Coachingsarah & anthony

HOW PRO CYCLISTS BOOST THEIR PERFORMANCE WITH THIS MAGIC DRINK | RIDER SUPPORT

with Rider Support

28:17·6 August 2024

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TOPICS

CYCLING NUTRITION

Performance isn't just about pushing harder—it's about smart supplementation and recovery. This episode breaks down beetroot juice and tart cherry juice, two science-backed drinks pro cyclists use to gain an edge, then dives into spotting overtraining before it tanks your fitness and mastering your pedal stroke for maximum efficiency.

Key Takeaways

Beetroot juice works through dietary nitrates that improve oxygen delivery and mitochondrial efficiency—but you need to load 500ml daily for 7 days before an event, plus an additional dose 2-3 hours before racing to see benefits.
Tart cherry juice is for post-race recovery, not pre-race performance; its anti-inflammatory properties reduce muscle soreness, improve sleep via melatonin, and lower cortisol levels when consumed immediately after exercise.
The line between peak training and overtraining is razor-thin—you're better off training 20% under capacity than 1% over it; if you're writing emails to cycling podcasts worried about overtraining, that's usually the first sign.
Negative self-talk happens on autopilot; the fix is switching focus from uncontrollable outcomes ('I'm getting dropped') to controllable processes (breath rhythm, pedal stroke, wattage).
A smooth pedal stroke comes from independent leg work in circles, not just pushing down; single-leg drills and high-cadence work (100+ RPM) smooth out the dead spots and clunkiness.
Building self-confidence in young riders matters as much as fitness—set three small achievable goals on the way to a big goal so they have evidence they can handle tough moments.

Expert Quotes

"You're much in a worse position if you're 1% overtrained than if you're 20% undertrained—1% overtrained it's game over, 20% undertrained you're still pretty fine."

"Most of the time it's not that's cherry juice that they're drinking at the finish line... cherry juice sounds nice but beetroot juice has massive benefits and these are really well studied benefits at this point."

"For me it's a real dip off in my motivation to train... there'll start appearing a lot of gaps in my training peaks and that's a big sign where if I'm moving sessions around saying oh I'm not going to train today."

KEY QUOTES

“you need to start taking beetroot juice 7 days before your event consuming 500 mil of beetroot juice per day for this period so you can saturate the body with nitrates and on the day of the event you need to take an additional dose two to three hours before the start line”
Sarah Smart — Rider Support co-host

“you're in a much worse position if you're 1% over Trend than if you're 20% under TR so 1% over Trend it's game over 20% under Trend you're still pretty fine like you can pull a performance out not going to be your best performance but it's going to be a lot lot better than the 1% over Trend performance”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

“CTL I would look at a maximum ramp rate of five to eight points so week one to week two you don't be increasing more than five to eight points if you are ramping more than that for you know more than two weeks at a time like if you do it two weeks in a row we'd call that like a super compensation block if you're north of 8 CTL if you're constantly pushing that that's also a sign”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT2 SECTIONS

