It is a frequent mistake of many cyclists – overtraining. No where is this more true then the weeks leading up to a big event. I’m right there, right now. In two weeks from today I will have just finished the Seattle to Portland ride. That means this is prime time for me to think about tapering, and how that impacts my training schedule.

This year my training schedule had a bit of tapering forced upon it by a mechanical failure on a training ride. With my primary road bike in the shop a lot of my recent training rides were skipped, or switched completely different style of bike. But for most, the tapering process should be a lot more deliberate and planned. And no…. riding less is not going to undo all the hard work you have put in in the saddle.

Training can be a lot like drinking: to have a great time you need to know when to stop.

    ^{— Carmichael Training Systems (http://trainright.com/tapering-week-race/)}

Experts disagree slightly on the specifics, but all recommend a reduction in training workloads one to two weeks prior to your big events. Precisely how much will depend a lot on you as an individual, and the intensity of your normal training regime. Everyone agrees, however, there are a couple of key points that are critical in the final weeks. Doing these right isn’t going to suddenly add 10% to your power output, but doing them wrong can DEFINITELY have the opposite result.

• Get lots of sleep. One of the main goals of the reduced workload while tapering is to allow your body to properly and fully adapt to the training stresses you’ve inflicted upon yourself. This means rest. And more importantly, good sound sleep.
• Eat well. Weight conscious types may be worried about adding on pounds in the weeks leading up to an event – especially one that is climbing intensive. However, even more important than that glorious power-to-weight ratio is rebuilding adequate glycogen stores in your muscles. This is the fuel your body will need for those big efforts the day of your event, and you’ve been exhausting it in your training. Replenishing those stores will keep you in the mix come event day.

A two-week taper is most appropriate before a century ride. In the first week of your taper, cut your training volume by 40 percent. So, if you rode 200 miles in your final week of hard training, you would ride about 120 miles the next week. Cut back evenly on all your workouts. In other words, still do your high-intensity workouts, but make them 40 percent shorter, and still do a longer ride, but make it 40 percent shorter as well.

    ^{— Active.com (http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/4-tips-for-a-strong-century-ride-finish)}

Most also agree that tapering is a reduction in time in the saddle, but not the intensity of the training rides themselves. If Wednesdays are your normal interval days, then continue to do them. Just do less of them. Charmichael Training Systems recommends a 25-30% reduction in ride volume a week before your event. Still others recommend as much as a 50% reduction across the board in the final week. Trainer Joe Friel recommends a reduction of 40% two weeks out, followed by an additional 40% the final week.

As with anything you’ll need to modify and adapt these methods over time to achieve optimum results for your particular body. But recognizing that tapering is a necessary part of a complete training plan can help eliminate the stress that some feel. That stress is based on an irrational fear that missing workouts is going to erase all the work we have put in. The science actually shows the exact opposite.

September.  The daylight starts to go away a little earlier and arrive a little later.  Students are heading back into the classrooms.  For some, it is time to break out the toe clips and start the cyclocross season.  But unfortunately for many of us, it just means less hours of daylight and a higher chance of rain or snow ruining our outdoor riding experiences.

Long hours on the roads will be replaced by not-quite-as-long hours on the rollers.  Thousands of feet of climbing will be replaced by tens of minutes of intervals without going anywhere.

Let’s face it – sitting on a trainer indoors by yourself can become a little bit, shall we say, boring.  One of the common remedies to this boredom is to position the trainer in front of a TV and find some cycling video to watch.  I find this particularly useful for those short interval sessions.  There are great products out there like “The Downward Spiral“from The Sufferfest collection.  A good video can indeed help alleviate the boredom and provide some much needed motivation.

But sitting by yourself on a trainer with even the most beautiful of ride or race video playing in front of you still has the same flaw – you are alone.  The dynamics and social interactions of the group ride, or rush you get when you realize your buddy is still half way down the hill you just crested are often some of the greatest joys in cycling.

