Rebecca Charlton - Fitter, Further, Faster

Wed like to acknowledge the help of the many coaches, experts and cyclists who provided us with quotes and have shared their experiences with us.

Wed particularly like to thank Alex Dowsett for his patience and humour in answering our many questions and providing us with a foreword. Special thanks also to Stuart Bowers and Symon Lewis for their technical knowledge.

Many thanks to Rupert Fowler for stunning photography and being willing to get on a plane with less than 24 hours notice. His dedication to lying on tarmac is second to none. Thanks also to Greg Copeland for giving up his time to model and to all the other riders pictured in this book. Special thanks also go to Anne Dickins for helping provide the exercise illustrations, allowing us to use her studio and ensuring the pictures are technically correct. And finally, this project would not have been possible without huge support from Lisa Thomas at Bloomsbury Publishing it has been such a pleasure working together.

In cycling, like most other walks of life, the winners and losers are rarely decided on the day. Its about the days, weeks, months and years of training that go into preparing for a single event, whether its the explosive few seconds that Chris Hoy may sprint in an Olympic final or the three weeks of the Tour de France that Bradley Wiggins suffers both knowing the race can be won or lost in a split second.

Hannah, Rebecca and Rob have been involved, studied closely and written about cycling for a combined total of 30 years. During this time, these writers have amassed an impressive wealth of knowledge that can be applied from grass roots right up to the World Tour level, a range that is difficult to cover. This is coupled with flexibility to their approach that comes with accepting both traditional proven training methods while embracing radical new ideas on extracting the best possible performance from an athlete.

What I love about cycling is how its all relative. I remember chatting after a local 10-mile time trial one Tuesday evening to a lady who had competed. I had scraped under my 20-minute target while she had completed the course in a more modest time. She commented on a particular section of the course that had been especially gruelling. I emphatically agreed on how tough it was, much to her confusion, Im surprised you even felt that hill the speed you mustve been going! But in cycling, whether at the first rung of the ladder or the top, the sensations of pain and sense of satisfaction upon completing an event are the same.

At Team Sky Procycling we believe there is a thin line between failure and success and this is true for everyone. Fitter, Further, Faster aims to give you the knowledge to land on the right side of that line, whatever your goal may be.

I would say good luck, but while we all need a little luck sometimes, I believe that by preparing properly you create your own.

Alex Dowsett,

Professional Cyclist for Team Sky Procycling and the Great Britain National Team

Essex, March 2012

Cycling is booming and its not hard to see why so many members of the British public are cottoning onto the benefits of the sport. With a huge and increasing popularity at the professional heights of cycling, after Olympic and world medal success, this is filtering down to amateur level where riders of all abilities can enter a mass participation event or multi-day ride akin to the top level. Sportives are selling out within minutes of hitting the web and the challenges are getting bigger and better, with riders taking on stages of the Tour de France in the tape du Tour or pushing themselves to the limit on home soil with events like the gruelling three-day Tour of Wessex.

The fantastic element of sportives is that they come in all shapes and sizes so every cyclist can find the right event for them. You may want to start with 10 miles or even 100 miles and whatever your aspirations there will be an event out there for you. The satisfaction of finishing a sportive for the first time, improving on your previous personal best or beating your mates is second to none. Whether youre aiming to make your sportive debut or push further and faster than you have before, this book will take you from start to finish with everything you need to know to not only perform to the best of your ability, but to enjoy the process.

We understand that while you may be aspiring to ride a stage of the Tour, youre not a full-time rider and will have to fit your cycling around other commitments. We appreciate the day-to-day demands and stresses that most of us have as part and parcel of day jobs and life in general. This book will always be on hand for when life gets in the way and, leaving no stone unturned, well guide you from the day you fill in that first entry form until youre home and eating your post-event meal.

Fitter, Further, Faster will adapt with you. As you move towards that peak in your performance, whatever your aspiration, your training will change, adapt and evolve. Well introduce new specifics to work on as you move towards the big goal, including nutrition, hydration, preparation, technique, recovery, core work and all the other elements you need to nail to be at your best. And well include top advice and insider tips from top professional athletes, coaches, dieticians and nutritionists.

Starting early is the key to perfect preparation but if youve left it late, dont worry. Fitter, Further, Faster focuses on where you are, based on the number of weeks or months you have to go until event day.

Good luck on your sportive journey!

Hannah, Rebecca and Rob

Before you even think about jumping on a saddle and pedalling off into the distance, stop and ask yourself what it is you want to achieve.

If you want a successful season, and want to avoid riding round in circles slowly going nowhere, then its imperative to set goals.

Writing down your ambitions on bits of scrap paper may seem a tad dull, but identifying clear outcomes and targets will have a monumental effect on your progression and improvement.

If you dont know what it is you want to achieve, then how on earth are you going to become better? How are you going to become stronger, faster or lighter? Perhaps these arent your goals at all. But how do you know that if you havent identified any? You see how confusing it can be. Be smart and make things easy for yourself.

Setting goals is not as easy as you may think. There are many elements to consider, and if you get one of the factors wrong, it could affect your main goal.

Long-term goals are also known as dream goals, and are more often than not looked at as an outcome or as a type of finish line. Now while these are great to have, they wont be achieved unless you set short-term goals, or stepping-stones.