The Anatomy of a Good Ride; Physiology, Recovery, and the Portola Block

Cycling coach Richard Wharton on his bike in Portola, CA, after a breakthrough ride validating his Physiology First training methodology.

The Anatomy of a Good Ride: Physiology, Recovery, and the Portola Block I’ve always said that success on the bike isn’t a roll of the dice; it’s a deliberate convergence of external work and internal readiness. This week, I conducted a deep cycling physiology analysis of the Portola block to prove how disciplined recovery yields […]

Threshold or VO2 Max? Decoding My Highest 30-Minute Power with AlphaHRV and SmO2

Graph showing SmO2 muscle oxygenation decline and heart rate drift during 30 minutes of cycling threshold intervals.

Training is rarely perfect, especially when I am wearing two hats at once. Today’s session was a 30-minute block of 3/3 Over-Unders—three minutes just above threshold wattage, followed by three minutes at 95% of FTP. I designed this session to challenge the metabolic limits of my oxidative system through focused SmO2 threshold training while staying […]