Spin classes can potentially help to fill this void.  If you simply enjoy sitting next to someone that is pedaling just as quickly as you are, these indoor group sessions can often be an easily accessible approximation of the weekend group ride.  They are definitely superb at maintaining and increasing your base fitness levels, and may just find you a few seconds or minutes on next season’s sprints and climbs.

For great head-to-head competition, gold sprints are a great alternative.  For those unfamiliar, gold sprints are essentially head-to-head bike races done on rollers, with equipment keeping track of distance traveled.  By using fork stands attached to the rollers so that folks don’t have to balance, many have also discovered the “joy” of combining bike racing with beer in a way never before (safely) possible.  Local pubs have set these events up right inside the bar, where partying patrons can hop in the saddle and pedal off the alcohol in a controlled environment.  Or, more “traditional” events will forgo the fork stands (and the alcohol) and challenge not only the rider’s speed but also bike handling abilities.  A great way to produce the feelings of competition in the off season.

Then again, if you are fortunate enough to live near a velodrome getting out on the track is another great “off season” option.  Given the simplicity of track bikes, you can actually get a fairly decent ride for a very reasonable price.  Most velodromes will have times set aside to introduce the concepts of indoor racing and how to do it in a way that is safe for both yourself and your fellow riders.  Plus, that track bike will give you some points with the local hipster/fixie crowd when you take it to the local grocery store.

Finally, there is one thing you can do that can help with all of your woes.  Get yourself some good wool clothing, perhaps some rain gear, and get out there and keep doing the same thing you did all summer: ride your bike.  The pouring rain leaves only one thing that any reasonable person can say when they pass the guy out riding – that dude is bad ass.

Today I had the opportunity to ride with Al and Kristen from Integrate Performance Fitness.

Al Painter is Mr. Integrate Performance Fitness.  When he is not spending time making folks enjoy his special brand of fitness building pain, he is also spreading his fitness wisdom at the VeloReviews podcast and cycling social media website.  In fact, the VeloReviews podcast is where I first heard of Integrate and Al Painter.

Al and Kristen pulled me up some of the hills around Los Altos after riding out of the Integrate studio in Mountain View.  Beautiful scenery, great company and a wicked descent made for a great afternoon.

This was all new territory for me.  I’d never ridden these roads.  To be honest, there were only about a couple of times I even knew where the heck we were.  Adding to the unfamiliarity is the fact that – as anyone who lives in my hometown of Sacramento can tell you – I’ve gotta go a long ways from my home to find any real hills.  Climbing is definately the weaker part of my cycling abilities, and that was fully put to the test by Al and Kristen.

The CardioTrainer app for my Droid phone (my cycling computer of choice for at least the next couple of weeks) tells me we did 22.3 miles, and about 319 yards (yes – its currently reporting yards) of elevation gain.  However, after uploading the GPS data to ridewithgps.com it told me 1,408 feet.  Either way, definitely enough to force me to focus real hard a couple of times to keep the cranks spinning to the top of a pitch.

After finishing the last half of the trip over some rollers in an out-n-back past Stanford University, a realization dawned on me:  somehow Al has control of the very weather on his rides.  I’m not exaggerating to say that we seemed to have a head wind pretty much the entire ride.  Ain’t no rest for the wicked.  Nor those that want to get stronger.  Nor those that can make you stronger!

We cruised over some flats for the last few miles, cooling down as we rolled back into the Integrate studio.  A teriffic ride.

Um….

But wait…

That wasn’t quite the end of it.  No, after a very short rest, Al starts whipping out all manner of medieval torture devices.  OK – so they were just resistance bands and stability balls – but we just got done with a ride man!

After some lay on your back and lift your hips all while you’ve got a stupid band you’ve got to fight against to keep you knees apart action, we actually moved into some great stretches.  The routine that Al put together (presumably on the fly) actually did wonders for me.  As I rode back to my Palo Alto office, my legs – and whole body –  felt amazingly limber and relaxed.

Again – HUGE thanks to both Al and Kristen for chillin’ at the top of a few of those climbs while I slugged my way up.  The atmosphere of the studio is amazing.  I hope to get to ride with you both again soon.