Uphill switchbacks are one thing that I’m sure have gotten the better of everyone at one point, myself included. Not that they are overly difficult if we are focused on the corner, the problem

lies with a lack of preparation for the corner, whether we are unaware of it coming up or pre-focused on what is directly in front of us. The most common problems are too high a gear for the exit, too much speed, too little speed or your heart rate is at threshold and you don’t have the strength/co-ordination to be smooth around the corner.

Preparation into the switch back is the key:

Sometimes it is even better to back off a little before the switch back, just enough so you are no longer at threshold. Before entering the corner click down a couple of gears ready to pedal when exiting the corner. Have a steady speed that you can steer the bike with minimal lean. Too fast and you will lose front wheel traction. Too slow and you will lose balance. Your rear wheel will take a shorter line around the corner, ride slightly past the inside of the corner and steer the front wheel around the outside of the corner. Stay seated, as you have better balance and traction, watch where you want the front wheel to go. Being able to balance, pedal slow and steer the front of the bike around the corner is the key, the rear wheel will naturally follow. On exiting, straighten up and continue on your way.

Before we start with Craig’s question of the week, here are the raffle winners from the Efficiency

Coaching ride:

#1: JR #2. Hamat Immanuel #3. Daniel Patrick, Thank you to Team Sho-Air and Rock N Road cycles for their kind donation of prizes. Congratulations, we will be contacting you shortly for postage details.

Craig Hopps @ Efficiency Coaching, Question of the week:

"How do I fit it all in?" I am glad the question was asked as so many attempt to do the

impossible by fitting it all in all at once! That is the equivalent of eating all your calories for the day at breakfast! Not optimal at all. We are just not mentally able to handle more than one properly sized meal at a time. So the article get's into that topic:

Time, what are trading your life for?

The older I get, the more I realize that the most valuable commodity I possess is my time. I have said it before, but it is worth repeating, "If you lose money, don't worry. You can always get more money. But, if you lose time, be concerned because you cannot get more time."

Simply put, our lives are made up of days. That seems simple enough to understand. However, I think that what all of us sometimes fail to realize is that days add up and soon they turn into

weeks, months, and years. It seems as though the last forty years of my life have passed in just

a matter of minutes! Yet, I realize that those years have all been made up of days, each 24 hours long.

Life is much like a garden. When we plant good seeds, we will get a good crop. If we plant bad

seeds - or no seeds at all - then we get a crop in proportion to what we sow. It is the law of sowing and reaping. Often that principle is seen in a more negative light. We have a parent or teacher say, "You are headed for trouble - you are going to reap what you sow!" But, actually it

can also work positively for each one of us. Let me explain.

Every farmer (athlete) is counting on getting a good crop (results) when he prepares the soil

(training regiment) and plants the seed (Does the training). He is betting all of his labor on

the positive law of sowing and reaping. He knows that he will reap what he sows and therefore he prepares for a good harvest. The same can be true of us.

Instead of looking at your entire athletic season on a long-term scale, perhaps we ought to look

at it on a shorter, more daily basis, in order to see if what we are doing today will bring about

a good result in the future. For example; when you dedicate your day to a specific workout and

achieve a “personal best” effort, you have accomplished something very important that can be build on! To achieve a “personal best” week, simply string seven “personal best” effort days together! Do the same thing for four weeks in a row and lay claim to a “personal best” effort month! How do you have a personal best season? You get the picture - your season will automatically be a “personal best” by consistently addressing your daily efforts!

I have been amazed by the elite athletes I have had a chance to know. They tend to micro manage their daily allotment of minutes and have the extreme ability, therefore, to focus. As an example, thinking about tomorrow or next season is too big a topic for most cyclists who ride the Tour de France. It is all they can do to focus on the race filled minutes of each stage. As we saw in this year’s Tour, one break in focus is all it took to separate 3rd place from 4th or 5th. Lance

Armstrong is known for his intensity and focus. He is a veteran with the ability to stay 100% focused. Lance seemed to be at the right place at the right time during this year’s tour and picked up 40 seconds on an early stage (thought to be insignificant by some). By staying focused during that windy ride, he achieved a “personal best” effort day and it arguably put him on the podium ahead of Bradley Wiggens by a scant 37 seconds. Frank Schleck was only 3 seconds behind Wiggens! The tour is a profound example of sowing focus and reaping rewards. After 86 hours and three weeks of racing, these elite athletes were still only separated by mere seconds at the finish! Champions have the ability to stay focused minute by minute throughout the duration. The point; consistently micro-manage your daily efforts to optimize your performance over the season. I see many sets of intervals come across my desk where I can see where the athlete is mentally defeated by their focus. When you have 6 intervals to perform, do them one at a time as if it was the only one you had to do. Too often an athlete will attempt to mentally navigate intervals 2-6, while suffering through interval #1! Let me ask you something; is it easier or harder to do an interval while thinking about the rest of your work load? Why would you be doing an interval while thinking about anything else except the required effort at hand? And, amazingly, we all have done it! It is called “broken focus” and it is the only reason athletes fail to achieve their “personal best” effort. Many coaches call proper focus “practicing the presence”, or “being 100% in the now”. At first, it requires great discipline to accomplish the “now” mind set, but over time you can strengthen your focus and increase your daily performance. It has been shown to dramatically increase ones harvest in all areas of life.

One of Lance’s teammates commented on how much Lance does at the tour in addition to racing. He was amazed that Lance can juggle so many balls at the same time and still race so well. In reality, Lance can only do one thing at a time. He can’t juggle ten balls at once, but he, like so many other successful time management people, can focus 100% on one thing at a time, get it done, and move on to the next thing. Get that shirt autographed, talk to Velo News, do a press conference, send out a twitter video, go to drug control, get a massage, eat, etc… It is all done one thing at a time, to make the most of his time. You can do it too, one work out at a time. It just takes discipline.

Recently I came across a poem that I had first seen years ago. I was so glad to find it again!

It sums up what I am trying to say in this Tip.

When as a child I laughed and wept - time crept.

When as a youth I dreamed and talked - time walked.

When I became a full-grown man - time ran.

When older still I daily grew - time flew.

Soon I shall find as traveling on - time gone!

-Author Unknown

This poem helps me to realize the power and value of time. There are some things I wish I could go back and do differently. However, there are also many time seeds that I am glad that I planted because they brought about great results and a wonderful harvest. That is why I love coaching. I want athletes to experience a wonderful harvest! An athlete, who invests in a training plan and consistently does the work, will achieve a full harvest. I absolutely love to associate with athletes who want to pay the “full price, to achieve the full reward”. How awesome is that? See what seeds you are planting today and evaluate what kind of crop they will produce as time takes its course. As I stated earlier, the law of sowing and reaping is one that no one can ever deny. It is like gravity, it just works. It will either work against us, or for us, depending on how we cooperate with it. Live today as though you traded a day of your life for it, because you did! And, as time passes, you will see that the seeds that you carefully plant today will grow to bless your life and the life of other people as well.

We will continue to pick one technical topic and one training question each week:

To suggest a topic for next week: question4sid@yahoo.com

Ask Craig a training question for next week: efficiencycoaching@cox.net

Until next week, Happy Riding