You've Only Got 3 Seconds of Energy

What's Actually Happening at Threshold (It's Not What You Think)

Your body stores about three seconds of ATP. The fastest systems for rebuilding it run out inside a minute. So what's powering a 25-mile time trial?The aerobic system. Glucose into pyruvate, pyruvate into the Krebs cycle, the Krebs cycle into the electron transport chain. Three stages, each with its own bottlenecks, and at the end of it, 32 ATP per glucose molecule versus 3 from anaerobic glycolysis.This video walks through how aerobic metabolism actually works. Pyruvate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, cytochrome c oxidase, oxidative phosphorylation, and why your threshold is really a molecular event expressed as watts.Part of an ongoing series on the physiology behind cycling performance.I'm a cycling coach working with riders from beginners to national champions. If you want help with your training, race prep, or skills development, find me!🚴 Coaching enquiries: 🌐 www.saddleupcycling.co.uk📸 Instagram: http://instagram.com/saddleupcoaching/

You've Only Got 3 Seconds of Energy

You store about 80 grams of ATP. That's three seconds of flat-out effort. After that, your body is scrambling to make more.This video breaks down the anaerobic energy systems that power everything from a track sprint launch to a hard 60-second bridge in a road race. Phosphagen system, anaerobic glycolysis, rate-limiting enzymes, hydrogen ion accumulation, and why the sixth sprint in a crit never feels like the first.If you've ever sat up because you couldn't hold the wheel, that was a metabolic event. This video explains which system failed and what you can train to fix it.Part of an ongoing series on the physiology behind cycling performance.I'm a cycling coach working with riders from beginners to national champions. If you want help with your training, race prep, or skills development, find me!🚴 Coaching enquiries: 🌐 www.saddleupcycling.co.uk📸 Instagram: http://instagram.com/saddleupcoaching/

Why Your Technique Falls Apart When You're Tired

Your technique is smooth for the first hour. Then it falls apart. That's not just fatigue. Your body finds stable coordination solutions. Movement scientists call them attractors. And fatigue destabilises them. This episode covers what attractors actually are, how they show up in cycling, why fatigue makes your technique fall apart, the research on seated vs standing transitions, why indoor training constrains your coordination, and how to train technique that's robust under fatigue. Durability isn't just physiology. It's whether your coordination holds up when everything is under strain. saddleupcycling.co.uk

Returning To Training After Illness: A Coach's Guide

You wake up feeling rough. Sore throat. Congestion. And immediately you're calculating – can I still train? This episode covers when to stop, when easy might be okay, and how to come back without turning a short illness into a long hole. No fixed timelines. No arbitrary rules. Just symptoms, trajectory, and paying attention to what your body is actually telling you. Short-term restraint reduces the risk of long-term interruption. That's the trade-off. saddleupcycling.co.uk

Heat Training For Regular Cyclists

Heat training used to feel like something for elite athletes. Altitude camps. Kona prep. Not for regular cyclists training through a British winter. But the research has moved on. Plasma volume. Haemoglobin mass. Durability. Things that matter even when you're racing in eighteen degrees and sideways drizzle. This episode covers what heat actually does, what the evidence supports (and doesn't), and how to use it practically – including making the most of your turbo sessions when you're stuck indoors anyway. It's not magic. It's another lever. Here's how to pull it. saddleupcycling.co.uk