Zwift Racing Tips Podcasts

Maintaining your bicycle is likely not the first thing that comes to mind when training, but a well-working bike is most certainly key to a great workout! What's more, bike shops are swamped with repairs, meaning if your bike goes down, you might have to miss multiple training rides while you wait for a fix. That's why we asked Shimano Pro Mechanic…

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are often thought to exist in a Yin and Yang relationship. One is zen-like motivation and the other is about getting results, but the reality is that it is far more complex than that. Considering the Covid-19 Pandemic has cancelled an entire season of cycling events, an Athlete is justified to ask, why am I traini…

July is simply not the same without the Tour de France and world class bike racing to watch... Thankfully, with ZWIFT there is a platform where cyclists from around the world can gather to test themselves and "scratch the racing itch", so to speak. Just as real-world events require course study and experience, ZWIFT has it's own nuances that must b…

As parents, Coaches, and two people that want to see the next generation of young people grow up to achieve all they are capable of, we are dedicating this episode of the BWC podcast to the incredible work done at the Akoma Unity Center in San Bernardino... And inviting you to help us with our fundraising efforts to support Akoma as they grapple wi…

**New Episode & Flash SALE On BWC Summer Edition Kits** Efficiency of power transfer and economy of effort are two important concepts that all cyclists should be more familiar with. Efficiency of power transfer relates to how much power is lost through the process of pedaling. This is where wasted motion robs wattage that should propel you forward.…

Did you know, for most training rides, especially those lasting less than 90min., hydration (rather lack thereof) makes a greater impact on performance than nutrition. And with the summer-heat upon us, the importance of prioritizing hydration in our everyday lives cannot be understated. In this edition of the podcast Dina Griffin of the Nutrition M…

"Food Is Fuel" is a mantra that is often under-appreciated in this age of packaged meals, powdered nutrition, and pills pitched to cure all. Yet for cyclists everywhere their desire for nutrition in the form of tasty, real-food options has never been higher. Enter Anke Thiel and SNAAK Bar. Anke is a Registered Dietician, an avid cyclist, and the fo…

Humans are hunting creatures, we get what we aim at... And without goal events to target, what should Athletes be aiming at? We suggest assessing your fitness and addressing weaknesses to broaden your cycling condition while the uncertainty surrounding summer event dates continues. In this weeks podcast we answer listener questions regarding their …

No matter where you are when you read this email it is highly likely that you are "in the thick" of the Covid-19/Corona Virus pandemic. Here in SoCal the virus is gaining steam and experts project a mid-April peak in cases... Luckily cycling has been deemed an "essential" activity in nearly every region, meaning that getting outdoors for a ride is …

So you are working from home and already getting the "shelter in place" restlessness? As Athletes with jobs, families, and busy lives, there is often a mountain of tasks between you and your workout. And although working from home may present the illusion that productivity will reign and time will be copious, that is often not the case. With over 1…

Complying with the recent "shelter in place" order for the state of California, and elsewhere, means citizens should avoid public gatherings. One of the many businesses affected in this shutdown has been workout gyms, a place where many cyclists have been making strength gains that are translating to more power output on the bike. So what can Athle…

"Sometimes healing the body is the easy part, and the lasting impact of an injury is a loss in confidence." -Jim Rutberg, Author/Coach If you ride and train long enough you are bound to experience setback and injury, it's part of being an Athlete and pushing your limits. But recovering from a serious injury takes time, patience, and, as Jordan Chey…

Daylight Savings Time is a nuisance for most folks, but for cyclists everywhere it usually brings evening group training sessions that are fast and fun workouts that help us get through our busy work weeks. That makes this time year feel more like a holiday, especially if you are one of the many riders that is relegated to indoor trainer time throu…

"Any fool can go train more...It takes courage to rest!" These words come from the lips of Trond Nystad the former Head-Coach for the U.S. ski team. In a world where we celebrate excess and often think, "if some is good more is better", with many Endurance Athletes falling into the thinking that "if more is better, then A LOT MORE must be the best!…

Eric Bostrom is a legend amongst two-wheeled motor racing enthusiasts. As a multi-time champion road racer and Flat-Track star "E-Boz" was known to be tenacious, hard working, and full of talent. But after a heavy crash that left him with a compressed cervical spine, and a diagnosis that recommended giving up his active lifestyle, he refused to qui…

"In recent years RECOVERY has become a sports fitness buzzword. Anyone who works out or competes at any level is bombarded with the latest recovery products and services: from drinks and shakes to compression sleeves, foam rollers, electrical muscle stimulators, and sleep trackers." In her book "Good To Go, What The Athlete In All Of Us Can Learn F…

