16 posts tagged “training”

Aha!  Finally, I am vindicated in an international, almost-widely-read venue:

Carbon Wheels. Carbon wheels are for racing! Never under any circumstances should they be brought out on a training ride. Training wheels should be strong and heavy with lots and lots of spokes. Carbon wheels say to the group, I’m not strong enough to do this ride without my $2,000 feather weight wheels. If you have the money to tear up a carbon wheel set on the road, then you’d be better off spending it on a coach who will get you fit enough to keep up with the group ride on regular training wheels.

I've always been scared to ride any wheel with fewer than 28 spokes.  At my weight, you don't want to be 20 miles from your car on a pair of race wheels.  Our team does have some guys that will run a $2000 set of wheels, even through the winter...  My first reaction sometimes is I wish I was that rich.  But I don't.

Go read all about Cycling Style Etiquette at Pez .  And look for me with my 20-pound wheels.

The judges have returned their verdict...it's official.  Yesterday's ride with Mr. Mambo & Co. was the best ever.

The Mambos were nice enough to invite me and my teammates on their annual hill-laden slugfest, where they ride a hilly loop from Cherry Hill NJ to Valley Forge.  I live near Cherry Hill.  I don't drive to Valley Forge for fun, let alone trying to ride a bike there. 

The route is chockablock full of hills.  I don't know how big those Pennsylvania hills are...all I know is for somebody like myself, who never rides hills, they looked huge.  Surprisingly, the hills didn't give me that much trouble.  One at the end stuck it to me, but I was pretty well worn out by that point.  I was really surprised at my ability to haul my 200-pound carcass up those hills.

The distance was colossal as well.  97 miles altogether, including my ride to and from the start point.  Averaged about 18 mph (thank God for the downhill sections...).

The weather was beautiful, and I really enjoyed the route.  My chances for 5-hour rides are few and far between (i.e., never), so it was a great opportunity. 

Best of all, I got to ride with a couple of my favorite cyclists, Richie and Captain Ed.

I've got a total of 188.5 miles in my legs this weekend, much  more than I've ever done in a three-day stretch.  Probably more than I've done in a week.  As I told Ed this morning, whatever part of me isn't broken by now should last the rest of the season. 

Somewhere, sometime, on the internet (aha! found it!) I read that you've really got it bad if...

At some point you caught yourself wondering if your bike might look good if you added fenders

Well, whatever sickness that is must be at full steam if you don't just wonder, but you actually put the fenders on.

Anytime I'm not racing, I run fairly heavy, non-aero wheels.  I use a seat bag to tote around a pump and -- gasp! a spare tube!  I've got a great set of SKS fenders that I just love when it's rainy out.  I run an extra water bottle on almost every ride.

Yesfenders

Now, your mileage will almost certainly vary, but here's what I figure:

1. Be comfortable.  Why should I have to worry if I flat or hit a pothole?  I want to finish my rides, thank you.  I've been stuck on the far side of my local loops once, and I'm not looking to repeat.
2. Do what works for you.  The longer I race and hang out with really good riders, the more I realize the ones I really admire don't give a crap.  They run the equipment that works well for them.  And in a lot of cases, they run less equipment, and put more effort in.  That's where I want to be.
   
3. Know when to leave the stuff behind.  If you do choose to race, but you train with all that gear on the bike... wow.  Put race wheels on, take the extra gear off, and that bike feels like a rocket.  You just dropped a few pounds.

More than anything else, biking should be fun.  You just can't fret about that new wheelset that's 20g lighter than your current one.  Work harder, enjoy yourself more, worry less.

Well, this weekend was interesting.  The weather continues to amaze me.  I'm really glad that we're having some decent rain from time to time. Not just the periods of drought punctuated by monsoon that have been typical of our screwed-up climate the past few years.  I'm really amazed at how pessimistic people (I?) can be toward the weather though.  Just like last weekend, every report you hear seems to say "start building your ark now."  One of the nice things about bicycling, though, is just an hour or two window of good weather, at just the right time, makes everything okay.  We had good weather for the shop ride on Saturday, and really nice weather for most of the races on Sunday morning.  It rained in the afternoon both days, but it's gotta rain sometime.

