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The indoor cycling season is here and in BKOOL we want you to start it in style. That’s why we have released a new version of BKOOL Cycling full of new features, do you want to know them?

Routes with 3D over video (Video3D):

From now on you will be able to enjoy, without limits, routes with 3D content over real video. A fusion of HD images with virtual elements which improve the level of immersion in the simulator, creating a more realistic experience.

We will gradually increase the catalogue with this type of route, including the stages of the last edition of the Giro d’Italia Virtual hosted by BKOOL.

Bots:

The names of Carmiña Faldeiro, Bean Diesel or Victor Montes might sound familiar to you. They are the names of some of our beloved Bots, which have been with us for over ‘10 seasons’ at BKOOL. We believe that they need a well-earned rest, to be able to return with much more experience and continue helping you in the tough moments or push you through every kilometre. For a time, you will not be able to see them on the routes in BKOOL, although you will still continue to see them on the website, so you don’t forget about them. Rather than a goodbye, it is more of a ‘see you later’, because they will soon be back with an improved version to continue being part of your virtual cycling group.

New economy and currency: Welcome to Bkoin!:

From now on all your BKOOL points will convert automatically into a new currency to spend in our virtual store. The Bkoin is a currency with a higher value in the new BKOOL economy, which will allow you to get kitted out as you deserve in the simulator.
Whenever you start a route, velodrome, or workout, you will receive a reward in Bkoins, even if you can’t finish it. Each pedal counts! No matter how long it takes you to complete the route. As we believe that the most important thing is effort and consistency to keep improving and Bkoins are the best way to reward you for that. Push yourself, grow and earn with BKOOL!

By the way, not long is left for the boxes in our store to start opening, so you can buy virtual bikes and new accessories to fully personalise your avatar. The countdown starts!

Virtual Stores:

Buy whatever you like! There is now no limit on space, you will be able to store all of the jerseys and items which are about to arrive in the new virtual store.

Improvements and bug fixes:

  • Optimisation of connectivity and searching for your devices.
  • New devices supported. Visit BKOOL, the most realistic Indoor Cycling Simulator to discover them.
  • Improve performance of our multiplayer server.
  • Improvements to how our virtual store works.
  • Adapting our simulator and infrastructure, in preparation for all the new features which are about to arrive. There are months of surprises at BKOOL around the corner!
  • Corrections to Workouts synchronised with your Training Peaks account.
  • Error corrections in spectator mode, FTP tests, filters in route search tool, and German texts. 

Now that autumn has shown its face, the cold and the rain have arrived, which is not as favourable for cycling. Fortunately, thanks to platforms such as BKOOL, we can successfully bridge the most unfavorable months of the year for the practice of our sport.

In this article we make a brief review of all the equipment and accessories you need to face the coming months from home and with the help of BKOOL. Go through the list with us and make sure you’re not missing anything!

Computer, tablet or Smartphone

In order to enjoy our platform it is essential to have a device that allows you to download the application and enjoy it. Keep in mind that the bigger the screen, the better the experience.

You can use BKOOL from a Smartphone, but the ideal option is a good computer monitor. Or even a TV.

Trainer

While you can use BKOOL with a basic trainer – as long as you have a powermeter built into your bike yourself – a smart trainer will take the experience to another level.

Among its advantages, a smart trainer has automatic resistance control, includes its own powermeter, is much quieter, connects wirelessly to your devices and can simulate the incline.

Indoor cycling accessories

Beyond the essential equipment, consisting of a device that allows you to download BKOOL and a basic trainer plus powermeter or a smart trainer, there is a long list of accessories that can make life easier during our indoor cycling sessions.

polarized training

Here is an extensive list of accessories that you can take into account for your next training sessions on the trainer:

