English – Page 18 – BKOOL Magazine

FTP, an acronym for Functional Threshold Power, is one of the most universal terms in cycling. To sum it up quickly, FTP is the average power that a cyclist can maintain for one hour, and it’s widely accepted as a primary indicator of physical fitness. It’s also a vital tool to help establish your power zones and design training sessions most effectively.

To find your threshold, the most common way is to perform an FTP test. Although you could simply ride a one-hour time trial, very few athletes can cope with the physical and mental demands of such a test, so most coaches resort to a shorter, predictive test.

There are several FTP tests out there, but the most common are the 20-minute and 5-minute tests. They can be performed either outdoors or indoors, on a trainer. The latter option is one of the best because you eliminate external variables that can interfere with the results. At BKOOL, we’ve pre-built 20 and 5 minute tests, and you can perform them on BKOOL in either a workout or velodrome simulation.

However you conduct your FTP test, it will always be a challenge (if it isn’t, you aren’t going hard enough). Sustaining maximum power for any period of time longer than a few seconds is never easy.

Performing a realistic FTP test is complicated, because you have to push your body to exert maximum effort without going over your limit. That requires experience, preparation and strategy.

If you’re thinking of taking one of these tests to find your functional power threshold, here are some tips that can help you perform an FTP test in the best possible way.

Prepare as you would for a competition

If you want the most realistic measurement of your current fitness level, you should approach your FTP test as if it were a race.

That means being as rested as possible – but not so rested that you’re out of shape. Take the test with fresh legs and you’ll get a true reflection of your power. Take it when you’re tired and you’ll end up training in power zones that are less than ideal.

You’ll also want to get enough rest the night before, and you should be fueled and hydrated to ensure your best performance.

Control

Preparing for competition doesn’t mean going all-or-nothing. A good FTP test should be as sustained as possible. It’s not about getting a lot of watts early on and then suffering because you’ve spent too much power too early.

Watch your numbers and start cautiously. If you feel comfortable, push the pedals a little harder as the minutes progress.

Let go of fear

Most athletes aren’t used to performing long, hard intervals like an FTP test. They rarely have to put out such high watts for so long.

Because of this, it’s natural to have doubts about your ability, and even some fear, when facing the test. Put fears aside and put your brain in FTP mode.

Cooling

If you’re taking the test indoors, it’s essential that you take steps to maintain adequate cooling. Otherwise, you’ll be conditioning the test, and your result will be off. Don’t forget to put a good fan in front of you.

This is the only way to foster sweat evaporation and help body thermoregulation indoors. Without airflow, your body can’t sweat properly, so your temperature rises and your “engine” overheats, leading to decreased performance.

Get the pain out of your head

Inevitably, an FTP test ends up being painful. Luckily, taking it on the trainer allows for many distractions. Take advantage of any of them to think about anything except your pain and suffering. Music or a sports video can help a lot.

Repeat

The best way to let go of your FTP test fear is to become the test’s friend. The more of these tests you do, the more accustomed you’ll become to them and the less anxiety they’ill create.

You’re not going to do a 20-minute test every week, but it is recommended that you perform predictive performance testing every 4 to 6 weeks. It will help you assess your fitness progression.

The first test can be an unknown quantity; but if you already have some recent data, it will be much easier to dose your power so you finish the test properly exhausted and have the most accurate numbers.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market – try it FREE for 30 days!

Imagine you have a mountainous goal in sight: like a cycling event or triathlon with tons of elevation gain. But due to either your schedule or the weather (or both), you just can’t get out to train as you should.

Normally, the lack of specific training would doom your chances. But with some well thought out training techniques, your smart trainer can literally become your salvation.

When it comes to climbing, there are many factors that come into play beyond fitness. Cadence, pedaling efficiency and muscle strength are all keys to performing well on a climb. And luckily, all of these can be worked on indoors using a trainer and some specific sessions like the ones below.

Standing intervals

When you need to get to the top quickly – especially on short, explosive climbs – pedaling out of the saddle can be very effective. When you do this, your body harnesses the anaerobic power of your upper body for more power, which makes you faster.

