Matt's Bike Thoughts

 Well, I was excited to post a race review on CO2UT, my B race for the year. But it was canceled due to muddy conditions. Fruita had an unexpected rainstorm yesterday, and the roads are impassable. I am now absolutely loaded up on carbohydrates and am in totally peak condition. There's a 40 mile group road ride that's a replacement of sorts for the event, which I'll be doing instead. It'll be fun to sprint instead of marathon, I guess.

 Everyone wants to know: "What can I buy to make my bike faster?" And the stock answer is, for some reason, so unsatisfying . The best bang-for-the-buck looks like this: Bike fit Coaching/training plan Power meter Heart rate monitor (slightly cheaper than power meter, but also less bang-for-buck) Yoga and strength training Actual bike components Getting a bike fit is boring . You spend a bunch of money so someone can tell you to spend even more money on unsexy stuff like stems and handlebars. Maybe some spacers for your pedals and a shoe insert. These changes have two huge effects: you're more comfortable on the bike (and can train more), and you'll be more efficient about putting power down (and can go faster/train harder). The next thing is actual coaching, or a training plan of some sort. If you're not training smart, then you'll eventually plateau. Training harder, at that point, just leads to burnout and injury. A coach will help you figure out how to act