Following is a reprint of the Cycle U July newsletter that went out on July 10th. For more timely updates, visit our website and sign up to receive our monthly e-newsletter & performance tips directly to your inbox.
Cycle University, in conjunction with the Cycle Fest Outdoor Cinema presents...
Cycle U Open House & Street Sprints!!!
Sunday, July 22, Magnuson Park - 6:15pm-8:15pm
Win Cash & Prizes for Fastest Sprint!
Fastest Man and Woman each earn $100!Categories Include:
• USAC Licensed Women
• USAC Licensed Men
• Unlicensed Women
• Unlicensed Men
**FREE Registration , 5:00pm check in at Cycle U**
Sunday July 22nd, Save the date! Come by Cycle U from 4-8 pm for
free food & beverages, and watch or race in the
Cycle U Street Sprints (
e-mail us for info) before viewing the Tour de France on a huge outdoor screen.
Beer garden, food, and a great time celebrating the biggest cycling event of the season, the Tour de France! Check the
Cascade website for more details.
Cyclocross Boot Camp!
***Only 5 Spots Remain*** Join us every Tuesday and Thursday for 6 weeks, starting Tuesday, August 7th, for conditioning and skills that will have you confident, and ready for your best 'cross season yet!
Coaches:
State Champion & Worlds racer Craig Undem
Multiple State Womens Champion Kristi Berg
World Championship racer Toby SwansonCost is $200 and includes a training program for the entire season.
**$50 non-refundable deposit reserves your spot**
Location: Magnuson Park, Seattle.
First session August 7th, 6-8pm.
Click here to register today!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:Craig Undem
Cycle University
Ph 206-938-1091
service@cycleu.comwww.cycleu.comCycle University LLC Announces Formation of Race Development Team & Cycling ClubSeattle, WA, June 18, 2007 - The backbone of Cycle University’s mission statement is to “make our community a better place through endurance sport”. As a step toward bringing our mission to reality, we are announcing the formation of a development race team & cycling club.
A select core group of beginning cyclocross racers (3 men & 3 women) will be accepted as part of the Cycle U development team. Members will receive expert coaching and services available at Cycle University for a nominal membership fee. It is the purpose of this development team to take beginning riders/racers and provide them with the tools and expertise to move up the ranks at an accelerated rate, and to then be fed into local race teams, armed with experience and skills that provide asset to said team. Tryouts for the Cycle U development race team will begin during the Cycle U Cyclocross Boot Camp, and selection will be completed prior to the first race of the season.
Development of a road team (10 men and 10 women) for the 2008 road racing season is also underway, and more details on the selection process will be announced shortly.
This core of development racers will be supported by the formation of the Cycle U cycling club. Membership to the club is open to all interested parties for a nominal membership fee. Benefits include discounted Cycle U team kits, discounts on Cycle U services*, and special pricing on select sponsor products, to be announced.
For more information on the Cycle U Racer Development Team & Cycling Club, email us at
service@cycleu.com.
ABOUT CYCLE UNIVERSITY – Cycle University is focused on providing athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and hobbyists with the proper education and attention to empower self improvement and personal excellence. Whether the focus is recreational, advanced, or you are a professional athlete, the education and processes crafted by Cycle University provides the education & expertise to improve your athletic performance. Services include: athletic coaching, bike fitting, fitness testing, skills clinics, private lessons, and coaching consultations.-END-
The Europhiles: Tour de Hongrie, Part One
by Coach Adrian Hegyvary
What follows is the first installment of a two-part account of the national tour of Hungary, a five-day UCI stage race. Europhiles is a series of recollections of my first year training and racing on a professional team in Hungary. The names remain the same because none of them spoke English so I think we’ll be fine.
We left Pecs on Tuesday for what we thought would be a four-hour drive to Miskolc. It ended up taking quite a bit longer, so by the time we got there it was too late to go for a ride. The following afternoon was a 160km point to point stage, and our plan was to work for Ivanics (Geri), who's clearly the strongest guy on the team. My job the first day was to mark one of the other favorites on P-Nivo, our primary Hungarian rivals. Central-European pro teams are well-represented here, and the organizers jokingly call the race the ''Socialist Tour de France,'' as nearly every formerly communist or socialist state in the region was represented.
Stage one started poorly for me, as about 20km into the race I hit a huge pot hole and double-flatted. The problem was I didn't know both tires were flat, so I changed my rear, chased back through the caravan for five minutes, then right when I caught back on I realized the front was also flat. My radio also came unclipped in the chaos, so I couldn't tell Sandro and had to drift back and get another wheel. Then right when I caught back on the second time the field stopped and took a long pee break... so all was for naught.
Nonetheless, the first stage ended fairly well for us. Everyone spent at least some time in a break, and Geri ended up making it into the winning move and took fifth. Abri got into a second break and finished 12th, then with about 3km to go I covered an attack and ended up solo, so I rode it in and finished somewhere in the top-twenty just in front of the main group.
