Cycling Reviews

First of all, if you’ve been trying to ride in trainers, stop now. A good pair of cycling shoes will completely change your ride.
Serious, high-end, cycling shoes have strong, rigid insoles. This allows you to pour power into the pedals as you ride, instead of wasting it every time your foot gives way to the bend in your shoes. You’ll be amazed at how much difference a rigid sole can make.
You’ll boost your power up to the next level with cleats. Rigid soles of cycling shoes will help you there too. They protect your feet from the discomfort that cleats can cause, as you press over and over against the one, small space allowed by the cleat.
Best Features
Here are a few things to consider, when choosing your shoe:

• The Soles. You want that rigid sole. Some shoes, made for casual riding, will look good but maintain an ordinary, flexible sole. These are not for you. To maximize your advantage on the road, you’ll want the best foot-to-pedal power transfer you can get. A hard sole that clunks on the floor as you walk, as if you’re wearing clogs, is exactly right.
• The Upper.  A lot of shoes now have a mix of synthetics and leather. Road shoes in particular are usually made with an imitation leather that’s easier to maintain and incredibly durable. Mountain bike shoes that are going to take a beating and the highest end road shoes are almost always made from premium leather. Synthetics or leather will work. Consider the price and the conditions you’ll be riding in to make your decision.
• The Closures. Perhaps the most conspicuous features in cycling shoes are the closures. You’ll see Velcro, laces, buckles or a bait-and-switch combo. Almost all cycling shoes with laces will have an extra loop for securing your laces against your foot. Buy shoes with a snug, secure fit. (If you go with Velcro flaps, make sure they won’t interfere with your toe straps, if you’re using clips.)
  Which brings us to the next question: Do you use toe clips or go clipless?
   

Clipless or Clipped?

• Clipless Pedals. Systems such as Look, SPD, Time and Speedplay offer cleats in the sole of your shoe that attach your foot to the pedal. This gives you excellent foot-to-pedal energy transfer and allows you to pull on the upstroke, which will give you even more power. Because unclipping quickly has to become second-nature, there’s a learning curve. Some people master it quickly, others take longer. Once you put in the time you need, though, you’ll never go back.
• Toe-Clip Pedals. Instead of a cleat, toe-clips offer a webbed strap that clips to your shoe. They’re inexpensive and there’s no real learning curve, since they’re very easy to get out of. You don’t need even cycling shoes to wear toe-clips. But, on the other hand, you won’t have the foot-to-pedal power you’ll have with cleats and cycling shoes.
   

Systems such as Look, SPD, Time and Speedplay offer cleats in the sole of your shoe that attach your foot to the pedal. This gives you excellent foot-to-pedal energy transfer and allows you to pull on the upstroke, which will give you even more power. Because unclipping quickly has to become second-nature, there’s a learning curve. Some people master it quickly, others take longer. Once you put in the time you need, though, you’ll never go back.

What Shoe is Right for You?

If you are a casual cyclist who rides on weekends, if the mood strikes you, you might as well skip the special pedal systems altogether. Platform pedals and recreational cycling shoes will meet your needs.

If you’re a serious road cyclist, clipless will give you the most control and power, so it’s definitely the best way to go. You’re also in the best position to stay clipped in, since there’s less reason to stop on a long, endurance ride. Get shoes that match the clipless system you prefer.
 

If you’re a mountain biker, you could go either way. Clipless is going to give you the best performance. You’ll be able to stay more tightly linked to your bike for jumps, hops and wheelies. But you’ll fall more. If that bugs you, get clips.
Most of all, get shoes that are comfortable. Try them on in the store, make sure they work with the socks you plan to wear and check the heel retention as you walk. Think about how you ride and what you can afford. Then make your choice.