Unfortunately I didn't get to race this weekend.  It's really a shame, because this week's race was a criterium, my favorite.  And it was local.  Unfortunately I broke my rear shifter cable early sunday morning.  I tried and tried to fix it... even brought it to the race hoping one of my friends could help out.  And they certainly did try.  No dice, though.  So I sat on the sidelines, cheered, and enjoyed the sun with the ~wife.

[As an aside, how nice is my wife?  Not only goes to these races when I'm in them, but sits through hours of racing with me even when I'm riding the lawnchairs.  And she washes the water bottles.]

So now I've got an acute case of Raceus Interruptus. At least mentally, I built my whole two weeks or so around racing this crit.  I was feeling pretty good this weekend, and even dropped out of the group ride, my favorite activity of the entire week, a little early so I would have some gas left in the proverbial tank on sunday.  Then sunday, I'm sitting on the grass, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and watching ten teammates line up for the cat 4/5 race.  Not what I had expected to be doing this weekend.

Well, at least I didn't stink sitting there.  And as the ~wife sagely pointed out, I could just as well have hit the deck in the first lap of my race.  You never know what's going to happen, and it could have been a lot worse. 

No races for a few weeks, I don't think.  So this week, and this coming weekend, I'll really have to kick my butt to feel like I've earned my dinner.  I'm looking forward to a really hard Pro Pedals ride on saturday, possibly a race on sunday, and a good long ride on the monday holiday. 

Bull_Cuts

With my now-superfast metabolism, I'm at least slightly hungry all day.  Not that I should complain.  I get plenty of food, and I eat like 6 or more times a day.  But the times in between, my stomach sometimes feels like it's going to digest itself.

So the 15 minutes after lunch may be the best part of my day, at least so far.  I actually feel full for a little bit. 

I'm working hard to avoid overeating.  Or undereating.  It's a difficult balance, because my brain often takes a few minutes to catch up with the fullness of my stomach.  At the same time, I think all day about the calories that I'm taking in.  I try not to obsess over it, bbut I do try to be conscious of it.  Making it all even more complicated, I can't eat the same every day.  I have to consider what activity I've had already today, and what if anything I'll be doing in the evening or the next morning.  

Like most folks, I don't want to gain weight.  Wouldn't mind shedding a couple more pounds, but I'm happy to maintain.  But at the same time, I'm deathly afraid of having a stingy metabolism.  [Excellent reading on the topic from one of my favorite authors, Robert Sapolsky.]  I would much rather lose a little weight, or at least maintain, by consuming and burning a lot of healthy calories.  So it's tons of food, spread out over the day, and tons of exercise.  Don't want to starve myself thin.  That wouldn't be very much fun at all.

On the upside, I'm starting to look the part a little bit.  While I may be off the back of the race and looking like a slack-jawed yokel in this pic, at least the bike isn't moaning the way it used to.

See you at dinner.  Or in 20 minutes.

283377633_XHYVM-M

Slipstream / Chipotle chief Jonathan Vaughters posted recently about the risk in racing on the team's blog.

To suffer is the currency of racing. To risk life over and over is just a simple rule of the game. Ever think about jumping out of a car at 55 mph in your underwear? That’s what a crash in professional cycling is. The young riders I’ve seen grow up over the last five years all take this elemental part of racing and accept it over and over again: Crashes are a part of the “game.”

Well, my bike will never see 55mph, but the comparison is apt.  Why bother?  I can almost understand it for the pros.  They do get paid (a little) after all.  But what about us dopes who go careening around the office parks of South Jersey at speeds of 35 mph?  All while closer to our competitors than we would ever get to the same guys in any other setting.

