One-Hour Workout: Bike Tempo And Cornering Skills Session
This bike workout will reinforce skills and teach you how to pace yourself.
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This week’s workout comes from Tim Edwards, the head coach for North Coast Endurance Coaching (NCEcoaching.com) and the Cleveland State University Triathlon Team in Cleveland, Ohio. He uses this bike workout to reinforce skills and teach athletes how to pace themselves. “This workout is a skills session intertwined with a tempo session,” Edwards says. “All triathletes need to continually develop or practice their bike handling skills. For my athletes doing draft-legal racing, this session can also be done with a small or large group. The group needs to keep the tempo restrictions into place so it does not turn into a race.”
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Bike Tempo and Cornering Skills Session
Warm-up
10-15 minutes progressively building into HR Zone 3.
Main Set
Find a set of low traffic streets, an industrial park or a large parking lot. Set up a small route of 1-2 miles or shorter that has lots of turns on it. Ride your course in HR Zone 3, paying attention to the turn mechanics on each corner. The goal is to continually go faster thru the corners by varying the body lean, weight distribution and bike positioning to find the fastest line. Be sure to brake prior to entering the turn. Ride the same route for 10-15 minutes then reverse it (if it is safe to do so with traffic). Keep the pace in HR Zone 3 throughout. If using power, try not to overdue it powering out of the corners in this workout by pushing into Power Zone’s 5-6.
Cool-down
Cool down and stretch while your muscles are still warm.