  • Towels: as you know, with indoor cycling you sweat more than with outdoor training. You’ll appreciate having at least a couple of towels with you to dry off during the session. Your bike and its components will also appreciate it.
  • Cycle protector: in the same way that we use a towel to get rid of sweat, some brands manufacture a kind of protector that is placed between the handlebars and the seat and collects all our sweat, preventing the bike from suffering.
  • Mat: the same as the protector for the frame, but in this case to protect the floor from all your sweat. These mats or mats are designed to place our roller and the bike on them, avoiding possible damage to the sleep of our home.
  • Fan: an almost essential accessory. It will help you to control your body temperature, something crucial since indoors we do not have a current of air as it happens when we pedal outdoors.
  • Desk: there are specific desks for indoor training. These are elevated platforms that allow you to place a PC or tablet right in front of your bike, giving you easy access to the device and improving your vision. When with locking wheels, which allow to move it easily, as well as to lock it during training, and anti-slip surface.
  • Headphones: can help improve the listening experience, allowing you to better enjoy the BKOOL environment. Or simply not to disturb your family while they rest or enjoy their hobbies

If you haven’t had the chance to try BKOOL yet, you can try it for FREE for 30 days on our website.

Many amateurs choose the summer to take a (necessary) break from training. Disconnecting from sport for a few weeks allows us to recover physically and mentally after an intense period of preparation for goals and competitions. The month of August or September is for many an ideal time to take that little break.

A few weeks without training allows us to recharge our batteries and enjoy more of our family, friends or other hobbies, such as traveling or gastronomy. Something totally legitimate and necessary to find balance and ensure a sporting life in the long term.

Before continuing you should know that you should take all the time you need. Do not worry about your fitness, the body is wise and has a good memory. However, it has been shown that we can go between 7-15 days without training and without major losses. It is more important to recover energy and motivation after a long season than to strain our body.

The problem is that, when it comes to resuming training after these vacations, many athletes are faced with a complicated situation. There are those who do not know how to approach training again and even those who find it difficult to resume their routine and sports habits.

In this article, we give you a series of guidelines so that, with the help of BKOOL, you can resume your training in the best possible way:

Define your goals

Once your schedule and habits have returned to normal, and you have regained your physical and mental energy, it is time to take the first step: it should always be to define clear goals. Goals lead the way, without them we are lost.

We need objectives that define the steps to follow. If we do not know where we are going, we will not be able to choose the right path.

This will depend, to a certain extent, on the amount of time your have been on holiday for and when in the season in which you take it. There are athletes who simply slow down considerably for a week in the middle of the season, and others who almost stop completely for several weeks.

In the first case, it is likely that you have already defined your objectives for the second part of the year. In the second, it’s time to set goals for next season.

Accept reality

If we have decided to stop completely for several weeks, and we have also taken the opportunity to enjoy gastronomy, we have traveled and we have spent little time at home, it is normal to find ourselves in a much poorer shape, some extra kilos and energies somewhat low (holidays also have an effect).

It is likely that we went on holiday after achieving one of our major goals, probably after a competition in great shape. But now we have to accept that the circumstances are different.

It’s time to be patient again and build from the bottom up, from the base. Forget the numbers and the data you had weeks ago and think long term.

Evaluate your fitness

The best way to know this new starting point is to measure where we are. At BKOOL we have several performance tests that can help you to know your fitness level, as well as to establish your training zones.

Performing one of these tests on a regular basis is a great strategy to measure and monitor our progress as athletes.

Set short-term goals

Beyond important goals, such as a certain competition, we should also set small markers along the way. These are known as process goals.

These goals may be to improve your test in two months, participate in one of BKOOL’s tests or improve your time on one of our routes. The important thing is to leave little hooks along the way that keep us hooked.

Take advantage of our workouts

Once you’ve defined your goals and assessed your fitness, it’s time to get back to training. Doing it at BKOOL has its advantages, such as saving time or escaping the hostile weather of autumn and winter.

In addition, you already know that you have available the Workout Creator with which you can design workouts tailored to your needs.

If you haven’t had the chance to try BKOOL yet, you can try it for FREE for 30 days on our website.

Although VO2Max has an important genetic component, as it is closely related to heredity factors, it can be significantly improved with training. Let’s see how we can use BKOOL to our advantage to become better cyclists by improving VO2Max on the bike.

What is VO2Max?

Maximal oxygen uptake is the maximum amount of oxygen an individual can process per unit of time and weight. It is expressed in millilitres per kilogram per minute (mL/kg/min) and speaks of the body’s ability to absorb, transport and metabolise oxygen.

In other words, the aerobic capacity in any physical activity, whether it is HIIT training, a cycling time trial or a marathon.