After my crash a couple of weeks ago, I had some time to think about all this.  I got rocked pretty hard on April 6th; easily the worst crash that I've ever had (though mine was better than some teammates).  After that, it took a little effort to get back into racing.  Not so much because I was afraid to crash, more because I was afraid to hit the same hip again!  Even one week later, I was pretty much 75% or so there, mentally.  Thing is, I don't know why.  I have very little competitive inclination.  I'm not the fastest bike rider in the world.  I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I do know I could really hurt myself doing this.  For all the time and effort, I may never win a race.  And that will be just fine.  But still... I love to race.  

Today I completed a survey the USA Cycling Federation had on its website.  Two or three questions asked, in a nutshell, why do you ride?  They had a few choices -- competition, commuting, fitness, environment, etc. -- and the perennial "other."  Fun?  What about fun?  

Turns out the primary reason that I ride is because I love it.  It really is that simple.  The biggest reason I race is because I love it.  I really enjoy bicycling, and always have, since I was a wee little momo.  I hope to ride till I die.  [Not to ride to my death, mind you...]  Some day the racing won't be worth the risk to my then-osteoporitic bones.  I'll still take the risk of riding on the road, just as fast as my old man legs will take me.

Longride

Evesham group shot

Yesterday my schedule lined up so that I could go to the Greentree executive park for the Thursday night ride.  The group there is really incredible... it's everything from category 1 and 2 racers, to the occasional pro, to cat 4s and 5s, and guys who have probably never raced. 

Last night was probably my fifth or sixth time at Greentree on a Thursday.  Often I take a lot of crap from some of the people who take the whole thing way too seriously... as if it were the world championships.  You're going too fast, you're pulling too strong, hold your line, all this stuff.  And indeed, I need some work in a lot of these areas. 

Last night I got through relatively unscathed, even though I did manage to screw a few people up, I'm sure.  Last night was really one of my worst nights, though.  I was all over the place on the course, didn't corner well, didn't really hold a steady speed. 

Still, I don't despair.  I was thinking about it afterward, and chatting with one of my friends about it...  In a way, it's actually rather nice that I have so much to learn.  I'm still fascinated by bicycling in general and racing in particular.  I have some really good friends and teammates, and I feel lucky that I can learn from them.  Hopefully I can avoid knocking anybody over while I'm learning...

Here is a great article on Pez Cycling News regarding breathing.  It's very good advice, especially for a neanderthalic mouth-breather like myself:

Diaphragmatic breathing, with the resulting inflation of the lower lobes, activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which calms your mind and body. While a natural, unconscious mouth breath tends to be a chest breath, a nose breath tends to be slower, allowing the diaphragm time to pull air into your lower lobes. Plus, as your heart rate decreases, the blood spends more time in your lungs, which increases time for oxygen exchange, and thus increases the efficiency of your breathing.

The article has a lot of buddhist sensibility to it too... paying attention to the breath, being conscious of it, etc.  Good reading.

I also recently read a cool article on Bike Radar regarding bike commuting, and how that might be a good time to practice nasal breathing.  Breathing is definitely on my list of things to improve, both on and off the bike.

Sometimes it's nice to not rush to work.  Most days I'm here too early (or I get up too late, depending on your perspective) .... can't do anything but feed myself and the cats in the morning.  Other days I'm traveling.  Either way, weekday workouts are hard for me. 

This week is all office work, no travel, so I have some schedule flexibility.  Today I got up around my normal time, rode about 45 minutes on the trainer.  Nothing too heavy, as my knees are bothering me a little bit, but it's 45 minutes more exercise than I get most weeks.  Those few minutes of exercise really make me feel good the rest of the day.

In addition to physically feeling better, it's a little mental boost for me to be coming to work the same time as most of the rest of the world.  For a long time, it was really hard for me to come into work later in the morning -- I thought for sure I was going to miss something.  Absolutely had to be there, crack of dawn.  Know what?  It's just work.  And it's still there when I finally do get here.  And it'll be here again tomorrow.