Beetroot juice performance benefits

Welcome to this week's ryer support this week we're going to be talking about how you know when you've done a little bit too much and overtraining starts to creep in what are the most comfortable cycling shoes in the world but first we're going to start off talking about a performance advantage that you might be able to get from drinking beetroot juice I know it sounds weird but it is true sounds gross too Sarah Smart coming and we haven't even started okay let's jump straight in cuz I'm DED here about this magic Jeep I've seen beetroot juice becoming really popular in Health Food Shops and I've even started seeing it sold in gas stations now too little shot bottles of it I'm guessing it's this that's in the pro cyclist bottles that they drink immediately after they come over the finish line is this something we should all be taking what are the benefits and that's from philli no that's not what they're drinking at the Finish Line well most of the time it's not that's cherry juice that they're drinking at the finish line so they're two different that sounds nice gross juice oh cherry juice sounds nice Cherry Coke Cherry Cola but beetro juice has massive benefits as well and these are really well studied benefits at these points so actually you know we'll talk a little bit about beetroot juice first and then we'll talk about cherry juice because I think there's a lot of curiosity as to why REM Go's drinking cherry juice straight after T the France stages straight after the worlds it looks it's it's clearly a juice concoction that's put into a coke bottle or a bottle of water or something this is not something that they're buying off the shelf or that you know someone's Manufacturing themselves it's like when you know back in the 80s used to put the tea in the coke bottle and milky tea in the coke bottle go into the B that's a very Irish thing so be juice is high in dietary nitrates which the body converts into nitrous oxide and nitrous oxide helps to dilate blood vessels and that improves blood flow and oxygen deliver delivery around the bodies so this is why we're starting to see it pop up in health food stores and in b shops because of these documented benefits there's been study after study to show how it improves the efficiency of mitochondria and they're like the powerhouses of the cells they allow athletes to use oxygen more efficiently there's also one good study I came across where it improves time trial performance quite significantly as well and seal several studies suggest that nitrates in beetroot juice can improve stamina by reducing the oxygen cost of exercise it means you can improve at higher intensity periods for longer so to get the benefits of this you need to load on it it's not just one glass of beetroot juice so you need to start taking beetroot juice 7 days before your event consuming 500 mil of beetroot juice per day for this period so you can saturate the body with nitrates and on the day of the event you need to take an additional dose two to three hours before the start line and that's your protocol proper protocol first yeah it's not just like take one after the race these guys are so dialed in they know no not after the race at all this is a loading phe Before the Race to get ready for the race so that's why you're seeing these little shops in there there different brands so I can't talk specifically to the Loading or how many bottles you'd need because they all have different concentrates but you should be able to extrapolate that from 500 mil beat ruce per day for the seven days leading up to it and then again 500 mil on the day of the event have you ever used this yes loads of times I don't know if they work but the placebo Placebo is documented improver of performance as well so now would I've told every they work you'll get a placebo benefit and maybe an actual benefit who knows but that's different to cherry juice so cherry juice is what we're seeing after the stage like you said and I actually had to figure out what this was because I I've never used cherry juice and I don't know why it's popped up in the world tour and become so important but it's really interesting so it's something called tart cherry juice have you heard of this no never it must be a richer form of cherry juice so it's rich in anti-inflammatory properties so they have a potent anti-inflammatory effect helping reduce muscle soreness in inflammation if taken immediately following exercise they're also high in antioxidants to combat oxidative stress after prolonged physical activity like cyclin so that can Aid in Faster recovery by reducing muscle damage muscle soreness is also another documented benefit from them Studies have shown that tart cherry juice can decrease muscle damage to improve Muscle Recovery time also improves sleep by bringing in melatonin which I'd imagine is very good for bringing cortisol levels down immediately post race and obviously then it's hydrating as well so it seems like it's worth trying I'm going to Bel yeah abely yeah just from the small bit of research that I did as well it seems to affect your parasympathetic nervous system and as you said bring cortisol levels down relax you and then you get all the knock on amazing benefits from there be interested to see if anyone has tried beetroot juice or cherry juice let us know in the comments how you found them I've tried be juice myself and it does turn your feal matter quite a strange you're like oh I need to go to the doctor straight away I'm bleeding here it feels like you're bleeding inside like you've eaten Razer Blaze for instead of corn flakes oh that's interesting so don't be alarmed everybody if that happens get your mail period oh Lord okay um let's move on from that anyway so next question I've been pushing myself hard in training to improve my cycling performance but I'm worried about overtraining what are the early signs and symptoms of overtraining that I should be aware of both physically and mentally how can I balance pushing my limits with adequate adequate recovery to avoid overtraining do you have any specific strategies for monitoring training load ensuring proper nutrition and adding rest and Recovery days into my schedule additionally how can I adjust my training intensity and volume if I suspect I'm approaching an overtrained stage State and that's from Jose Jose Jose's taking the piss he's got about 20 questions in there look I don't sound condescending but the answer to that is that's a coach's job that's how you figure it out that's this is not like I can give you a couple of pointers and stuff to look out for here but that's where a coach earns his money like any fool control up training sessions on training Peaks where the coach earns his money is knowing where that edge is between pushing an athlete and overt training and when he slightly steps because you're always just slightly stepping across the line when you're trying to maximize performance but the thing to realize is especially if you're self coach like a towns like Jose is and you don't understand where