HOW TO TRAIN FOR A CYCLE RACE. - "Tom" Eck's Advice to Amateurs Looking for Championship Laurels. - The New York Times, 14 Jan 1894
See also What did bicycle riders in the 1890s drink? Not much. And weird things. - MF
HOW TO TRAIN FOR A CYCLE RACE.
"Tom" Eck's Advice to Amateurs Looking for Championship Laurels.
"Tom" Eck, the veteran bicycle rider, who is known from Maine to California in connection with the wheel, is perhaps, the foremost trainer of bicycle riders in the country. He had charge of John Johnson of record-breaking fame all last season, and to Eck's advice and clever handling the young rider attributes much of his success. On the question of training. In a long letter to The American Wheelman, Eck says:
A number of books have been written on how to train, and by some of the best racing and cycle authorities in the world, and you will find good suggestions in any of the works. Others will write books on the same subject, but it will take a large book to cover all the little things that turn up in a man's training and racing. It takes years of experience to catch on to all the tricks or tactics to be used in order for your man to win in these times of close finishes and fast-speed machines, and there are but two or three trainers in this country who know most all these things. The man who contemplates racing next year should begin about the 1st of April to prepare himself, by taking several doses of physic every other day, and during that time eat plenty of light food, such as oatmeal, rice pudding, bread and milk, soft-boiled eggs, and food of that nature. After that, with a rest of four days, begin light work on your wheel, say a spin of from three to five miles twice a day. I don't believe in long work at the start. After a week of this kind of work you can go 200 yards at a good sprint about once a day, and take spins of from three to five miles at a good fast clip, as you must now begin to work for your wind, and good sweats are an essential.
After two weeks of such work, a rider can bean to repeat in his work - that is, say, on Monday, after resting Sunday. you go out and run a trial of a quarter of a mile almost at top speed, then come in, take a good rub-down, and after rest of twenty minutes or half an hour, go and ride it over again, at your best speed. Note the time in each trial, and, in fact, in all your trials. Then you can see how you are improving, and it you are taking the right kind of work. As long as you improve keep up the same work. If you don't improve, let up a day or two, and change on to longer and slower work for a week, and no speeding at all. Then do some more repeating. Never repeat over twice a week after you get so you can go full half or mile. You must do the quarter-mile repeats first for a week, then the half-mile the next week. But make them in the afternoon, and in the mornings do stiff work for three to five miles. Never loaf around on the track, just after you work, but always come in while the perspiration is out on your body. Cover up well for a few minutes, then rub down, one part of the body at a time keeping the other parts covered. See there are no draughts in training quarters, and prevent catching cold. One of the principal features in your training is to sweat. When you do not sweat, you are not right. This is sure sign.
Racing men should eat plenty of vegetables and soft food, and not all beefsteak and mutton chops. I believe in steaks and chops, or meat of any description, except pork. Any kind of fruit a man likes is good - in fact, it is grass to a man. Another thing a rider should look to is his sleep. Take two men of equal speed, and the one who will go to bed early and rest well the next day will win the race. Sleep is very essential to a man's best speed. Nine to 9:30 is the time to be in bed, and rise at 7 A. M., taking a good rub-down with the hands, and the same on retiring at night. Hand rubbing beats any kind of towel or instrument that can be used. Walking around is tiresome, and makes the muscles stiff and sore. If a man would only stop in like a horse is kept in, he would be able to go a much faster mile, and repeat his races oftener, and his muscles would not harden up, as they do with so much walking around. Running is not beneficial to a cyclist. Run as little as possible. In fact, do all your work on your wheel. It will not hurt a man to go out on the road for a five-mile run while in training. It takes the monotony of the track off your mind. But when you go out on the road, remember you are not out for a scorch. You are out merely for a little recreation, or visiting ride. Don't drink soda water on these trips. Take a glass of good milk. A man can drink about all he wants during training, and the racing season, except on the day he races.
"A man will make poor headway in his work unless he has every confidence in his trainer. A trainer cannot preach one thing to his man and then not act on it himself. The trainer must train like his man, as to habits, eating, sleeping. &c., and he must know how to read men's dispositions and judge well the different natures of his men. I never saw a man I could not train and manage to make him successful. Nothing sounds so bad as to hear a man swearing in the dressing room. It lowers a man in the estimation of the other riders and especially disgusts the visitors present. And if you should beat a man in practice don't blow about it in the dressing room, for others can do that for you. You should always have plenty of towels and liniment of your own, and not have to borrow from others. The same with wrenches, oil, and tools for your wheel. Don't ask a racing man to let you try his wheel. He may let you have it, and he may not. He don't want to, anyway.
"As to your suits for training, have plenty, and try and look neat in training as well as on the track before a crowd, for you cannot tell when ladies may be present to see you train. Nothing looks so nice as a well-dressed athlete. You should pick out a color to wear and always have it clean for racing."
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