Cycling Assessment Days

The relentless climbs of Swains lane and Highgate West Hill have made Highgate a bit of a cycling Mecca in recent years. The mobile phone Ap - "Strava" has The Swains Lane climb as one of its most popular routes and the achievement of the ten climb challenge has become like a badge of honour worn by the local cycling enthusiasts!

As every good cyclist will tell you, cycling performance is all about knowing your numbers. Your cycling cadence, your power output, and the key ones - Maximum heart rate, training zone heart rate and lactate threshold.

Getting an accurate grasp of these numbers isn't that easy. There are predicted formula's that give a rough guide but in order to get a true understanding you need some physiological testing.

So we have set up two testing days at All About You in November.

Our Cycling Assessment Package is designed for cyclists of all levels that want a high performance approach to improving their performance. The package uses tests and equipment endorsed by British Cycling to establish a profile of your current performance, determine which areas have the biggest potential for improvement and you will receive a report on your personal heart rate and power zones in order to optimise your training.

What Does The Package Involve?

1.      Pre-test Assessment: Blood pressure, lung function, height and weight.

2.      Lactate Threshold Test: Performed on a ‘Wattbike’ (endorsed by British Cycling), this is an incremental step-test, which consists of 4-minute stages of increasing work. Heart rate, rate of perceived exertion (RPE), power (watts) and blood lactate (taken via a painless ear lobe prick) are recorded at the end of each stage to determine the intensity your body switches from primarily aerobic to anaerobic energy production.

3.      3 minute max power test: This maximum effort 3 minute time trial provides an estimation of your aerobic capacity. The absolute average power and maximum heart rate achieved during the test can also be used as an estimate of maximum minute power and maximum heart rate to calculate your training zones and power to weight ratio.

4.      Training recommendations: Advice to help you optimise your training efforts.

Duration: 90 minutes to 2 hours

Cost: £120

Coach: Steve Gent is a physiologist and conditioning expert who has worked at the highest level, helping prepare athletes for the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. The athletes he has coached have returned a total of 16 Olympic medals and finished on the podium in over 90 World and European Championships.