Cycling miscellany - part 2

Continuing an occasional series of interesting snippets...

Marshall 'Major' Taylor (1878-1932) was one of the fastest cyclists of his day and one of the world's biggest sporting stars. While he was racing he was the most prominent African-American in the world. With his trainer he devised an innovative conditioning regime that avoided 'overtraining' - this enabled him to race hundreds of times in a season and defeat riders with much more powerful physiques.

You can try it too....

1. For the first week of training, cycle 5 miles each morning and afternoon at an average speed of 15mph

2. For the second week, up the distances to 10 miles twice a day at an average of 15mph

3. During the third week start upping the pace each day by 0.5mph. So that after 3 days you will be riding at 16.5phm average. As this becomes more challenging only raise your speed every other day.

4. After about a month you will be cycling 20 miles a day at an average of 22.5mph - and your basic training is complete.

See - it's easy really!