Blog

Welcome Coach Brian Matter!

This entry was posted in General News on May 20, 2011 by tjwoodruff

Brian Matter winning Iceman 2010.

I am excited to have Brian Matter joining the Momentum Endurance team. Brian and I were teammates from 2003 to 2006. As an up and coming racer during those years I learned an awful lot from Brian and successfully made the transition from expert to pro on the MTB and from cat 4 to cat 2 on the road. I was quick to recognize Brian’s well thought out and methodical approach to racing. He knew what it took to excel and he didn’t sweat the details that didn’t matter so much – thus he was a great teammate to learn from. His approach was refreshing and helped to keep me on track. It’s important to have a mentor and Brian was often my go to man when I really needed to know how ‘it’ should be done.

Brian won his first Chequamegon 40 in 2004.

Now, several years later, it’s exciting to have Brian join on as Momentum’s newest coach. If you might like to benefit from Brian’s expertise as I have, I suggest you drop him an email or talk to him at the next race. Yes, he’s notorious on course, but I assure you he’s also very approachable and one of the nicest guys you’ll meet. You can check out Brian’s bio and find his contact on the ‘Coaches’ page. Welcome to Momentum Brian!

Pedal Your Way to Marketing Success: Tips for Promoting Cycling

The popularity of live streaming platforms like Twitch has paved the way for niche communities to connect over their shared interests. One such interest is cycling, which has gained a significant following on the platform. From group rides to virtual races, cycling on Twitch has become a hub for enthusiasts to share their love for the sport. If you’re looking to promote cycling on Twitch and build a community around it, here are some marketing tips to help you pedal your way to success.

Identify your target audience: Before you start promoting your cycling content on Twitch, it’s essential to identify your target audience. Are you targeting amateur cyclists, professional athletes, or fitness enthusiasts? Knowing your audience will help you tailor your marketing messages to their interests and preferences.

Partner with influencers: Cycling influencers and enthusiasts can help you promote your channel to a wider audience. Consider collaborating with influencers to host virtual rides, races, or training sessions. This can help attract more viewers to your channel and build a community around your brand.

Leverage social media: Social media can be a powerful tool for promoting your cycling content on Twitch. Use platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to share highlights from your streams, announce upcoming events, and engage with your audience. Be sure to use relevant hashtags to reach a wider audience.

Offer exclusive content: Consider offering exclusive content to your subscribers on Twitch. This could include access to private training sessions, virtual races, or behind-the-scenes content. Exclusive content can help incentivize viewers to subscribe to your channel and become a part of your community.

Host giveaways and contests: Giveaways and contests are a fun and engaging way to promote your channel and reward your viewers. Consider giving away cycling gear, equipment, or even sponsorships to your most engaged followers. This can help build buzz around your brand and attract new viewers to your channel and choose to buy followers on Twitch.

In conclusion, promoting cycling on Twitch requires a combination of marketing tactics and community building strategies. By identifying your target audience, partnering with influencers, leveraging social media, offering exclusive content, and hosting giveaways and contests, you can build a thriving community around your brand and become a leader in the cycling community on Twitch. Happy pedaling!

-Travis

Training Considerations for a High Altitude Race

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on April 27, 2011 by tjwoodruff

MTBRaceNews.com published this Q&A article and I’m also sharing it here for you to check out. Plan ahead to succeed in your next high altitude race!

Question: I live near the mountains but not in them. I am racing the Breck Epic this season, which starts at 9,000 feet and goes up from there. How can I get acclimated to that high altitude and race at my best short of dropping 10,000 clams on a hypoxia tent?

Answer: Racing at altitude presents a unique set of challenges to all riders on the starting line. Racers who live and train at higher elevations seemingly have an advantage over others, but let’s take a closer look at how ‘altitude training’ works and how it can be used.

