Read MoreMost cyclists carry a short list of efforts in the back of their mind: not assigned by a coach, not tied to a race, just waiting for the right day. Coach Steve calls it the bucket list workout and offers five to get you started, from the honest 20-minute all-out to the nastiest climb around, along with what each one teaches. The best one, he argues, is the one you’ve been putting off.
The days are shorter, the roads are colder, and the trainer is calling. Coach Steve makes the case for spending some of winter in the gym, and argues that the payoff goes beyond more watts. He covers the seven foundational movement patterns the bike mostly skips, what body awareness does for you at hour three, and why durable tissue matters in a sport built on repetition.
Read MoreYour bike gets a tune-up at the end of the season, and your body deserves one too. Coach Steve makes the case for an off-season baseline blood panel and the two markers worth asking your doctor about. He also explains why chasing every flagged number can pull you away from the fundamentals that actually move the needle.
Read MoreThe first hard frost means the trainer season is coming, and with it the dread of long, grinding intervals. Coach Steve breaks down a Norwegian study where 30-second efforts with 15-second breathers outperformed classic 5-minute intervals. He also explains why this short, punchy format might be the best return on your indoor minutes all winter.
Read MoreBeth Peterson carries three words on her forearm, and she leaned on every one of them on the climbs at September's Gravel National Championships. Coach Steve looks at how she built a title-winning season around a shifting work schedule, the workouts she liked least but never missed, and why letting a plan do the deciding leaves more for the moments that count.
Read MoreEvery engine has an idle, and yours is your resting heart rate. Coach Steve looks at what nudges that morning number up overnight, from late hard efforts to an extra drink to a cold that hasn't shown itself yet. He also covers how to read your own trend without chasing every blip.
Read MoreA University of Iowa research team just did something nobody had managed before: they caught it happening, live, inside a human brain. Coach Steve breaks down what an easy 20-minute ride does to your hippocampus — and why the recovery spin you almost skipped might be doing more for you than you think.
Read MoreA client just wrapped up four days of racing at the Green Mountain Stage Race — and with it, the 2026 road season. This week's newsletter is about what comes next: the transition period between racing and rebuilding, why your fitness sticks around longer than you think, and why the unstructured weeks ahead might matter more than the structured ones behind you.
Read MoreYour diaphragm is a muscle too — and during hard efforts, it competes with your legs for the same blood supply. This week's newsletter breaks down the respiratory metaboreflex, the science behind the "steal," and why your breathing might be worth training like anything else.
Read MoreThe gluteus medius doesn't produce big power, and it won't win you a sprint — but it's the muscle keeping your hips level and your knees tracking straight with every pedal stroke. Coach Steve breaks down what it does, what it works with, and how to keep it from becoming the weak link.
Read MoreThis weekend's Deerfield Dirt-Road Randonee is a study in pacing: the early climbs feel easy, and that's exactly the problem. Coach Steve breaks down "burning a match" — the limited supply of hard efforts every rider carries — and why holding back when it feels good is often the hardest part of the day.
Read MoreTen minutes into every hard effort, a sharp pain in his side would shut him down — same bike or different, upright or in the drops. This week's newsletter digs into exercise-related transient abdominal pain, the stubborn mystery behind the classic side stitch, and a couple of things worth trying if it sounds familiar.
Read MoreEveryone trains for the peak day. But the riders who improve year over year are playing a different game — one built on the boring rides nobody remembers. A look at why raising your floor matters more than raising your ceiling.
Read MoreA cross-country athlete's numbness showed up in only two fingers — never the whole hand. That specificity became a lesson in how your hands actually work on the bike, and why the right fix is almost never guesswork once you know what your body's telling you.
Read MoreThere's a voice that shows up when the ride gets hard, narrating the fade before it happens. Turns out that voice isn't just noise. A two-week study on cyclists found the right kind of self-talk added 18% to how long they could hold a hard effort. This week's newsletter is about training that inner narrator like any other skill.
Read MoreThe Tour's third week always tells the truth — riders fade not in one blowup, but in fractions of a watt per kilo, stage after stage. This week's newsletter names the trait that decides who holds their numbers: durability. It's the thread connecting the last two issues on cramping and grit, and it turns out it's trainable.
Read MoreSecond place Saturday. Shelled out the back Sunday, with nothing left to race for. This week's newsletter looks at why one athlete finished anyway — and what Josh Waitzkin says separates elite performers from everyone else.
Read MoreAs the Tour de France rolls into a record-breaking heat dome, you can bet cramping is about to be all over the coverage. Here's what actually causes it and the surprising science behind the pickle-juice fix.
Read MoreMany cyclists blend the line between training rides and recovery rides – that "medium hard" or "grey zone" pace that feels like training….but isn't.
Read MoreRiders spend hundreds on gadgets and supplements chasing more watts. This week's newsletter is about the free, chronically underused recovery tool already sitting in your bedroom — and what the research says happens when you skip it.
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