JULY Saturday Long Rides

Please ensure you read the following important information for Saturday Long rides for July.

RIDE TIMETABLE
Attached is a guideline of our training rides for the month of July. Please note that this is a GUIDE only and may be subject to change. Please ensure you read our weekly newsletter for full details and any timetable changes. CLICK HERE for the July timetable.

ARE YOU IN THE RIGHT GROUP?
We have restructured the groups for the Long Rides as below:
Group 1: Strong long course Athletes only or unless advised by Coaches
Group 2: New Long Course Athletes (stronger riders) and more experienced Olympic/Sprint distance Athletes (strong riders)
Group 3: Some new Long Course Athletes and the rest of Olympic/Sprint distance Athletes
Group 4: All beginners athletes / riders and new to the squad
If you have any difficulty deciding which group you should be in please ask a Coach.

CLOTHING
Make sure you wear the appropriate clothing for the ride conditions…please check the weather link on our TA website! As a general rule on these cold winter days the absolute necessary items you need:

• Winter booties (wet weather)
• Winter gloves (wet weather)
• Rain jacket (light and compact so you can store in your jersey)
• Wool socks…trust me makes a world of difference!
• Skull cap/head band…keeps your head warm!
• Leg warmers (thermal)

All of these above items can be purchased from CBD CYCLES proud partners of TA. When you show your Athlete ID you get 15% off…

NUTRITION
The difference between having a good ride and a great ride is getting your nutrition right! Make sure you are well prepared and take with you on the ride enough gels/bars etc for your personal nutritional requirements (and also extra $$’s just in case of a nutrition emergency). If you are unsure of what to take please ask a Coach…
Example: Every 30-45mins you should have a gel or ½ a bar
Example: 45-60mins you should be finishing a bidden of water/electrolyte mix

All your nutritional needs can be found online at AUSTRALIAN VITAMINS.COM.

GROUP ETTIQUETTE
Across all Long Ride groups we need to crack down on riding etiquette to make the rides more enjoyable and safer! Please read cafe fully the following dot points:

• All rides should be ridden out to the ride destination aerobically and not hard…the old “too hard to early” syndrome unfortunately sneaks into some groups!
• When going up the destination climb go at your own pace, each group will regroup at the top of the major climb for the ride, so take your time.
• Groups 1 and 2 can go little bit harder on the way home but should try and stay together for as long as possible! Groups 3 & 4 should be remaining as a group for the majority of the ride. This will help you improve if you are not a strong rider or new to riding.
• Only experienced riders should sit on the front of groups and if possible 2 a breast or singled up where the roads are narrow!
• Please use correct hand signals and voice prompts where appropriate…there will be video clips on our website soon showing how to do this safely and correctly!
• Click here for further cycling ettiquette expected on our group rides.

CYCLING THE TA WAY
Just to stamp out any confusion for those who attended our Lorne Camp where VIS level 3 Coach Jarrod Evans spoke about “pushing a bigger gear was better”, which contrasted to our smaller gear/higher cadence theory.

To compliment what Jarred was saying, BEFORE you can push a bigger gear you need to have a good technique and efficiency to you prevent injury and so your legs can cope with the extra load by pushing a big gear. Then when you have completed a strength block, you turn that into speed and power ready to unleash when you race in the upcoming season! But first and foremost – you need to concentrate on technique and efficiency.

Below is the process or stages of a structured cycling program that TA use when periodically programming cycling for Triathlete’s:

Over the next 3 months we have some ride sessions planned for you with Tour de France themed windtrainers, great ride locations including: Macedon, The Dandenongs, King Lake and more specific programs on the horizon…

Happy Riding!
Team Tri Alliance