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This episode starts with a quick reminder that the NFR Cycling Shop is open! Check out the new NFR t-shirts and accessories. The focus of this episode it about things to consider as you start to prepare for the 2022 cycling season. We reflect on 2021, reframing why we do what we do, and how to use that to guide goals for this year. Topics include reflecting on your 2021 goals and how you might think about adjusting those in 2022. We touch on making sure you don’t burn yourself out and carving out time to “play bikes“. Overall, we’re starting off the year looking to carry what we learned in 2021 and keep growing as cyclists, athletes, and competitors. The post Thoughts to consider for starting the 2022 cycling season appeared first on NFR Cycling.

In this closing episode of the year, we want to thank all the listeners for their time and attention this year. We’ll be taking a bit of an off-season from the podcast over the holidays but we’ll be back on January 16th with a new episode and a new Podcast season. As we close out the year, we’ve launched the NFR Shop and we’ll be adding some great new videos to YouTube. Have a great end of the year, get some rest, enjoy some time with loved ones and we’ll see you in 2022 ready to ride. Until then, keep going! The post The 2021 Year End Off Season appeared first on NFR Cycling.

Performance can be hard to break down and work with. How do you know what you should do to increase your overall performance? In this episode we talk about the NFR four pillars of performance framework. By breaking down performance into the specific categories of mental, physical, nutrition, and equipment you can understand where your strengths and weaknesses are and develop a plan of attack to improve performance across the categories. Rob explains how the framework is set up. He identifies each category as a leg supporting performance. Think of your overall performance as a cyclist as a table top, each pillar is a leg supporting that table. If one of those legs isn’t getting the right amount of attention, the table starts to dip and become unstable. The post The NFR Four Pillars of Performance appeared first on NFR Cycling.

In this episode, Rob and I talk about how breathing with more intent and focusing on your breathing can help improve performance and endurance. We typically breathe more heavily as a result of the load we put on our bodies during exercise. There are ways to train your breathing and pulmonary systems more directly, we highlight and discuss a few of the ways to do that. Equipment AirofitThe worlds first smart breathing trainer. Resources and Links Respiratory Muscle TrainingSpecific science validated, cycling focused exercises. The mind behind the PowerBreathe device. Breathing For Warriors  – Belisssa VranichTargeted breathing exercises and the benefits of “circumferential” breathing for athletes and high performance individuals. Breath – Belissa Vranich Belissa’s first book with an introduction to circumferential breathing. She also references a lot of other breathing modalities The Oxygen Advantage – Patrick McKeown   The Breathing Cure – Patrick McKeown Conscious Breathing – Anders Olssen Breath – James Nestor Breath to Perform – Jay Bidler Breathology – Stigg  Severinsen The post Breathing for Performance appeared first on NFR Cycling.

Rob recently went out and rode the Grizzly 100 Mountain Bike race. In this episode Rob breaks down the race, his performance, and his result. We talk about how his preparation worked and a few surprises thrown his way on race day. In the news, we talk briefly about Wahoo SYSTM and the evolution from Sufferfest to SYSTM. Stay tuned for a deeper dive into SYSTM in future episodes. The post Grizzly 100 Race Review appeared first on NFR Cycling.

Rob recently had a thought provoking experience around some of his own beliefs after seeing some data from other riders compared to his own data. What we think and believe about ourself shapes and influences our actions and performance. It’s important realize your biases and not let them limit you. Using objective and empirical data can help break you out of a self limiting narrative. In this episode Rob and I discuss our internal narratives and techniques to break out of self limiting beliefs. The post Shifting the Narrative on Self Limiting Beliefs appeared first on NFR Cycling.

In this episode, we discuss equipment we use for rides and strategies you can use to make sure you always have what you have what you need to make your rides a great experience. Equipment can be a broad topic. We break it down into 3 sections. Pre-ride, during the ride, and post ride. Some of the items we discuss are obvious, like a ride bag – or go bag. Less obvious might be wet wipes, a post-ride portable shower, and a chair. This also marks the first episode with video that we’re sharing on YouTube, so check our the video version too. Like and subscribe on YouTube to stay up to date there too. The post Equipment and Preparation appeared first on NFR Cycling.

Virtual events have been our only way to compete or ride together for a long time. In this episode of the NFR Cycling Podcast, we talk about preparing for actual events compared to the virtual events we’ve been doing for the past 18 months. Rob and I discuss strategies, tips, and tricks for event preparation. We include doing course recon digitally with YouTube with a shout out to Ben Goyette’s channel. We touch on physical and mental preparation and go over some way to deal with surprises on event day. As always, if you like the episode – or if you don’t – let us know. Reviews are a great way to help support the Podcast. The post Event Preparation in Real Life appeared first on NFR Cycling.

We’ve been working on some articles to post on the site recently. Rob recently added his draft for an article on demands versus capacity. It’s a topic that we felt needed more conversation. The fantasy that we can “tough it out” to a result that we’ve never achieved before is intoxicating, but it’s bullshit. We have a current capacity based on our current training and experience. It doesn’t matter if it’s race day or not. In this episode, we talk about how to determine your current capacity and how to break down the demand of your goals. Additionally, we go over what happens if your current capacity and the demand of your goal don’t match. The post Demand vs. Capacity appeared first on NFR Cycling.

In this episode we bring in Eric Horton from Limar to talk with us. He educates us about Limar helmets and the company. The company and the helmets are packed with tons of cycling heritage, cutting edge technology, and safety. Eric walks us through his history in product development at Fox, Specialized, Giro, and Limar. Before diving deeper into the Limar history and helmets, we get some good stories about chasing Mario Cipollini and riding with Giovani Lombardi. Eric talks us through the line up of helmets. Before the recording Limar sent us an Air Master and Ultralight to try out. Rob and I add some of our experience to the conversation. To sum it up, the helmets are great and we absolutely recommend them. It was a great conversation and lots of fun to go through some cycling history with Eric. Additionally, Eric talks about the direct to consumer model that Limar is using. We talk a bit about how direct to consumer is changing the industry and what that future might hold for more premium brands. Limar has offered NFR listeners 25% off your order at limaritalia.com with the code “NFR25” at checkout. The post Limar Helmets with Eric Horton appeared first on NFR Cycling.

Welcome to the first episode of the NFR Cycling podcast! In this episode We’ll introduce your host, talk about what NFR stands for and where it came from. We’ll also highlight some of the things we’ll to explore in future podcast episodes and some of the topics we’ll cover. NFR, or No Free Rides os a podcast that will explore everyday people doing, what I consider, to be extraordinary things. We’ll explore the work they do to craft their lives the way they want them. It’s about understanding that there are no free rides for anything and to get anywhere, you have to do to the work. It’s important to note, this isn’t about the current trend in “hustle” culture, it’s more foundational than that. No none is going to be promoting 100 hours a week of work or trying to tell you to be hustling every moment of your life.  In future episodes, we’ll talk with people that are “doing the work” to achieve their goals. We’ll talk with people working to grow and live the lives they want to live them. Often, we’ll frame the conversations through sports, but we’ll look at process and doing the work through other lenses as well. I’m incredibly excited to take this journey with all of you! Enjoy the introduction and until next time, keep doing the work. The post Episode 1 – An Introduction appeared first on NFR Cycling.