Cycling Over Sixty

Interview with AI Coach Sarah

• Tom Butler • Season 4 • Episode 6

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In this episode, host Tom Butler shares insights from his recent experience wearing a Continuous Glucose Monitor and how it helps him make decisions about eating and activity.

Then, Tom takes an innovative approach to improving his cyclocross racing by consulting with Sarah—an AI coach he crafted specifically for his training needs. Sarah delivers surprisingly detailed and personalized recommendations covering everything from off-season preparation to in-season training protocols. Whether you're curious about the potential of AI coaching or looking for cyclocross training advice from a different source, this episode offers a glimpse into how technology is transforming the way cyclists over sixty can approach their goals.

Tune in to discover just how sophisticated AI-powered coaching has become—and whether it might have a place in your own training toolkit.

Link

Gerald Shulman, M.D., Ph.D.: A masterclass on insulin resistance: youtu.be/OzZUnl3b49U?si=6IUoFhaZhG4rD_MS

Here is your invitation to join a great launch party for the summer cycling season.  Join the Cycling Over Sixty Tour de Cure PNW team.  Whether you are local or come out to experience cycling in the great Northwest, I would love to have you help make this a ride with a purpose.  And to send a message that the joy of cycling is here for everyone, regardless of age. Go to tour.diabetes.org/teams/CO60

I know it is early but we are looking to get the Cycling Over Sixty Tour de Cure team together as soon as possible. You can find all the info at tour.diabetes.org/teams/CO60

Thank you Konvergent Wealth for sponsoring CO60 Jerseys for the Tour de Cure!

Become a member of the Cycling Over Sixty Strava Club! www.strava.com/clubs/CyclingOverSixty

Cycling Over Sixty is also on Zwift. Look for our Zwift club!

Please send comments, questions and especially content suggestions to me at info@cyclingoversixty.com

Follow and comment on Cycling Over Sixty on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cyclingoversixty/

Show music is "Come On Out" by Dan Lebowitz. Find him here : lebomusic.com

Tom Butler:

