I've witnessed an interesting evolution of the triathlete in my city (Memphis) over the past 10 years.

Flip back 10 or more years ago. Triathletes and cyclists typically did not ride together or sometimes even get along so well-- one group rode funny bars and the other group were scared of the wind and drafted all the time. To illlustrate, I saw a great bumper sticker that read "People Who Draft Are Probably Too Lazy to Lift the Toilet Seat to Pee." Ouch.

When the 2 groups did manage a group ride together they seemed to be in constant conflict over a ride's goals: one group wanted to sit on the front taking 10 minute pulls at 21 mph; the other sprinting for every stop sign and city limit sign.

At the time I had criticisms for both groups: triathletes needed to work on bike handling and riding faster top end speeds, roadies on their maximum sustainable power output (MSPO).

Fast forward a few years. Technological cross-pollination and race strategies started seriously intertwining these 2 groups. Roadies who previously laughed off time trials suddenly realized they could put themselves out of contention in a stage race if they didn't learn to buckle down for a prologue. As the ability to time trial has become more popular, and important, the road and triathlon community have begun sharing large amounts of technology in frames, wheels, helmets and information.

Today, it's very standard to see triathletes en masse at the "cycling" group rides. And they're on road bikes. If you check the Memphis landscape and ask "who are the triathletes turning the fastest bike splits" you'll be able to point back to the same group turning out for the group rides.

So what is the benefit of a triathlete "acting like a cyclist"?

Bike Handling
Riding in a group requires bike handling skills. Building these skills makes one more confident, safer and comfortable on a bike. The ability to negotiate turns, crosswinds and other riders can very useful when you're blasting through a course.

"Relaxation"
Don't think "hanging out at the spa" type of relaxation. This feeds off the "Bike Handling" bullet point. An athlete who is comfortable and relaxed on their bike is able to put 100% of their effort into their bike. A nervous rider burns valuable energy with their tightness and "twitchiness".

Speed
The typical cycling group ride is far from the aforementioned "10 minute pull at 21 mph" mindset. There are speed changes and, many time, lots of very fast riding. Old training methodologies-- where it was dictated that one must ride all day at a given pace-- are giving way to the benefit of higher intensity interval training. Look at the results of many Olympic triathlons and you'll notice the top age-groupers are very accomplished at riding a 40K.

Can you think of other benefits of triathletes hammering out the Tuesday Night Worlds with cyclists?

Living in a fair-weathered region of the country, many riders liken riding an indoor trainer to being put on a torture device. When you're accustomed to riding outside 300 days a year, it's difficult to switch gears and train indoors on a stationary device.

From a training perspective, however, the indoor trainer can be one the best tools for improving your form and fitness and should be a part of your year-round training program.

Did I say form AND fitness?
The high-cadence pedaling style that Lance brought focus to is a technique that was taught for years by John Walden. You can practice by doing 30 second to 2 minute sets of riding at 110-120 rpm. The idea is to pedal as fast as you can without bouncing on the saddle. Relax your hips and let your legs do the spinning. For the first few workouts, you may not be able to reach the target cadence without bouncing. Find the highest cadence that you can hold and work your way up from up from there. This is also a good time to make sure your saddle height is correct-- check your fit with the fitting experts at your local bike shop or your coach.

Isolated Leg Training aka Single Leg Pedaling
In addition to high-cadence workouts, you should also do one-legged exercises. This is a workout that is not suggested for doing on the road. The purpose of this workout is to improve the "roundness" of your pedal stroke by teaching the working leg to pull up at the back of the pedal stroke. An effective workout includes unclipping one leg and pedalling for 30 seconds to one minute, doing the same with the opposite leg then pedaling with both legs for 1-2 minutes.

Short Winter Days
As daylight disappears, riding the trainer spares you the inconvenience and dangers of strapping on lights and riding outdoors at night.

