Cycling

‘You Can 100% Focus on Cycling Now.’ Elisa Longo Borghini on the State of Women’s Cycling

From Velo.OutsideOnline.com

The Italian national road race champion joins the Bobby & Jens podcast this week.

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ot long ago, to be professional cyclists, most women had to simultaneously take on second careers.

Luckily, things have changed considerably in just a handful of years.

“It’s a bit a sign of the times,” says Italian national road race champion Elisa Longo Borghini on the latest episode of the Bobby & Jens podcast.

“Most of the time in the past, you had to have a second career, because you didn’t have minimum salary, maternity leave, and so on. So you had to create your own second chance if you couldn’t be the best in cycling.”

Thanks to those developments and guarantees for athletes in the top level of cycling, they can now focus solely on one job.

“Right now, with the minimum salary and everything being settled, you can 100 percent focus on cycling,” Longo Borghini says.

That’s had a direct impact on the quality of racing.

With the ever increasing quality of competition and professionalization of the sport, training now takes up most of the remaining time for female cyclists, as it does for men in the sport’s top levels.

“In between races we are always a bit busy,” Longo Borghini says.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

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Whoa There, Chief! Watch Where You’re Driving! This Gift Guide Is for Bikes!

From Slate.com

People who cycle for transportation, to say nothing of dedicated hobbyists, don’t let weather get in their way. But in many places, it’s not just “raining” right now—it’s freaking freezing. It’s wet. It’s icy. Maybe there’s snow. Maybe snow is in your eyes! Given that the people in cyclists’ lives right now may be on the hunt for gifts, we turned to Slate’s sizable stable of bike enthusiasts for advice on the gifts that could make a difference in the coming months. Their recommendations are below.

Something to Keep You From Slipping on That Giant Patch of Ice: Schwalbe Marathon Winter Plus Tires

Lots of cyclists gush over these tubeless folding Schwalbe tires, which get high marks for being grippy and sturdy yet fast. You do need a tubeless-compatible wheel to pop these on, but if you’re set there, you’ll find these to be exceptionally durable and resistant to wintertime air leakage. (Note that you can still use an inner tube if you are not into running tubeless tires.)

Something to Keep Your Tires Pumped Up: Lezyne Micro Floor Drive Digital HVG

Getting a flat is never fun, but it’s even worse when it’s freezing outside and you don’t have a way to reinflate a low tire or fill a spare tube. That’s why, if you’re going to be romping around in the winter, you’re going to need a good pump. This one is small, lightweight, and comes with a digital pressure gauge so you know exactly how much air to put in. An essential if you want to keep your winter tires fully locked and loaded.

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The True Cost Of Cycling & Buying All The Gear

Are you just getting started with cycling or thinking about getting into the sport? Alex and Ollie are here with our ultimate beginner guide. They cover all the things you need to become a road cyclist, including what to look out for when buying a bike, helmet, kit and all the other essentials you’ll need to enjoy riding your bike to the fullest!

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Focus on these 5 key areas of training to become a better road cyclist

From BikeRadar.com

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With all its terminology and techniques, road cycling training can seem complicated.

But there are only a handful of areas of road bike training you need to focus on, whether you want to complete a sportive or increase your average speed.

In this guide, we identify the key areas of road cycling training

  • Endurance
  • Climbing
  • Sustained efforts
  • Sprinting
  • Recovery

We explain why they matter and suggest workouts to improve your ability in each area.

We’ve spoken to coaches Matt Clinton and Pav Bryan, and Wahoo sport scientist Mac Cassin, to simplify road cycling training for you.

5 keys areas of road cycling training

1. Endurance

Cycling is an endurance sport. Even track cyclists will do base training when they’re not competing to improve their endurance and receive the additional benefits of long, slow rides.

Zone 2 riding increases the amount of oxygen you can deliver to your muscles, which helps you ride at higher intensities for longer, and enhances your ability to use fat for fuel, reducing your risk of bonking.