that line is you will be better off taking 10 steps back from the line CU you're better off being one% sorry you're much you're in a much worse position if you're 1% over Trend than if you're 20% under TR so 1% over Trend it's game over 20% under Trend you're still pretty fine like you can pull a performance out not going to be your best performance but it's going to be a lot lot better than the 1% over Trend performance it's a real science isn't it like it's very complicated the human body is an extremely complicated machine so to get all of this right it's it's tough it's tough to figure out on your own there's some data that can really help and then there's some markers that can really help I think if you have persistent fatigue if you're writing into a cycl podcast you're probably over trended as the for sign I think outside that if you have persistent fatigue like you feel tired in the morning when you wake up you need more naps than usual that's definitely a sign decrease performance or on those key power metrics John Wakefield when I had him on the podcast H go back and search that on the YouTube channel he advocated a um sub maximum fatigue test and he runs through the protocol and that which can tell you if you're coming up on fatigue or if you're not going to get an adaptation from your training muscle soreness elevated morning resting heart rate and like this is where I lean heavily on whoop because I look at morning heart rate to see if I have any deviations from my Baseline I look for heart rate variability to see if I have deviations from my Baseline and then I'm pairing that data measurements because on their own they you know they're helpful but they're doesn't give you the whole picture when you start to pair them with those sub Ive measurements like fatigue decreased performance or you starting to pick up illness more frequent you have weight loss fluctuations loss of appetite sleeping poorly like feeling like it's taking you longer to get to sleep or disrupted sleep during the night I think all that is signs that you're over pretty close I always think Saddles source is one as well yeah I totally agree for me it's um a real dip off in my motivation to train so there'll be start appearing a lot of gaps in my training Peaks and that's a big sign where if I'm moving sessions around a lot saying oh I'm not going to train today I'm going to actually do that session tomorrow or I'll move that to my rest day on Friday for me it's the motivation like psychologically it kind of gets into me and then also your mood I think if you're overtrained you're you're going to be cranky because everything's going to be irritating you you're going to be a little bit short with the people that you love things that probably wouldn't have stressed out before yeah it's a stressor it's just another type of stressor so all of those indications so yeah I think to answer I know he's a multi-pronged question I think some of them are can point them like the John Wakefield one point you back to listening to that podcast because it's you know 90 minutes of gold another one to look at in your data which John Wakefield doesn't talk about is CTL that's chronic training load that's a running total of what our fitness is like over the past 40 days so CTL I would look at a maximum ramp rate of five to eight points so week one to week two you don't be increasing more than five to eight points if you are ramping more than that for you know more than two weeks at a time like if you do it two weeks in a row we'd call that like a super compensation block if you're north of 8 CTL if you're constantly pushing that that's also a sign and his last part on that was on fueling for that and how you adjust fueling I'll just point you back to that Yuri Carlson podcast which I thought was brilliant it's nearly our reference podcast at this point for pointing people to when they want to know about fueling and how to cycle carbohydrates because it's really important to fuel the body cuz the body can't produce adaptations in a surplus so you need to be fueling the body adequately even if you're trying to cook calories on a macro view micro day today you need to be given it the fuel it needs to fuel those sessions and then you cut back on the rest days you sorry you meant to say you can't get adaptations in a deficit in a defic in deficit Sor you said Sur so just not to confuse people I think that's really important look I think this this guy Jose seems to be very dialed in he had a lot of really good questions there so he's and he's obviously this is something that's concerning him for me and uh Anthony DRS is into me every single week is uh basically Journal your training because so I don't write it down in a journal I don't have a dear diary but in my training Peaks I write notes about how I felt how the session went loads of like minute details and you can look back and all of that and same with your food and say okay this is probably where I didn't really quite knock it on the head this week what TR to get you to do and you've been actually getting much better at it is to be proud of your train of when you log into your training Peaks you want to see yeah you want to see all the greens but you want to see the feedback you know is your connected into your training Peaks so you're getting that complete picture so you can say here's the training now done here's how well recovered I am and now here's a mini little diary entry with my subjetive feedback so then if you do start working with a coach or you have a period where you're going back to analyze yourself yourself you're not looking at stuff in a vacuum going oh an amazing day there why was that or a terrible day there why was that we have data to inform that picture yeah absolutely okay Jose thank you for writing in okay next question Anthony and Sarah this is a bit of a wild question I guess but how do you speak to yourself when you're really struggling on a climb or really suffering in a race I've noticed that my young lad who's 16 and a promising writer really quickly descends into negative selft talk when the going gets tough any tips to help him I really believe that your words to yourself are important we are so excited to announce that we are partnering with whoop whoop are changing the game when it comes to wearable technology and health monitoring whoop is a wearable health and fitness coach that provides you with feedback and actionable insights into your sleep your recovery your training your stress and your overall health Sarah and I have been using whoop for years and we love the insights it provides into our body's inner workings it really gives us a look under the hood and you're going to see Matthew vanderp Paul Richard carass and other Elite level cyclist wearing whoop but it isn't just for those Superstars all the data is personalized to your unique physiology and fitness levels if you're interested in taking control of your health and your Fitness so that you can exhale in all aspects of your life you have to go and check out whoop go to the URL now which is join.

