly, the riders stare at the club riders tucking into their carb-heavy meals after a day of riding. After a hard day doing interval training, riding up and down a volcano, he and his teammates spin back to the hotel, passing by tourists having pizza and beer on a patio. In one memorable scene in Gerraint Thomas’s book, The World According to G, he describes training on Tenerife with his Sky teammates.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |