A good warm-up before a race is of essential importance. Follow tips from Bobby Julich!

During his active career, Bobby Julich was a gifted time trialist. He came third in the 1998 Tour de France and won bronze in the Athens 2004 Olympic time trial. In his capacity as Rider Development Manager, this American is transferring his knowledge to the Team Saxo Bank riders.

"A proper warm-up is of inestimable value" says Julich. "The body will have built up a head of steam and be in peak condition. You can easily overdo it during the warm-up, in which case you will be tired before you start, but you can take it too easy too. If you still feel yourself improving towards the end of a time trial, then it often means that you haven't warmed up well enough."

Sample chart
Although a warm-up is highly personal and different for each individual, Julich wants to outline a preparation chart for a 5 to 10 minute prologue. "The shorter the time trial, the longer you need to warm up, that is my guiding principle. In this case therefore I would definitely recommend a warm-up of an hour to an hour and a quarter on the Satori cycletrainer."

"First you spin your legs around nicely for 10 to 15 minutes in order to get going, then you start with the 'progression intervals'. First, 5 minutes of 'easy progression', in which you keep 10 to 15 heartbeats below your AT (Anaerobic Threshold). 5 minutes of rest are followed by 5 minutes of 'medium progression', 5 to 10 heartbeats below your AT.

After another 5 minutes of rest you do 5 minutes of 'hard progression', keeping between 5 heartbeats below and 5 above your AT. You build up step by step, in a car you don't change up straight from first to top gear either. It is only during the last minute of the 'hard progression' that you ride flat out."

"Be sure to take 10 minutes' rest after that, time enough to recover fully. Follow the warm-up with 5 to 6 'big gear efforts', 30 to 40 seconds each in a high gear, in order to get as much power as possible into the muscles. All you will be doing then is pumping more strength into the muscle system. No more into the heart because you mustn't place any extra load on it. Finally, 5 to 10 minutes of gentle pedalling, with a further 2 sprints 20 seconds each at intervals and then you should be ready for it."

Fabian Cancellara and his team mates have been placing their trust in the Tacx Satori during warm-ups for years. "Riders know the Satori inside out and have the utmost confidence in it" says Julich. "This trainer runs smoothly and is still very constant even at high power. The Satori has become a true find of the riders."

                                             Prologue Tour de France 2010, Rotterdam