That is, as long as you have good technique and an efficient pedal stroke. Out of the saddle pedaling is inherently less efficient, but you can improve your efficiency by simply integrating standing intervals into our workouts on the trainer.

It’s important to maintain your prescribed power during these intervals. So go ahead and stand as long as you’re able to stay within the power range you’ve set for the interval in question.

Once you undestand that, the rest is all about control and technique. So focus on your pedaling while maintaining good technique. It’s important to pay attention to the transition between standing and sitting, since this is where most power is lost. Try to make this movement as smooth and steady as possible.

At first, it might be hard to pedal standing on the trainer, especially because of the stiffness of the bike. Start with 15 or 20 second intervals and progress as you feel more comfortable.

Work on your strength

Strength work will also help your climbing as it improves power and makes you more efficient. At BKOOL we wrote about strength and efficiency work on the trainer earlier. Exercises such as one-legged pedaling, pistons or pull-ups are fundamental to leg strength.

Work on your candence

When it comes to sustained, prolonged climbs, increasing cadence makes you much more efficient. Pedaling at a higher cadence requires less force, which is less taxing to your muscles. If your muscles need to exert less effort, it automatically increases their capacity to maintain aerobic power.

To work on this aspect in indoor cycling workouts, raise your cadence and pedal at higher RPMs than usual while still maintaining the target power prescribed in your training.

For example, if your natural cadence is 85 or 90 rpm, a good exercise is to try to maintain the same watts, but with a cadence closer to 90 or 95 rpm. Just as with out-of-the-saddle exercises, start with shorter intervals and extend them as you get more comfortable. A reasonable goal it to reach at least five minutes of duration at that higher cadence.

Take advantage of BKOOL

If you have a smart trainer, BKOOL offers plenty of hilly routes that you can tackle in your indoor sessions. Some trainers have the ability to adjust resistance to simulate the slope in such a way that you’ll get a very realistic feel, and you can work on all of the elements of climbing.

Choose courses with inclines and include exercises like those mentioned above. If you’re consistent and persistent, by the time you get outside, you’ll already be a better climber.

At BKOOL, we continue working every day to make our simulations more realistic than ever. Try it FREE for 30 days!

As we’ve seen in previous articles, there are several factors that determine a cyclist’s speed: from power (the force exerted on the pedals), to gravity, to rolling resistance, and even air resistance.

While the last three are forces that decrease your speed, the first one works against all of them to make you a faster cyclist. In simple terms, the more power you produce, the faster you’ll go.

That’s why becoming a faster cyclist depends primarily on two factors: reducing the forces that work against speed and increasing your power output. With this in mind, let’s look at three different tactics for gaining speed on the bike.

Investing in equipment

This is the preferred strategy of many cyclists, but its high potential cost means it’s not always possible.

High-end materials are generally lighter, more efficient and more aerodynamic. But they’re also more expensive. As cyclists, we invest in clothing, helmets, wheels, tires or even a whole new bike to make ourselves faster. But the upper limit here depends more on your wallet than your desire.

Among potential upgrades, your clothing and helmet are the most economical options. Hi-tech wheels are the next step, but at a significant cost. Then there’s your bike’s frame…

Sometimes it’s maintenance and gear setup that play a more important role in performance and speed – money has less to do with that than care and attention to bike care. The right combination of tires and pressure or a well-lubed and adjusted drivetrain can easily take a few seconds off the clock.

Try structured workouts

A few weeks ago, we talked about the need for structured training to optimize your time on the bike. This is essential if your goal is to be faster.

It’s not just about having the best equipment, the best bike, or the most expensive wheels. All that investment is useless if you can’t exert enough force on the pedals to generate more power.

That’s why improving your fitness is one of the best investments you can make as a cyclist. You’ll see returns very quickly if you do it right.

It’s not enough to just spend more time on the bike. It may seem so at first, but the day will come when your performance reaches a plateau. If you want to produce physiological adaptations that will make you fitter and faster, you need a structured training schedule.

You need to follow an individualized routine tailored to your current circumstances, your abilities and your goals. The BKOOL Workout Creator plays a key role here, allowing you to design custom sessions to improve specific performance metrics such as VO2Max, endurance, or anaerobic capacity.

