Alison Powers - Featured Blogger

As cyclists, we like to ride our bike. We like to be outside, we like the endorphins that come with pushing our bodies for minutes to hours at a time. We like the freedom that bikes provide us.

This past weekend, I took a 3 day mountain bike coaching course to attain my Level 2 BICP (Bicycle Instructor Certification Program) certification. It was amazing.

In the past two weeks, life has drastically changed. We’ve gone from excitement for the race season and ready to test our fitness and hard work, to being holed up at home and unable to see our friends and family. Our lives have been turned upside down.

"At a recent event, to talk about and grow women's cycling, I was asked what the biggest limiter I see that athletes have to overcome to achieve success. My thoughts went right away to things like; kids, a demanding job, lack of financial resources, living in a place that's challenging to get quality training, etc. But the more I thought about it, I realized motivation can overcome hurdles like these." 

Summer is winding down and many parts of the country have already seen a shift of weather, signaling the end of a long road season and for others the start of cyclocross season. Whether you take a break now from structured training and racing or do it after cross, it's important to get the most out of your off-season. This is where the biggest gains can be made.

Triple national champion Alison Powers prepares for the premier Colorado event SBT GRVL, a 141-mile race with 100 miles on dirt/gravel roads.This close to a big event, it isn’t really about the bike or the training anymore. 

Triple national champion Alison Powers prepares for the premier Colorado event SBT GRVL, a 141-mile race with 100 miles on dirt/gravel roads.

Triple national champion Alison Powers prepares for the premier Colorado event SBT GRVL, a 141-mile race with 100 miles on dirt/gravel roads.

Today was my last big/hard training ride before SBTGRVL. The last day to get everything dialed in. I tried a different approach with my dynamic warm-up and activation this morning. Since I did core yesterday, I felt pretty “activated”, but tight. 

I used to be a full-time professional athlete. So, in my opinion, my training thus far has been just "ok". To some, it would be quite good, but because I know what it's like to train 100% for an event, I know I have not done what should be done (I have yet to get a ride longer than 4.5 hours and have no plans to pre-ride the course).

It’s finally summer time. The weather is nice and the days are long. However, for many bike racers, June is a tough month, motivation wise.  Early season races have come and gone, goals have either been met or not quite achieved, you pretty much know how your season is going to turn out.

"We Alp Cycles Women's Racing Team headed to Leadville, Colorado for #alpfatcamp - three days of fat biking, Nordic skiing, yoga, and team bonding. Some teammates were meeting for the first time, and others were completely new to fat biking and Nordic skiing. At 10,000ft with cold temps and new equipment, we were all in for a great adventure."

"I'm 100% sure I can't do this." I told the yoga instructor after she showed us the next pose we were supposed to get into and hold. With tight shoulders and a delicate elbow, I was sure that my body would not get into or like the pose. The nice instructor came over and, in less than a minute, I was in the pose doing something I was convinced my body couldn't do and it actually felt good.

Riders who, in my mind, were on better teams, who had better equipment and who being provided better opportunities, were beating me. After years of pushing back weakness, I had no idea I was the one holding myself back. Relying on myself was causing me to not grow as an athlete or teammate- and thus as a person.

The art of being prepared comes down to one simple thing—no surprises on race day.

Preparing for race day is more than training and recovery.  Success on race day requires precise preparation. This means the things you can control should be dialed in, ready, and give you confidence to have the best performance possible.

“Fail to prepare and prepare to fail”—famous quote by someone who inspires people to get their sh*t together. 

For most of us, we don’t have 15-25hrs each week to train and ride our bike. We have to make the most of what time to train we have. For this reason each training ride or workout session must be quality. The secret, then, is knowing if your ride or workout really was good quality, or if you were just going through the motions.

Over the past 4-6 months, many of us have spent time in the gym, or home gym, strength training. We're making our cycling bodies strong, well rounded, and ready to hammer out a strong and long lasting cycling season. However, no matter how strong you are in the gym, it doesn't necessarily translate into a fast bike rider. In order to make that strength transition to the bike, you need to transition those strong muscles to powerful and quick muscles.

After spending 4 hours re-creating our Off Season Strength Program last month, I was sore. My glutes, upper back, and hamstrings all had signs of DOMS. DOMS (Delayed onset muscle soreness) is a common result of physical activity that stresses the body...

“Before training for Goal #2. it’s really important to take a mid season break.” by Alison Powers, ALP Cycles Coaching It’s finally summer time. The weather is nice and the days are long. However, for many bike racers, June is a tough month, motivation wise. Early season races have come and gone, goals have either […]

“For me, my hard work, focus and sacrifice were 100% every day.” by Alison Powers, ALP Cycles Coaching While visiting my parents a few weeks ago, my Mom asked me to clean some of my old stuff from the closet. I found many notebooks of old training logs, on snow training plans, workout ideas, and […]

My favorite way to keep training fun is to ride different bikes. by Alison Powers, ALP Cycles Coaching It’s finally summer time.  The weather is nice and the days are long. However, for many bike racers, July is a tough month, motivation wise.  Early season races have come and gone, goals have either been met […]