Cinch Cycling

How many races or hard intervals have you started with the plan of “let’s just see how I feel and go from there”?

That’s a losing strategy.

Here’s why: the second your brain checks in and asks “hey, how do you feel?”

Your body answers honestly (as it is just getting going) and if it says “I feel like crap,” your brain’s next move is “yep, called it. Let’s back off.”

That’s TWO-WAY conversation. And it loses.
The top performers in the world don’t operate that way. They don’t ask. They tell.

In CINCH we call this strategy a “ONE-WAY CONVERSATION” you, the pilot, sending commands to the body: “Go strong.” “High cadence.” “Bouncy legs.” “Breathe. Focus ahead.” “I’m strong.”

You’re not checking in with the aircraft mid-flight, you’re flying it.

Climbing, racing, hard efforts, none of it is a conversation. It’s a command.

Next time it gets hard, don’t ask your body how it feels. Tell it what to do.

At CINCH, we tell athletes the activation routine is like brushing your teeth.

Five minutes every day. Not particularly exciting. But just like brushing your teeth, very noticeable when you skip it. 😷

This routine helps improve your pedal stroke, prevent injuries, and make sure all the right muscles are wiring and firing.

Banded Marches x10 each side
Side steps x10 each direction
Hamstring curls x10 each side
Clamshells x15 each side
Side leg lifts x15 each side
Glute bridges x15
Bulgarian split squats x8 each side

Your glutes and hammies have officially been notified that they’re riding today.

Save it for tomorrow morning !!

Watching Demi Vollering dominate the final TDF mountain stage, you’ll notice it’s not just fitness, it’s technique. Here’s what to steal for your own climbing.

1️⃣ HAND POSITION: Think “ski pole grip” which locks you powerfully into the bike using your core and lats. Put your weight on the heel of your hands, thumbs forward, and bend elbows. Positioning your chest forward and down, pelvis forward on the seat, heels up using plantar flexion, and push with the glutes down and through the bottom of the pedal stroke.

2️⃣ WORK THE TRANSITIONS: Most climbs aren’t one steady grade (like the Col d’Eze here), they’re a series of steeper pitches followed by shallower sections (think of it like waves 🌊). Don’t blow up going all-in on the steep pitch and then fade through the flat section. Drive power THROUGH the flats like Demi did to distance her rivals, build speed, and stay on top of it to climb faster than ever.

3️⃣ RIDE IN A STRAIGHT LINE: When the pain kicks in, riders naturally look down and start to weave. But the fastest way between two points is a straight line, swerving across the road literally doubles the distance you’re covering. Use the white line/shoulder as your guide and hold your track.
Small technical details = big time gains on the

My perspective on the “teammate gate” on today’s TDF Femmes Stage 8 is more around what actually cost Kasia in the end.

Without question Demi taking the lead before the corner and her teammate Cery getting on her wheel (after pulling) was to create a gap for Demi. This is quite common in racing and different than blocking. Was it needed? No. Was it a cheep shot, yes.

But I think what actually cost Kasia was her fighting with Cery for the wheel going into the turn and then getting upset with Cery when she went wide in the turn (with Kasia on the outside).

The fighting forced her to brake, restart, and then do a massive acceleration back up to Vollering. But I think even more costly was her mindset, internalizing and taking personal what happened. You could see she was visibly flustered (rightfully so) but I think this feeling resulted in anger and anxiety, possibly seizing up her body and making it harder to push.

I think this is possibly the reason she could not help chase in the final and why she could not sprint for the time bonus.

A possible solution to this situation next time would be to do like Longo Borghini did, seeing the teammate was setting up the wedge, given space entering the turn, and then getting a run at them to slingshot by. For sure Kasia had the legs to do this.

This is my take and I think the reality is FDJ made this tactic because they were concerned Demi would not be able to gap Kasia. I don’t think they maliciously were trying to hurt or block Kasia, I think just trying to make Demi’s acceleration harder to follow for Kasia.

In the end I wish FDJ just owned it and explained it, even just calling it “racing.” By them pretending nothing happened just makes it seem more malicious than it actually was.

Standing up on a climb or a punchy effort? The way you shift your gears can make it easier and more efficient.

Here’s the technique:

Getting out of the saddle: Shift 1-2 gears HARDER before you stand. This gives you resistance to push against as you pull your body up, and lets you put your body weight into the pedals for extra speed.

Getting back into the saddle: Sit first. Pull yourself into the saddle using the hamstring upstroke. Take a couple pedal strokes, find your rhythm, THEN shift to an easier gear.

Many riders make the mistake of shifting to an easier gear WHILE still standing. It can hurt your speed instantly.

Small technique tweak, big difference in how efficient and how fast you feel out of the saddle.

Save this for your next climb.

Do you ever perform below your expectations because you are too afraid you won’t be “good enough?”

Honestly more people than you would believe struggle with this.

One coaching tip I have to get away from the “demon of expectations” is to view your performance as if you are watching yourself in a movie.

It’s just you, in a movie theater, and you are watching yourself perform on the big screen. You can’t see what place you are in, you can’t see what power you are doing, you don’t know your time, it’s just you and your effort.

Put on a show that is worth watching. Think about MDVP’s epic win on the champs yesterday. Sure the win is great, but the imagines of how deep he went all the way to the line are all what he remembers and the rest of us.

Give this a shot and see if you can free yourself from the things that hold you back.

Is Tadej Pogacar the Taylor Swift of cycling?

Listen to why I think he’s much more than just the greatest cyclist of all time.

Amazing ride from Remco today to win the TT and really position himself strongly in 2nd place.

What do you guys think his strategy should be for the last mtn stages? Race Tadej? Ride his own pace and do a TT on the final climb to ride within his zones? Or join the battle dome with the four riders competing for 3rd place?

I think he should just ride a TT up the climbs and not play any of the games or engage in any battles. His margin on third is enough now where he can comfortably do this and likely end up even ending his gap.