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Ulisses Nunes Abbud

@ulissesabbud

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Cycling Coach 🚴‍♂️ | Ex-Pro Cyclist | Harvard Physiology | Engineer | Ex-DJ | Skydiver | Gravel Addict | Caffeine = please

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Essa semana, Bonito-MS, foi o palco perfeito para o @gravelbrasilride .
Três dias de corrida intensa, cenário incrível e a melhor estrutura que um competidor pode ter. Obrigado @mario_roma @andreafroma e toda a equipe @brasilride.

Foi especial reencontrar atletas que treino, dividir o esforço com eles e ainda fazer novas amizades.
A primeira etapa foi explosiva e já deu o tom para o resto da prova. Com @tiago0ferreira disparando na geral, formamos um grupo de três, cada um líder da sua categoria, e trabalhamos juntos até o fim. Força, habilidade e estratégia no limite.

Feliz por entregar meu melhor, sem problemas mecânicos ou furos, e ainda mais feliz por ver todos os atletas que treino no pódio, com Tiago vencendo também a geral.

Parabéns a todos os participantes, foram dias duros, mas inesquecíveis, em cima da bike.

E o que fica depois de provas assim é a certeza de que o ciclismo vai muito além de resultados. É sobre vivência, conexões e a sensação de voltar pra casa mais forte, não só nas pernas, mas também na cabeça e no coração.

Ano que vem tem mais!

Powered by:
@factorbikes @blackinc
@maurten_official
@roberiocyclinglab
@tripticobags

#gravel #striveforgreatness #noshortcuts #noexcuses #cycling taken in Bonito, Mato Grosso do Sul by @ulissesabbud

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a year ago

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 taken in Chimborazo Volcan, 6310m, Riobamba, Ecuador by @ulissesabbud

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2 years ago

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 taken in Dahlonega, Georgia by @ulissesabbud

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2 years ago

Das montanhas e desertos da Badlands, passando pelas estradas montanhosas do 6 Gap, agora é hora de encarar mais uma @brasilride !

Life is a loop!

A primeira etapa já mostrou cenários incríveis, percursos desafiadores e aquela energia única que só a Brasil Ride tem!

📸 @fotopbroficial

#BrasilRide #MTB #paraíba taken in João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil by @ulissesabbud

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21 hours ago

@sixgapcentury has always been a special event for me.

I’ve raced a lot of 6 Gap events. Over the years, this event has given me some great memories as an athlete.

But these days, coming back means something a little different.

Every year I have several athletes racing the event, and being there with them at the start helping with the last details, sharing a few words, and watching them roll out is honestly one of my favorite parts of the weekend.

That’s also one of the reasons I chose to race the shorter course (3 Gap) this year. Of course, part of me always wants to race the full 6 Gap, but starting one hour later meant I could be there for my athletes before their race and still pin a number on myself afterward.

The racing is still important to me. I still love competing, pushing myself and trying to win.

But being at an event that has been such a cool part of my own racing history, now standing on the start line as a coach and watching my athletes take on the same roads, makes it even more meaningful.

Special shoutout to @factorbikes_us and @roberiocyclinglab for the flawless Factor Ostro VAM! taken in Dahlonega, Georgia by @ulissesabbud

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11 days ago

Badlands: Is there a sleep sweet spot?

One of the biggest questions I took from Badlands is:

How much should you actually sleep in a ~40-hour ultra?

Sleep creates a paradox.

Every hour asleep is an hour not moving.

But every additional hour awake increases sleep pressure, perceived effort, and eventually the risk of worse decision-making, technical execution and performance.

My current hypothesis for races in this range is:

the fastest strategy may be the minimum effective dose of sleep.

Not necessarily zero.

Possibly short naps or around 1–2 hours total, depending on the athlete.

But there’s another problem:

sleeping doesn’t mean the body is fully recovering.

During Badlands, even while I was sleeping, my HRV remained heavily suppressed and resting HR elevated.

