Motivation

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Breaking Through The Cycling Plateau (Podcast #61)

When your training is going great, nothing can crush your motivation like hitting a cycling plateau.  Those weeks where you just can't seem to find a couple more watts, a couple more tenths of a MPH, or a few more seconds on that climb can be hugely demoralizing.  But you have to realize that plateaus are a normal part of training progression and that progression can't progress forever in a linear fashion.

In this podcast, I'll teach you a couple of important things.  You'll learn the questions to ask to determine if you've sabotaged your own fitness gains or if you're truly stuck on a cycling plateau.  If your fitness is stagnant, you'll find out how to roll with the situation and break through the plateau.

Click through for the show notes, and I encourage you to subscribe to the Tailwind Coaching Newsletter, because I'll be providing you with a series of workouts to help you punch through your cycling plateau!

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Getting Back in the Saddle After a Crash

About 8 weeks ago I was post surgery for a busted clavicle and in the midst of a five day hospital stay after crashing out of the Cherry Blossom Challenge.  About 3 weeks ago I got back on the trainer for the first time since the accident, and since then I've been progressively trying to turn around 5 weeks of absolute inactivity (healing doesn't count for inactivity though…)

It's been an eye-opening experience, to say the least, and it's made me think long and hard about the process I've been going through.  Click through to read deeper into it: (more…)

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The Cost Of Bike Racing? (Podcast #56)

So you're thinking about racing a bike, but you're concerned about the cost.

You're not the only one, apparently.

Recently, an article in the UK based Telegraph caused a little bit of a stir in the cycling world, claiming that the cost of racing was approximately £25,000.  £25,000!!  Adjusted to USD, that's around $39,000!  That's a salary for a lot of people!

And that's completely insane.

There's no earthly reason racing a bike needs to cost that much.  In fact, if you read other articles by the same author, you get a different impression: the author is racing at an elite level, attempting to recapture a lost opportunity of his youth.  He's not starting off racing a Cat 5 criterium, or a weekend stage race where you're competing against other guys who are coming out to have a little fun and maybe sprint for a pair of tires.  We're talking two different worlds here.

But the article did get me thinking about what IS the cost of racing a bike?  And if you wanted to start racing a bike today, what would you need to lay out in terms of dollars and cents.  That's what I'll explore in today's podcast, along with some helpful tips to get you ready to race for the first time.

Click through for a breakdown of what it takes to race on the elite level, and what you need to race on the local level:

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Crashing Out

Crashing out is a terrifying thing to experience, but it's something that every racer, at some point in their career will experience.  I'd heard the stories, read about the pros' trials and tribulations in returning from crashes and comforted friends and teammates who suffered ill fortune and broken bones.  I've even tasted the bitter pill of defeat before: A couple  years ago I released a podcast in which I described the ignominy of DNFing a race.  Almost 2 years to the day I last DNFed a race, I did it again, but this time it was something a little bit different.

This time I crashed out, or more specifically, I WAS crashed out.

And this time, my season crashed out with it.  You can see in the video below the sequence of events that put me on the sidelines for 3 months:

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Saying Goodbye To A Helmet

Post crash, one of the hardest things for me is saying goodbye to a helmet.  You see, for me, throwing away an old helmet is like saying goodbye to an old friend.  It sounds strange, but there's something intensely personal about a helmet, almost moreso than any other piece of kit.  Sure, someone will point out your bibs are more personal, and they may well be from a physical standpoint.  But from a mental standpoint, I think the helmet is your closest confidant.

Think about it: it protects your most valuable asset (your brain) and it has an inherently intimate contact with your body in the process of doing that job.  Nothing in cycling is worse than the feel of a poorly fitting helmet, which can dig into your head, pinch your skin, chafe or flop around.  Finding the perfect fit, the perfect colour, the perfect shape are a time-consuming process that leads many to purchase several of the same helmet to ensure a steady supply of them.

But spending a little time with your helmet can change it from a piece of kit to a trusted friend.

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