Fueling Up

Base miles season is here again, and with longer rides comes the need to focus on calorie replenishment while training.  A Ferrari will only go so far on a tank of gas, once the tank is empty even the fastest most high performance automobile will sputter to an untimely stop.  The human body is similar, but with a big difference: we have a huge reserve tank (fat stores) but that tank is attached to the engine with a tiny hose and fuel is administered in drips and drops.

Energy for the human body comes in three forms: carbohydrates, fats and proteins.  These are called the primary macronutrients.  In order to be usable these three energy sources need to be broken down (i.e. metabolized) into glucose.  Fats and proteins can be broken down into glucose, but it’s a slow energy consuming process, carbohydrates, on the other hand, can be quickly converted into precious glucose.  When it comes to fueling during exercise carbs are our friends.

The body doesn’t store glucose but instead banks extra glucose in the liver and muscles in the form of glycogen.  The typical human body stores enough glycogen in the liver and muscle tissues to fuel approximately ninety minutes of moderate to high intensity exercise.  Glycogen is the body’s go to energy source.  When the glycogen stores become depilated the body begins burning fat for energy, even the thinnest person has enough fat reserves to fuel days of low intensity exercise, but the key words here are low intensity.  Burning fat trickles the energy to the working muscles, in other words it’ll keep you going but at a much reduced pace.  When you begin to rely heavily on fat reserves for energy you’ve “hit the wall,” you’ve “bonked” (notice how bonking doesn’t leave you dead on the side of the road, but instead reduces your speed down to “I’m going nowhere” levels).

Bonking isn’t inevitable, you can avoid it by having a well thought-out nutrition plan designed to continually replenish your glycogen stores – kind of like continually stopping at gas stations on a long road trip.

Unfortunately developing a nutrition plan isn’t as simple as eating the calories that you burn.  A calorie is only useful if your body can break it down and absorb the energy via the digestive tract while maintaining a high level of physical exertion.  Here is the key problem: the harder you work the more you need the energy, but, conversely, the harder you work (i.e. the higher your heart rate) the slower energy is released via the digestive tract.  In other words, as your heart rate goes up the slower energy is released from your gut.  If you keep shoveling food into a slow digestive system you’ll end up with GI distress, a condition nearly every endurance athlete is all too familiar with.

The trick to developing an on the bike nutrition plan is to figure out what works best for you.  In the next series of posts I’ll throw out some ideas on what has worked for me and what hasn’t, but in the end every body is different and you’ll have to experiment to find out what works and what doesn’t.

Exercised Induced Cramping

I began experiencing thigh and calf cramping back in high school; over the past thirty years things haven't gotten any better.  My propensity to cramping has caused me to ponder the condition quite extensively, and to experiment with various treatment and prevention methodologies. 

This trainer/nutritionist/athlete out of Spokane named Ben Greenfield, is a source of some good fitness/nutrition information and this recent podcast on cramping is worth listening to if you have a propensity to cramp during exercise.

http://www.bengreenfieldfitness.com/2014/12/how-to-stop-cramps-during-exercise/

A few tidbits that I took away from the interview are:

·       There is no evidence that dehydration and low electrolytes contribute to cramping.  But as the researcher says “the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”  In my personal experience I’ve not seen a causal relationship between electrolyte depletion/dehydration and cramping.

·       Strength training may be an effective way to limit or avoid exercise induced muscle cramping.  In my experience this has proven true: people who don’t train with weights tend to cramp, while those who routinely strength train don’t.

·       There may be a mental aspect to cramping.  The stress of a big event or harsh conditions (i.e. excessively hot or cold) can increase the chance of a cramp.  This is news to me.  This may explain why drinking pickle juice seems to be a fairly effective way to deal with cramps.  On long mountain bike races (where I am susceptible to cramping) I bring a small container of pickle juice.  I actually used it at the Leadville 100 and it worked – the cramp released.  The tight muscle relaxed almost immediately so it couldn’t have a physiological effect, in other words the taste of the pickle juice must have sent some message to my brain which in turn released the cramp.  Maybe.

Anyway good stuff.  I would like to hear from folks who routinely train with weights as to whether they suffer from exercise induced muscle cramps.

