01 THE SMELL OF VICTORY HOW NOSE-BREATHING IS KEY TO ON-BIKE CONTROL
Monitoring metrics such as heart rate and power can control your effort, but there’s a simpler method, according to experienced cycling coach Joe Beer, which can do so much more. And it’s free. “Using nose breathing to optimise your air intake will deliver a three-fold gain: pacing, fuel-use and brain function,” Beer says.
By keeping yourself in nose-breathing mode when you know you shouldn’t be riding full gas, you immediately set a limiter on how much you can push the pedals. “This means you don’t have to roll out the ‘went too hard for the first two hours’ excuse in post-race banter.” Nose breathing also reduces lactate build-up by improving the efficiency of your aerobic system.
“Finally – and an important one on an Alpine descent or dodging a pothole-littered course – is the fact that you enjoy better cognitive ability when you nose breathe instead of mouth breathing,” says Beer. “Better carb use, more relaxed and better noggin decisions. Thanks, nose!”
02 IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT TAKE HOT BATHS AS PREPARATION FOR INFERNAL MOUNTAIN TEMPERATURES
If you’re riding or racing in the sun this summer, then you’ll
