In my experience, there are a few common misconceptions many athletes have.

One of the more common issues I see with cyclists is bow-legged or knees-out pedaling. This is almost never efficient and often causes discomfort (or worse) in the knees.

A bike that is properly fitted to your individual riding charactoristics and comfort is they key to producing power. If you are not comfortable, you can not produce optimal power. A bike fitting also addresses such biomechanical issues as leg length discrepancies, bow leggedness, back and neck pain, and saddle soreness. Bike fitting may be an ongoing process as you become more competitive and desire a more aerodynamic position. The fit for a recreational rider should be different than a competitive cyclists. As a part of our fitting process we can video tape you to identify technique issues with your cycling. We can also incorporate the use of a power meter into your fitting to make sure your power output does not diminish significantly with your new position. You may have spent thousands of dollars on your new bicycle. It just makes sense to ensure it fits you properly.

There are times when completing your work out is detrimental to your training and perhaps your health. Knowing when these times are will reduce your risk of injury, and ultimately make your training more efficient and productive.

Your sweat is 99% water, your blood is 90% water, and your muscle mass is 75% water. When you loose this precious fluid body functions become adversely affected including muscle function.

By Coach Matt Russ If you are trying to loose weight, base period is the most efficient time of year to do it. Once you are in later training periods trying to drop pounds can impair your ability to train hard, and build muscle and speed when it counts the most. Body fat loss produces an instant increase in VO2 max. If you are a cyclist, power to weight ratio is the golden ratio. If you have a power meter you can gauge your optimal power to weight ratio by these figures. An optimally fit recreational rider will be able to produce a mere 1.6 watts per pound. A world champion (Lance) will produce 2.7 watts per pound for 45 min. This does not just count for cyclist. A runner will drop 2.5 seconds per mile with each pound of body fat lost. Drop 10 pounds and you just shaved 11 min. off your marathon. Drop the ballast!