This is the Cycling 160 Podcast, season 4, episode 6, interview with AI Coach Zara. And I'm your host, Tom Butler. As you know, if you've been a regular listener of the podcast, I've got problems with managing my blood glucose levels. Part of the problem is that my pancreas doesn't produce a normal level of insulin. So I'm careful to get activity and careful to eat in a way that doesn't cause a blood glucose spike. This is one of the reasons I'm so passionate that Cycling Over 60 is now working with the American Diabetes Association, Pacific Northwest, to bring a team to the tour de cure. I wear a continuous glucose monitor and from time to time I get some interesting results. If you have normal blood glucose levels, then you probably wouldn't see the kind of spikes that I see. I have a few observations that I think are valuable for anyone. One thing that everyone should realize is that we're seeing evidence that insulin resistance is more common than most people think. Gerald Schulman is an MD and a researcher at Yale University. He has been working on the cutting edge of determining exactly what is happening with insulin resistance at a cellular level. You can find a really interesting conversation with him on the Drive podcast with Peter Atia. The episode is number 140 and the title includes Gerald Schumann. You can find it on Peter Atia's YouTube channel. Look for a link to it in the show notes. It is a technical conversation. The reason I'm talking about Schumann is because he makes a very important comment. He has observed from his research that it's likely that 50% of the population is insulin resistant. So you are as likely as not to have insulin resistance. You can be insulin resistant and not know it. Insulin resistance is not something that is tested. In most cases, insulin resistance is inferred to be present based on seeing what happens with insulin levels and glucose levels in the blood. My opinion is that most people don't get the information needed to determine their level of insulin resistance. I'd like you to consider that even if you are thin and not seeing high blood glucose levels, you are still as likely to have insulin resistance as not. And I would suggest that if you see some indications that you have metabolic problems, then you are more likely than not to have insulin resistance. For example, if your A1C is going up over time, I would say that you are more likely than not to have insulin resistance. If you have been gaining weight over the years, even as little as a pound a year, you are more likely than not to have insulin resistance. If you have gained 20 pounds or more and you know it is mostly fat, I see you are more likely than not to be insulin resistant. I think it only makes sense that because insulin resistance is so prevalent and the impact is so significant that everyone starts looking at what is going on with blood glucose and blood insulin levels on at least an annual basis. I had no idea how bad my pancreas was functioning until I had tests specifically looking at these things. Here are a couple of examples of problems that I see simply because I monitor my glucose all the time. And otherwise I wouldn't know these things were there. As a reminder, these are my issues, and you shouldn't assume anything about your health based on my examples. Talk to your doctor. Just the other day I took an A1C test. I went to a nearby pharmacy and picked up a home A1C test. The one I got is called A1C Now. My test came out as 6.2%. Now that's okay for me. For anyone that doesn't know, A1C is sort of a snapshot about what your blood glucose does over a three-month period. Between 5.7 and 6.4 is considered prediabetic. So it is possible to get a 6.2 A1C and not be considered diabetic. But what I can see from my continuous glucose monitor is that I have had several very high blood glucose spikes over the last three months. The A1C test doesn't show those spikes. It's also true that occasional high spikes might not show up in a fasting glucose test either. Despite what is lacking from the test, you should get your A1C measured frequently. It is usually part of an annual blood panel. If you get a 5.7 to a 6.0% A1C result, don't settle for it being on the high range of normal. Get further testing and watch it more closely. The higher the A1C, the more important it is to look at other factors. I think you should look more closely at what is happening with your insulin levels. For example, if your A1C is being held at 5.7 with very high insulin, that is a problem. So consider asking your physician if you can get a glucose tolerance test with an insulin response. Some general practitioners may feel like that is overkill. You might need to respectfully ask if it is possible that your A1C is being held lower because of high insulin levels. One of the times that my glucose spiked very high was just recently. It was actually the highest reading I've seen so far. But here's the interesting part of it. It wasn't from eating something high in sugar, it was from rice noodles. Because I'm not processing glucose very well, I end up finding triggers of high blood glucose that otherwise I wouldn't see. I normally get zucchini noodles at my favorite pho place. But the last time there, I forgot to order the zucchini noodles and they brought me normal rice noodles instead. Against my better judgment, I went ahead and ate them. Because the rice noodles were so easily broken down to glucose and a lot of it, I experienced a massive spike. In response to the spike, I got on the exercise bike and was able to bring it down to a reasonable level by using up the glucose in my blood. But without the CGM, I wouldn't have thought I would get a bigger spike from rice noodles than from a donut. In the past, before my problems with my pancreas, it is very likely my insulin levels would have spiked in response to the glucose spike from the noodles. The insulin would have forced the excess sugar into cells to be stored as fat. And over about 30 years, that added up. So to wrap this up, my non-doctor opinion is that if your A1C is above 5.6, look to see what else is going on. I believe research is showing that more often than not, that means that you are insulin resistant. If so, you could very well be seeing an A1C that is held down by your body pumping out an unsafe level of insulin. And this is very likely if you are slowly gaining weight. It might mean that you need to take a difficult step and avoid all added sugar in your diet, and even consider moving away from foods like rice noodles that are easily converted to glucose. And for sure, it means spending time on the bike, as it has been shown to be a very effective device for combating insulin resistance. Back on August 17, 2023, I did an episode called Interview with the Internet, where I wanted to see what AI would say about cyclists. The episode is one of the least downloaded episodes I've done. Being the expert podcast producer that I am, I decided I should do it again. By the way, Kelly questioned that logic. But I continue to be fascinated by what is happening with AI, and I couldn't resist trying something. I really enjoyed doing my first cyclocross race, and I'd like to do more racing next year. But I wanted to do more training for cyclecross. So I decided to reach out to AI as a cyclecross coach. I ended up with AI providing for me Coach Sarah Mitchell, who is an expert in training older cyclists to do cycle cross. Of course, Coach Sarah Mitchell doesn't really exist. AI was following my instruction about what kind of coach I was looking for. I got a lot of advice from Coach Sarah, and I thought I would share our dialogue with everyone. The exchange I had with Coach Sarah was in text. To make it better for the podcast, I used Murph Text to speak for Coach Sarah. Now for some reason she has a difficult time saying watts, so you have to overlook that. For sure, don't look at this as expert advice. I'll be running all of this by a human before I accept any of it. This is just an interesting look at AI coaching for cyclists. Here is my conversation with AI Coach Sarah. I'm joined today by a different kind of guest. I've invited AI Persona Coach Sarah to the podcast. Thank you for joining me, Coach Sarah.

AI Coach Sarah:

Thanks for having me, Tom. Always excited to talk about cyclocross training.