It’s possible to ride harder (at a greater intensity) when at lower elevations since there is more oxygen available for the muscles to work with. Any lowlander who has raced at high elevation has undoubtedly learned that it’s much harder to do the same intensity. At higher elevation any given intensity can be sustained for a lesser amount of time versus what you’d normally do at lower elevation. Keep in mind that the goal of training is to overload a system before allowing it to recover and ultimately come back stronger. Training at lower elevation allows you to ride at a higher intensity, thus you can more readily achieve the required overload. Training low will allow you to maximize your hardest efforts and you’ll get the most training response accordingly.

Those who live at higher elevation are not able to train as hard as they otherwise could at a lower elevation, but there are some benefits that effectively counteract this (to a varying degree). When living at higher elevation the body will naturally produce more hemoglobin and thus oxygen carrying capacity is improved. With more oxygen available the muscles are able to do more work. Athletes who live at high elevation physiologically acclimate to their hypoxic environment after about four weeks.

Understanding the above, the best means to do ‘altitude training’ is to live high and to train low. Exactly how high or how low will certainly impact the effectiveness of such altitude training. Those who live between 7000-9000 feet (approx) likely will have physiologically acclimated more completely while those who train at elevations under 5000 feet will be able to train with the greatest intensity. Altitude tents allow athletes to sleep at a simulated higher elevation, however the amount of time spent ‘at altitude’ when sleeping in a tent may not be sufficient for some to acclimate. Some athletes might require more exposure to high altitude (hypoxia) for adaptations to occur while others might not adapt at all. In some areas it is completely possible to ‘live high, train low’ naturally, though doing so most often requires a commute to/from lower elevation for training.

Being that you “live near the mountains, but not in them” I’ll guess that this might be between 5,000-6,000 feet. At this elevation you’re likely striking a nice compromise between the benefits of living high and training low. You likely have an increased hemoglobin mass as a result of living at this moderate altitude. Also, your capacity to train at high intensity isn’t overly compromised. You’ll certainly be more prepared for high altitude (Breck Epic) than if you were to live/train at sea level. Also, if/when you might compete at sea level you’ll be more prepared there than if you were to live/train at high altitude. If a person is to live and train at the same altitude, moderate altitude is likely the best all-around option once all performance factors are considered.

Your best approach for preparing for Breck Epic will be to stick to your training plan as best as possible. Try to do your highest intensity workouts at lower elevations when you can. Incorporating longer rides at high elevation will allow you to learn how the altitude affects you so that you can best plan your pacing strategy. As long as you understand how hard not to go when at higher altitude, that’s all the high altitude training you’ll need. Pacing will be critical at the Breck Epic and through specific training you’ll be able to develop a reliable gauge using your perceived exertion.

When you get to the starting line at the Breck Epic take confidence in your preparations and know that you’ve trained harder than those who live higher and you’ve better acclimated than those who live lower. Go knowing that you did all that was possible with your training and don’t sweat the small things. Know your pacing, stick to it and climb strong.

Train well and enjoy your preparations for the Breck Epic! Please feel free to contact me if I can answer any further questions too.

Successful Fontana ProXCT!

This entry was posted in Event Recaps on March 28, 2011 by tjwoodruff

photo by US Cup

Momentum Endurance athletes Tyler Jenema and Chloe Forsman put on impressive performances this past weekend at the Fontana ProXCT event. Sunday morning Tyler scored 3rd place in his Cat 1 XC race despite having to do a mid-race flat repair. He said that it was the fastest he’d ever fixed a flat and with a rush of adrenaline he was able to chase down the riders who had passed him while stopped – a great performance for his second ever ProXCT race and the first race of his 2011 season.

The highlight of the weekend came later that afternoon when Chloe Forsman took victory in the pro women’s short track race. Early on a lead group of five riders including Catherine Pendrel (Luna), Georgia Gould (Luna) , Emily Batty (Subaru/Trek), Lea Davison (Specialized) and Chloe Forsman (BMC Development) checked out from the rest and it was clear that the winner would come from this lead group. Chloe rode wisely to conserve energy while maintaining speed through the corners so that she had just enough left for the critical late stages when she knew it would really be crunch time. Lea attacked early on the final lap and Chloe was able to follow her and then counter attack. It was a drag race all the way to the finish and perhaps only a bike length separated them at the finish line.