Improving your technique

Improving your technique is another effective way to get faster. And unlike equipment, it’s not expensive (in fact, it’s free) and requires less effort than structured VO2Max training. It does, however, require time.

Improved riding technique will help you transmit more force and do it more efficiently, resulting in higher speeds for the same effort. It will also help you avoid injuries, essential to maintaining the consistent fitness needed to improve as an athlete.

The BKOOL virtual cycling simulator is an ideal tool to work on your pedaling technique, cadence, efficiency and strength. Improving these factors will make you faster.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market – try it FREE for 30 days!

We are starting a new week and that means a new stage of CITROËN Ë-TOUR. The third stage of the event is starting and from the 21st to the 27th of March we will be driving on a special route through Vigo with special Group Rides during the whole week.

We have three Group Rides with special guests that you won’t want to miss. On Monday 21st March we will be joined by Jacob Skovsgaard at 20:00h (CEST) to join us on this 15 kilometre route. Can you see yourselves competing on the smart trainer with the Danish e-cycling champion?

On Wednesday at 18:00h (CEST) our special guest will be Joao, a Portuguese streamer who will make you feel like you are training with a friend.

On Thursday 24th, Siro López will be in charge of leading a Group Ride at 17:30h (CEST). The well-known sports journalist will be commenting the Group Ride live while training with you.

To motivate you to the fullest, we have prepared several spectacular raffles, the list of gifts seems endless!

4 Zycle ZDrive smart trainers to be raffled off, one for each stage, among all participants who complete the stage.
4 Citroën AG2R team jerseys to be raffled one for each stage, among all the participants who complete the stage.
A Zycle ZBike smartbike to be raffled among all participants who complete the four stages of the event.
A two-day BMC experience in Switzerland, including flights and accommodation to be raffled among the top 10 of the three categories (Men, Women and Smart Bikes).
3 Meet&Greet experiences with the professional Citröen AG2R team for the winners of each category (Men, Women and Smart Bikes) by adding up the total times of each stage at the end of the event.
3 Zycle Zdrive smart trainers for the winners of each category (Men, Women and Smart Bikes) adding the total times of each stage at the end of the event.
3 physical Citroën Ë-Tour jerseys for the winners of each category (Men, Women and Smart Bikes) by adding up the total times of each stage at the end of the event.
80 special virtual jerseys for the top 10 finishers of each stage in each category (Men, Women and Smart Bikes).
A virtual finisher’s jersey for all participants who complete at least one stage of the event.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market – try it FREE for 30 days!

Body fat can be a great fuel for your body, but first you must teach your body to use it, and in this “education” process, “fasted” cycling plays a key role.

More cyclists and trainers are opting for fasted training these days. Don’t be surprised: training on an empty stomach not only teaches your body to burn fat as an energy source while preserving glycogen, but it can also help you lose weight and become more efficient on the bike.

What is fasted cycling?

Although common sense says that you should recharge before, during and after a workout, fasted cycling has become one of the most popular ways to improve performance. It is simply to work out first thing in the morning, without having consumed carbohydrates in the last eight to twelve hours. Coffee and water can be consumed, in fact it’s recommended.

The main objective is to deprive your body of glycogen, and improve your ability to metabolize fat. Your body learns to burn fat as fuel instead of glycogen.

What happens when we train with “empty” stores?

When you train with low glycogen stores, the body is forced to turn to fat to keep going. For this to happen, carbohydrate restriction has to be severe for a considerable period of time. It is normal to fast from dinner the night before in order to perform a session without consuming carbohydrates first thing in the morning.

The body becomes more efficient the more you use this type of training. Why? Because fat reserves are much greater than glycogen reserves (the other major fuel our body uses), so an athlete who learns to use fat becomes much more efficient.

Benefits of fasted cycling

As you can see, fasted cycling teaches your body to burn more fat. This translates into two key benefits:

First, weight loss: by training on an empty stomach, with your body’s reserves at a minimum, you’re burning more calories than you’ve consumed. This means you’re in a caloric deficit, the fundamental basis of weight loss. So not only does it help you lose weight, but it also helps you get rid of that part of fat that no one wants on their body.