With the New Year upon us, one can't but help think about making "resolutions" to make this year better than the last... But, as an Athlete you are already goal driven and have probably thought extensively about what a successful 2020 season could look like... Yet far to many of us have yet to write up a plan to accomplish our goals. In this weeks …

Before you listen to this weeks podcast, consider this question: Athletic ability and the best performing athletes have what balance of talent (what they were born with) and work ethic (what can be developed)? Is it 75% talent and 25% work ethic? How about 50/50? Or could it be 10% talent and 90% work ethic? Consider Olympic and professional Athlet…

Bike racing culture is steeped with adages and truisms. Two of the most poignant include: A- There are only two ways to win a race... Solo or in a sprint! & B- Racing is tactical, riders should constantly be working to out-maneuver their competitors! We have built the curriculum for this weekends CBR VIP Race Tactics Experience on these two adages.…

Racing road bicycles is not for the faint of heart... Not because of the blazing speeds or close-quarters riding, no, bike racing challenges an Athlete both physically and mentally as it requires riders to make critical tactical decisions under physical stress. Without time-outs, substitutions, or being able to "phone a friend" as they do in a game…

Most cyclists have a love-hate relationship with the holiday season... They love the time away from work which most often provides extra training opportunities. But the holiday's also brings significant stress in the form of holiday parties, frigid weather, and of course, the dreaded over-indulgence of holiday meals. In a sport where weight matters…

The advent of direct-drive indoor trainers has changed the "winter" training game for cyclists. These pieces of equipment when coupled with technology components like ZWIFT and Rouvy are making it more and more attractive to ride indoors even when the weather outside is good... But with the recent Daylight Savings Time (DST) time-change, and the re…

Many cyclists have a love/hate relationship with strength work... They love the strength built in the gym, but often struggle converting it to "on the bike" power and loathe the extra mass that comes with a traditional strength training program. For road racers, endurance mountain bike competitors, and gravel junkies, that extra bulk built in the w…

Time-Trialing is known as the "race of truth", and for good reason, because the discipline is simple: it's you verse the clock, racing to cover the course as quickly as possible. But since Greg Lemond dramatically won the 1989 Tour de France in a final time-trial using aero equipment, the disciplines mantra has been transformed from pacing, strengt…

When you hear, "myofascial release", most Athletes think of recovery products like a foam-roller or possibly TriggerPoint balls, but did you know that Myofascial Release is also a hands-on therapy that can unlock your best performance? Abel Rendon of Rendon Therapy possess two doctorates of Physical Therapy and is on the cutting-edge of this powerf…

The TrainingPeaks Endurance Coaching Summit is an annual event for Cycling, Running, and Triathlon Coaches bringing together the newest science and latest ideas to fuel optimal performance. But it's more than presentations on physiology, training, nutrition, and mental skills, as well as the latest technology in performance. The Endurance Coaching …

Our Peloton Experience at the Mammoth Gran Fondo was a massive success with the peloton swelling to 100+ riders at various points and finishing with our biggest group yet! Gran Fondo's and other big rides are so much more fun with a group, so we created a BWC peloton, not just to go faster, but to go fast with friends that are safe/predictable ride…

"Race for today" is the team motto at Elevate-KHS Pro Cycling... and has been since the program began. This mindset is about never letting an opportunity pass and bringing out the best in the riders each and every day they compete. Having recently capped off an incredible performance at the Tour of Utah earning the teams first stage win and securin…

With 75% of the 102-mile route closed to cars, the Mammoth Gran Fondo is a unique chance for cyclists to take-over the roads and enjoy the amazing scenery without the "hum" of traffic buzzing by... For the performance-minded cyclist this fact holds another opportunity, to ride in a fast-moving, safe, and predictable peloton of like-minded riders. A…

The Leadville Trail 100 MTB race is iconic in the world of endurance racing and has absolutely exploded in participation over the last ten years. Only a few people have seen this amazing event since the early years, one of them is BWC Athlete Todd Brown who recently completed his sixth Leadville Trail 100. Twenty years after his very first LT100 To…

"The ultimate is not to win, but to reach within the depths of your capabilities and compete against yourself to the greatest extent possible. When you do that you can walk about with pride, no matter what place you finished." -Billy Mills, Olympic Gold Medalist Endurance sports are arguably the most grueling and demanding physical endeavors Athlet…

Having a great ride at your Goal Event takes focused preparation and so much more... One of the best ways to test your preparation and see if you are on track, as well as uncover any weak links, is by doing "mock races" or Lead-Up events. These events or training sessions simulate the speed, intensity, duration, distance, climbing, or workload that…

Endurance Athletes everywhere have felt the drag of doing a hard workout after a restless night in bed...and almost as powerful is the feeling of invincibility on a day when you could ride as hard as you want for as long as you want. Most of us experience far to many days like the former, while dreaming of more like the later. Interestingly, both e…