When the intensity of an exercise increases, our muscles demand an increasing volume of oxygen to fuel aerobic metabolism. But when this demand exceeds our body’s supply capacity, anaerobic metabolism begins, which is only sustainable for a very short period of time.

In other words, the higher the oxygen supply capacity of our body, that VO2Max, the higher our capacity to produce oxygen and, therefore, also our aerobic capacity and performance.

Can I improve my VO2Max?

A proper and structured training plan, where VO2Max intervals are worked, can significantly improve this key data. All we need is patience and perseverance, because although genes play an important role, many of the determinants of VO2Max are trainable, allowing us to act directly on it.

In fact, in the case of untrained cyclists, there is talk of a possible improvement of up to 25%. In a study published by Roberto Cejuela and Sergio Sellés, it is shown how the Olympic triathlete Fernando Alarza managed to increase his peak VO2Max in cycling by 20% in just 43 weeks.

However, it is important to understand that this parameter is not the only determinant of a cyclist’s performance. In fact, an athlete with a good VO2Max figure may perform less well than one with a poorer VO2Max figure but with a better ability to maintain intensity. Therefore, a good training plan leads us to improve far beyond VO2Max.

The main benefits of a high maximal oxygen uptake are:

  1. It increases the ability to maintain medium-high power for longer due to the lower production of fatiguing by-products.
  2. Lactate threshold, anaerobic threshold, FTP (functional threshold power) or critical power increases
  3. Recovery after hard efforts is improved due to faster cleaning and processing of the faster clearance and processing of fatiguing by-products.

How to improve VO2Max

Obviously, the best way to improve VO2Max is to work at these levels of intensity. This leads us to pedal right at the limit of our aerobic capacity, thereby obtaining several improvements: on the one hand, improving the power we can maintain at this level. In addition, VO2Max interval work increases our aerobic ceiling and creates room for further improvement in maximal oxygen consumption.

In our BKOOL cycling simulator we can find an endless number of VO2Max workouts. We just have to go to the workout search engine where we can filter by keyword or by target zone. As well as by difficulty and/or time.

vo2max
Foto: BKOOL

Create your own VO2Max sessions

If you are already following a training plan and want to share it with the advantages of indoor cycling, you can do so by creating training sessions tailored to you. In other words, you can bring your workouts to BKOOL thanks to our Workout Creator. Here you can set up and create different intervals according to your training zones.

If you are not following any plan at the moment, and you don’t know your training zones either, don’t worry: at BKOOL we have several tests to help you calculate them and get started.

If you haven’t had the chance to try BKOOL yet, you can try it for FREE for 30 days on our website.

In amateur cycling, cyclotourism events, also known as Gran Fondo, have gained enormous popularity in recent years. Originating in Italy back in the 1970s, this cycling modality comprises events ranging from 60 to 200 kilometers and is becoming more and more common all over the world.

Most Grand Tours are 100 kilometers or more and include refreshment stations, mechanical support and are surrounded by a festive atmosphere. They are almost always timed events – or include timed segments – but sometimes they are not competitive events.

In fact, there are many cyclists who take the start in these events solely for the fun and challenge of finishing. The Gran Fondo Stelvio and the Gran Fondo Maratona Dles Dolomites in Italy, the Quebrantahuesos in Spain or the Gran Fondo Siete Lagos in Argentina are some of the best known.

Gran Fondo events have become one of the most inclusive cycling events, where amateur cyclists get together with some of their idols to share a few kilometers on the same route.

For this reason, facing a Gran Fondo is one of the great challenges and objectives of many cycling enthusiasts, who decide to dedicate months to prepare with effort and affection an event that, despite its friendly nature, is still demanding. If this is your case and you have set a Gran Fondo among your goals, from BKOOL we want to help you to prepare for it.

How to prepare for a Gran Fondo

Although this type of event has very different profiles and characteristics, most of the cycling events have two aspects in common: on the one hand, their long duration; on the other hand, their high cumulative elevation gain.

Gran Fondo races are endurance races par excellence, so you will have to work conscientiously on your aerobic base, as well as getting your body used to the gradient.