Second, performance enhancement: teaching your body to burn more fat makes you a better cyclist. Cycling is an endurance sport and that takes many hours of effort. The problem is that glycogen stores are limited, and there comes a time when they run out. If you teach your body to use fat first, you will be able to extend the time you have energy, increasing your endurance and overall performance.

How to train by cycling on an empty stomach

Beyond simply not eating, there are other aspects that you should take into account for fasted cycling. First, it is very important that these workouts are done at low intensity (Z1 or Z2).

You probably couldn’t complete a demanding session with your tanks empty, and training like this depletes nitrogen and amino acid levels, making post-ride recovery difficult. The more demanding you make it, the more complicated your recovery will be. That’s why it’s important that you take care of your post-training nutrition.

Another issue is that the role of fat as fuel increases over time. That is, the body burns more fat as a percentage after two hours of exercise than during the first one. And even more from the third hour onwards.

In this context, indoor training and the BKOOL virtual cycling simulator become ideal tools that allow you to start training early in the day and adjust intensity without any interference from traffic or terrain.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market – try it FREE for 30 days!

If you want to improve your performance, it’s not enough to just add miles and hours on the bike. You need a plan. When you start a training session, it should have a specific goal: for example, improving your FTP, your VO2Max or extending your endurance.

For that to happen, your sessions should follow a specific plan – one guided by the principle of individualization. Designing your own individualized training plan is essential to get the most out of your time on the bike.

Among the many advantages of indoor cycling is the ability to optimize your workouts – and that’s made easier with our BKOOL Workout Creator, an incredibly efficient way to use your smart trainer to improve performance.

In this article, we’re going to explain how the BKOOL Workout Creator works so that you can get the most out of your BKOOL sessions.

What is the BKOOL Workout Creator?

It allows you to easily design your own workouts based on time, work zones and cadence targets. You can carry out very specific sessions tailored to your own goals. And setup is a breeze.

When you set intervals by work zones, you can do it based on either power or heart rate. In both cases, you can set the different ranges manually if you know them or choose the fitness tests built into the BKOOL simulator to determine them automatically.

On BKOOL, choose either a 20 minute or 5 minutes FTP fitness test. At the end of each, BKOOL calculates your power and heart rate zones automatically, from the easiest (Z1) to the most demanding (Z6), depending on your test results.

How do I use the BKOOL Workouts Creator?

To use the BKOOL Workout Creator, access your BKOOL user profile on Bkool.com and click on the Sessions option. That’s where you’ll find the Workout Creator, where you design sessions tailored to your needs.

Once inside Workouts Creator, you will find three options:

Create Workout from scratch
Create Workout from a previous one
Create Workout from .MRC file (TrainingPeaks format)

When you create a workout from scratch, the first thing to do is name the session and choose the type of training you’re doing (recovery, endurance, pace, threshold, VO2 Max or anaerobic capacity) to classify your workout. You can also add a description of the workout.

Below this data you’ll find information about the total time of the workout, the time in each zone, the TSS and the IF. This will serve as a guide to design your workout, since this data should be within a certain range depending on the intent of the workout.

Below all this is the workout graph. This is a screen divided into four sections (each corresponding to an interval). Each of these parts has a menu that can be accessed from the three dots in the upper right corner. This menu includes three options: copy, edit or delete.

From the edit option, you can select the time, intensity and cadence for each interval. For example, you can create a 20-minute warm-up in Z1 at a cadence of 90 rpm or a 10-minute interval in Z4 at 85 rpm.

Another way to set the time and other options is by dragging the different lines that separate each block to determine the time or power. For this you can be guided by the power zones on the right side of the graph or by the FTP percentage on the left side.

The information you assign to each of the segments or intervals is what you’ll see at the bottom of the screen during training.

You can add, delete or duplicate as many intervals as you want, and you can consult the summary of the total time, time in zones, the TSS and the IF at the top of the graph, below the name and type of workout.

Once you’ve designed your session, just click on Publish to display it in Sessions, where you can program it or clone it to create and edit a new one based on it. You also get a summary of the zones, the IF, the TSS, and you can visualize each of the segments and its ranges.