Tom Butler:

Well, at 62 years old, I did a cyclocross race this fall for the first time, and I would like to do more. I've got some data and a lot of questions about how to improve my performance. Before we dive into my specific situation, can you give a quick overview of what makes cyclocross training unique, especially for older athletes like me?

AI Coach Sarah:

Absolutely. Cyclocross is this beautiful chaos of road cycling, trail running, and obstacle courses all mixed together. What makes it particularly challenging for masters athletes is the constant demand for power surges. You're accelerating out of corners, hopping barriers, running up hills with your bike. Unlike a road race where you might settle into a rhythm, cyclocross never lets you settle. And for athletes over 60, we have to be really thoughtful about recovery and training intensity.

Tom Butler:

Here's part of what's going on with me. I have a functional threshold power of 195 watts, but during the race I did, I only averaged about 76 watts. That seems like a massive gap to me. Can you talk about what's going on there?

AI Coach Sarah:

That's actually not uncommon in cyclocross, especially for newer racers. I'd estimate that gap is about 60% technical inefficiency and 40% cardiovascular limitations.

Tom Butler:

Break that down a little more. What do you mean by technical inefficiency?

AI Coach Sarah:

Think about it this way. Every time you break before a corner and lose momentum, you're bleeding watts. Every dismount that isn't smooth, every remount where you struggle to clip in, every barrier you approach at the wrong speed, all of these steal your power. Poor cornering technique alone can easily account for 30 to 50 watts of lost efficiency. You're essentially breaking away power and then having to generate it again from nothing.

Tom Butler:

Okay, that makes sense to me. And how about the cardiovascular piece?

AI Coach Sarah:

You have said that you can't sustain efforts above 160 beats per minute. In cyclocross, you ideally want to be able to surge to 165, maybe 170 for short efforts. That constraint means you can't produce the repeated high-intensity efforts that cyclocross demands. But here's the thing: we can work around that limitation and still see massive improvements.

Tom Butler:

If you have to put some numbers to it, how much of that 119-watt gap could be closed with technical improvements versus fitness improvements?

AI Coach Sarah:

I'd say 50 to 60 watts from technical skills, another 15 to 25 watts from raising your functional threshold power, and the rest comes from better pacing strategy and race experience. The exciting part is that technical skills offer the fastest return on investment.

Tom Butler:

If I would dedicate 10 hours per week to training, how would you suggest structuring that time?

AI Coach Sarah:

For the off-season, I'd split it this way: 40% on endurance and base building, that's about four hours. Then 20% each on high-intensity work, skills practice, and strength training. So two hours for each of those buckets.

Tom Butler:

That seems like an awful lot of skills practice. I am on the bike a lot, even though it's mostly on the road.

AI Coach Sarah:

And that's exactly the point. Most cyclists underinvest in skills because they don't see the immediate payoff on your power meter. But in cyclocross, skills are literally what's. A smooth dismount remount sequence instead of a clumsy one might save you three to five seconds and 20 watts of effort. Multiply that by 10 or 15 times in a race, and suddenly you understand why skills matter so much.

Tom Butler:

You said that's for the off-season. How does that training split change as you get closer to race season?

AI Coach Sarah:

During race season, I think you should shift to 30% endurance, 25% intensity, 25% skills, and 20% strength. You need more race-specific intensity and skills refinement when you're competing. The endurance percentage drops because the races themselves provide some of that stimulus.

Tom Butler:

At 62 years old, how does age factor into how to structure a training week?

AI Coach Sarah:

Recovery becomes paramount. At 60, you need 48 to 72 hours between truly hard sessions compared to 24 to 48 hours for younger athletes. So instead of trying to cram in five or six quality sessions, we're doing three to four really good ones with proper recovery between them.

Tom Butler:

How about giving us an example of what a training week might look like?

AI Coach Sarah:

Sure. Tuesday would be intensity work, maybe some VO2 max intervals on the trainer. Thursday is threshold or tempo work. Saturday combines skills practice with a moderate ride. This is fun stuff. Practicing barriers and dismounts. Then Sunday is either an endurance ride or rest. Maybe some strength training if you're feeling good. Monday and Friday are rest or very easy recovery spins.

Tom Butler:

Let's talk about my heart rate limitation. I can currently sustain 155 to 158 pretty easy, but I start struggling above 160 beats per minute. Is it possible to raise that sustainable threshold?