Time
Depending on where you live, the "meat" of an indoor workout may take as little as 1/2 or 1/3 of the time of an outdoor workout. Finding a road with the right terrain for your specific workout, in addition to such factors as wind, traffic and stop lights is never a problem on the trainer. Many high-intensity workouts can be completed in an hour on the trainer.

Focus
It's difficult to push yourself to your limits when you have to worry about motorists, potholes, traffic lights, dogs chasing you, etc. The trainer allows you the freedom to focus completely on the workout at hand and bring your intensity up in a controlled setting.

No Interruptions for Long Intervals
What do you do if your coach puts down a workout that requires long periods of time in a specific zone-- 60 to 90 minute tempo intervals. Maybe that's not difficult, but let's take some of the previous limiters for outdoor riding into account-- you work an 8-5 job, the workout is prescribed for a Wednesday and it's dark when you leave work.

Conclusion
Advantages of trainers include ability to perform a high-quality, uninterrupted workout in a shorter amount of time (than a road workout) and also allows a rider to work on their technique in a controlled environment.

I say "FREE" because there's always the catch, right?

In an effort to raise money and awareness for cancer research, Movember (moustache + November) encourages men to grow a 'stache and get attention for the cause.

Zyriek Coaching Services is joining in with our own 'stache and special offer.

Donate $50 to my Movember team, proudly sponsored by Handlebar Moustache, and receive "free" coaching for one month.

Back in the olden days the winter months were referred to as the "offseason". Today, athletes wisely realize that winter is merely a "different season"-- one where goals, workouts and focus change from the warmer months.

Making the effort to fill your schedule with a new variety of workouts can make next season even better than the current one. Here's a few items you can put on your to-do list this winter.

Perfect Your Pedal Stroke
Isolated leg training (riding with one leg-- please only do this on the trainer) helps generate power more evenly throughout the pedal stroke and removes some of the "jerkiness" from your pedal stroke

Increase Your Pedal Cadence
You don't have to ride like Lance, but the ability to ride higher cadences helps relieve "loading" on the legs and will also benefit your acceleration. Road riding is not a static sport and you should be able to adapt to these rapid cadence changes. The higher cadences will also enable you to recover faster from climbs or attacks.

Touch Your Toes
Prevent injury, improve your position and potentially increase your power output through improved flexibility. You also need supple muscles for #2-- high cadence riding.

Practicing yoga can prove to be a good strength workout while also stretching your muscles.

Learn to Eat and Drink on the Bike
Lots of folks have trouble with this one. During the winter months, you'll need to take in around 250-400 calories per hour during low- to moderate-intensity riding. The lower the intensity, the more solid food you can eat (PowerBars, etc.). As intensity increases-- you won't be doing this for several months yet-- you'll go to gels and liquid calories. A helpful tip is to set the timer on your watch to go off every 15 - 30 minutes. Try to take a drink of fluid about every 15 minutes and some food every 30 minutes. This is also the time to experiment with different foods/supplements on the bike to see how different products work for you.

For those who think you need to starve yourself on the bike during the winter; DON'T. Reducing your calories while training limits you to only performing very low-intensity excercise because your body needs carbohydrate for fuel at moderate- to high-intensities.

Learn How to Eat and Drink After a Ride
Recovery is one of the most vital components in your training program. Eating properly after each work helps you recover faster and ensures that the quality of your day-to-day workouts will remain consistently high. Take in 200-400 calories of a carbohydrate rich drink IMMEDIATELY following your intense or high duration workouts. Your goal is to replace the glycogen in your muscles that you depleted from your workout. Protein in your recovery drink (Endurox R4, for example) has been show to improve the replenishment of glycogen while also aiding in muscle repair.

Lose Weight
Winter is a perfect time to get leaner since the intensity of your workouts is lower and you’re engaging in workouts with a higher fat-burning ratio than summer workouts. Your diet should follow a periodization schedule just like your training program.

