The Ultimate Ride: Get Fit, Get Fast, and Start Winning with the World's Top Cycling Coach

Some people have said this book is too general but if you read it and re-read the relevant sections about your workout focus it's pretty clear what you need to do. Not only does he give a sample workout routine for all of the different training periods but he explains why they're designed the way they are, so you can make your workout YOURS. Pros: 1) Very clear explanation of each workout and its benefits 2) Emphasis is put on the diet and a reasonably good explanation about eating toward a good recovery. 3) The sample plans are based on 5 or 6 day per week workout regiments so there's some flexibility when it comes to the real work cyclist trying to fit it in his/her weekly schedule. 3) Carmichael is good motivational writer Cons: 1) Carmichael says "recent studies" a lot but never actually references them. It raises a question on how valid the studies really are. 2) Carmichael emphasizes power as a means of measuring effort. He gives heart rate criteria as well, but he flat out states that power is a better measure of performance. This means you either need an expensive power tap or a trainer with the power data at a given speed or range of speeds.

This is a great book for someone looking to improve their performance on a bike. It's different from other cycling training books in that it really shows you how you can get better, not only through workouts, but also through improving the way you ride. I really liked the parts about ways to save energy in pacelines and when climbing hills, what to eat and drink and when, and how to set up your bike so it fits and is comfortable. It's refreshing to see someone who's interested in teaching people how to train, as well as how training works together with nutrition and hydration, recovery and mental preparation to get "100% Ready". I have book shelves full of cycling training books, including Friel's and Juekendroop's, and Burke's, yet I really feel like Carmichael's offers a fresh perspective on training and preparation in cycling. It's easy to read, and speaks to me as a guy who's really into cycling and wants to get better, but isn't going to race the Tour de France anytime soon.

The Ultimate Ride picks up and refines where a previous collaboration between Lance and Chris titled "The Lance Armstrong Performance Program - 7 Weeks to the Perfect Ride" left off. The Ultimate Ride provides enough detail in the areas of goal setting, proper training routines, nutrition, and overall bike and body awareness that I constantly pick it up and refer to it as a reference tool before and after a ride. If you have constant pain after a ride there is a chart in there to break down the causes of such pains. If you want to know how to eat and drink in preparation of a race or long ride or what is best to eat and drink for recovery after the ride, it is in there. If you want to learn to climb better, it is in there. Riders of all levels will find nuggets of information that will make them a better cyclist.

This work is excellent for anyone planning to engage inamateur cycling. The book explains the dynamics of goal setting,resistence training, skills honing, peaking and aerobicenergy to deliver maximum oxygenation throughout the body.The author shows how to customize a training scheme for eachathlete. He explains how group rides quicken the general speedof the workout. Later on, he explains how carbo-loading helpsto boost glycogen while increasing insulin concentration,growth hormones and the absorption of testosterone. The workopens up a whole new dimension to a working out regimen.I would supplement this work with a professional trainer orknowledgable workout partner.

In a review of Chris Carmichael's previous book, "Lance Armstrong Performance Program: Seven Weeks to the Perfect Ride", I (as JDWEB) said that it was excellent, but didn't go far enough for serious athletes. I think that problem has been largely corrected in this book, and I am happy with this purchase. What I really like in this new book is that he presents some novel ideas on the subject of training, and explains them in sufficent detail. He also goes into more detail on key subjects such as nutrition (talking about about amounts of protein per kg of body weight, for example, not just in terms of dietary percentages). I have studied LOTS of books on training, and I do quite well as an athlete given my age (39) and limited number of hours of training available. I've been periodizing my workouts with macrocycles and microcycles right back to the Lemond days, for example. This new book is the first one I've seen in awhile with FRESH ideas on what intensity to train at, and how to find that level for yourself. CC (aka "The Kid") tells us how he had to train LA in a less stressful way, and why it works. For example, you improve your power fastest if you train just under your Anaerobic Threshold, rather than at it or just over. That was a surprise to me. CC also bases his training intensities not on Max Heart Rate, which everyone else has written about ad naseum, but instead on your heart rate during a 3 mile time trial. This is especially relevant to me, as my muscular development for running is ahead of my development for cycling, so my intensity for cycling is lower than for running (the muscles are a bottle neck). This is cool stuff that makes sense, and very relevant to triathletes, too, as you can see.The book was mostly disappointing in that it didn't have an index, so you couldn't look for "rest" and find all the references in the text, for example. That's a hinderance. The book also needs explanatory pictures of some bike handling techniques, as I said in my review of his other book. But overall, this book is very valuable in demonstrating a new approach to training, and worth every penny.