AI Coach Sarah:

This is a gradual process built on progressive overload. We'd start with two sets of eight-minute intervals right at your current sustainable range. A target range would be 55 to 158 BPM. Every two weeks, we extend the duration by two minutes. So week three, you're doing two times ten minutes. Week five, two times twelve minutes.

Tom Butler:

And I'm just staying at the same heart rate, right?

AI Coach Sarah:

Exactly. We're teaching the body to sustain that effort for longer before we try to push the intensity higher. Once you can hold 155 to 158 for, say 20 minute blocks, then we add some tempo rides at a slightly lower intensity, targeting 150 to 155 beats per minute for 30 to 45 minutes. This builds the aerobic base that supports the harder work.

Tom Butler:

When do I actually start pushing that heart rate number up?

AI Coach Sarah:

After about 12 weeks of extending duration, we introduce threshold intervals at 160 to 162 BPM, but we go back to shorter durations, maybe three times five minutes. Then we gradually extend those. The key principle is make one thing harder, make something else easier. Don't try to do longer A and harder at the same time.

Tom Butler:

Well, what kind of improvement can I realistically expect?

AI Coach Sarah:

Over a full year of consistent training, raising your sustainable threshold by three to five beats per minute is very realistic. That might not sound like much, but it's significant. Going from being comfortable at 158 to being comfortable at 163 is transformative for race performance.

Tom Butler:

Can we talk about training those repeated surges that Cyclocross demands? It seems to me like that's a real challenge when someone can't get their heart rate up very high.

AI Coach Sarah:

This is where we get creative with what is called controlled surge workouts. Instead of trying to hit 175 or 180 like a younger athlete might, we do 30-second efforts that bring them up to 165 BPM, followed by 90 seconds of recovery at 140 to 145.

Tom Butler:

If I'm hearing you right, then you're training the surge pattern without exceeding your cardiovascular limits.

AI Coach Sarah:

Precisely. We start with maybe six repetitions and build up to 12 over several weeks. The other key is using rolling starts rather than static starts. This better mimics cyclocross where you're rarely going from zero to full gas. You're usually accelerating out of a corner where you still have some momentum.

Tom Butler:

How important is climbing in this training? Because cyclocross courses often have some punchy climbs.

AI Coach Sarah:

Technical skills first, then power. There's no point grinding out tons of hill repeats if you're approaching hills with terrible technique.

Tom Butler:

Can you talk a bit more about that?

AI Coach Sarah:

Line choice is huge. Taking the most efficient path up the hill. Weight distribution, getting your weight forward to maintain traction, but not so far that you lose power. Gear selection timing, shifting before you bog down, and tire pressure adjustments for better grip. Getting these fundamentals right can reduce the power requirement for a hill by 20 to 30 percent.

Tom Butler:

I do think I have a lot to work on as far as technique is concerned. But once I get that dialed in, then I work on power.

AI Coach Sarah:

Right. Then we add specific hill repeat workouts where you're practicing those techniques under load and building the strength to power up them more efficiently.

Tom Butler:

There are some specific cyclocross skills, like barriers and dismounts and remounts, things like that. What's the training look like for these?

AI Coach Sarah:

Year-round, 20 minutes weekly just covering the basics. During the build phase leading into race season, 45 minutes weekly adding barriers and run-ups. Then during race season, 60 to 90 minutes weekly practicing the full repertoire.

Tom Butler:

You mentioned run-ups there. Let's talk about that, because that is one of the things that is a bit intimidating to me. There are parts of the course where you grab your bike and just run up a hill.

AI Coach Sarah:

Run-ups are absolutely critical, especially in muddy conditions, which are common in fall racing. When the course gets slick, trying to ride can actually be slower than running. But here's the thing: most cyclists are terrible at running with your bikes at first.

Tom Butler:

Can you explain why this would be so difficult?

AI Coach Sarah:

First, there's the technique of carrying the bike. You want it balanced on your shoulder, right hand through the triangle of the frame, bike resting on your shoulder, left arm free for balance. Most people try to carry it too low or grip it wrong and waste tons of energy. Second, running uphill with 17 pounds on your shoulder when you're already fatigued is brutally hard if you haven't trained for it.

Tom Butler:

How would I specifically train for run-ups?