Endurance training is designed to put your body under serious stress. A hard ride will not only deplete your glycogen stores, it will elevate your cortisol and drain essential vitamins and minerals from your system. As you ride, the glycogen from your muscles and liver is burned to fuel your leg muscles. If you intend to keep your body healthy and increase your strength, it’s crucial that you focus on recovery after you train.
It’s well-accepted that endurance athletes have a 30-minute glycogen window that is the “window of opportunity” for refueling after training. In those 30 minutes, your insulin sensitivity is at its peak. Your exhausted muscles are desperate to restore the nutrients and glycogen stores they’ve lost, so the effect of anything you ingest will be magnified.
Some coaches recommend consuming 100 grams of carbs in this window. And that will certainly make you feel better. The trouble is, you can’t just eat anything, if you want to make the most of this opportunity. Studies have shown, for instance, that beverage with 3 grams of carb for every 1 gram of protein replenished muscle glycogen levels 38% faster than drinks with carbs alone.
You also need to fuel with nutrients that can be absorbed quickly. To maximum the restoration of your energy, you need the proper balance of ingredients as well. That’s why the scientists have worked so hard to develop post-recovery drinks with the optimal balance.
In that first 30 minutes, you can convert carbs to muscle glycogen 3 times faster than usual. Within 2 hours, the conversion rate will have fallen by 50%. In 4 hours, you’ll be completely back to your usual repletion rate.
Not all recovery drinks are created equal. Check out the labels and then compare their effects for yourself. When you’re making your choice, here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Choose a flavor you like. If you don’t like it, you won’t drink it.
• Aim for 3 to 4 grams of carbohydrate for every gram of protein.
• Make sure quickly absorbed sugars, like glucose, sucrose, or maltodextrin are among the first ingredients.
• Look for branched chain amino acids (BCAA). They are the building blocks of your muscles and your body can’t make them, so you’ll have to add them. They’ll repair your cells and muscle tissues, as well as making antibodies to fight off bacteria and viruses.
• Include essential vitamins, minerals and electrolytes to help bring back your energy, combat free-radicals and support your immune system.

Keep in mind, too, that, even though you see pitches for separate “performance” drinks and “recovery” drinks, that’s a marketing thing. You can drink either one during and/or after your ride. But no matter what you drink on the road, focus on refueling in the 30-minute window afterward. You’ll feel the difference – not just on the day, but on the next day, when you head out to punish your body again.

Cycling hard is key when you want to increase your level of fitness, speed and endurance. But if you don’t offset your hard rides with rest days and recovery days, you can quickly bring on a case of fatigue – caused by overtraining.
Most athletes aren’t risk for overtraining like cyclists are. Endurance training isn’t like other types of exercise. The level of intensity, focus and duration are different. The demands placed on the fitness of a cyclist are more extreme.

The less fit you are, the less it takes to overtrain. A pro may ride for 3 hours and think nothing of it. But a 2 hour ride could bring on serious fatigue for you, if you’re not training regularly. What’s overtraining for one person may be a light, recovery day for another. It is entirely dependent on the individual – and how they’ve been training that week or that month.

So how do you know if you’re overtraining?
 

Unmistakable Signs

• Fatigue
  Overtraining fatigue won’t shake off. A quick jolt of caffeine won’t get rid of it for long. It lingers.
• Higher resting heart rate
  If you think you might be overtraining, check your heart rate before you get out of bed for several days. If it goes up by 10 beats a minute (or 10%) and stays there for a few days, you’re overtraining.
• Disrupted sleep
  A significant change in your sleep cycle that is not related to outside noises or other stressors can indicate overtraining. If you wake up after 5 hours’ sleep, but then feel tired later, and that’s uncommon for you, it could be overtraining.
• Altered performance
  Slower training times during speed drills can be a sign of overtraining. If you are minutes slower than you were, it may be time to take a few days off, instead of pushing hard.
• Irritability
  When your body is stressed, it diverts as many resources as possible to making up for the problem – including the precious chemicals you need to maintain your sense of well-being and joie de vivre.
  Overtraining need not be a problem. If you catch it right away, a day off can set things right. If you try to push through it, it can take weeks to fully recover.

A good training schedule will include two rest days a week, plus a day or two of easy spinning to let your body recover. The real power days are what the week’s all about. But you can’t get to them without an easy build-up. It comes down to this:  Pace yourself or pay the price.

As you might expect, the Topeak Pump Harpoon Master Blaster S2 takes no prisoners. With an ergonomic pistol grip, it pumps more air per stroke when you squeeze off the trigger than mini-pumps with a less aggressive profile. If you’re in that kinda mood, this harpoon master blaster could do it for you.