Aerobic base

If you want to face a Gran Fondo with guarantees, a strong and developed aerobic engine is key. To do this, you must start with base work: distance and medium and low intensities will be the priority here. The goal is to work on the aerobic base, as well as building muscle base to be able to work at shorter and more intense intensity levels later on.

Start with not too extensive Z1 and Z2 work and increase the volume gradually. At BKOOL you have sessions up to three hours long where you also incorporate intervals at higher intensities.

gran fondo

Become a good climber

Most of the Gran Fondo races stand out for their accumulated elevation gain in different climbs along the route. If you don’t want to have a bad time, you will have to become a real climber. At BKOOL you can get to work on some of the most mythical and hardest climbs in the history of cycling: from the Tourmalet to the Stelvio, passing through the Gallina.

Work the intervals

While longer climbing intervals are ideal for developing the power needed to climb like a steady diesel engine, there’s more to cycling than that. Working repeated VO2Max efforts will help you develop aerobic and anaerobic capacity, as well as allowing you to improve faster from hard efforts.

BKOOL will keep working to make the simulation more and more real, try it FREE for 30 days!

We will bring you the challenge that will keep you glued to the smart trainer this August. You will be able to follow the latest cycling news while you train with thousands of Bkoolers.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to complete a big cycling tour by yourself? Those endless stages, the first-class mountain passes with those ramps that look like walls, and those explosive sprint finishes with one hundred and fifty kilometres to go?

To ride in a grand tour requires a level of preparation and training only within the reach of the professional teams. But thanks to BKOOL, you too can complete its thrilling routes, following the international peloton through routes that run through the same areas as its stages.

The aim is to always be in the same area as the peloton, riding in the same places as the best cyclists on the planet, gritting our teeth while climbing the same mountain passes or simply enjoying a pleasant ride with our teammates.

The Challenge

Every day, Stage of the Day will take you to a different place, with a special route to ride in the same areas as the world’s best cyclists.

THE CHALLENGE IS SIMPLE: COMPLETE THE STAGE OF THE DAY EVERY DAY THAT A STAGE IS HELD. A TOTAL OF 21 STAGES IN 24 DAYS.

Yes, as you can see, you will also be able to enjoy rest days, specifically on 22nd and 29th August and on 5th September.

You have the whole day to complete each of the routes, which will always appear in the PROMO section of the simulator. Every morning (CEST time) we will change the Stage of the Day to continue with our particular pursuit of the international peloton.

As we know it is a tough challenge, and it is not necessary to do each stage on its corresponding day. If one day you need a break, have plans, or feel like doing another one of our routes, no problem. As long as you complete all the stages within the days of the event, you will have done the work of a professional, so you will be in the draw.

The Prizes

When the Event is over, if you have managed to complete all the stages in the proposed days, send an email to socialmedia@bkool.com before 18th September using your BKOOL user email address. Once we check that you have completed the Challenge, we will send you a special Finisher bib, we will add 5,000 BKOOL points to your account so that you can equip yourself with the virtual kits of all the teams or buy the virtual bikes that are about to arrive in the simulator and you will also be entered into a draw to win an official jersey of the British track cycling team signed by its main stars, a BKOOL polo shirt, and a 3-month Premium BKOOL voucher.

The Stages

Check out all the stages that compose this challenge here:

Best of all, you can complete the challenge for FREE thanks to the 30-day free trial available on bkool.com.

But remember, this is a challenge for true cycling enthusiasts only. Are you confident enough to be one of them?

One of the big questions that amateur cyclists have is whether the technique they will use when cycling indoors, using the BKOOL simulator, will be the same as when they are outdoors.

Considering that the experience on the new Smart trainer models is becoming increasingly more similar to that outdoors, the answer to this question should be yes. Keep in mind that the rocking systems, which allow us to incorporate lateral movement on our bike when we stand on it, or the rocking system, which “wobbles” your bike similar to the movement you might have on the road, make our pedaling structure very similar to the one we use in any outing with our group mates.

But there’s more: in recent times platforms are becoming fashionable: wooden structures on which to place the Smart trainer and the bike, and that depending on the posture we use, apply more or less pressure simulating the asphalt and its inclinations.

In this context, you can rest assured: there will be no difference between the muscles you use on a BKOOL training session and those you may use outdoors.

Which muscles are used while cycling?