AI Coach Sarah:

This is where that strength training really pays off. Those single leg step ups and Bulgarian split squats we talked about? They're literally building the exact muscles you need for run-ups. But you also need to practice the actual skill. Find a hill, practice shouldering the bike smoothly. That transition from riding to running needs to be seamless. Then do repeats running up with the bike.

Tom Butler:

Alright. And how often should I practice this?

AI Coach Sarah:

During the build phase and race season, at least once a week. Start with four to six repeats of 20 to 30 second run ups. Build up to 8 to 10 repeats. The key is practicing when you're a bit fatigued because in a race, you're never hitting that run-up fresh.

Tom Butler:

Are there any special considerations because of my age?

AI Coach Sarah:

The impact is harder on older joints, so I'm careful about volume, but the technique becomes even more important. An efficient shoulder carry saves so much energy. Also, running form matters. A lot of masters athletes have lost some running fitness, so we might add some short running sessions without the bike just to rebuild that base. Even 10 to 15 minutes of easy running twice a week can make a huge difference.

Tom Butler:

I don't know if this is easy to answer, but I'm wondering how do I know when it's better to try to ride up a hill or when it's better to carry my bike up a hill?

AI Coach Sarah:

Great question. If you're slipping and losing momentum, or if you see people running past you, it's time to get off. But this is also course reconnaissance. Before the race, you walk the course and identify sections where running will likely be faster. Some athletes try to be heroes and ride everything, but you're often losing 5, 10, 15 seconds struggling through mud when they could have run it clean.

Tom Butler:

I have to say that seems like a lot of skills practice.

AI Coach Sarah:

It is, but remember, this is where the biggest gains are hiding. And the beautiful thing about skills practice is it's not as physically taxing as intervals. You can practice dismounts and remounts when you're a bit tired and still make progress.

Tom Butler:

I'm currently 200 pounds. Let's talk about the weight piece, because I'm sure that can be a big factor.

AI Coach Sarah:

Absolutely. It's an important part of the performance equation. At 200 pounds, that's about 91 kilograms. You're putting out 195 watts, which gives you 2.14 watts per kilogram. That's actually a solid baseline for a 60-year-old Cat 4 racer.

Tom Butler:

Okay, let's say that I wanted to work hard, lose some weight, with the goal of improving my performance. What would you say is a realistic target?

AI Coach Sarah:

I'd aim for a functional threshold power of 210 to 220 watts by next season while gradually getting down to maybe 185, 190 pounds. That would put you at 2.4 to 2.5 watts per kilogram, which is genuinely competitive in your category.

Tom Butler:

How should I approach the weight loss?

AI Coach Sarah:

Slow and steady. Half a pound to one pound per week maximum. During the build phases when training is harder, I'd aim for the slower end, half a pound per week. During base phase, when intensity is lower, you can push toward a pound per week if you feel good. But here's the crucial part: maintain weight during race season.

Tom Butler:

Talk more about that.

AI Coach Sarah:

You can't race hard and lose weight safely. Your body needs fuel to perform and recover. Race season is about performing, not dieting. Do your weight work in the off-season.

Tom Butler:

Do you have some thoughts on nutrition to support the weight loss?

AI Coach Sarah:

Protein becomes really important: 0.8 to 1 gram per pound of body weight. That preserves muscle mass while losing weight, which means you maintain your power output. There's nothing worse than losing 10 pounds, but also losing 15 was because you didn't eat enough protein.

Tom Butler:

Let's talk about strength training. What exercises are most important for someone who's older that wants to do cyclocross?

AI Coach Sarah:

Single leg step-ups are gold for developing running power. Bulgarian split squats build the strength you need for explosive dismounts and remounts. Core work, planks, and bird dogs because cyclocross beats up your core with all the bike handling. Kettlebell swings for explosive hip power. And I like box jumps or jump squats at low volume to maintain those fast twitch fibers.

Tom Butler:

Why the focus on fast twitch fibers?

AI Coach Sarah:

As we age, we naturally lose fast twitch muscle fibers faster than slow twitch. But cyclocross needs those explosive moments, jumping over barriers, sprinting out of corners. A little bit of plyometric work can slow that decline significantly.

Tom Butler:

Walk me through how you would prioritize a year of training for fall cyclocross season.

AI Coach Sarah:

January through April is base phase. We're developing aerobic capacity and really focusing on strength training. May through July is the build phase. This is where we introduce threshold work and start incorporating more skills practice. August and September are pre-competition. Lots of race simulation work and skills refinement. October and November are race phase. December is transition and recovery.

