We successfully reached the summit of Chimborazo, the closest place to the Sun on Earth—but in the end, that’s not what truly matters. Like preparing for a race, the outcome is just one fleeting moment. What really counts is the journey: the lessons learned at every step, the friendships forged, and the memories we’ll carry for a lifetime.
This was one of the hardest challenges I’ve ever faced. The biting night wind, the relentless blizzard, the steep ascent, and the thin air at altitude—all of it tested us in ways I’ll never forget.
As Edmund Hillary once said: “It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”
Here’s to this incredible crew that united to make this dream a reality. @adrianacisnerosceo , thank you for bringing this together and making it all possible. To @raimundoriojasa , @chinmuller77 , and @sebas.cisneros.2003 —thank you for teaming up, supporting each other, and never losing sight of the fun along the way.
A heartfelt shoutout to our incredible guides (Jorge, Cristian, Paul, Manuel, Rosendo, led by the legendary Roger Valencia and Alberto. And an extra special thanks to the living legend, Marco Cruz—the man of Chimborazo. No one knows this mountain like Marco, who has climbed it more than anyone else in the world. His patience and wisdom guided us through this unforgettable piece of his world.
To the journey, the mountain, and the people who made it all possible, thank you!
#Chimborazo #Edelweiss #Mountaineering #Adventure #JourneyOverDestination #MarcoCruz #DreamTeam #striveforgreatness
Last Sunday marked a journey of grit and self-discovery at the 6 Gap Gravel, the best gravel event of the East coast. Last year win under challenging conditions fueled my ambition for this year. With dry trails and a clear goal of beating my own time, I embarked on a quest for a faster finish, targeting 5:30h.
As the race began, I set the pace, hoping to lead a group towards my goal. Yet, the path ahead quickly became solitary. It was just me, the chunky gravel, and the battle against doubt and fatigue.
In the solitude of those hours, I realized the true essence of endurance: the fusion of physical strength with unwavering mental fortitude. Pushing through pain, memories both sweet and bitter surfaced.
My only pause was recalibrating my power meter because I thought it wasn’t showing me the right data. It was after having confirmation it was working properly with the same calibration number that I realized I was self-doubting. So amidst the struggle, I strived to find clarity.
With renewed determination, I pressed on, reclaiming control over my thoughts and fears.
Yet, I was the first to cross the line at the 5:27h mark, my greatest triumph lies in mastering my mind and harnessing its power to propel me forward.
Thank you @janibrajkovic for guiding me through this journey of mind and body. To my sponsors and supporters, your unwavering belief fuels my passion. And to our beloved dog Paco, who remains forever in our hearts, this victory is dedicated to you. 🫡
#gravel #striveforgreatness #mindovermatter #cycling
@timecycling@sessioncomponents@lamaglia.personalizados@hammerheadrides@thefeedme@maurten_official@roberiocyclinglabofficial
Last month our study on hydrogel sodium bicarbonate was published.
We tested whether a hydrogel formulation could enhance high-intensity cycling performance while minimizing the gastrointestinal distress that often limits traditional bicarbonate use.
In well-trained cyclists:
• +15% power at 4 mmol/L lactate (p = 0.02)
• Longer time to exhaustion (p = 0.001)
• +7% power at 2 mmol/L (biologically meaningful, though statistically non-significant)
Important nuance: pH was not fully restored, yet performance improved.
This reinforces something I deeply believe in: physiology is rarely binary. Statistical significance and biological relevance are not the same thing.
Grateful to the entire research team and to everyone who believes performance science should be applied, not just discussed.
#sportsscience #cyclingperformance #sodiumbicarbonate #exercisephysiology #endurance
Adaptive Training Plan for UNBOUND Gravel 🚵🏼
UNBOUND is not decided by fitness alone. It’s decided by durability, pacing discipline and preparation for 100, 200 or 350 miles of racing.
Prepare with a race-specific 13-week training plan built by @ulissesabbud and delivered through Vekta’s Adaptive Training System.