Do you have a Champion's Mind? As Athletes we spend nearly all of our time addressing our physical preparation, through interval work, endurance training, and pedaling dynamics... Rarely do we devote time and energy to developing a 'gold-medal' mindset that is a absolutely necessary for us to perform our very best. In Part 2 of our Podcast review o…

There is far more to being a successful cyclist than pushing the pedals hard, but you already know that! Although being 'fit' is very important, focusing only on this aspect of performance would leave so much of your potential untapped. Developing an Athletes' Mindset, and what author Jim Afremow calls The Champion's Mind, is one of the most import…

Being an Endurance Athlete takes a lot "sport-specific" training in order to be competitive, meaning that it takes a lot of saddle time to maintain your best fitness. But for busy professionals that have jobs requiring regular business travel, the time away from their regular training habits can feel a lot like torture. These business trips, and so…

Is your bike a tool that is adapted to you, meaning you feel comfortable and ready to get the most from your body on every ride? Or, are you struggling with upper back or neck pain, a sore lower back, possibly even numbness in your feet, hands and/or "seat-area"... Unfortunately for even the most experienced cyclists, they are more likely to fit in…

"The toughest challenge I have ever faced on a bike was 3-days in the Gobi Desert when I thought I was lost and had to spend the majority of my day walking my bike through the deep sand..." Not many competitive cyclists have a background that includes bike-packing through Mongolia, Bolivia, and the Gobi Desert, but then again, Erik Andrejko is not …

It was just two weeks ago that Big Wheel Coaching made a pilgrimage to one of the most challenging races ever-imagined...The 200-mile Dirty Kanza Gravel Race. Although the race has earned the reputation as the "World's Premier Gravel Race", for nearly ever participant, it is as much of a vision-quest as it is a bike race. This brutal event draws th…

The summer heat has arrived across much of the United States, especially in Southern California at BWC Headquarters, and that means one thing... Helping our Athletes train properly and race effectively in the soaring temperatures. With this in mind Coaches Brian and Leo review an article for this weeks podcast written by Dr. Stacy Sims titled, "Rac…

Ahead of Coach Brian's first participation in the ultra-endurance Dirty Kanza 200, he spoke with Race Director, LeLan Dains who has some great tips in his 15+ years of experience with the infamous DK200! These tips are as applicable for gravel riding as it is Gran Fondo's, endurance MTB, or any other performance-focused cycling event! It was such a…

There is an old-saying that goes like this... Question: "How do you eat an elephant?" Answer: "One bite at a time!" Signing up for a bucket-list event like Dirty Kanza, the Leadville Trail 100, Paris-Roubaix Sportive, or any other epic ride takes a whole lot of guts. At 200-miles the Dirty Kanza is touted as "The World's Premier Gravel Grinder", an…

Coach Brian and his Athlete Tony Rago have been working together for a few years now, but 2019 has been filled with success for Tony. What has been the difference? In short, one part mindset and one part training, to find out more about Tony's race-winning mindset and the things he is doing to get results check out this weeks podcast. You will be g…

Sleep hygiene and proper nutrition are most likely not the first two things an Athlete thinks of as fundamental in their preparation for a big goal, but they most certainly should be! Both sleep and nutrition, as well as massage, ice-bath's, and compression are considered "passive" recovery techniques that help our bodies repair from training and r…

In this episode of the BWC Podcast, Coaches Joy and Brian overview Endurance Training and share tips you can implement into your training routine to help you thrive in your upcoming epic endurance event.

In this episode of the BWC Podcast, we interview Athlete Eric Zook and his coach, BWC's Leo Bugtai to share some insights into Eric's training and how he went from casual masters racer to a fit and confident race winner! Enjoy!

It doesn't take a whole lot of hard training for an Endurance Athlete to develop an appreciation for their recovery days, but unfortunately what is often missed is the "why" behind the various recovery techniques that are central to endurance sports like cycling. In this episode of the BWC Podcast, Coaches Brian and Brady overview why recovery is i…

Coaches Brian & Brady share insight that transcend group coaching environments to help individual Athletes achieve their very best.

Coaches Joy and Brian over-view a recent TrainingPeaks article titled "Marginal Gains For The Everyday Cyclist" and share their coaching experience to help Athletes of all levels focus their energies on the areas that will translate into the greatest gains for them.

BWC Athlete Fred Archambault just completed his very first stage race at the San Dimas Stage Race. Although this was not his goal event, it was incredibly demanding and took a monumental amount of effort. In this episode Fred and Coach Brian talk through lessons learned and how others can perform their best at a multi-day event.…