Real talk for real cyclists. Coach Matthew cuts through the noise of cycling advice to bring you evidence-based training, race craft, and performance psychology that actually works for riders with jobs, families, and limited time. No pro-level fantasies - just practical coaching to help you arrive ready at your next event.
What's Actually Happening at Threshold (It's Not What You Think)
Your body stores about three seconds of ATP. The fastest systems for rebuilding it run out inside a minute. So what's powering a 25-mile time trial?The aerobic system. Glucose into pyruvate, pyruvate into the Krebs cycle, the Krebs cycle into the electron transport chain. Three stages, each with its own bottlenecks, and at the end of it, 32 ATP per glucose molecule versus 3 from anaerobic glycolysis.This video walks through how aerobic metabolism actually works. Pyruvate dehydrogenase, citrate synthase, cytochrome c oxidase, oxidative phosphorylation, and why your threshold is really a molecular event expressed as watts.Part of an ongoing series on the physiology behind cycling performance.I'm a cycling coach working with riders from beginners to national champions. If you want help with your training, race prep, or skills development, find me!🚴 Coaching enquiries: 🌐 www.saddleupcycling.co.uk📸 Instagram: http://instagram.com/saddleupcoaching/
29 Mar 2026
You've Only Got 3 Seconds of Energy
You store about 80 grams of ATP. That's three seconds of flat-out effort. After that, your body is scrambling to make more.This video breaks down the anaerobic energy systems that power everything from a track sprint launch to a hard 60-second bridge in a road race. Phosphagen system, anaerobic glycolysis, rate-limiting enzymes, hydrogen ion accumulation, and why the sixth sprint in a crit never feels like the first.If you've ever sat up because you couldn't hold the wheel, that was a metabolic event. This video explains which system failed and what you can train to fix it.Part of an ongoing series on the physiology behind cycling performance.I'm a cycling coach working with riders from beginners to national champions. If you want help with your training, race prep, or skills development, find me!🚴 Coaching enquiries: 🌐 www.saddleupcycling.co.uk📸 Instagram: http://instagram.com/saddleupcoaching/
25 Mar 2026
Why Your Technique Falls Apart When You're Tired
Your technique is smooth for the first hour. Then it falls apart.
That's not just fatigue. Your body finds stable coordination solutions. Movement scientists call them attractors. And fatigue destabilises them.
This episode covers what attractors actually are, how they show up in cycling, why fatigue makes your technique fall apart, the research on seated vs standing transitions, why indoor training constrains your coordination, and how to train technique that's robust under fatigue.
Durability isn't just physiology. It's whether your coordination holds up when everything is under strain.
saddleupcycling.co.uk
4 Mar 2026
Returning To Training After Illness: A Coach's Guide
You wake up feeling rough. Sore throat. Congestion. And immediately you're calculating – can I still train?
This episode covers when to stop, when easy might be okay, and how to come back without turning a short illness into a long hole. No fixed timelines. No arbitrary rules. Just symptoms, trajectory, and paying attention to what your body is actually telling you.
Short-term restraint reduces the risk of long-term interruption. That's the trade-off.
saddleupcycling.co.uk
14 Feb 2026
Heat Training For Regular Cyclists
Heat training used to feel like something for elite athletes. Altitude camps. Kona prep. Not for regular cyclists training through a British winter.
But the research has moved on. Plasma volume. Haemoglobin mass. Durability. Things that matter even when you're racing in eighteen degrees and sideways drizzle.
This episode covers what heat actually does, what the evidence supports (and doesn't), and how to use it practically – including making the most of your turbo sessions when you're stuck indoors anyway.
It's not magic. It's another lever. Here's how to pull it.
saddleupcycling.co.uk
12 Feb 2026
Saddle Up with Jonah Jenkins Track Sprinter
Introducing Saddle Up With… conversations with local riders about how they actually train, think about racing, and what they're working on.First up, Jonah Jenkins - track sprinter, Welsh national team, current Junior Keirin National Champion, for a proper chat about how he trains, how he races, and what he's still trying to figure out.We covered a lot. Winter training blocks, structured gym work, racing seniors, pre-race nerves, self-talk, backing yourself when the draw's not in your favour, qualifying for the Commonwealth Games, and what it actually takes to develop as a young sprinter.https://www.instagram.com/j.jenkins07 I'm a Cycling coach working with riders from beginners to national champions. If you want help with your training, race prep, or skills development, find me!🚴 Coaching enquiries: 🌐 www.saddleupcycling.co.uk📸 Instagram: http://instagram.com/saddleupcoaching/
11 Feb 2026
You're Not Getting Outsprinted, You're Getting Outspent
I had the legs to win that race. I rolled in 15th.
Two kilometres to go. Tenth wheel. Road narrows, pace lifts, and suddenly I'm getting swamped here, closing gaps there. Yellow flag, 200 metres to go, small crash happens just in front of me.
If I'd been fifth wheel instead of tenth, I'd have been ahead of it.
This episode covers why races are decided long before the finish, how corners quietly drain you, how to move up without burning matches, the difference between fixing problems and preventing them, and why positioning is an energy system – not just tactics.
The sprint doesn't decide the race. The sprint just reveals what was already decided.
saddleupcycling.co.uk
3 Feb 2026
The Noakes Carb Paper: What It Actually Says (And What It Doesn't)
A new paper by Tim Noakes is doing the rounds. The claim: you only need 10 to 30 grams of carbs per hour during endurance exercise. The 60 to 90 gram recommendations? Unjustified, according to the paper.
It's already being shared like it settles the debate. One side treating it as vindication. The other dismissing it because it's Noakes.
Neither response is useful.
In this episode, I try to make sense of it. What the paper actually argues. Where it has a point. Where other researchers disagree. Why the debate got so tribal. And why I still fuel high despite reading it carefully.
I'm a coach, not a researcher. I don't run studies – I read them and try to figure out what they mean for the riders I work with. This is my honest attempt to do that with a paper that's generating more heat than light.
Topics covered:
What Noakes actually claims about carbohydrate and fatigueThe critique of the "fuel tank" model of glycogen depletionWhy blood glucose matters – and why it's not the whole storyTime-to-exhaustion vs real racing demandsThe longevity crowd vs the performance crowd – different questions, different answersWhy I'm still fuelling at 60+ grams per hourHow to think about this if you're just trying to race faster
Noakes, T.D. et al. (2026). Carbohydrate Ingestion During Exercise and Physical Performance. Endocrine Reviews.
saddleupcycling.co.uk
26 Jan 2026
THE CASE AGAINST TRYING HARD
First episode from Saddle Up Cycling. Maybe there'll be more.
I'm Matthew, a cycling coach based in London. I work with riders who have jobs, families, and six hours a week if they're lucky. This is for them.
You proved something during Covid. The work got done from home. You had time for the lunch ride, the turbo before the kids woke up. Presence and productivity aren't the same thing.
Now they want you back at your desk. But your training hours are still yours.
This episode is about not wasting them.
Why the ride that leaves you wrecked might be doing less than you think. Why the ride that feels like cheating might be exactly what you need. What the Goggins "stay hard" mentality gets right and where it falls apart for endurance training. And why most time-crunched cyclists are spending their six hours looking busy rather than actually adapting.
Host of Saddle Up and Ride?
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