Self-assessing is an art of its own. What to examine is going to depend on goals set by each athlete. These goals could range anywhere from completing a specific event, to addressing a weakness such as sprinting, and even just getting to the top of the local climb. The process will require, at minimum, a GPS cycling computer and a Strava account. This article will be focusing on Strava as it is free, simple to use, and an excellent tool to track performance. To effectively self-assess, we need to first put aside our aspirations, opinions, and any other subjective thoughts in regards to our cycling ability. Removing subjective thoughts will make analyzing performance easier, allowing better insight and more informed decisions regarding training. In short, the data is going to indicate where you are, at this moment.
Assess your climbing
Let’s say you want to improve your ability to climb. To test where you are, search segments on Strava and find a segment on a hill that lines up with your climbing goals. Now ride the segment, aiming for the fastest possible time you can manage. This will serve as your benchmark to refer back to. Over the course of your training, periodically return to the segment you have chosen. Retesting to determine if your training is working and segment times are improving is essential. If your goal is to increase absolute power (the hardest effort you can produce for a given time), make sure your legs are fresh for each time you test on the segment.
Assessing Fatigue Resistance (Important for all you Gravel Folks and Road Racers)
If your goal is to produce a desired effort after a long day in the saddle, determining your ability to resist fatigue is important. To gauge your capacity, build up fatigue on the ride prior to attempting the segment of your choice. One way to build fatigue is to plan out a long ride, preferably of a duration relevant to your goal. Throughout the ride perform hard efforts of comparable length and intensity to the segment you will be attempting. The intervals combined with a longer duration ride should leave your legs feeling tired heading into the segment you will be testing on. Once you have completed the segment, compare it to your most recent PR. If your segment time is more than 10% slower than your PR, give your aerobic endurance some more attention. If your segment time is close to 5% of your best time, or is a new PR, then you are on the right track. This process can be adapted for any goal, whether that be a fifteen second sprint or hour long time trial.
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Assessing your performance and tracking how it improves doesn’t require a power meter, heart rate monitor, and all the other fancy gadgets on the market today. All you need is the basics of a bike computer, a free strava account, and the determination to ride your bike. Tracking where your performance is, and where it is going is simple and effective.
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By: Coach Lane Johnson
Lane Johnson is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association and holds a BS in Exercise Science from Lindenwood University. He races with a category 2 license in road and cyclocross, with his eyes on gravel and mountain biking in the near future!
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