Last year we went to visit Remy to find out how he uses his Genius eRIDE. His answer? Well, we found it very interesting. “I use it for fun, but as well for training.” This is how the “Train Like a Pro” series started. For this new episode we went a bit more into the details of his specific E-Bike oriented exercises, and how it impacts his training.

On top of using his E-Bike for riding around, Remy chooses his Genius eRIDE over his classic Genius for precise training exercises. We will go over two of them: maximal aerobic power and sprinting.

Length: 10 to 30 min of pedaling
Mode: Eco

DETAILS
Terrain: fire roads

As MAP training is really intense for your muscles, it’s important to warm up well to wake up your muscles. For me this is the ride from my garage to the trails. About 30 minutes, in eco mode, without pushing too much.

PART 1
Length: 4 min at 80%
Mode: Trail (Tour/Sport)

PART 2
Length: 1 min at 100%
Mode: Eco

DETAILS
Terrain: trails, uphill/downhill
Repetitions: 3 times with 10 min recovery in-between

MAP training is really important for me, on a stage after few minutes, you can feel the fatigue, you are breathing hard, less oxygen accesses your muscles and you start to be tense, which can lead to mistakes. To be able to extend this zone means that I can go faster for longer. 

The first exercise is quite simple, you just need an E-Bike, some trails and a heart rate sensor. The goal is to never go over 25km/h when you are pedaling, and always be on technical terrains when going up or down. To know if I’m at 80% or 100%, I use my heart rate monitor alongside my general feeling. It’s important to be consistent with the loop to be able to compare from time to time. I used to do performance tests with doctors and trainers to ensure I was at 100% in terms of heart beats per minute. Thanks to these tests I have a better feeling, and know for more accuracy I can also use the power meter. 

The descents are the one I use for training on my non assist Genius, I’m just going up faster by more interesting trails with the E-Bike.

PART 1
Length: 1 min at 100%
Mode: Eco

PART 2
Length: 4 min at 80%
Mode: 3:30 in Trail - 30 sec in Boost

DETAILS
Terrain: trails, uphill/downhill
Repetitions: 5 times without recovery in-between

As there is no recovery time, this exercise is quite long, this is more optimized for a cross country bike. As it’s not my favorite type of riding, I take my E-Bike and it becomes way more fun! For this specific training the assist modes are as well really helpful for optimizing my heart rate intensity. The 30 seconds in boost will be like rehab for my legs while my heart rate will stay high because I’m still pedaling at a high RPM.

I always pick sections that will be impossible to go up with a classic mountain bike. Steep sections with steps, roots, rocks where you need to be focused and calm done to succeed, same as a technical downhill. The assistance helps me to go up but with the additional weight of the E-Bike, I have to pull harder which is good for working out my core. 

Sometimes, it’s working at the first try… This is where the fun part starts

Length: 10 sec
Mode: No assist

DETAILS
Terrain: fire roads, trails, slightly uphill
Repetitions: 5 times with 30 sec recovery in-between

As a complement or a separate exercise, I do sprints. Sprinting is not the most fun thing to do but you have to do it, if you are not trained your saddle will become really attractive after few seconds! To be more efficient, I turn off the drive unit and use the extra weight of the E-Bike to increase the difficulty and turn it on again to recover.

Back home, shower, and time to analyze the data and compare with previous training sessions, this is why it’s important to be consistent with the loop for both exercises.