Jason B to brider

I have a friend who is into competitive cycling and I knew you were. Can you give
me some ideas of what type of training and diet you used offseason. He has asked
me for some advice and I have some ideas, but I am not well versed in transferring
training to cycling and thought you could help. Thanks!

Hmmm… Well, I rode year 'round, team rides on the weekends (3-4 hours per), rain or shine. I really didn’t do much in the way of weights when I was bike racing (which may have been one reason why I never had a blazing sprint, but didn’t hurt my hill climbing). During the week, I’d do some runs, but mainly intense stationary trainer sessions. I’d get out occasionally for a night mountain bike ride. As for weight training for cyclists, if you’re really looking to build strength, then you don’t do too much different than what’s the norm around here. Build strength in the gym, apply it on the bike. If you’re looking to just supplement the bike training, then the gym work is going to center on regaining muscular balance for injury prevention (lots of core work, upper back). There’s some good resources on RoadBikeReview as well, and Joe Friel’s book is a good one.