Tag: 3LC

Hands On: 3LC ‘Road Race’ DVD Training Session

A few weeks ago we wrote about the release of a series of training DVDs by Three Legs Cycling (3LC) based on the Isle of Man and the home of Mark Cavendish. 3LC currently has five, one hour long training sessions that are designed specifically for cyclists and take a little bit different approach than other training DVDs. 3LC’s approach is to focus on cadence and Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) instead of the watts or heart rate. Being  primarily a mountain bike rider and occasional racer who prefers long distance races like the Leadville Trail 100, my best performances on dirt seem to happen when riding at a higher cadence – these DVDs seemed perfect for my winter training needs.

3LC sent three DVDs our way, ‘Road Race’, ‘Sprinting’ and ‘Climbing’. Each of these 50 to 60-minute sessions are designed loosely to simulate the power exertion that can occur while performing each of these activities on a bike. ‘Road Race’ was first picked to review since it featured a little climbing and sprinting that might occur during a race; and in all honesty, starting with ‘Sprinting’ featuring Mark Cavendish wasn’t the physical abuse that I was looking to begin with. The riders in the video are all using turbo or rear wheel trainers. In theory any bicycle trainer is fine to use with this series as long as you can adjust the resistance to a point that you can maintain a cadence of 80 RPMs and lift it to 130+RPMs during various times in the session. Since the mid-1990s, I have been using Kreitler Dyno-Myte rollers (below) and recently added a weighted flywheel to simulate road resistance. This would be the trainer used for our evaluation. Continue reading Hands On: 3LC ‘Road Race’ DVD Training Session

3LC’s Spin on Training

Pounding out miles on the bike trainer through the shorter days of winter can be a real motivational challenge especially after a long day at the office. Hooking the bike up to the trainer, strapping on the heart rate monitor, watching the watt meter and simply turning over the pedals can be a real drag. Three Legs Cycling (3LC) has a series of training DVDs utilizing a different and simpler approach to training that promises a more exciting training experience.

The 3LC series DVDs are designed to help you stay fit, become stronger and stay motivated through the winter, but instead of requiring a host a monitoring devices, they have designed the series behind the philosophy of leg speed. Hook the bike up to the trainer, pop in the DVD and ride. The videos will take you through the workout and during certain intervals, instruct you to increase or decrease your leg speed. Even if you do not have a computer with cadence, simply watch the riders on the video and match their leg speed. If you feel good, put the bike in a harder gear and maintain the same cadence as the riders in the video. The beauty of the video is if you are having a lackluster day, simply put the bike in an easier gear, but match the cadence of the riders. It is that simple – always match the cadence.

Videos after the jump