Beating negative self-talk in racing

Whoop.com roadman I'm going to pop that in the description below and you're going to get a fre month's access to whoop membership on me I promise you won't regret it for me preparation has always been the anecdote to that if negative selft talk Creeps in for me it's always because of cook corn is my preparation and I'm like oh I'm suffering on this climb and no one else is suffering cuz I cook corners and they didn't cook corners but if you go to a race and you show up and you know you've been on point with all the you know train and Recovery diet there's great preparation in that but that I think start off just recognizing that he is talking negatively about a lot of people don't even realize that they're that they're doing it it's you know it's kind of second nature this negative inner monologue yeah and this selft talk you you get into a negative Circle and but you don't actually realize that you do so I think that's definitely a really important thing to do like you talked in the last one about your trending Peaks and adding stuff in it I would diary that in your training Peaks or you know if you don't want your coach seeing it put it in a separate Di but I would you know catalog that what are you saying when are you saying it and then I would teach him to start turning you know negative talk into slightly more positive or neutral talk like instead of I can't keep this pace they're riding away from me that's like a total uncontrollable to go with the stoic control your controllables say okay let me focus on my breath let me focus on you know the rhythm of the pedal stroke focus on something you can control so focusing on the process rather than the outcome like if it's he mentioned a climb if it's going up a climb you can only ride a Tob as fast as you can up a climb so focusing on I'm getting dropped I'm riding away from people it's not always that helpful where if you focus on the breath the Rhythm your wats if you're using a parameter that's a lot more helpful for me mantras I've is not something I've ever used but I've worked with sport psychologists in the past who are huge on mantras like repeating stuff like I can keep the pace I can keep the pace and another useful tip that I got from a sport psychologist and this he' worked with a lot of grandor riders was he pushed his tumb and his forefinger together and but he done this at various points throughout the year so the rer in question he'd be at an altitude camper he's away from his wife and kids for four weeks and multiple times during the altitude Camp he pushed his tumb and finger together remember okay the sacrifice I'm making here you know when everyone's out for a nice dinner and he has to eat very calorie controlled meal he's pushing his Tom and forefinger together and then in the race when it comes that key moment to deliver his team leader to the bottom of the termet and the legs are hurting and everyone's like doesn't want to be doing it because dur in the third week of a grand th it's 38 degrees he pushes his thumb and his forefinger together and it brings back to him all the memories of all the sacrifices he made and they were all just for this one moment wow I thought that's pretty cool like I've never actually used it but it's really cool that's really powerful yeah I think for this guy he's 16 we I think you want to start building selfconfidence so this kind of setting goals achievable goals and hitting markers along the way to a bigger goal can give you that self-confidence as well so you're kind of like okay well I did X last week which was tough and almost killed me I got through that I can get through this so setting writing down like three smaller goals and on the way to a big goal I think it's really good because that will also give you that boost every time you think I'm going to fail I can't do this you think well you know what I did this really really tough thing yesterday I can do this really tough thing today yeah but peer comparison's really dangerous at that age like I remember playing football at that age and we all get especially Lads we get testosterone at vastly different stages in our development and the difference it makes getting that testosterone bang like you're playing football at 15 16 some Lads have a beard and a mustache and other Lads are like 12 year olds they're total children they've no muscle definition and then they catch up so it's not just like we're all going to get it at some point but you know maybe in one year's time he's going to be the best riter in the entire you know category or the entire National Federation but at the moment he just hasn't had that growth spirit that some of his PE have had yeah absolutely and I think just kind of keep him at this it's obviously a sport that he's F that he loves so trying keep him at it do your best keep him training two one more thing before we move on from this question is a couple of really good books if he's a reader and if he's not a reader Definitely Maybe uh download Audible so he can listen to it when he's on the bike Relentless is a great book from good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim Grover that's yeah it's a bestseller it's he's a renowned H performance coach for athletes like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant so you need to get one podcast we do and then there's another one Think Like a Warrior the five inner beliefs that make you Unstoppable and it's just basically using this Warrior archetype to kind of give you give tips and tricks to when you're in those moments to turn around your conversations that you're having with your stff I like to have you used these yes of course we do I would throw in Steve Peters chimp Paradox in oh yeah that is brilliant that really makes you kind of understand why these random negative thoughts pop in and how you can deal with them yeah I had uh Sean Conway on the podcast recently I don't think it's been released yet it's coming out next week it's coming out soon and Sean has the world record for most number of Iron Man so he went 105 Iron Man races in 105 consecutive days uh but he talked about these different personas he has and he realized that he has a chimp Persona and he has I think it was like a hair Persona or something so one needs to chase things and one needs to fidget but he realized he can't conform to normal societal stereotypes of having a job having you know a a pretty consistent 9 to-5 daily routine because these two alter egos you have just pull them in different different direction so he has the chimp that's fidgeting he wants to always fix cars and be building shelves and playing with his hands but every now and then the chimp needs to take a backseat for the hair to chase something and he needs to do these Wild Adventures to silence the hair because if he doesn't silence the hair he can't do anything his life is just gets taken over but his need to go it's amazing isn't it I love people who have taken the time now if you're a longdistance runner an ultra distant Runner an Iron Man or an any inurance athlete you do have that time little bit of time for self-reflection and trying to figure out you know I'm I'm a tiger everyone always I think people overplay that how much head time you have to think on the bike I don't really think of anything on them on the bike really yeah like your your mind doesn't go any oh I do I'm very I'm very much I'm focused on the effort yeah R too easy I get very contemplative on the bike but yeah I love that like actually and that's probably a good tip for this young guy as well like starting to understand how your brain works and yeah that chimp Parx book is a brilliant 16 like yeah I think I was playing computer games you're a dumbass and you're 16 I didn't know you but I'm just I'm guessing I'd say you were say okay next question I need KN bike shoes what are you wearing what do what am I wearing or what do I wish I was wearing I think they're different questions I've historically wore physique for a long long time and I love physique physique or ones were my favorite Ro I might go back to next season I'm wearing a set of specialized s works at the moment which I don't love my gravel shoes I do really like they're qu yeah I have a set of them as well had qu on the podcast and his story is insane like his can you remember this so his parents exiled from Vietnam on a raft that they built and escaped the war in Vietnam and he came to the UK through you know various migration channels and he started this shoe company and even one of his first he he sold the idea of these shoes into Rafa the bike shop so they were said they'd buy 10 sets or something and so he saved up his life savings and he went back to Vietnam to the Shoemaker and he's like okay I finally got a client I need 10 sets your man's like what the minimum order is like 40,000 sets do you mean you need 10 so he had to absolutely beg God knows what he had to do to get this 10 sets made out there but he got those 10 sets made sold them into Rafa and that was the beginning of qu and now Gant Thomas is wearing them in this year to tell you this year there's a cool bit of history in them are they better in other bik I hav a clue like they feel comfortable they don't give me half four definitely better in my S works yeah they do size small I find though we when we got ours we both had to upsize if you're going to get them I find them really comfortable didn't have to break them in whatsoever and they I think they look really cool but a few I'm looking at at the moment H I love pogies dmts they just look like a glove but I don't know how they'll go in or weather like one of the lads in the RO Man Group has them and but he's rock and roll he lives down on nice for half year yeah they just look so cool on him he has the the peritan as well the knit ones have gotten really popular track released H those keep yeah they're really cool it's they almost look like a soccer booty they're kind of like a yeah they have them in black and white and black and gold and then there there's a white verish as well and I just happened to be in Rona mclin's company he's the kind of tech rider for the Escape Collective while he had two pairs of these and he was trying to no of the track n yeah the track orsl nit Road cycling shoe $499 um but he really liked them he really liked them he said they were super comfortable didn't like track that's good enough for me anyway he he liked them as far as I know I'm sure he has a full report on them but they're also a good option and just to leave this question