What separates good cyclists from great ones? We've dug into conversations with the world's top coaches—Dan Lorang, John Wakefield, Stephen Seiler, and others—to find the core principles they all agree on for getting faster. You'll also hear about watching the Tour de France from a helicopter, navigating group ride etiquette when bars get tangled, and the tech innovations (and questionable design choices) lighting up pro cycling right now.
Key Takeaways
- Follow an 80/20 or even 90/10 distribution of easy-to-hard training. Most age-group and time-crunched riders train too hard too often—elite coaches universally agree easy rides should dominate your week.
- Use a sub-maximum fatigue test before hard sessions (like John Wakefield's 3-minute effort at 85% threshold) to check if your body is ready to absorb the stimulus. Green boxes don't equal improvement if you're not recovering properly.
- Reverse-engineer success by identifying what the finish line demands, then break it into constituent parts and drip-feed those qualities into your training plan over months.
- Aim for sustainable 8/10 effort over long periods, not unsustainable 10/10 bursts. A 2/10 crash follows every 10/10 peak—you're better defined by your worst weeks than your best.
- Communicate clearly and stay calm in group rides. Avoid overlapping wheels, use predictable movements, and talk to fellow riders about positioning rather than forcing aggressive maneuvers.
- In racing, winning is the job—there's no honor in losing fairly. Every rider uses the tactics and strengths they have; questioning a rider's gamesmanship misses the point of competition.
Expert Quotes
"The purpose of training is to get faster. It's not about getting green boxes on TrainingPeaks—it's about the response we get to the training. The training is the stimulus; the response is how we get better. — John Wakefield"
"You don't want to be 10 out of 10. When you see someone 10 out of 10, what he observes is a 2 out of 10 waiting to happen. The most successful riders are 8 out of 10 over a massively long time period—that's sustainable. — Dr Alan Lim"
"It's win bike races. There's no like, 'Oh, we all have to ride through together.' It's not triathlon. It's not make friends. It's win races."