There’s a moment I remember so clearly it almost makes me laugh now. Early in my career, before marginal gains were packaged into sleek marketing and lab-tested drink mixes, I had heard whispers about sodium bicarbonate—baking soda—as this almost magical performance enhancer. So naturally, I tried it. I stood in my kitchen, scooped what I thought was the “right” amount into a water bottle, shook it up, and forced it down before a hard session. It tasted exactly how you’d expect—flat, chalky,...

Red light therapy has become one of those topics in endurance sport that seems to live in two worlds at once. On the one hand, it's marketed like a miracle tool. On the other hand, it gets brushed off as hype. The truth sits in the middle, and that middle is where cyclists need to live. Red light therapy, more accurately called photobiomodulation  (PBM), is not magic, but it is not meaningless either. It is a light-based intervention that uses specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared...

There’s always a ride this time of year where I notice it. I roll out expecting things to feel the same as they have all winter—maybe a little heavy, maybe a little forced—and then somewhere along the way, something shifts. My legs feel lighter, my breathing settles faster, and the effort begins to flow in a way it hasn’t in months. It’s subtle, but it’s undeniable. And every time, I have that same thought: what changed?  Because it doesn’t feel like I suddenly became fitter overnight. The...