Workout creator tools

Duplicate: in the context menu in the segment header, you can make a COPY of the segment you’ve selected. When a segment is duplicated, the new one is placed immediately to the right of the duplicate.
Delete: in the context menu in the segment header, you can DELETE the segment you’ve selected. When making a selection of more than one segment, you can also DELETE all of the selected segments.
Move: by clicking on a segment header, you can drag it to change its position.
Scale: whenever the cursor is over a segment, you’ll be able to scale the time by selecting the handle on the right edge of the segment. You’ll see your modification in the time tool tips and your total time will be updated.
Select: by clicking and dragging over several segments, you can make a selection of several segments. Segments are always selected contiguously. Segments you have selected can be REMOVED, REPEATED and moved. When you REPEAT, you create a series.

BKOOL and TrainingPeaks Workouts

Another advantage of the BKOOL Workout Creator is that if you are a TrainingPeaks user, your workouts will be automatically uploaded to BKOOL’s platform so you can ride them on your smart trainer with no setup required.

BKOOL is compatible with Strava, Garmin, and the TrainingPeaks planning platform, giving you the advantage of riding all of your planned sessions precisely, all from within the BKOOL virtual cycling simulator.

BKOOL Workouts with the ERG system

If your smart trainer is equipped with ERG mode and you’ve activated it during a workout session, the smart trainer’s resistance is automatically adjusted to keep you at the set watts regardless of your pace.

If you want to control your own speed/cadence and the bike’s gears to keep you in the training zone, you can deactivate ERG mode by pressing the P key.

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market – try it FREE for 30 days!

March 8th is International Women’s Day. At BKOOL, we want to celebrate this and help enhance visibility to the women in the world of cycling. It’s a perfect opportunity to enjoy riding while we support all our female colleagues.

In order to celebrate together, we invite you to take part in some very special BKOOL Group Rides between March 8th and 13th. We want to see pelotons full of women! Invite your friends and your squad or team mates and let it be known that the number of female Bkoolers around here is growing!

Here are the dates and times (CET) of the special Group Rides:

Tuesday March 8th: 10 am, 11am, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 2am, 3am, 5am.

Friday March 11th: 10 am, 11am, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 2am, 3am, 5am.

Sunday March 13th: 10 am, 11am, 5pm, 6pm, 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 2am, 3am, 5am.

If you can’t join the BKOOL Group Rides at the scheduled time, don’t worry. You can do this route at any other time between Tuesday, March 8th and Sunday, March 13th to add your name to the rankings.

This is not a girls-only event – all Bkooler who want to join in are more than welcome to do so!

However, these prizes will only be on offer for the women who take part. Women who complete the selected route during March 8th will be automatically entered in the drawing for:

An official BKOOL hoodie.
A Muc-off bicycle maintenance kit.
A one-year voucher to use BKOOL for free.

In addition, among all participating Bkoolers regardless of gender, we’ll raffle off a coupon for 3 months of BKOOL Premium and a cycling training book.

It’s time to celebrate women’s cycling! Join this event and show the world that women are capable of riding anywhere!

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market, try it FREE for 7 days!

This week, we tour through the scenic coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.

On Monday we are starting with a trip to Cap de Formentor, a cape with beautiful views on the Spanish Balearic Islands. We recommend you ride with the video view to get the most out of the island landscape. Don’t let the short distance fool you, this route is more difficult than it looks!

For Tuesday, we head to Italy to ride around Lago d’Idro. We’ll take an easy 20 kilometer tour under the Lombardy sun, the perfect route to disconnect after a hard day.

We continue the week in Greece, with a route from Sitia to Via. The island of Crete welcomes you on this medium-difficulty route, with a distance that will make you sweat.

We’re back on the Balearic Islands on Thursday with a route in Port de Pollença. This route has a video view that really shows the charm of the area, as you pass through both traditional villages and natural landscapes.

On Friday, it’s time to ride along the Italian coast, specifically in Palermo. Both the video view and the 3D view will make you feel part of the Bkoolers squad.

