By Lance Watson

A highly trained athlete can get away with taking nine to 12 days off the bike without much loss of form, but a six-week break can require a 12- to 16-week effort to regain fitness. So while you're wisely taking a bit of down time this winter, don't hang up the bike completely or you might face a long road back in the spring.

The early-season foundation, or base-building, period is when you develop your aerobic engine for 2004. This aerobic base isn't built by pushing heavy gears or training at high heart rates; still, structuring in a regular build-and recover cycle, plus periodic strength workouts, will keep you sharp and break up the tedium of long, slow distance.

GETTING STRONG
Strength training on the bike is best done after lifting weights at the gym, as you will be able to recruit more muscle fiber, allowing you to produce more force and increase your overall power. Muscle-tension intervals and stomps are two useful strength-building exercises that you can incorporate into your next post-gym ride.

Muscle-tension intervals help you to convert he power you develop in the weight room into sort-specific strength and increase the recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibers. This exercise helps develop cycling-specific strength and is purely a muscular workout; heart rate is not a good indicator of your work level and should remain low. The drill is ideally completed on a 5- to 8-percent uphill grade - or on your bike trainer by elevating the front wheel four to six inches.

As you begin the hill, shift into a tough gear (53 x 12-15) and reduce your cadence (50-55 rpm). Keep your upper body relaxed. If you notice your heart rate climbing significantly or your legs burning, then back off the gearing. During a 90- to 150-minute base ride, include 3 x 7-minute muscle-tension intervals. Take seven minutes' recovery between work intervals. Focus should be on a smooth pedal stroke and relaxed upper body. Complete stomps in a large gear (53 x 12) on a flat to slightly downhill section of road. Start at a moderate speed, remain seated and stomp on the pedals as hard as possible. Remember to pull through the bottom of your stroke and stomp smoothly downward.

Include one to two sets of 4-6 x 12-second stomps during a 90- to 150-minute ride. Take a full recovery between work intervals.

THE OVERLOAD PRINCIPLE
In addition to building sport-specific strength and putting in aerobic chamois time in the offseason, you should pay attention to the concept of overload and recovery. Overloading your body through training causes stress, which promotes adaptation in the form of increased fitness. There are three ways to cause overload: frequency, intensity and time. During your winter foundation period, the time spent training should increase 5 to 8 percent per week. To maintain your current fitness level, you need to train the same amount each week. To improve and prevent a plateau, you need to increase the level of stress; however, without regularly scheduled, adequate recovery, this, too, will cause you to plateau. Ideally, you should add time during the foundation period for two to three weeks, recover for one week and then begin the cycle again.

Recover and build, build and recover; either way you look at it, this is the time to do it. Spring doesn't offer much time to catch up, but it will certainly rub a poorly developed off-season - either too much, or too little - in your face. Supplementing base miles with specific drills and knowledge will give you a head start on your competition.