Get "Buff"
Many cyclists do not enjoy getting in the weight room and the "old schoolers" have perpetuated the idea that lifting weights should not be in a cyclist's regimen. However, numerous studies point to the benefits of strength training for endurance athletes. Look at resistance training to increase your overall power-to-weight ratio and absolute strength (hill climbing). If your excuse for staying out of the gym during the winter is a fear of gaining weight you might need to analyze your diet. Many cyclists gain weight in the winter because of a failure to modify their eating habits not because of resistance training. Increasing your lean body mass will also increase your basal metabolic rate so that you’ll burn more calories even at rest.

Weight-bearing exercise also helps increase bone mineral density. Research has indicated that through a season of racing, cyclists will lose bone density which can lead to easier fractures or other bone related issues later in life.

Learn to Ride a Paceline
Whether you’re a recreational cyclist or a serious racer, pacelining is one the most important skills related to successful group riding. A good paceline can make a Saturday morning group ride much more fun by involving everyone and it can be the difference in your team winning a race.

Run Like Forrest
In addition to resistance training, engaging in other modes of exercise will keep you fit in the winter and give you a mental break from riding. So, go run that half-marathon, hit that CrossFit class or splash around in the pool this winter.

Work on Hills
We are at a definite disadvantage in West TN with the hills. Make a point to improve your strength-to-weight ratio through resistance training and move to the hills as the season nears. Also, there are resistance workouts that can be done on the trainer which will prepare you for riding hills on the road-- think low cadence/high resistance, but be careful if your knees are a weak spot.

Love Your Indoor Trainer
I was recently speaking with a rider who is under the direction of Carmichael Training Systems. He indicated that on a training program that spanned January to September he had only done ONE day of intervals on the road. Is he riding well? Absolutely. Riding your indoor trainer gives you a super high quality workout that can be compromised by riding on the road with its various obstacles such as stop signs, traffic and varying weather conditions.

Make a Realistic Training Plan for the Year
Determine what you did last year and devise a real training plan to follow for the upcoming year. If you don't have a map to reach your goals, how will you ever reach them?

Fix Broken Body Parts
Now is the perfect time to fix that sore <<insert body part here>>. With a reduction in training volume, take time to visit your doctor and take care of the pains that have been nagging you during the season.

Get a Bike Fit
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" does not apply to your fit on the bike. Many riders are in positions that are very far from ideal. However, they may not feel the ache immediately because a lot of injuries in cycling are chronic-- ie, it takes 800,000 pedal revolutions before that knee finally cries Uncle. If your position is very far from where it needs to be, you could face a long transition period getting used to your new position. You don't want to do this during the racing/heavy training season when you'd be forced to reduce volume and intensity for 3-6 weeks.

Try Out That New <<insert bike part here>>
While in the middle of you training and racing season, you hate to disrupt your routine (or worse, open yourself up for injury) by trying out some piece of equipment that changes your relationship with the bike. Test out some new pedals, saddles, aero bars, etc. in proximity to the previous point (bike fit).

Play Your Guitar, Learn to Crochet....
The intense focus of the racing season does not give you much time or energy for other endeavors. Picking up that hobby you've been ignoring while on the bike all Spring and Summer gives you a great mental break and lets you come back to the bike with renewed motivation.

Start a Training Diary. If You Already Have One, Review It
With a training diary you'll be able to look at the weeks or days that lead up to a great ride... or a bad ride. Learn from these patterns and try to repeat, or avoid, them.

Learn How to Warm Up
Criteriums and time trials start with a high intensity effort from the beginning. Learn what works best for you so you can make the most of your pre-race routine next year.

It's not just a foot-shaking tune by R.E.M., it's now a proposal by the UCI

According to VeloNews "the UCI voted Wednesday [last week] to phase out the use of radio communication between riders and sport directors within elite men's road racing in the coming seasons."

I'm not a proponent of this move for a few reasons.

Safety
If you ever watch the Grand Tours I'm sure you've wondered how a massive peloton moving at 60 kph knows how to properly navigate a road island on a stretch of road they've never seen. Part of that is the warnings and directions chirped at the riders from their directors. I realize that people have raced for decades without radios, but road structures are becoming more problematic for riders and we can't underestimate the safety value in keeping riders informed.

