Tailwind Coaching

Giro d’Italia Modular Training Special

[dc]M[/dc]ay means the Giro d'Italia is looming on the horizon and spring has arrived in a big way. The spring classics are behind us and we turn from the slippery cobbles, the leg breaking bergs and the sharp Ardennes pitches to the serene beauty of Italy. Now the goal is not to win on any given day, but to survive the long haul, bringing home the ultimate prize: the Maglia Rosa. And of course, there's an amazing phenomenon observed during a grand tour: people are inspired by the efforts of the professional cyclists they're watching on TV, plying their trade on some of the most beautiful terrain in the world.

If you're one of those people who uses the Giro for motivation and you want to get a little more out of your spring training blocks, now's your chance: the sun is shining high in the sky and motivation is pouring out of the TV right now. Don't miss the chance to boost your fitness and ride your buddies off your wheel like Vincenzo Nibali, Ryder Hesjedal or Nairo Quintana.

Below you'll find your Giro 2016 discount code, active during the entirety of the Giro d'Italia, May 6 to May 29, 2015.

Sorry, the Giro isn't happening now!

Tags: power, training|

Cycling Efficiency Tips (Podcast #14)

Mainstream advertising has led us to believe that we have to buy things to make us faster: wheels, bike frames, helmets and special clothing are all touted as the quick way to get faster. It's also a quick way to drain your wallet. But if you're looking to invest in some speed, most of you know that you can't go wrong with hiring a coach or following a structured training plan. What you may not know is that you can squeeze even more speed, power and endurance out of the fitness you already have or you can raise the bar on our structured training by increasing your efficiency.

Defined as “accomplishment of or ability to accomplish a job with a minimum expenditure of time and effort”, raising your efficiency will allow you to ride faster, raise your functional threshold power (FTP) and feel fresher at the end of a long ride so you can contest that final sprint. But how do we accomplish this? Today's podcast will discuss how to become more efficient on the bike, including:

Positive vs negative self talk
Learning to relax
Neuromuscular efficiency
How to integrate these concepts into your training

Comments and questions are always welcome.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:13 — 18.9MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Tags: Coaching, podcast, training|

Counterfeit Cycling Retailers Shut Down

[dc]I[/dc]t's pretty well known that there's a large market of counterfeit cycling products, mostly coming out of China. What's been debated endlessly over internet forums and group rides are the merits of buying and using these counterfeit products, who it hurts, and if these products are really "OEM" (original equipment manufacturers) versions of the retail products you can purchase at your local bike shop. Opinions vary from the "sure, I'll try anything" to "you're as bad as a serial killer for purchasing these" and everything in between.

Most interestingly, there's been very little done about these counterfeits thus far. Sure, Ebay will occasionally take down a listing that's been reported enough times or a major manufacturer (Specialized and Pinarello jump to mind) will issue a release stating that their products are being copied and you should beware of the fraudsters. Until now, there hasn't been any active enforcement or shutting down of these Chinese retailers.

Until now, that is…

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Tags: components, internet, news|

Installing the SRAM Yaw Front Derailleur (Podcast #13)

By now the new SRAM Red group has been available for about a year (if you recall it was introduced last year and ridden to great success by Tom Boonen in the spring classics.) I've been using the shifters for a year now, and the front derailleur for only a few months less. However, there is still some confusion about how to install the front derailleur properly.

Installing the Yaw derailleur isn't vastly different than installing your garden variety front derailleur (which is really every other one on the market) but there are some subtle differences that vastly change the unit's function. Without taking these special steps into account, users may be significantly frustrated by the poor shifting performance and constant chain rub.

After the jump, we'll go step by step through the installation process.

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Tags: components, podcast, video, wrenching|

The Sweet Taste of Victory…

Or the bitter sting of defeat?

It's been a psychologically (and let's be honest, physically) difficult week post Battenkill. Sure, there's the usual post-event down swing that accompanies any event that you've spent the better part of half a year preparing for. But between the elation of watching my coached athletes succeed at America's toughest one day race and the misery of abandoning America's toughest one day race, it's been a psychological tug-o-war. And there have been constant reminders to deal with: the Strava comments, teammates wondering what happened and the depressing WKO+ upload.

While it's been difficult to sort through the myriad of self discussions going on in my head, the ultimate irony was hearing Lou Reed's “Perfect Day” come across my iPod while cleaning the Cambridge mud off my frame. And since the process of washing, drying and polishing a frame is hardly difficult or attention demanding work, I was able to really listen to the lyrics for the first time in a long time, extracting a lot of meaning out of those forty-one year old lyrics.

Just a perfect day, you made me forget myself
I thought I was, someone else, someone good

For days I've racked my brain, trying to come to grips with the crushing mental defeat that comes with abandoning a race. That bitter sting of defeat has been nagging me like a hangnail since I lay curled up on the side of the road. The first thoughts to go through my head were not of the difficulty breathing, or the pain squeezing my torso like a pair of vise grips, but more of the mental pain of failing to accomplish a goal. I'm competitive, if not with those around me, with myself. I had set a goal and I would not be able to complete it. In the moment, I felt at the very least I was letting down friends, family and teammates, lest of all myself. I felt all the work I had done, all the time I had spent designing and following my specific training plans, and all the planning I had put into the weekend was washed away in a sea of bad luck and uncontrollable circumstances. There was a moment in which a single tear slid down the side of my face as I pounded on the ground in frustration.

I trained and fought for the better part of five months just to get to where I was, and I know my form was high. Would I have won my field? No. Could I have been on the podium? Probably not. Could I have finished with a top 10 placing? Maybe. Top 20? Definitely. The only thing holding me back was….my back; a previous injury that I have been coping with for a year now, which I had described previously in these pages. In reality, there wasn't much I could do (having thought I had everything under control), except take some lessons from the whole debacle.

To look at things in a different light, we take another page from Lou's book:

Oh, it's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spent it with you
Oh, such a perfect day, you just keep me hanging on
You just keep me hanging on.

It was serendipitous to fall like a soldier in combat by the side of the road. It allowed me to focus on pushing others through their races, watching their successes and encouraging their performances, allowing me to push away the feelings of defeat. The successes of others provided me a way to just keep hanging on, which was just what I needed at that moment.

That's the thing about racing. You have successes and failures. You fight and usually you lose, but sometimes you win. The biggest lesson it can teach us is how to swallow our shattered pride, pick ourselves up off the pavement (or in this case pavé) and reload our guns for the next fight.

Marcellus Wallace put it best:

The night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting. That's pride fucking with you. Fuck pride. Pride only hurts. It never helps. You fight through that shit.

You fight through that shit. And when you do, you realize that you're stronger and more thoroughly prepared for the next time pride comes calling. It's that preparation that silences the bitter sting of defeat and allows you to savor the sweet taste of victory.

Have you swallowed the bitter pill that is defeat? Talk about it in the comments:

Tags: injury, Motivation, racing|