Before I launch into various types of testing, it is important to note why you would want to be tested in the first place. Why would a person suffer through a maximal exercise test, or find out what your body fat is?
There are several reasons, the first, and I believe the most important, is that testing provides current information on the correct intensities to train at. This information is specific for the individual and changes as your fitness changes. To put this into perspective, lets take Lance Armstrong, and a sofa warrior, both aged 33. If we use 220-age to determine max HR then 220-33=187. Now we decide to prescribe both these men with the same endurance training workout of 70-80% of max HR 131-150bpm (beats per minute).This effort for the sofa warrior is likely to be producing a lot more lactic acid, than Lance's effort, as he is going to be working a higher percentage of his LT. Lance's huge aerobic fitness means his body produces a lot less Lactic acid and that his LT will occur at a higher HR. The sofa warrior may be over his LT at 150 bpm whereas Lance still has still has a good 28 bpm before he reaches his. This means that at 150 bpm our sofa warrior is at 100% of his LT and Lance is at only 83 %. This is only looking at HR and doesn't show the huge differences between the two in terms of power output. As aerobic fitness increases so to does the amount of power, produced at a given HR.

From this short example we can see that testing will help us know what our current LT, and relative training intensities are, as well as the amount of power we can produce at each. This helps us to track progress, determine if a training block was effective, or even compare ourselves to athletic population data. Most of all though, this information will help give us accurate, personalised, training intensities for our current fitness level. When we use these intensities in our training we train more effectively and make the most of the time we have available.

To better understand cycling and endurance sport in general, and how we can monitor and maximise our performance, this article will describe various forms of performance and physiological testing. These tests can be performed in a cycle specific environment either in the field or on a cycle ergometer in a lab. They are useful in measuring current performance levels, effectiveness of training, physiological changes, and prescribing accurate training intensities. Physiological tests would include VO2max, Lactate threshold and blood tests, while performance tests would involve such things as time trials, and the Wingate test. Maximum Steady State (MSS) tests would fall under both categories. All these tests, and their relevance to cycling, are explained below.

Although it is nice to compare test results with elite riders, their greatest benefit comes from monitoring training progress and giving information that can used to determine accurate training intensities. Planning out the season, deciding when to peak, monitoring progress and training effectively with the time that is available is critical to doing well in any sport. Taking time for a little preparation and evaluation will go a long way in fulfilling your season's goals.

www.fitlab.co.nz

Burke E. R., et al., 2003. High Tech Cycling. The Science of Riding Faster. Human Kinetics, USA.

Drake S., The hows and whys of cycling-specific testing to improve performance. Performance Conditioning for Cycling Vol 4, No7.

Morris D., 2003. Testing and Evaluation. Performance Cycling Ch 3, p 29-43. McGraw-Hill, USA.