Michael Hanslip Coaching

If you want to go faster, you have to pedal harder

Riding cues #3

24/03/26 15:12 Filed in: Riding
Many cyclists are only happy if they're going hard. The reality is that most of the time most people training are going way too hard. It makes you tired so you suffer for the rest of the day and suffer in the next training session (thereby not achieving what you hope to achieve in that session).
 
An easy ride should be so easy that you can sing while you are riding. I often talk about "the singing test" because a recovery ride should be ridden at the singing speed - slow enough that you can always have enough breath for a song. A zone 1 training ride then becomes the talking test. If you are unable to speak in whole sentences, then you are likely going too hard.
 
Think about those cues the next time you are training. Can you sing or talk? I'd bet not.

Riding cues #2

05/03/26 20:26 Filed in: Riding
One that I have a hard time convincing racers to believe is that the best time to attack in a race is when you are hurting the most. Unless you are an amateur in the middle of a pro peloton, the people around you in a race are of similar ability to you. If you're hurting, they're hurting. A convincing attack at that point can be ultra-demoralising. Make them believe you have more than they do!
 
But, sometimes, all you need is that little edge and you've taken the win. I've never understood trying for a podium when a different strategy could return the win. First or last is my approach. And it has been last a lot of times when my strategy backfired. But sometimes it doesn't. And those days are glorious, even if you only beat your mates.

Riding cues #1

02/03/26 16:37 Filed in: Riding
As a coach I like to use cues for my riders to help them remember what they are meant to be doing in particular situations. One is "scraping mud off the sole of your shoe" when climbing seated. That image of mud removal helps people to get a long and powerful stroke. Sometimes these things get ingrained so permanently that the rider need never think of them again. For me, after 40 years of racing and riding, there are many I don't give a second thought to.
 
But there is one that I have to revisit regularly. I have this tendency to let the mountain bike accelerate under me in corners so I end up with my weight too far back. You really can't do much from the back "seat" (like in a car, it's hard to reach the controls). I've used different cues over the years depending on what worked for me on the day. I recently spent a week on my MTB and on day 1 I was doing this again. My cue this time was assisted by a photo of Jackson Goldstone on one of the chairlift poles advertising the Fox Rampage RS. In fact, I see he's the home page photo of the new helmet. In the picture, he has his outside (left) elbow bent and held high. That has never been my style, but for this week I emulated Jackie and realised you absolutely cannot hold the elbow up high and also have the weight back.
 
Perfect.

Tubeless is great, until it isn't

15/02/26 16:54 Filed in: Riding
I've been running MTB tyres without tubes for close to 20 years. I can count on one finger the occasion(s) that tubeless failed me on the fat tyres.
 
Road is different. Pressures are higher. And in Canberra, the number of items lurking on main roads that cause punctures is also way higher than any off-road scenario. The lure is strong. I used to interrupt road rides with nauseating regularity to replace a punctured tube. The combination of my weight and the glass fairies doing their job well meant never a month went past without a flat. Sealant should fill in any small holes - usually without the rider even noticing. That's the theory. Ride along secure in the knowledge that only a massive failure will spoil the flow. The reality is that I've had numerous occasions where all the sealant has leaked out of a small hole without sealing it or the sealant has dried up and even a tiny hole leads to a failure.
I thought I was pretty safe using Pirelli Cinturato 28s - they rank high on the puncture resistance list and also low for rolling resistance. I haven't had a ride spoiled while on Cinturatos. But I recently found a thorn in one and when I pulled the thorn out, no amount of holding my thumb over the hole while keeping it at the bottom of the wheel (where sealant will pool) could get it to seal. Not that much leaked out, but when opened up, there was hardly any free sealant inside.
Since I hit the kangaroo, I've not been keen to ride along the river because of all the 'roos along that stretch. Instead, I've been enjoying riding home on the road. But as mentioned, Canberra roads are a field of glass. (So ironic that a thorn caused the problem.)
I solved my problem in the short term by replacing the tyre with the one spare I had on hand, filling the tyre with the prescribed amount of sealant, and pumping it up. My intention is to clean up the old tyre, patch the hole with a patch and reintroduce it to service in a few months.
 
Pressure is the enemy of sealant sealing. Twenty psi in the MTB tyre is fine. Seventy psi in the road tyre is the limit. Less would be better. I would like to upsize my tyres (again) to downsize my required pressures. Not only for the peace of mind I'd get, but also for the smoother ride.

Training trade-off

04/02/26 20:20 Filed in: Riding
One of the unbreakable rules of fitness is that you must trade fitness for speed. No matter how you look at it, no person can do as much high intensity work as they do low intensity work. And it is the volume of work that determines fitness. In preparation for racing, or a specific race, winding back the volume to add intensity means winding back the fitness to introduce some speed. So you should "mean it" when you do it.
I'm writing this watching a ProTour event and I think one of the reasons they are SO fast recently is that training has changed to be far less about speed and far more about fitness. A large aerobic base can carry a cyclist at a high velocity without any actual speed work. And it can carry a cyclist through the grand tours better. There are a lot of things that go with this, so it is a separate topic, but the take-away message is that the more volume you do, the fitter you get. And to do more volume, without injury, means doing it at lower intensity.
 
Fortunately, you can add some good speed with as few as six sessions in the lead up to whatever you want to be fast for. And racing involves intensity - so you can get your speed "for free" if you don't mind underperforming in the early races.

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