Tom Butler:

Okay, so let's say that I do a good job prepping in the offseason. How many races do you think I should do during the season?

AI Coach Sarah:

I'd recommend racing monthly. So maybe four to six races total for the season. This provides enough race experience to keep developing without beating yourself up. I also like to add one or two early season practice races where the athlete goes in at lower intensity just to refine skills under race conditions.

Tom Butler:

I do have this heart rate limitation, so I'm wondering if there's a way to think about pacing during the race based on that.

AI Coach Sarah:

This is where strategy becomes crucial. I coach what I call reverse split effort. The first third of the race holds 155 BPM. Middle third, 160. Final third, if you're feeling good, you can touch 162 to 165.

Tom Butler:

That's very different from going out and giving it your all right out of the gate.

AI Coach Sarah:

Exactly, and that's why it works. Most people go out too hard, blow up, and suffer through the last third of the race. By pacing conservatively early, you're actually going faster because you maintain good technique. When you're tired, your dismounts get sloppy, your cornering gets sketchy. You're bleeding what? Stay controlled early, maintain your skills, and you can actually push harder late when it counts.

Tom Butler:

Seems like maybe that pacing is something I should practice.

AI Coach Sarah:

We do 30-minute cyclocross simulation workouts and training where they practice this exact pacing strategy. They learn what 155 feels like, what 160 feels like. They use perceived exertion alongside heart rate. By race day, it's second nature.

Tom Butler:

How about beyond functional threshold power? What other metrics should I be tracking?

AI Coach Sarah:

Five-minute power is huge for cyclocross. That's much more race-specific than 20-minute or hour power. Heart rate recovery. How fast does your heart rate drop in the first minute after an effort? Technical skill times, like how long it takes to complete a barrier section. Lap time consistency in practice. If your lap times are all over the place, that tells me either pacing or technical consistency needs work. And power variability index. As technique improves, this should decrease.

Tom Butler:

As I'm evaluating how the season is shaping up early on, what benchmarks should I be using?

AI Coach Sarah:

Being able to complete 30 minutes at 160 BPM without fading. Five-minute power reaching 85% of your functional threshold. So about 165 watts in this case. Dismount and remount completed in under four seconds. And lap times in practice that are within 5% variance that shows consistent pacing and technique.

Tom Butler:

How about indoor versus outdoor training? How would you recommend splitting that up throughout the year?

AI Coach Sarah:

January through March, I do about 70% trainer, 30% outdoor. It's just more practical in many climates. Plus, the trainer is perfect for precise interval work. Spring, April through June, flip it to 40% trainer, 60% outdoor. Summer and fall, 20% trainer, 80% outdoor. Use the trainer for structured intervals and precise power work. Use outdoor rides for skills, endurance, and race simulation. Each has its place.

Tom Butler:

Now that we've talked about this, what's your key message for anyone in a similar situation to mine?

AI Coach Sarah:

Your path to racing in the top half of the field is 50% technical improvement, 30% threshold development, and 20% weight loss. Focus on consistent, quality sessions with adequate recovery. Don't get caught up in what younger athletes are doing or try to train through fatigue. The combination of improved efficiency and modest fitness gains will absolutely transform your race performance.

Tom Butler:

Coach Sarah, this has been incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for your time and expertise.

AI Coach Sarah:

My pleasure, Tom. I'm excited to see how your season goes with these strategies in place.

Tom Butler:

I think if I had done that, it seems like it would have been hard to know this was an AI-generated discussion. It'll be interesting to see if this advice gets endorsed by a human cyclocross coach. I do happen to know one, so I'll look forward to running it by him. One of the things that I was really drawn to was the recommendation to do Bulgarian single leg squats. I'd never heard of Bulgarian single leg squats before, but after doing an internet search, I recognized what the exercise is. I'm really interested in doing them now. I think it's going to be fantastic for a number of reasons. I kind of bristle at the notion of doing step-ups. This is something I fear a little because my hips feel a little bit weak in some ways. But that might mean that I really need it. For both these exercises, I'm going to use a professional trainer to get me started on the right track. No matter how you're using your bike, it could be for long road rides, or commuting, or taking kids to school, or even for cycle cross, or maybe one of the many other ways to enjoy life on two wheels. No matter what, I hope you're enjoying your cycling and have friends to enjoy it with.

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