BikeTechReview.com

Missed part one?  Read it here, first. 

In general, I’ve found that it doesn’t seem as if there are any truly unique adaptations between the following raise the left types of rides.  I try to keep it basic and believe that if one doesn’t go hard enough (i.e, going into the red zone) on a pretty regular basis they are likely missing out on some time efficient ways to achieve great physiological adaptations such as increased capillary density (additional pathways for blood to deliver oxygen) and increased mitochondria density (improved aerobic respiration for a given amount of delivered oxygen). 

I've been racin' bikes competitively since 1991 – during that time, I've tried lots of crap when it comes to training and performance.  For example, I've used a sledgehammer (25+hrs a week) - I've limited my HR below a certain level "building my base" and laying a foundation for the "hard stuff" to come.  I've done 3 wks on 1wk off – 3 days on 1 day off.  Macrocycles, microcycles – dun that! 

Words by Kirk Willett

Aerobic metabolism provides nearly all the fuel we use to run our bodies.  We can only live for a few minutes without the constant energy supply derived from aerobic respiration.  It is why we have to breathe!  Endurance sport performance places a premium on aerobic respiration and its ability to convert the energy in food into a form our body can use.  It may not be intuitively obvious, but even maximal efforts as short as seventy-five seconds are primarily powered by aerobic energy systems (Gastin, 2001).  As a result, a primary goal of any endurance sport training program involves the building of one’s aerobic engine.  On the most basic level, mitochondria are our aerobic engines.

Almost two years ago during the summer of 2004, I began fiddling with SRM power meter based field tests in an effort to see how this methodology might be used to evaluate the aerodynamic characteristics of different cycling positions.  I was never really satisfied with the results I obtained along the way – the downfall, for me, of this testing approach was too much variability (e.g. – even the slightest breeze effects results) and therefore, too much time involved to generate meaningful results.  In an effort to reduce and/or compensate for ambient wind conditions, I attempted to measure wind speed while conducting my field test trials.  The wind speed measurement didn’t seem to help things much; however, along the way I was successful in demonstrating that the flow in front of a cyclist stagnates.