So sleep can reduce sleep pressure and restore some function…

while the athlete is still physiologically deep inside the race.

And the longer you sleep, the longer you remain exposed to the event itself.

That’s the real trade-off:

How much performance does each hour of sleep restore compared with the hour it costs on the race clock?

For me, that may be the real sleep question in ultra-endurance.

#cycling #ultra #endurance #gravel by @ulissesabbud

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19 days ago

Better late than never.

This is the first of 3 posts about @badlandscc , not really a race recap, but a look at what happened through the lens of ultra-endurance performance, recovery and coaching.

Before the race, I wanted to test one question:

When does sleeping become more valuable than continuing to move?

My plan was to ride relatively strong while awake, sleep at night, and see whether the recovery could compensate for some of the time lost.

Then the experiment changed.

Severe bilateral cramps came first, something I almost never experience. Later, progressive saddle trauma developed into a sit-bone hematoma and acute knee pain.

Sleep was suddenly doing more than reducing sleep deprivation.

It also meant hours without saddle pressure, repetitive knee loading or pedaling stress.

The data were interesting:

HRV: 96 → 28 ms
Resting HR: 39 → 55 bpm

So sleep clearly wasn’t a full physiological reset.

But after the second night, the decline started to stabilize and I recovered enough function to continue.

My biggest takeaway:

Sleep may not erase fatigue, but it can restore enough function to keep an athlete moving when the race starts going wrong.

@factorbikes
@roberiocyclinglab
@loscopo.cc

Gracias @miquelcirera 📸

#endurance #cycling #gravel #ultra by @ulissesabbud

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22 days ago

Tomorrow, @tiago0ferreira and I are setting off on Badlands: 800+ km across southern Spain.

We’ll approach the same race with different strategies.

One of the biggest strategic questions in ultra-endurance is the balance between sleeping and recovering versus continuing to move while performance gradually declines.

So I’m using myself as the subject.

My plan is to ride strong while I’m awake, sleep at night, and evaluate whether the recovery gained from sleep can compensate for some of the hours lost by stopping.

I’ll be onboard my @factorbikes Sarana, running a 38T chainring, 10–46 cassette and 50 mm Continental Dubnital tires.

I’ll look at power, ventilation, speed, fatigue, technical performance, decision-making and how much my performance decays from one day to the next.

The goal goes beyond my own result.

I want to better understand when sleep becomes performance-enhancing rather than simply lost time, and use what I learn to make better strategic decisions with the ultra-endurance athletes I coach in the future.

Sometimes coaching research means becoming your own case study.

Badlands starts tomorrow.

#badlands #gravel #cycling #coaching #performance taken in Granada, Andalucía, España by @ulissesabbud

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a month ago

This is not just another cycling camp.

Join former professional cyclist and elite endurance coach Ulisses Abbud for an exclusive four-day gravel experience in the heart of Catalonia.

From medieval villages and Pyrenean climbs to vineyards, forests and the coast of Cadaqués, every route has been designed to combine serious riding with an unforgettable experience.

Stay at the private Can Terrades estate and enjoy:

✓ Four fully supported riding days
✓ Approximately 400 km and 4,500 m of climbing
✓ Personal coaching and expert guidance
✓ Professional guides, mechanics and support vehicle
✓ Private-chef meals with local wines
✓ Three massages during your stay
✓ Premium accommodation and full ride support

September 16–20, 2026
Girona, Spain
Limited to only 6–12 riders
From €2,440 per person

Come for the riding. Leave with stronger legs, new knowledge and memories that will last a lifetime.

Reserve your place now.

#girona #trainingcamp #gravel taken in Girona by @ulissesabbud

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2 months ago

Hoje é aniversário de uma pessoa muito especial: meu coach, @ulissesabbud

Quase 63 anos de vida e 51 anos dedicados ao esporte de competição, conheci muitos treinadores. Não foram tantos assim, mas cada um foi importante no seu momento e deixou a sua marca.