Excitement
Fans love exciting racing as they much as they love all excitement in sports. How many times have you sat on the edge of your seat frantically cheering on that 4 man break that just rode 180 km and is now in danger of getting sucked back in 100 meters from the finish? Although the radios give an advantage to the peloton and we reduce the number of underdog breakaways succeeding, it sure makes for some darn exciting racing and this is what fans drink up.

Protecting Your Assets
Fans love their superstars. I could be incorrectly or pessimistically assuming here, but I think many rules in the NFL that are implemented to protect the quarterback are subconsciously done to protect the guys who are huge marketing tools and moving massive amounts of merchandise. Recall in the 2009 Tour when Saxo Bank's GC contender, Andy Schleck flatted at a crucial point in a stage? Had Riis not gotten on the horn and communicated with his team to get back and help Andy his Tour could have been over. In addition, if Andy had to broadcast through the peloton that he had flatted, there is the potential that his rivals would have attacked him. If you take Andy out at this point in the race then you remove one more threat to the mighty Astana train and the Tour becomes a little less exciting.

Not sure if anyone got any further updates. I don't have any news.

To add insult to injury, Janice's car battery died at the Med when she was trying to come home to get some things for Dave. After getting a jump from AAA, she made it home only have the battery die again. We managed to get her a new battery where apparently it was "dead battery day" at the Farmington AutoZone.

Janice said Dave was really tired today and she told me that "he'd really appreciate your visit on Monday" which I took to mean he just needed some rest and wanted to be left alone for a while. He was in the ER Trauma Assessment area at the Med from around 5pm yesterday to 3am. After my wife and I left at 11pm last night, Janice said the Med exploded with craziness-- lots of folks in handcuffs, arrests in the hospital corridors, etc. In order words, Dave did not get much quality rest at all. What a long day.

Okay, so someone brought the question up about his bike. His bike magically appeared at his house. I'm guessing thanks to Dustin or Maggi. I inspected his bike as best as I could but it's all gummed up-- apparently David sweats pure salt and cobra venom. If you're gonna find a hairline crack, you're gonna have to work through a few layers of manliness and the vanquished souls of weaker riders that have built up on that frame. I could not find anything wrong with his bike. I rode it up and down his street and it seemed to be okay. So that's a win at least.

Gary Z.

Hello All,

I just spoke with Dave's wife, Janice, and he's finally in a room at The Med.

He is in c-560.

We left the Med at 11pm last night and he had just finished a CT scan which did not show anything different regarding his pelvis fracture than the CT done at G'town.

The ortho surgeon spoke with Dave at 4am and said he is 95% certain that they won't have to do surgery on the pelvis. The goal is that they'd like to have PT work with Dave to see if they can get him up and moving today.

He may be at the Med until as long as Wednesday because of his chest tube that was required for his partially collapsed lung. The x-rays were possibly showing that he was up to 4 broken ribs instead of the 3 that were originally suspected.

He is still a little sedated but Janice thinks he'd love to see folks.

He seemed to be in decent spirits last night, all things considered. He was most frustrated because he was not allowed to eat or drink anything until they assessed whether he was going to have to have surgery. UGH, can you imagine finishing a 4 hour ride then not eating or drinking anything for 18 hours? Talk about bonk.

Dave's such a nice guy; I think he when he went down he was more concerned about keeping Maggi safe. The Finleys are taking care of Baby Grace right now so I'm guessing Dustin is getting is share of crazy girl time. 

Keep Dave in your prayers and try to swing by if you get a chance, I think he'd appreciate it.

Gary Z.

During my 15 years of racing I was "mostly" attentive to what I ate. However, being young and training in high volumes and intensities it was easy to cheat my diet. Once I got my proper take of complex carbs and lean meats along with some fruits and veggies my diet would become a hodge podge of ice cream, Lucky Charms or burritos. YUMMMM !!!!