Hello Velo Nation! Since I’ve been training for the Tour de Cure in Reston, VA, I thought I’d post about a couple of speed training techniques that have will not only help0 you increase your speed but ulimately your endurance as well. These two speed training techniques could be done on a trainer or on you bike outdoors. I would urge you to excercise caution if you are doing this outdoors on a mountain bike on a mountain bike trail (I heard it’s not recommend to do this type of training there). Before you start your interval speed training work out, warm up for 10 – 15 minutes on you bike, then start pedalling to the point where your muscles are struggling to keep going for a minute, then slow down and pedal at an easy pace for 1 minute, pick it back up for 2 minutes, then back down for 1 minute, then pick it back up again for 3 minutes, then you come back down for a 1 minute rest, pick it back up for 2 minutes, one minute break, then pick it back up for 1 minute. After you’ve completed your first pyramid interval workout, cool down by riding at an easy pace for 10 – 15 minutes and your done! If you have 2 speed training work outs, doing 1 pyramid, for a couple of weeks then you can step it up to 2 pyramids back to back. The key is to not over do it and ease your way to building up to more pyramids. This is something that if you over do it, your recovery time could take a long time hindering your training scheduling.
The second interval work out is a lot simpler. Start by warming up with a 10 – 15 minute easy ride. Once you’re warmed up pedal hard for 10 – 15 minutes and cool down for 10 – 15 minutes. For all of you who are training for an upcoming event, good luck!
A poll done by
For anybody who has ever gone riding or has ever been to San Francisco knows that there are a lot of hills, which makes it exhausting to ride your bike there. The city has come up with a solution to make riding easier. The San Francisco local government is setting aside federal funding to expand it’s car sharing program to include 45 electric bikes to 25 locations in 2012 and 45 more electric bikes in 2013. This is something they are testing to see how many car share trips will be replaced with electric bike share trips. There will also be a study conducted by the Transportation Sustainability Research Center located at the University of California to see who and why people are using the new program and whether or not it makes sense to add more electric bicycles. In a city like Chicago, which is very flat, a program like this would flourish, but it will be interesting to see how this works out for the hilly city. What do you think Velo Nation? If you were in San Francisco would you opt to use and electric bike to help go up the many hills?
For anybody who has thought that bicycle helmets are ugly, 
In Boulder, Colorado cyclists may have to keep a close eye on exactly how fast they are going. New legislation may be passed limiting cyclists to only 8 MPH in certain areas. Dan Grunig, Bicycle Colorado Executive Director, said that bicyclists want consistency throughout the state and he feel that this law would do more harm then good. Grunig says that the 8 MPH limit would only apply to crosswalks, which to many who slow down when going through cross walks wouldn’t be a big deal. “The problem with an 8 mph speed limit is that it blames the victim if they are hit in the crosswalk. Now, if a cyclist is hit in a safety crosswalk they have to prove they were going under 8 mph and that’s not possible,” says Grunig. What do you think Velo Nation? Do you believe that the 8 MPH rule will make it safer for everybody or does it set up cyclists to be the victim to blame if anything happens on the crosswalk? Let us know by commenting below!
Can you imagine cycling 50 miles everyday? What about 100? Maybe even 200 miles a day? That’s what Tom Godwin, an English cyclist, had to do to set the record for most miles biked in one year! Early during his career he biked as an amateur with the Potteries CC. After winning hundreds of time trials, he left Potteries CC to be a professional cyclist with Ricksmanworth Cycling Club in 1929. While he was with Ricksmanworth, he won the “Best All-Rounder Road Riding Competition.” In 1939, Godwin set the record by biking a total of 75,065 miles. This record was previously held by Bernard Bennett, who had biked 65,127 miles. Godwin then set the record for biking 100,000 miles in 500 days which he completed in May 1940. He then took weeks to learn how to walk again before leaving with the 
A sign has been put up on the Martin Goodman Trail in Toronto, Ontario, prohibiting electric bikes on the trails. This has left several people asking whether the ban goes against green initiatives that the government has been promoting. Lukasz Polowski from the Transportation Services says that the bylaw says that bike paths are for the use of vehicles (bicycles) operated solely by “muscular power.” Lukasz mentioned that when the bylaw was written people weren’t using electric bikes, so the bylaw is very strict to not allow any vehicle except a conventional bicycle on the bike path. There are member of the Transportation Service department that are trying to rewrite the bylaw, but each jurisdiction has the right to regulate the use of electric bicycle on the bike path.
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