Stage two was the epic day and was to decide the whole race: point-to-point 210km with four categorized climbs. The plan for the day was for Geri to mark the race leader and the rest of us to go crazy trying to get in a long break. I felt pretty bad at the start, largely because it was another hot day (upper 90s). Nonetheless I made a strong go of it at the beginning, and got into a few breaks that never made it very far (no more than a minute). I spent most of the day doing bottle runs and protecting Geri, who ended up top-ten and moved into fourth overall and the top Hungarian rider.
Stage three was the final road stage, 190km with three categorized climbs, and was my last chance to put in a good ride. The race started with a long climb out of town, and my job for the day was to mark another P-Nivo guy. Well, he turns out to be one of their climbers and got into a break before I could even find him in the field, so the whole way up the climb Sandro was yelling into the radio ''Adriano, donde esta numero nueve? Attencion a numero nueve!'' I of course had no idea where he was, and was just trying to make it over the first two climbs without burning all my matches. On the long descent I started to move up through the field, but about halfway down the descent, right as I got to the front of the group after moving up on a fast, 100 km/h straight, everyone jammed hard on the brakes for a 180 to the left. I might have made it okay, but there was a patch of gravel on the outside and when I started to slow down I just drifted into a ditch. I unclipped oen foot and managed to ride out the whole turn in the ditch then hop back out, but by that point I was back at the tail end of the field again, and again hearing from Sandro ''Adriano, adelante del grupo!”
Luckily the break came back on the next climb, and I made everything up to Sandro by doing endless bottle runs the rest of the day. It was a lot harder the third day because we were riding at the front of the peleton to lead out Ivanics for the intermediate sprints, as he was in a good position in the green jersey competition. So all day it was drop back through the caravan, pick up 7-8 bottles, then motor back up the side of the field to the front and distribute them. Because of the heat and the small bottles, I had to do that probably every 30 minutes or so.
(to be continued)...
In the meantime, click here to learn how you can help Coach Adrian become an Olympian!
Maintenance of Optimal Hydration for Endurance Events
by Coach Tammy Metzger, B.Sc.
We all know to eat carbohydrates in order to avoid the dreaded “bonk”, but did you know that dehydration can lead to fatigue before you even put a dent in your glycogen reserves? Optimal hydration is necessary to keep electrolytes and fuel moving between body membranes. However, hydration is not as simple as the recent mantra of “drink, drink, drink”. Most people will finish an exercise session having lost more fluid than they consumed, but some will have gained more, finishing in an equally dangerous state called hyponatremia (“low sodium”). This condition of over-hydration can result in nausea, collapse, loss of consciousness, and even death.
If you are completing an ultra-endurance event, or doing a lot of back-to-back training days, it is important to have an understanding of your individual hydration needs. The easiest way to accomplish this is by weighing yourself before and after a long exercise session (Be sure to strip down as your clothes will be soaked with sweat post-exercise). If you weigh the same, or close, Yay you! Keep doing what you’re doing. But if you lost or gained substantial weight (greater than 1-2%), adjust your fluid intake accordingly. Keep in mind that it is ok to loose up to 2% of your body weight by the end of a long endurance event, and is actually safer than gaining. Slight dehydration may lead to decreases in optimal performance, but as referenced above, the side-effects of hyponatremia are much more serious.
Making adjustments to your overall fluid consumption need not impact your caloric intake. Feeding the machine on these long-distance events is important to keep the wheels rollin’ round and round, so use these tips to manipulate fluid without affecting your calories:
If you need to increase your fluid intake (if you LOST weight during your session):
• First, the obvious, try adding additional water to your sports drink of choice. Research confirms that solute concentrations below 6% do not adversely affect absorption.
• If you’re only drinking plain water, this will lower your body’s ability to absorb it (water follows electrolytes and carbohydrate across the intestine barriers). If you prefer getting your calories from “real food”, and the sweetness of most sports drinks is not appealing to you, try using nuun tablets, or taking electrolyte capsules such as Enduralyte or Succeed.
If you need to decrease your fluid intake (if you GAINED weight during your session):
• Increase the concentration of your sports drink by adding a glucose polymer such as CarboPro to what you are already using, and decrease the amount you drink. Glucose polymers can be absorbed in higher concentrations without adverse gastric consequences.
• As you decrease the amount you drink, be sure to maintain high frequency of drinking, as this will keep your gastric emptying up to speed, thus you will be less likely to have GI issues on your ride, and more likely to get the nutrients you need to fuel your activity.
Hydration and electrolyte balance vary greatly from individual to individual, but this information should better prepare you to experiment and document what works for you. As next season rolls around, you may not remember what worked for you this season, so creating a training journal, and documenting your trial and error can save you precious time and energy when next season rolls around.
This is the Team Tomato women warming up, lots of tents and teams showing some pride! Another shot of Holden Berg, rocking the big boy course, behind him you can see the "run or ride up" that I have to brag that I rode every lap. 