One of the great advantages of cycling is that it is a very complete sport: although we think that we only use the lower body, the one most related to pedaling, it is true that both core and upper body are involved, and their training -either specifically on the bike, or with strength sessions-, is important to improving performance.

It should be kept in mind that the muscles involved vary depending on the time of the pedal stroke we are in: if we are in the “pressure” phase-which would be, if we consider the crankset a clock, between one and four or five o’clock in the afternoon-we will use some, and if we are in the “recovery” phase-between seven and eleven o’clock-we will use others.

Let’s look at it in more detail:

Pressing phase: this is where we are going to develop more strength work, since we want our pedal to keep turning. The quadriceps are going to transmit all their power to the glutes. The one that works the hardest, in fact, is the gluteus maximus, which can develop up to thirty percent of the force you transmit to the sole of your foot.

Once we have finished the pressing phase, it is time to recover the foot. There is a brief space of time in which we have to “pull the foot back”, to begin the phase of approaching a new revolution, which would be to carry the foot, seen laterally, from right to left, and at the bottom of the pedal stroke.

In this phase, the muscle that is worked the most is the hamstring, which loads to bring the lower leg back.

From there, we enter the third phase, the elevation phase, in which more muscles are involved: calf, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus and hip flexor muscles will work in unison to return the foot and pedal to the top of the movement.

Keep in mind that the leg that is most dominant in this phase is the opposite leg.

Why is it important to work the core?

As we said, it’s not just the lower body: core and upper body are also involved, especially when it comes to giving the body stability. The firmer you are at the momentum of the pedal stroke, the less energy will be lost in the movement that carries the force from the buttock to the foot, which will result in less fatigue and better paces.

To work all these muscles, we recommend the specific sessions you can find in our workout finder. Look for one where you have to work at high watts and low cadence. This will mean that, during the course of each intensity block, you will have to stand up, which will work on your strength.

Then, when you finish the cadence blocks, you will find that pedaling at higher RPMs, and lower watts, is much easier.

In our fitness sessions you will also find classes that work these positions, and the muscles involved, specifically.

We are constantly working towards improving our product and we have been working for months to make BKOOL available on a larger number of devices, which we have succeeded at. From now on you will be able to do your favorite routes and train with Bkoolers from all over the world using your Huawei device!

If you already have a BKOOL account, all you need to do to use the app is download the BKOOL Cycling app from the Huawei AppGallery and log in as you do from your usual device. As you can see, the Huawei app works just the same as on other devices.

While you enjoy training with your Huawei, we will continue working on BKOOL Cycling to bring you many new features. We will keep you informed of all the news through our social media so you don’t miss anything. If you want to try them before anyone else, you can join BKOOL Cycling’s Beta Testers programme to help us improve day by day.

At BKOOL we will continue working to make the simulation more and more real. Try it FREE for 30 days!

Indoor cycling has many advantages. One of them is that it allows you to train anywhere in the world. Have you ever wondered, during a broadcast of the Tour, how the hardness of one of its great giants would feel in your legs? Thanks to BKOOL, you can find out.

Our indoor training platform allows you to touch the skies of France by tackling some of the most legendary climbs in French cycling. If you want to feel like a real climber, here are our suggestions for your next sessions:

Col du Galibier

Located in the Alps, the Galibier is often the highest point in each edition of the Tour de France. Due to its altitude (2,645 metres), it is usually closed during the winter season.

It has been climbed up to 60 times in the Tour de France, being the second most visited climb after the Tourmalet, in which great feats have been lived, such as the one starring Marco Pantani in 1998, who was able to cut 4 minutes to Jan Ullrich in 4 kilometres.

There are 16.1 kilometres of ascent with an average gradient of 6.98%, where 1,100 metres are accumulated and there are ramps of almost 12%. It is considered “hors categorie”, or “special category”, in terms of difficulty.

Col du Tourmalet

From the Alps we go to the French Pyrenees, just 50 kilometers from the Spanish border, to try the ascent of the Tourmalet: 17.2 km at 7.23% gradient (with maximums of 12.4%), also considered “hors categorie”.

