Success cycling on a century or other bike ride involves:

	Physical Training
	Healthy Nutrition
	Proper Equipment
	Mental Preparation

This collection of articles on these topics will help you achieve success in your cycling event(s). I’m building the library so check back frequently.

General

Mastering and Finishing Endurance Bicycle Rides—John Hughes, Final preparations for a bicycle ride of 100 km or longer and how to manage the ride to a successful finish.

Stop Cycling’s Showstoppers—John Hughes, Cycling showstoppers can largely be eliminated on a century or brevet by learning how to prepare for bike rides and how to deal with cycling problems on the road.

Physical Training

New   Event Selection—John Hughes, How to select and prioritize centuries, brevets, double centuries and other events.

New   Core Strength Training—John Hughes, Illustrations of core strength exercises. A strong core provides a stable platform to anchor the leg muscles, increasing power, and supports the upper body, reducing upper body fatigue.

1. Basic Core Strength Training—Basic exercises to learn movement patterns and develop core strength without any equipment.
2. Advanced Core Strength Training—Advanced exercises using a Stryofoam roller and an exercise ball to develop core strength.

Stretching—John Hughes, Illustrations of seven key stretches, especially those for muscles prone to cramping, plus other beneficial stretches.

Effective Cycling Training Varying the Intensity—John Hughes, PDF of the talk delivered at the 2011 International Conference on Cycling and Health in Shanghai and at three other universities.

Cramping, how to prevent and treat—John Hughes, What to do before and during a ride to prevent cramps and how to break and flush one if it strikes you.

Peaking for Endurance Cycling Events—John Hughes, Effective training is the least amount of riding to necessary to result in continuing improvement.

Beyond the Century, How to Train—John Hughes, Training for and riding brevets from 200 km to 1200 km and longer.

Brevet(s) & Double Century(s), John Hughes, a two-part article:

1. Brevet & Double Century—Basic training for a brevet and double century.
2. Fast Brevet & Double Century—How to train for a fast brevet or fast double century.

Effective Training Rides, Warren McNaughton & John Hughes, a two-part article:

1. Set Specifc Objectives—How to set training objectives before key bicycle rides, listen to your body while cycling and document what you learn.
2. Sample Training Objectives—For cycling a brevet series.

Intensity, How to Incorporate—John Hughes, The best training is to vary the intensity while cycling from very easy endurance rides to fast, hard rides.

Massage for Cycling—John Hughes, How to do self-massage for recovery from cycling.

Older Riders, Training For—John Hughes, Training for older bicycle riders (age 50+) using Peter Lekisch as an example. Lekisch was the first 60+ cyclist to finish the solo Race Across AMerica.

Recovery: A two-part article:

1. Nutrition—Ed Burke, Ph.D. & John Hughes, Theory and practice applied to cycling including training, long rides and multi-day events.
2. Non-Nutrition—Massage, stretching, applying heat and ice and other techniques for recovery from cycling.

Healthy Nutrition

Eating & Drinking Like the Pros—John Hughes, How to Make Your Own Sports Food & Drink—Nutritional insight from pro cycling teams.

Nutrition Mantras for Endurance—John Hughes, No matter how hard you train if you don’t fuel properly, finishing a long ride will be difficult. Follow these mantras for nutrition for endurance cycling.

Eating for 100 km and Beyond—John Hughes, What to eat before, during and after a cycling event.

Eating for Events—Susan Barr, Ph.D., RDN & John Hughes, How to estimate your energy requirements and eat on every 24-hours for cycling events.

Experiment of One—John Hughes with commentary by Susan Barr, Ph.D., RDN, Personal example of solving nutrition problems while cycling.

Calorie Estimator—Download spreadsheet to calculate total calories burned while cycling based on distance, average speed, total climbing and rider weight.

Proper Equipment

Bike Fit—John Hughes, How Andy Pruitt at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine assesses cyclists and sets up their bicycles.

Equipment for Long Rides—Ken Bonner, Bicycle equipment for brevets and long other long cycling events:

• Faster, lighter Selecting the bicycle
• Getting There Shipping the bicycle and navigating during brevets
• Bits and Pieces Preparing the bicycle and the accessories
• Prevention and Managements Flat tires and pain during brevets
• Lessons Learned Tips from bicycle riders

Testing Equipment for Long Rides—Warren McNaughton & John Hughes, How to test and perfect cycling equipment and clothing before the season.

Points of Contact—John Hughes, Advice on avoiding discomfort on the butt, hands and feet while cycling.

Randonneuring Bike—Jan Heine, What makes a good randonneuring bicycle.

Equipment for 1200 km—Mark Vande Kamp, Jan Heine & Alex Wetmore, A survey of cycling equipment in PBP 2007. Which types of bicycles were faster? Which had the highest DNF rate?

Generator Lights—Jan Heine & Andreas Oehler, Testing the efficiency of generator hubs for bicycles.

Mental Preparation

Not Fun?—John Hughes, What do to when a bicycle ride stops being fun.

Mental Training Techniques, John Hughes, A five-part article:

1. Calming the Emotions—How to breath and relax before and during bicycle rides.
2. Gathering Energy—How to ride in the moment and feel energized.
3. Managing Pain—How to use breathing to ride through painful moments while cycling.
4. Creating a Positive Attitude—How to use thoughts and images to improve performance while cycling.
5. Visualizing an Event—How to preview the physical and emotional sides of a bicycle ride.