This marks Chloe’s first ever professional win at a National-level competition and it was fantastic to see everything go well for her on course. Several years of dedication, hard training, and the know how gained from previous race experiences went into her performance.

Congratulations to Chloe and her BMC team! Here’s to more break through performances by Momentum athletes in the near future.

Plus 3 Network

This entry was posted in General News on March 21, 2011 by tjwoodruff

The Plus 3 Network is a great tool for reviewing or sharing your GPS routes while raising money for non-profit organizations. You select a Cause along with a Sponsor. For every mile covered during your workout, your Sponsor will donate a specified amount to your cause. All you have to do is upload your GPS files in order to begin raising money. Sharing your Plus 3 Network with teammates, friends, or family will help to raise awareness too. Since late 2009 Rock Shox has donated $736.40 to the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) on my behalf. TrainingPeaks’s WKO software remains my tool of choice for reviewing ride data, but the Plus 3 Network has proven to be a helpful way to save/store/share/review the GPS maps I record with the Garmin device. Uploading takes just a short while and it’s easy to do when I’m also uploading to TrainingPeaks. Why not help raise money for these causes? If you’re currently training with a GPS device I’d encourage you to give the Plus 3 Nework a look. If you decide to sign up, feel free to join the Momentum Endurance group that I’ve created and begin sharing some of your favorite routes.

Here’s a snapshot of some Causes and Sponsors. For the complete list, check out this link.

Acidosis, Lactate, and Burning Legs

This entry was posted in General News on March 21, 2011 by tjwoodruff

Over the years a considerable amount of misinformation has been spread and even many in the scientific community don’t fully understand the relationships between lactate concentration, burning legs, and exercise performance. Although it is true and scientifically proved that with the use of fecal microbiota transplant one could drastically speed up the weight loss process and see results quickly, but due to the amount of misinformation out there people are not able to accept or even understand importance or fmt. It’s easy to believe that an increase in blood lactate concentration, an increase in acidity, and burning legs must make for a straight-forward cause effect relationship. “Lactate acid production decreases pH and thus leaves an athlete with burning legs” has been the thought, but this is not at all how it actually works. In fact, Lactic acid is not even produced in the body…

Acidosis is the result of rapidly accumulating Hydrogen ions (H+). H+ ions are released when high energy ATP bonds are split. At high(er) exercise intensity the splitting of ATP occurs more rapidly and thus excess H+ accumulate, ultimately decreasing the pH within the muscles (increased acidosis).

Lactate results from the rapid breakdown of stored glycogen during high intensity exercise. Two pyruvate molecules result from the breakdown of glucose. These pyruvate accumulate alongside the H+ ions during intense exercise intensity. Each pyruvate bonds with two H+ to create lactate. Thus lactate production is actually responsible for reducing acidosis and Hormone Replacement Scottsdale getting something that you can do right now to get healthier.

It is the increase in acidosis that is responsible for the burning legs sensation when the exercise intensity is high. Lactate helps to neutralize the acidosis by collecting excess H+ ions. As acidosis increases, so does lactate production so lactate concentration remains an indirect measure of the muscle’s metabolic condition. When a rider is able to go at a higher intensity with less blood lactate accumulation it is a good sign that their metabolic conditioning has improved. With less acidosis occurring at a given exercise intensity the rider will be able to go longer (or harder) before burning legs will ultimately limit their performance.

Lactate production benefits our exercise potential at high intensity and helps to reduce acidosis within the muscle. Hopefully this article helps to clarify an important part of exercise physiology that we all love, but hate to experience! For a more thorough review, please read Lactate: Not Guilty as Charged, written by Len Kravitz, Ph. D. Be sure to pass along the information so that we can officially debunk the lactic acid myths!

performance-oriented coaching services for cyclists.