O Ulisses, porém, chegou em uma fase muito especial da minha vida. Um período de muito trabalho, muitos desafios e grandes responsabilidades. E foi justamente nesse momento que ele conseguiu fazer algo raro: manter meu foco 100% voltado para os objetivos.

O resultado foi um ano que ficará para sempre na minha história: conquistar um título brasileiro, um título pan-americano e um título Mundial. O Europeu escapou por circunstâncias que estavam fora do nosso controle, mas por muito pouco não colocávamos mais uma jersey nesse varal de conquistas.

Mas, sinceramente, acho que teve um feito ainda mais impressionante. Dez dias antes do Tour USA, eu estava internado com dengue. Sair daquela situação e completar dois dos maiores desafios do mountain bike mundial, Leadville e SBT GRVL, parecia algo impossível. Até hoje me pergunto como consegui. E, para falar a verdade, acho que ali você deixou de ser apenas um coach. Naquele momento, você virou um verdadeiro mágico.

Para alguns, isso pode parecer simples. Mas normalmente quem diz isso nunca tentou chegar lá.

Ulisses, muito obrigado por toda a parceria, pela competência, pela amizade e pela forma como conduz cada detalhe do trabalho. Você não é apenas um excelente treinador. É alguém que transforma pessoas através do esporte.

Feliz aniversário, meu amigo! Que Deus continue lhe dando saúde, sabedoria e inspiração para seguir ajudando tantas pessoas a conquistarem resultados que, muitas vezes, elas nem imaginavam serem possíveis.

#MarioRoma
#🇵🇹SemFreio
#Respeito
#BrasilRide
#thesearchbrasilride
InstitutoBrasilRide
LegadoBrasilRide
mtb
btt by @ulissesabbud

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3 months ago

Sometimes the body does not read dieting as discipline. It reads it as scarcity.
Ulisses Abbud breaks down why aggressive nutrition strategies can backfire, especially when training load, stress, sleep, and recovery are already pushing the system.

A sharp reminder that metabolism is not just math. It is context.

Full episode live now. Link in bio.

#metabolichealth #nutritionscience #intuitiveeating #stressmanagement #recoverymatters #holisticwellness #mindfulnutrition #sleephealth #fitnessmyths #wellnesscoach #healthpodcast #bodywisdom taken in The Wynwood Building by @ulissesabbud

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3 months ago

Chris Froome was the best cyclist of a whole generation, and one of the greatest of all time. The rider who inspired me and gave me an example of what greatness, resilience, and obsession with improvement look like.

I watched him win four Tours de France, including three consecutive victories. Winning one Tour is already extraordinary. Winning it again, and then again, when everyone has studied you, targeted you, copied you, and built their whole season around beating you, is a completely different level. That kind of dominance under pressure is what separates great riders from legends.

Then came 2017 and 2018, when he did something almost impossible in modern cycling: Tour de France, Vuelta a España, and Giro d’Italia titles consecutively, holding all three Grand Tour jerseys at the same time.

And for me, Giro 2018, Stage 19, will always be the biggest demonstration of power in cycling history. An attack from 80 km to go, turning the race upside down, gaining minutes, and making the impossible look calculated. That day changed the way I understood what a Grand Tour rider could do.

His unique pedaling style, his climbing, his descending, and his willingness to challenge convention made me rethink what “normal” meant on a bike.

I was lucky enough to get to know Chris, and since then, to spend some time with him. The more I got to know him, the more impressed I became, not only by the athlete, but by the human being.

I also had the privilege of taking him to gravel in Florida, getting popped from his wheel while pushing over 400 watts, and watching him try to grab an alligator. Because apparently winning Grand Tours was not enough adrenaline for him. 😂

Chris, I wish you the best retirement possible. You gave so much to this sport, and I’m excited to see your next chapter with the Chris Froome Cycling Academy, supporting cycling in Africa, the place where you came from and whose roots you never forgot.

Thank you for the inspiration, the example, and the memories.

#chrisfroome #cycling #legend #tourdefrance by @ulissesabbud

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3 months ago