by Robbie Ventura

Well I spent some – actually a ton of – time in the wind tunnel with VQ aero expert Jim Sauls and the King of Aero himself, Steve Hed. Steve is one who lets the results speak for themselves. He was the one who dialed in Lance Armstrong’s aero position for the last six tours, and he’s spent the last three years working with Levi Leipheimer and the top triathlete in the world. Not to mention he and his wife also have personal experience with Ironman racing! We also brought along VQ’er Bob Weeks, an MIT grad who added great insight to the project. With all this brain power (Jim, Steve and Bob’s brain power, not mine!) I knew the fancy words and complicated equations wouldn’t take long to overwhelm me; in reality it only took about 10 seconds until I was lost. Reynolds numbers, drag coefficients, lenticular designs, boundary layers, K-factors and every other imaginable term were being thrown around constantly, and we joked that we needed to get a helmet made of ice for all the experts to keep their heads from overheating. All these guys were great to work with, and the time I spent with them and Mike Giraud at the A2 tunnel was some of the most productive and educational time I have had as a coach.

by Kristin Hilger

For the past few weeks I have been adding more high intensity anaerobic training, including more 30 second, 800 meter and 2 mile maximal efforts to my training on the bike. My upper end power and anaerobic capacity are lacking in comparison to my endurance capacity. This could be expected since I am a true product of my experience (I’ve kept my focus on the longer distance triathlons since I first started). In addition to wanting to improve those factors alone, I wanted to explore the training theory that explosive exercise will also raise my lactate threshold and have beneficial physiological and neuromuscular adaptations to improve my endurance performance. Additionally, by varying power output (either inadvertently or not) during a race, you can save time and energy. Therefore, by working on my short burst accelerations and efforts I can gain a greater anaerobic capacity and complimentarily improve my endurance racing.

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.