behind now but Nimble is a brand that I really am interested in and maybe I might try them in the offseason this year they're on all the visma Lisa bike Lads are on they I had them in a bike shop in Jon in my hand and they're unbelievable they're like pieces of art but they're super expensive oh we have to give a shout out for the tatalon shoe um because we had to look at them in tatalon yeah I've never wore them though I would recommend them to someone until award yeah well that's very true but they are an affordable uh affordable shoe I am currently wearing bont cycling shoes they're more of a track shoe though they're very take back off you oh yeah you might need them for time TRS very very stiff so if you see me at rocking the boun they're not really an everyday road but I quite like them okay we'll move on to the next question we got one more yeah we've got one more okay so Anthony how can I improve my pedaling technique how do I make my pedal stroke the most efficient I can interesting so I would think about there's different phases to the pedal stroke first so anyone listening on audio and not the podcast or not YouTube video I was I'll try and explain it by a clock so if you have 12:00 is the top of your pedal stroke 6:00 is the bottom of your pedal stroke so you're going to have naturally have dead points when you're at the top and your bottom of your pedal stroke most of us just engag a pedal stroke from like 1:00 down until like 5:00 so it's the push phase down and then we start pushing on the other leg so it's a constantly push push push push push a smooth pedal stroke or when you see somebody you just they pedal really nicely it's because they pedal in circles so it's not going push with left leg push with right leg their two legs work independently of each other so their left leg goes down push comes around the 6:00 dead spot and then starts a pull sequence so it's a full circle so a way you can learn how to Pedal full circles so and you're not pushing around with both feet it's actually just to Pedal with one leg so easier to do if you have skills you be able to do it outside but easier to practice on the indoor trainer and making sure you're not having this clunk at the bottom of the pedal stroke you'll hear this audible as the free Hub engages because you're not pedaling in a smooth Circle so the way to think about the bottom part of it is when you're at the 5:00 around the 7:00 as if you had on the so of your shoe and you're trying to scrape it off the edge of a curb or a sidewalk and you're scraping it around on the way up so pedaling like you could do five minutes at the end of each session on your left leg five minutes on your right leg and that will start to smooth it out but those single leg drills are really important for the one tip you gave me when I started cycling is that you've got a piece of dog poo on the bottom of your shoe and you're trying to scrape it off and that honestly if you think about that that makes a lot of sense when you're doing your pedal stroke so two legs are independent of each other nearly and then I would say once you've got that and I would spend some time doing that I would move over to High cidence Trails so you're starting to do some drills maybe it's a starting out of a five minute effort and throwing a couple of five minute efforts into a session where 100 plus RPMs I remember one of my first track coaches on the national team had me doing 20 minute intervals at like 125 RPM that's my worst nightmare oh my God they so hard at the start because the power is not that high and your heart rate's not that high but you just at the start you're all over the place with but if you look at the track Riders because the track the fix gear I'm actually I don't think riding a fix gear helps your pedal stroke but if you have a good pedal stroke it there's like good maintenance to ride in a fixed gear I think but it forces your legs into that Circle all the way around the fix gear so that's a nice thing to add in as well if you have a nice pedal stroke but I think this the sort of sequence for me is important that you create the nice pedal stroke with single leg drill work on it with the high Cadence before moving anything this fix gear so in on the W bike which we have here it does give you that peanut so on the display of the W bike it shows you how your pedal stroke is doing and if it's balanced it's like the application app power the whole way around and I have to say mine's absolutely chronic it's something that you're not going to change over a course of a month or two this is something that you consistently have to work on and I will say when you see somebody with like a lovely pedal stroke you can notice somebody who has this lovely sweeping Motion in Full Circle some people just look amazing yeah they do you look pretty good on the bike I have to say another one who I always always talk about is Shan McKenna he just looks like he's made for the bike he a local Irish rider for me it's Yan for me it's Shan Mna Rob man thank you for tuning in to another episode of rer support there's another video up here which you're absolutely going to love and please make sure you subscribe to the channel because we have loads of amazing upcoming content which I don't want you to miss see you next day