With an altitude of 2,115 meters above sea level and a cumulative drop of 1,200 meters, this pass had no road until 1846 when Napoleon III ordered the construction of a thermal road. Today it is closed during the winter season, when it is part of the skiable domain of the ski resort of La Mongie, located in the eastern part of it.

The first ascent of the Tourmalet in the Tour de France took place in 1910, since then it has become one of the most famous climbs of this Grand Tour, being crowned in more than 80 editions.

Alpe d’Huez

And if we talk about famous climbs we cannot forget another “special category” as Alpe d’Huez. We go to the Grandes Rousses mountain range to face the famous 21 horseshoe bends of this cycling colossus.

This is one of the most legendary finishes of the Tour de France. It appeared for the first time in 1952 and, although it was not climbed again until the 1976 Tour, since then it has been part of the route in most of the editions.

Its importance in the Grande Boucle has been so high that, for a while, people used to say “whoever comes out of the Alpe d’Huez in yellow wins the Tour de France”.

Do you dare with its 12.3 kms at 8.68% average gradient?

Col du Telegraphe

Located in the Hautes-Alpes, the Col du Telegraphe also appears in some edition of the Tour de France, where it has been crowned 30 times. The last of them in 2022 by Pierre Latour.

Its 12.2 km of ascent have an average gradient of 6.91% and a cumulative elevation gain of 839 meters.

Col du Glandon

With 24.4 km and a gradient of 6.27%, the Col du Glandon is the longest climb on our list. Located between the Belledonne, Grandes Rousses and Arvan-Villards mountain ranges, this pass has been climbed in the Tour de France 14 times, most recently in 2015 with victory for Romain Bardet.

BKOOL will keep working to make the simulation more and more real, try it FREE for 30 days!

Indoor cycling has become a great ally for many enthusiasts who use BKOOL as a tool to get the most out of their training. When a lack of time or unfavorable weather play against us, BKOOL becomes a great solution to continue with our preparation and not give up on our goals.

In this article, we give you 6 keys so that you can get the most out of your indoor training with BKOOL.

Explore all its possibilities

BKOOL is the most complete virtual platform and proof of this is the wide range of types of training we offer. In our simulator you will find all kinds of options ranging from routes or workouts, to the velodrome, our tests or even the BKOOL Fitness application, where you will find personalized classes for all levels.

Use the different routes to explore some of the most iconic places in cycling history such as the Tourmalet or the Stelvio Pass; or get hands-on with the workouts to take your performance to the next level.

Use the workout creator

BKOOL’s Workout Creator allows you to create customized workouts effectively based on time, work zones or cadence targets. This allows you to train with very specific sessions tailored to your needs and goals.

Take advantage of BOOL tests

At BKOOL we offer the possibility to do a 20-minute FTP test and a 5-minute FTP test in which we will calculate your power and heart rate zones automatically at the end.

We will assign you different training zones – from the easiest, Z1, to the most demanding, Z6 – depending on the results of the test. This allows you to execute your workouts perfectly, working at the right level of intensity to reach your performance goals.

Use BKOOL with a smart trainer

The market offers a wide variety of trainers. Smart trainers have become the most desired option for many cyclists due to their great benefits.
Using a smart trainer allows you to connect quickly, easily and without the need for additional devices with virtual cycling simulators such as BKOOL, which will make your sessions much more fun and exciting.

The realism of the routes (smart trainers can modify the resistance to simulate real conditions), the competitions with other cyclists from customized workouts or the possibility to measure and store your data (power, cadence, speed, etc.) make the smart trainer the ideal companion for BKOOL.

Use Ghosts and Bots

At BKOOL we make it easy for you with our Ghosts and Bots, two tools that put an end to excuses about motivation: compete against yourself or against other cyclists at any time.

Ghosts are a replay of another user who has already done the stage before and performs exactly the same behavior as their previous attempt, while Bots are virtual riders that you can add to your session to compete against them.

Set up your training space properly

In order to get the most out of your BKOOL workouts it is important to have a proper setup in your training space. You don’t want to get too hot, so make sure you have good cooling, as well as all the necessary nutrition and hydration at your fingertips.

Also, find an accessible, comfortable and appropriate space so that tackling your BKOOL sessions is not a problem.

BKOOL will keep working to make the simulation more and more real, try it FREE for 30 days!

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