If you want to prepare for a road race then you have come to the right place. Here you can find out everything you need to know about professional road racing so that you can prepare efficiently.
Sitting Down with A Trainer
For the most part, a professional cyclist’s training is centred around the race objectives that are present for that year. Riders will sit down with both coaches and team management before the season starts so that they can then identify the races that they want to take part in. They also make sure that they undergo the right training to prepare them for this as well.
Team leaders and various other riders do have the luxury of being able to pick their races themselves so that they can choose the ones which give them the highest chance of being able to win. With the end goal in mind, you can then work backwards and fill in any training blocks or sections that you may struggle with. Remember, cycle accidents do happen, but you can reduce your risk exposure by simply taking the time to listen to your trainer and your body.
The Best Laid Plans
Not every plan you make will result in a fantastic performance. It may be that you are training for a very long race, but you soon find that a niggling injury comes back to haunt you. Either way, you have to make sure that you adapt and that you listen to your body as much as possible. You also need to make sure that you take the time to go for what you are confident in. If you can do this then there’s no reason why you can’t come out on top.
Race to Train
Many pro cyclists would simply race themselves into fitness. They believed that this was the best way to train. This was partially based on the belief that racing is the best way to train and that no fitness exercise will further you more. That being said, this is simply not the case. You can easily prepare for a race by pushing yourself in the gym and by putting in the work to try and make sure that you are working on your cardio.
If all you do is cycle, then eventually your fitness will plateau and this can work against you. If you want to work around this then you can easily try and use a rowing machine. This will push your body in more ways than one and it will also make it much easier for you to achieve results when the time comes for you to race.
Of course, there are many things that you can do to try and boost your fitness and if you work on the above points then you’ll soon find that there’s no reason at all why you can’t come out on top when you next race. Working on your strength and conditioning is very easy too if you’re willing to hit the gym.