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Does beetroot juice actually improve cycling performance?+

Yes, beetroot juice improves cycling performance through its high dietary nitrate content, which increases mitochondrial efficiency and enhances time-trial output. Rider Support recommends loading at 500ml daily for seven days before an event, plus a final dose two to three hours before the start for peak effect.

How do you take beetroot juice for cycling performance?+

Load 500ml of beetroot juice daily for seven days leading up to your target event, then take an additional dose two to three hours before the start. This protocol is the one Rider Support outlines as being backed by scientific evidence and used in the professional peloton.

What does tart cherry juice do for cyclists?+

Tart cherry juice reduces post-ride inflammation, muscle soreness, and cortisol levels, making it a popular recovery tool among professional riders including Remco Evenepoel. It also contains melatonin, which supports better sleep quality during hard training blocks or stage races.

What are the signs of overtraining in cyclists?+

Key signs include persistent fatigue that does not resolve with rest, declining performance despite continued training, disrupted sleep, and elevated resting heart rate. Rider Support argues that athletes are safer being 20 percent undertrained than crossing even 1 percent over the overtraining threshold.

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with Rider Support

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Key Takeaways

Beetroot juice works through dietary nitrates that improve oxygen delivery and mitochondrial efficiency—but you need to load 500ml daily for 7 days before an event, plus an additional dose 2-3 hours before racing to see benefits.

Tart cherry juice is for post-race recovery, not pre-race performance; its anti-inflammatory properties reduce muscle soreness, improve sleep via melatonin, and lower cortisol levels when consumed immediately after exercise.

The line between peak training and overtraining is razor-thin—you're better off training 20% under capacity than 1% over it; if you're writing emails to cycling podcasts worried about overtraining, that's usually the first sign.

Negative self-talk happens on autopilot; the fix is switching focus from uncontrollable outcomes ('I'm getting dropped') to controllable processes (breath rhythm, pedal stroke, wattage).

A smooth pedal stroke comes from independent leg work in circles, not just pushing down; single-leg drills and high-cadence work (100+ RPM) smooth out the dead spots and clunkiness.

Building self-confidence in young riders matters as much as fitness—set three small achievable goals on the way to a big goal so they have evidence they can handle tough moments.

Expert Quotes

"You're much in a worse position if you're 1% overtrained than if you're 20% undertrained—1% overtrained it's game over, 20% undertrained you're still pretty fine."

"Most of the time it's not that's cherry juice that they're drinking at the finish line... cherry juice sounds nice but beetroot juice has massive benefits and these are really well studied benefits at this point."

"For me it's a real dip off in my motivation to train... there'll start appearing a lot of gaps in my training peaks and that's a big sign where if I'm moving sessions around saying oh I'm not going to train today."