Saturday and Sunday, we’ll be riding together on the velodrome, where you’ll face 20 kilometers on the track to see who can get the best time. What better way to end the week?

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market – try it FREE for 30 days!

The great Alberto Contador joins the BKOOL family and arrives ready to continue adding titles to his name, this time competing together with all of you. Start the hunt for the best “pistolero” in the history of cycling…

This is not just any signing, Contador carries on its shoulders 2 Giros d’Italia, 2 Tour de France, 3 Vueltas a España, 2 Paris – Nice, 1 Tirreno Adriático and 4 Vueltas al País Vasco.

Group Ride with Alberto Contador in BKOOL

It has come to our attention that the well-known “pistolero” Alberto Contador will be riding in BKOOL this evening at 19:30 (CET). The latest information we have received indicates that it will be on the Torino stage of the Giro d’Italia Virtual. This stage is open to any user, so we call on all Bkoolers to join the hunt.

Rumour has it that it won’t be the last time he is seen in BKOOL this year… Remember, Wednesday 23rd February at 19:30 (CET) in Torino. Be warned, he comes loaded with a large number of watts!

In order to ride the Italian track with the two times winner of the maglia rosa, all you have to do is join the Group Ride at 19:30 (CET) to start the warm-up. At 19:40 (CET) the real thrill of the race will begin. You will be able to check your place in the rankings on Thursday 24th.

How to join a Group Ride in BKOOL?

If you can’t join this Group Ride, don’t worry, this won’t be the last time he will be seen at BKOOL this year. You can also follow the event through an Instagram Live that will be shared by Contador himself.

If this is your first time using the Giro d’Italia Virtual hosted by BKOOL we have an article explaining how you can join. Also, in the following video you will find a guide on how you to join this Group Ride:

BKOOL is the most complete cycling simulator on the market – try it FREE for 30 days!

The Italian cycling team will lead a virtual group ride every month at BKOOL, sharing their training with cyclists from all over the world

Virtual cycling platform BKOOL and UCI Pro team Tour EOLO Kometa have reached a collaboration agreement for the new racing season, making BKOOL the official technological partner of the team for 2022.

The BKOOL indoor cycling simulator lets their subscribers ride any route in the world (many with video and computer rendered 3D views) without leaving home. This gives the EOLO Kometa riders the chance to pre-ride any stage they plan to race throughout the season, whenever they want. In addition to offering detailed and realistic course reconnaissance from home, BKOOL also allows the team’s coaches to design custom indoor training plans for each rider and carry out more complete and detailed monitoring of their progress.

Beyond improving the team’s race preparation, this collaboration will also bring team members closer to their fans, with opportunities to share virtual training sessions with the wider community. These BKOOL Group Rides will be integrated into a virtual event called EOLO Kometa Tour by BKOOL and will be held the last week of each month throughout 2022.

In the words of Fran Contador General Manager for the EOLO Kometa team:

We are very happy with this adventure that we are starting together with the BKOOL platform. This is undoubtedly a very useful tool for the riders in our team as, in addition to helping them in their training, it will serve as a tool to start learning about the stages that will then be contested in the races. Moreover, thanks to the event “EOLO KOMETA Tour by BKOOL”, we will be able to share a very pleasant moment with our fans, through which they will be able to ride next to the team members, enjoying a unique experience with them”.

BKOOL is also excited to join forces with this young, pro team packed with potential stars. According to Ángel Luis Fernández, Marketing Director of BKOOL:

“We are very excited to start working with the EOLO Kometa. We feel very in sync with their team spirit and we hope to continue growing with them. We’re sure that this collaboration will be very productive for the team at a sporting level, as well as helping to bring its cyclists closer to their fans”.

BKOOL is a leading indoor cycling platform for virtual sports simulation. Its cycling simulator offers a complete, realistic training experience, with a wide variety of content that includes millions of real routes, fitness classes, velodrome training/racing, and customizable structured workouts.

Its user community brings together cyclists from more than 130 countries.

Any cycling fan will be able to take part in these EOLO Kometa BKOOL Group Rides, riding alongside the team’s pros. Participation will be free thanks to the 30-day trial available on bkool.com