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36 posts in Race prep
Racing in the cold and wet: staying warm enough to still be racing
Cold rain ends races for riders who were fit enough to finish them, and it usually does it on the descent rather than the climb. Losing your hands before you lose your legs, and the clothing decisions that are really race decisions.
Racing on consecutive days: how to recover between stages
The refuelling rules you can safely ignore in a normal training week become the whole game when you race again in eighteen hours. Glycogen arithmetic, what sleep is worth, and which recovery gadgets survive contact with the evidence.
How a breakaway actually works (and how to be in the right one)
Four riders should not be able to hold off sixty, and yet it happens every weekend. The drafting arithmetic that explains it, how to read which move has the right riders in it, and the through-and-off technique that keeps a group alive.
Your first track session: the boards, the fixed gear and the rules
No brakes, no freewheel, and a line painted on the boards that decides where you are allowed to ride. What an accreditation session involves, the two road-rider habits that catch everyone out, and why the banking holds you up.
Ultra-distance racing: sleep, pacing and the first 24 hours
Past about a day, the limiter stops being your legs. Sleep strategy and what deprivation actually costs you, pacing far below threshold, and the saddle and nerve problems that end more ultras than fitness ever does.
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