This is not a generic plan or a fixed template ❌
It’s a new way to prepare for UNBOUND, shaped around the real demands of the event and built by a coach with first-hand elite gravel experience.
Your training is personalised from day one and continuously adapts as you progress, so every session reflects your fitness, availability and chosen distance.
And most importantly, you’re not doing this alone.
You prepare inside the More Than Watts Community, alongside athletes targeting the same start line.
What’s included:
âś… 13-week personalised training plan
âś… Distance-specific preparation
âś… Weekly guidance
âś… Indoor and outdoor integration
âś… Detailed insight into every session
âś… Access to the More Than Watts Community
âś… Nutrition guidance across your preparation
âś… Race-day pacing framework
This isn’t just a plan. It’s a complete UNBOUND build, aligned to you.
đź”— Start your preparation today. Link in bio.
#Vekta #UnboundGravel #AdptiveTrainingPlan #GravelRacing #DeamBig
First shoutout to @gravelmiami . Always very well organized.
The race was controlled early. It was still dark, foggy, 150 riders.
Around 30 minutes in, I committed to a move.
The fog helped with visibility.
The aero bar helped with efficiency.
Once there was a gap, it turned into energy management: control variability, preserve glycogen, maintain aerodynamic efficiency, and protect W’ balance.
Gravel often rewards the athlete who can make one decision… and then stay disciplined for hours.
What I’m most proud of yesterday wasn’t my own race, but watching the athletes I coach execute theirs.
Different categories. Different objectives. Same commitment.
Some fought for the win.
Some executed pacing plans exactly as discussed.
Some used the race as preparation.
Some simply showed up at 6am in the dark and fog and tested themselves.
Happy to share the podium with friends.
I’m really proud of y’all!
Grateful for:
@factorbikes@blackinc@loscopo.cc@janibrajkovic@roberiocyclinglab
Now we recover. Then we build again.
#gravel #miami #endurance #bikeracing
This is one of the great legacies left by the Supersapiens CGM project.
For the first time, we had large-scale, real-world glucose data from thousands of endurance athletes, not in a lab, but in training and racing environments.
I had the privilege of being one of the athletes inside this dataset.
One of the most practical insights that emerged was the phenomenon of pre-race glycemic rebound.
Fueling 30–90 minutes before the start (especially high-GI carbs) often produced the same pattern:
Glucose spike → insulin rise → race start → rapid glucose clearance → transient dip → stabilization.
That short dip is enough to create the sensation many athletes describe as:
Heavy legs.
Flat feeling.
Low punch early in the race.
And here’s the key distinction:
This isn’t glycogen depletion.
Muscle glycogen can be full.
Liver glycogen can be normal.
This is blood glucose regulation.
Different limiter — different solution.
The practical takeaway isn’t to fuel less.. but to fuel smarter:
• Meal 2–4 h pre-race OR 20min before
• Top-up 5–10 min before start
• Or fuel during warm-up
Flatten the spike → avoid the dip.
Understanding this changed how I fuel myself especially in gravel and long endurance events where early pacing matters.
Discuss with your nutritionist what’s the best strategy for your needs.
Context always defines physiology.
#cycling
#physiology
#performance
#sportsnutrition
#glucose
This was my master’s qualification lecture.
I started from the foundation: muscle fibers and energy systems just because every discussion about fueling or fatigue is meaningless if we don’t understand where energy is actually produced.
Type I fibers are oxidative and fatigue-resistant.
Type II fibers are glycolytic, explosive, and consume glycogen at a much higher rate, which is why intensity dictates substrate utilization.
From there we move into the three energy systems:
ATP-PCr fuels seconds.
Glycolysis fuels minutes.
Oxidative metabolism fuels prolonged exercise.
But carbohydrate physiology is more nuanced than most athletes think.
Carbohydrates don’t exist in a single pool.
We have blood glucose (glycemia) critical for Central Nervous System function, and muscle glycogen, the local fuel for contraction.
You can be full in one… and empty in the other.
Scenario 1 — Hypoglycemic Limitation
High glycogen stores.