KEY QUOTES

“you need to start taking beetroot juice 7 days before your event consuming 500 mil of beetroot juice per day for this period so you can saturate the body with nitrates and on the day of the event you need to take an additional dose two to three hours before the start line”
Sarah Smart — Rider Support co-host

“you're in a much worse position if you're 1% over Trend than if you're 20% under TR so 1% over Trend it's game over 20% under Trend you're still pretty fine like you can pull a performance out not going to be your best performance but it's going to be a lot lot better than the 1% over Trend performance”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

“CTL I would look at a maximum ramp rate of five to eight points so week one to week two you don't be increasing more than five to eight points if you are ramping more than that for you know more than two weeks at a time like if you do it two weeks in a row we'd call that like a super compensation block if you're north of 8 CTL if you're constantly pushing that that's also a sign”
Anthony Walsh — Roadman Cycling podcast host

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Does beetroot juice actually improve cycling performance?+

How do you take beetroot juice for cycling performance?+

What does tart cherry juice do for cyclists?+

What are the signs of overtraining in cyclists?+

HOW PRO CYCLISTS BOOST THEIR PERFORMANCE WITH THIS MAGIC DRINK | RIDER SUPPORT

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

KEY QUOTES

Beetroot juice performance benefits

Beating negative self-talk in racing

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

READ THE GUIDE

RELATED EPISODES

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WANT THIS APPLIED TO YOUR TRAINING?

HOW PRO CYCLISTS BOOST THEIR PERFORMANCE WITH THIS MAGIC DRINK | RIDER SUPPORT

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

KEY QUOTES

Beetroot juice performance benefits

Beating negative self-talk in racing

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

READ THE GUIDE

RELATED EPISODES

HOW TO COMBINE ZONE 2 WITH HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING | RIDER SUPPORT

HOW TO MAKE CYCLING FEEL EASIER? | RIDER SUPPORT

IS COLNAGO DEAD? |RIDER SUPPORT

RELATED CONTENT

TEAM VISMA’S NEW SECRET TRAINING TECH THE UCI MIGHT BAN

13 YEARS OF COACHING PROS: WHAT AMATEURS DON'T KNOW

ALEX WILD OPENS UP ON POWER & RIVALS AT SEA OTTER 2025

WANT THIS APPLIED TO YOUR TRAINING?

HOW PRO CYCLISTS BOOST THEIR PERFORMANCE WITH THIS MAGIC DRINK | RIDER SUPPORT

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

KEY QUOTES

1.Beetroot juice performance benefits

2.Beating negative self-talk in racing

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

READ THE GUIDE

RELATED EPISODES

HOW TO COMBINE ZONE 2 WITH HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING | RIDER SUPPORT

HOW TO MAKE CYCLING FEEL EASIER? | RIDER SUPPORT

IS COLNAGO DEAD? |RIDER SUPPORT

RELATED CONTENT

TEAM VISMA’S NEW SECRET TRAINING TECH THE UCI MIGHT BAN

13 YEARS OF COACHING PROS: WHAT AMATEURS DON'T KNOW

ALEX WILD OPENS UP ON POWER & RIVALS AT SEA OTTER 2025

WANT THIS APPLIED TO YOUR TRAINING?

HOW PRO CYCLISTS BOOST THEIR PERFORMANCE WITH THIS MAGIC DRINK | RIDER SUPPORT

Key Takeaways

Expert Quotes

KEY QUOTES

1.Beetroot juice performance benefits

2.Beating negative self-talk in racing

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

NEVER MISS AN EPISODE

READ THE GUIDE

RELATED EPISODES

HOW TO COMBINE ZONE 2 WITH HIGH INTENSITY TRAINING | RIDER SUPPORT

HOW TO MAKE CYCLING FEEL EASIER? | RIDER SUPPORT

IS COLNAGO DEAD? |RIDER SUPPORT

RELATED CONTENT

TEAM VISMA’S NEW SECRET TRAINING TECH THE UCI MIGHT BAN

13 YEARS OF COACHING PROS: WHAT AMATEURS DON'T KNOW

ALEX WILD OPENS UP ON POWER & RIVALS AT SEA OTTER 2025

WANT THIS APPLIED TO YOUR TRAINING?

Beetroot juice performance benefits

Beating negative self-talk in racing

Beetroot juice performance benefits

Beating negative self-talk in racing