1 CHALLENGE THE STATUS QUO
It’s another Sunday-morning ride with your crew and you soon settle into your routine order. But is the hierarchy purely based on riding strength? Maybe not, according to a recent study in Nature involving mice. Groups of mice scuttled through an arena to locate food. After thousands of runs, a pecking order emerged, with the top mice arriving at the reward zone first around 55% of the time. However, the mice were equally matched in terms of strength and speed. The research team discovered that neurons in the front of the brain stored social-ranking information, indicating that competitive success is not simply due to physical fitness.
Takeaway Shake up the order on group rides to get more out of them
2 SAVE YOUR SMILE
Is your smile suffering for your sport? University College London scientists recently discovered that cyclists have high rates of oral disease, despite brushing their teeth more frequently than most people. Why? “Cyclists can’t skip those sugary supplements because they need them to perform,” says Martijn Verhulst of Sunstar Medical Affairs. “Try to limit the frequency of consuming gels, to give
