by CycleOps Power Master Trainer, Charles "Joey" Adams

Indoors versus outdoors. Outdoors versus indoors, each type of training has advantages over the other. Yet, they both have the same training zones in common. What is a training zone, and why is it important? First, let’s start with the big advantage that indoors has over outdoors – one can easily argue it is the smooth “road” of the inside. When you are riding outside there are many variables, you work with and against wind, terrain, and a host of environmental, physiological and psychological factors. Inside you can control the environment and the terrain – thus, you can more readily work in specific training zones via the elimination of extraneous factors. Indoor training ensures your body is getting the prescribed stimulus of a specific training session. In contrast to the varying stimuli often created when the ride is outside.

from: Manuel Prado, La Ruta / Sho-Air / Economy Car Rental

7 days, 3 podium finishes and 5th overall. 4 Flat tires, 1 faulty Co2, 2 broken chains and a broken derailleur hanger: when you think about it, it is all a numbers game. But the reality is that the 2008 BC Bike Race was more than just numbers. Warm weather, plenty of fast riders, great food, awesome times with new and old friends, the best singletrack in the world along some of the best scenery Canada has to offer. This is what makes this race one of the best stage races out there.

CycleOps Power recently received a question for Dr. Lim in regard to his Calorie Calculator:

The premise of the article seems to be that so long as one can accurately assess carbohydrate expenditure for a given work output/duration, one can put it back through fuel taken on board.

Numerous variables are a factor to successful cycling, including the bike, appropriate training, mental toughness and proper nutrition. Principally, cycling is most dependent on the ability to generate power to the pedals. Power is dynamic and since your legs do most of the work, there are abundant training workouts done on the bike that focus on amping up that powerful pedal stroke. However, cyclists really rely on the capability to create pedaling power from where power originates . . . the abdominals and lower back. A strong core provides a sturdy platform for the lower body to drive power transfer to the pedals. Simply put, cycling relies on core strength but does not develop or sustain it. Therefore, it is critical to strengthen the core off the bike to maximize your power potential on the bike.

from Bruce Hildenbrand

It seems fitting that the rider who launched the biggest attack on the biggest climb of the biggest stage should win the 2008 Tour de France. And it is also appropriate for his team CSC Saxo Bank which put on a veritable bike racing 101 clinic in both the Pyrenees and the Alps to launch their squad into a winning position. Riders like Fabian Cancellara and Jens Voigt, who should be riding in the grupetto, were at the front setting the tempo on the huge, race-defining climbs. More than one noted climber was dropped by the pacesetting by these two big men.