“WHITE BOXERS”
NEWSLETTER No 30 – AUGUST 2024
Hi – we hope this first bimonthly offering finds you and yours fit, well – and hitting the roads, between showers!!
News from the front –
Everyone at Top Dog Events is getting busy, putting together what is now our only annual event on 18 August 2024. The team, medics, feed stations, support vehicles and event venue are all booked, and event day roles have been allotted.
Several new quieter lanes have been ridden and will be included in the ride out towards The Lakes, to avoid 1 x stretch of busy main road 
and big roundabouts, while the other will ensure both The Beast and Boxer riders can share a great covered feed station in Staverley.
We are all looking forward to seeing how the 2 x sportives (which follow a lot of the same roads) will work together, as well as welcoming a lot more fellow enthusiasts to Lancaster. The only choice you have to make is whether to go long or short this time??
CYCLING EVENTS – AUGUST 2024
Coaches Corner –
For this months’ article, we are going to turn our attention to riding in the heat. As we arrive at mid-summer, we should prepare ourselves for some (hopefully) hot temperatures.
Sweat
Our bodies sweat to keep us cool. Whilst this continues to happen year-round, we’ll find this significantly increases during warmer weather, especially if we are pressing hard on the pedals. We need to increase our fluid intake to match the extra water we’re losing through our skin. Remember to increase salt intake either through your diet, or by using isotonic sports drinks whilst you’re riding (you’ll lose more than you think).
To calculate your sweat rate; weigh yourself before heading out for a short one-hour loop on the bike, and weigh yourself again when you get back in. Subtract these two numbers, as well as the weight of any food/drink you’ve had whilst you were out. This will give you good approximate of how much water you lose per hour.
Dehydration
There are two main reasons why we want to make sure we keep on top of our hydration. Firstly, the health risk. Dehydration reduces your rate of sweat as blood flow is concentrated towards central organs, consequently increasing your body temperature with a possibility of heat exhaustion and in extreme cases, heat stroke. Secondly, performance loss. Without replacing lost water as our sweat rate increases, our blood volume decreases, resulting in a decrease in cardiac output. You’ll be able to see this if you wear a heart rate monitor, as your heart will beat faster to compensate for the reduced blood volume.
Kit choices
I recommend just wearing a breathable set of shorts and jersey on a sunny day. A lot of kit manufactures make base layers designed to increase the surface area for sweat to evaporate. This is especially helpful for more humid conditions. Wear sunscreen when you start your ride, and bring some with you so you can top up when needed. If you already have sunburn, try and keep these areas covered to prevent any additional sun damage, even if wearing arm warmers at 25 degrees feels slightly insane.
Heat acclimation procedures
Finally, to adapt and lessen the effects on your body in the hot weather, you can use heat acclimation procedures. From a practicality standpoint, this is not necessary for everyday training. However, if you’ve got a key event coming up and the long-range forecast is promising, heat acclimation can be especially useful to get yourself ready.
There are a few different methods you can use to acclimatise to the heat. The simplest of them is to ride every day for a fixed duration (e.g. 90 minutes) in the heat at around 40% of your FTP in the 9-14 days leading up to your event/training holiday. I read an article a few years ago about Tony Martin training on the turbo in his bathroom with a space heater in preparation for the 2016 world championships in Qatar. Martin’s set up proved effective however much more extreme (unless you’re planning on riding in 40°C heat).
To summarise, work out your sweat rate, stay hydrated, and most importantly enjoy some good summer bike rides!
Ben Barlow
Apogee Performance Coaching
apogeeperformance.myportfolio.com
Team Rides –
All riders at Top Dog Events are getting out and about as much as possible (between planning sessions) chasing summer fitness both on and off road.
Chris and Lynn spent an interesting Sunday recently setting up and running a remote feed station for riders from our club – Kendal Cycling Club – taking on possibly one of UK’s most challenging riding challenges, The Fred Whitton. We have never done this and were keen, not only to support our riding friends, but also gain some understanding of the great job our team do to refuel riders on our events.
Have a great couple of months riding – bag a place on one of the rides on 18 August 24 – and we ll see you then.
Chris, Lynn and All @ Top Dog Events Limited