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Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Sunday, November 21, 2021

Back to news and opinion index page for links to archived stories | Commentary | Our YouTube page
2021 Tour de France | 2021 Giro d'Italia

The World is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion. - Thomas Paine

Upcoming racing:

• Dec 5: Scheldecross Antwerp
• Dec 11: Ethiascross-Essen
• Dec 19: Namur Cyclocross
• Dec 27: Heusden Zolder Cyclocross
• Dec 29: Diegemcross
• Dec 30: Azencross
• Jan 1, 2022: GP Sven Nys Cross
• Jan 16 - 23, 2022: Le Tour de Langkawi
• Jan 22, 2022: Flandriencross
• Jan 26 - 29, 2022: Challenge Illes Balears
• Jan 30 - Feb 6: Vuelta a San Juan
• Feb 12, 2022: Gavere Cyclocross
  

Latest completed racing:

• Nov 13: GP Leuven
• Nov 7: Elite Men European Cyclocross Championships
• Nov 6: Elite Women European Cyclocross Championships
• Nov 1: Koppenberg Cyclocross
• Oct 31: Vlaamse Druivenveldrit Overijse Cross
• Oct 24: Ronde van Drenthe
• Oct 23: Ruddervoorde Cyclocross

Bill & Carol McGann's book The Story of the Tour de France, Vol 2, 1976 - 2018 is available as an audiobook here.

Adventure Cycling.org posted this guide:

The U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS) is a developing national network of bicycle routes connecting urban and rural communities via signed roads and trails. Created with public input, U.S. Bicycle Routes direct bicyclists to a preferred route through a city, county, or state - creating opportunities for people everywhere to bicycle for travel, transportation, and recreation.

Nearly 18,000 miles are currently established in 31 states and Washington DC – and many routes are signed. 

• Explore all U.S. Bicycle Routes and Download free digital maps
• Learn how routes are developed and officially designated
• Stay up-to-date by subscribing to the quarterly USBRS eNews 

Since 2005, Adventure Cycling has been proud to shepherd the growth of the USBRS. We provide free technical assistance, coordination, and resources to assist stakeholder groups in their designation efforts. 

Together, we're building the largest public bike route network in the world!

Here's the link to this page.

The team posted this extended interview:

A conversation with Paraic McGlynn about bike fitting and the new Speed Concept
Paraic McGlynn has been doing bike fitting for Trek-Segafredo for the last eight years, though he prefers the term “cycling analysis.” There’s a subtle distinction. “Bike fitting” has become a catch-all for anyone who maybe adjusts a saddle or handlebar height, regardless of their methods or experience. The cycling analysis he does is a rigorous process that uses scientific technology and focuses on biomechanics.

“We have someone completing a PhD in biomechanics on staff and we have a doctorate in physical therapy who has vetted everything that we do,” McGlynn says. “We’re grounded in all the existing science. We are grounded in best practices from a physical assessment standpoint. Everything we do isn’t based on our opinion about things; it’s based on verifiable facts about how we approach optimizing athletes.”

McGlynn is also the founder and owner of Cyclologic in Scottsdale, Ariz., where he frequently works with high end endurance athletes. His expertise in aerodynamics and biomechanics played a role in the development of the new Speed Concept, released Thursday. His verdict on the bike?

Everything we do isn't based on our opinion about things; it's based on verifiable facts about how we approach optimizing athletes.

“When [the athletes] all come back and they’re giddy and they’re like, ‘Holy crap, this is way faster,’ that’s the best scenario,” McGlynn laughs. “When the athletes are coming back with big smiles on their faces and everybody is going, ‘This feels really fast,’ that’s not always the case when you make something faster.”

McGlynn sat with the Trek Race Shop to explain Trek-Segafredo’s bike fitting process, and dive even more in-depth on the new bike. The following conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

What takes place before you get hands on with an athlete?

Paraic McGlynn: When we start to work with an athlete, the first thing we do is we review the medical history. When I started working with Trek-Segafredo eight years ago, we brought the physical therapist that Cyclologic had been working with for 20 years. So the fundamental basis for doing cycling analysis is that we understand the body first, and the way you understand the body is by assessing the flexibility of all the key muscle groups, not just the ones that create force, but also the ones that stabilize.

So we do a combination of flexibility and strength assessments, and then we look for major structural asymmetries. So we look at the bony structure of the body, too. And once we have an idea how that person’s body functions, what their limitations are, what their performance opportunities are, we’ll then begin using a multi-planar, multi-disciplinary approach. In other words, we shoot high speed video from multiple directions. And we’ll use pressure mapping to determine how the body is interacting with the bike.

Once we combine the interview with the physical assessment, with the motion analysis, and with the pressure mapping, which is about an hour into the process, then and only then will we consider making any changes. So it’s a very measured, rigorous process.

What’s your process once you start physical testing?

So we have the history in physical assessments, we have the foot evaluations, we have the video analysis, the motion analysis and the pressure mapping in the saddle and/or in the shoes. And then based on that evidence, we use a process called critical reasoning, and in that critical reasoning, we identify a hierarchy of what I want to work on, because sometimes we don’t have a lot of time to work with the athletes because they have a lot of other demands on their time.

Then, if they’re an athlete that we’re focusing on for time trials, we’ll bring them to the velodrome. We’ll do aero testing on the velodrome where we’re looking for a position that’s sustainable and has good breathing mechanics with a special proprietary process of tracking how they breathe as we change position. And then we’ll do a separate process where we take them out on the road and make sure the position is feasible out in the real world. And then each day as they go riding at camp, and they come back, I’ll be waiting to get feedback on how the position felt, how the change in saddle felt, how the new aero position felt.

Because these athletes are so finely tuned, we will sometimes make small changes based on that. When you make a change on an athlete at that level, because they have millions and millions of repetitions in a position, it’s not like working on a recreational athlete where you can make relatively large changes because there isn’t as much adaptation at play. With WorldTour athletes you have to be very measured and very specific about what you do and how much you change. Sometimes that will be a phased process. You will make small changes over the period of camp, or over the period of a season.

You can read the entire interview here.

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