Low glycemia after prolonged fasting or inadequate intake.
Athlete “cracks,” feels severe fatigue, but muscular glycogen is still preserved.
Carbohydrate ingestion restores performance quickly.
This is a central / hepatic limitation.
Scenario 2 — Glycogen Depletion
3–4h race.
Repeated surges.
High Type II recruitment.
Muscle glycogen becomes critically low.
Power output collapses, legs feel empty, and no late fueling strategy can reverse the deficit in real time.
This is peripheral / intramuscular limitation.
Same sensation. Different physiology. Different solution.
Understanding where fatigue originates is what allows us to fuel, train, and supplement with actual physiological precision, instead of guessing.
Science only matters when translated into practice.
#exercisephysiology
#performance
#cycling
#nutrition
#metabolism
A recent review has been circulating claiming that carbohydrates don’t fuel performance, that their main role is simply to maintain blood glucose and “protect the brain.”
That framing is provocative, but misleading.
This paper is a narrative review, not a neutral mega-meta-analysis. It introduces no NEW data and relies heavily on reinterpretation of existing studies; which matters when conclusions are drawn.
Yes, blood glucose matters.
Yes, hypoglycemia can abruptly limit performance.
But that does not make muscle glycogen irrelevant.
In endurance exercise, hepatic glycogen, blood glucose, and muscle glycogen are tightly coupled systems. In many cases, falling blood glucose is a consequence of hepatic glycogen depletion, not evidence that glycogen doesn’t matter.
This also explains what we see in practice:
Athletes can feel completely empty after short high-intensity efforts, even when muscle glycogen is not depleted. Fuel restores performance almost immediately, by removing a central (hepatic-brain) limitation, not by refilling muscles.
In other contexts like repeated surges, sustained high power, intramuscular glycogen becomes the dominant limiter.
Different exhaustion mechanisms.
Same integrated system.
The claim that high-carb fueling creates pre-diabetic athletes is an even bigger leap, and one without strong longitudinal evidence in trained populations. Training generally improves insulin sensitivity, not the opposite.
Meanwhile, in the real world with CGMs, power meters, lactate sensors, and decades of applied data the Olympic records keep falling, Tour de France speeds keep rising, and elite endurance sport relies more than ever on high carbohydrate availability, intelligently used.
This paper adds nuance.
It doesn’t rewrite physiology.
#exercisephysiology
#sportsscience
#carbs
#performance
#nutrition
Adaptive Training Plan for The Traka 🚵🏼
For the first time, prepare for The Traka with a race-specific 13-week training plan built by @ulissesabbud and delivered through Vekta’s Adaptive Training System.
This is not a generic plan or a fixed template.
It’s a new way to prepare for The Traka, shaped around the real demands of the event. Built by a coach with first-hand racing experience across multiple Traka distances, and a track record of guiding athletes to top-10 finishes.
Your training is personalised from the start and continuously adapts as you train.
As your fitness, availability and progression change, the plan updates automatically so each session stays aligned with where you are and what the race requires.
And most importantly, you’re not doing this alone.
You prepare within the More Than Watts Community, a dedicated space for athletes targeting The Traka, with ongoing guidance from Ulisses, weekly Q&As, and plan oversight that keeps the preparation aligned throughout the build.
âś… 13-week personalised training plan
âś… Built by Ulisses Nunes Abbud
âś… Plan personalised for your chosen distance
âś… Continuous adaptation based on your data
âś… Weekly guidance from Ulisses
âś… Sessions adapted for indoor and outdoor training
âś… Detailed insight and analysis for every session
âś… Access to the More Than Watts Community
âś… Nutrition guidance
âś… Race-day pacing guidance
âś… Expert webinars and partner benefits
This isn’t a generic training plan.
It’s a complete preparation for The Traka, built by a coach, personalised to you, and delivered through a system that keeps everything aligned as you train.
đź”— Start your preparation today. Link in bio.
#Vekta #TheTraka #AdaptiveTraining #TrainingPlan #MoreThanWatts