Therefore Bryan, of Coach Pav Cycle Coaching, says almost every rider, not just those targeting ultra-endurance cycling events, will gain from working on their stamina.

Suggested workout

Bryan recommends spending as much time in zone 2 as possible for multiple hours: four to five hours is a good target for amateurs to build towards.

It’s easiest to stay in zone 2 by training with power and tracking watts on your bike computer.

But if you don’t have a power meter, Bryan suggests using a heart rate monitor or rating of perceived exertion while applying steady force to the pedals.

Photo by Coen van de Broek on Unsplash

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The GREATEST Display Of Cycling Skill We’ve Ever Seen? | GCN Racing News Show

Thibau Nys has hit the big time with a win at the first UCI Cyclo-cross World Cup of the season, and he did it in some style, riding the steps and a 100% gradient climb on the technical Waterloo course. There were also more wins for Jasper Philipsen at the Tour of Türkiye and plenty of other news as the road racing season draws to a close.

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HUB Cycling: Switching to bike commuting could save you $9,200 a year

From BurnabyNow.com

By Lisa Storey

As people around the region continue to grapple with rising housing costs and the growing challenge of affordability, it’s essential to find innovative ways to address these issues.

One such solution lies right under our noses — cycling. At the end of August, gas prices in Vancouver soared to the highest they have been at $2.13 per litre at many stations.

British Columbia’s consumer price index (CPI), representing changes in prices as experienced by consumers, was 3.8 per cent higher (unadjusted) in August 2023 than in August 2022, with the most significant inflationary increases being:

  • Food: an increase of 6.3 per cent
  • Health and personal: an increase of 5.9 per cent
  • Shelter: an increase of 5.1 per cent

As many people look for unique ways to cut costs, non-profit organization HUB Cycling suggests a sometimes overlooked solution to easing the blow of Metro Vancouver’s affordability crisis: bike commuting.HUB Cycling’s recent Pedaling Towards Equity report finds that people can save up to $9,200/year by switching their main mode of transportation to commuting by bike.

Photo by Eduardo Alemán on Unsplash

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6 Cycling Traditions That Should Make A Comeback

Do you miss how cycling used to be in the good old days? Conor and Dan pick out six trends and traditions that they think should be brought back to make cycling great again! Socks, sunglasses and TT bikes are all in the firing line. We also have news of the weirdest bike ever, white shorts done well and a young Australian cyclist’s amazing ride!

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How To Master Riding Out Of The Saddle

How do you ride out of the saddle? It’s an essential skill for cycling but tricky to get right. In this video, we’ll cover the basics along with some handy tips and tricks to help you ride out of the saddle comfortably and with ease!

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On Bicycling: Pedaling Canyon Scenic Drive Amid Soaring Walls Of Rock At Zion National Park

From LVSportsbiz.com

By Alan Snel

Heaven is a mere three hours from Las Vegas.

I’ll get to the punch line quick here — it’s bicycling Zion National Park in southwest Utah, a heavenly piece of nature that wows, inspires and drops jaws with its to-the-sky walls of rock, are-you-kidding Angels Landing trail, The Narrows and its dramatic, steep red cliffs. And yes, it’s only three hours of driving from Las Vegas.

On August 27, 2022, Anna and I drove to Zion. And here is our story.

We left Las Vegas very early. As in 3AM early and we rumbled along Interstate 15 north of Mesquite when Anna caught a nap.

She draped a sheet over her head and the Shroud of Anna was snoozing nicely as the first light of the day edged its way above the eastern horizon in St. George.

The Shroud was up and at ’em when we drove through Springdale, the doorstep into Zion, and waited only five minutes to enter the park at 7 AM.

Anna is a mountain bike ninja, but we pedaled road bicycles on the floor road of the Virgin River valley.

Photo by Danika Perkinson on Unsplash

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6 Cycling Mistakes You NEED To Avoid

There are plenty of pitfalls to trip up on when you’re getting into the beautiful sport of road riding. Wearing the wrong kit, forgetting to eat, and the list goes on! Conor is here to share a few of these so you don’t make the same mistakes as him!

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