Thought Of The Day

Winning hurts

 

...at least that's what I've been told

 

 

WSBA Meeting/Calendar

Paul D. and I attended the WSBA (Washington State Bicycle Race Association) annual meeting on Saturday.  The most significant news that I have to report is that the 2015 racing calendar has been published and can be viewed at:

http://www.wsbaracing.org/calendar.html

Last year, with significant help from John K, I was able to sync the race dates with the calendar on my phone, now I have no excuse for not knowing about a race.

A few things to note on the calendar:

• The Icebreaker TT (a Cucina Fresca race) is scheduled for Feb 28, 2015.  Our race director Dan L. is already at work.  This is a team event and we definitely need all hands on deck (i.e. volunteers) so make sure that you mark your calendars.
• The Volunteer Park Criterium (a Cucina Fresca race) will happen April 4, 2015.  Paul D. is race director.  Once again this a team event and unless you have a serious excuse we need everyone to volunteer for at least one shift.
• Typically the Icebreaker TT kicks off the racing season, but in 2015 we've been preempted by the Andy Salmon Kermesse on Feb 21.  These kermesse races are challenging all out efforts and  the Andy Salmon will be a good early season fitness test.
• Road racing begins in earnest on Sat March 8 with Sequim RR #1 followed the next day by Mason Lake #1.  We need to see mega Cat 4 and Cat 5 turnout at these early season races.  Some folks refer to Sequim and Mason as "training" races; I see them as "points" races.  We need to go in early and hard and vacuum up max upgrade points.
• There are a few cool-out-of state races for which we should consider putting together a formidable team presence.  The Baker City Cycling Classic (June 26-28) in Baker City, OR and the Cascade Classic (July 22-26) in Bend, OR are two worthy events.
• Masters Nationals will be held in Ogden, UT this year.
• Nationals will be held in Chattanooga, TN.
• The UCI World Championships come to the US this year and will be held in Richmond, VA (Sept 19-27). 

The unspoken heroes of local bike racing are the officials.  No officials = no race.  The current group of race officials are overworked, and new blood is needed.  Our own Steve B. completed the certification course a few months ago and has already been out working races.  Each team is encouraged to have at least two officials.  In order to get your certification you need to complete an eight hour one day course and pass an open book exam.  If you officiate at two races you get your racing license fee reimbursed.  If you are interested or have any questions email either Steve or myself.

Each team member will be needing to pay their 2015 USAC and WSBA dues shortly, I'll keep you posted on that.

Starting Strength

Back in the old days - I'm talking about the eighties here - we used to head over to Sorrenson's Gym and Swim, a dank cinderblock building off of East 14th Street in Des Moines to move around some iron.  Back in them dark ages weight lifting equipment consisted of a straight York bar, a curling bar, plates, a rack, a bench and a preacher's bench.

I recently decided to get back to basics with respect to strength training and thus picked up Starting Strength - Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe.  The book is opinionated, sometimes funny and always long-winded.  Basically this book could be boiled down to a pamphlet.  If you're going to go into the free-weight section of the gym you should start light and learn proper technique.  Rippetoe goes to great lengths to describe proper technique, and I mean great lengths - over sixty pages on how to perform a squat.  He could have done it all with three paragraphs and half a dozen photos.

Rippetoe's description on how to build a program is very educational, but his discussion on nutrition is worthless to the cyclist.  Rippetoe isn't concerned with strength to weight ratio, he's only concern is strength, and in his world you put on strength by putting on body mass.  He recommends drinking a gallon of milk a day.

I'd recommend that cyclists interested in building a strength training program skim the text, study the photos and read the chapter on how to put together a comprehensive program.

No More Pins

Twice now I've broken new chains due to not sufficiently pushing in the fuse pin.  It's a fairly major breakdown, so in order to avoid future walk homes I'm giving these bad boys a try:

 It's probably a good idea to have one in your repair kit as well.

No More Flintstone

After breaking my chain during the Tuesday Night Ride, which resulted in me Fred Flintstoning my way back to the Island, I added a new tool to my kit.

That chain tool is from the eighties, I wonder if there's a cooler more modern one out there.

Training Vs Exercise

I recently finished reading Starting Strength - Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe.  It's longwinded (64 pages on how to do a squat) but it does contain some gems.  One good quote comes from Mr. Rippetoe's discussion on how training differs from exercise:

Exercise and training are two different things.  Exercise is physical activity for its own sake, a workout done for the effect it produces today, during the workout or right after you’re through.   Training is a physical activity done with a longer-term goal in mind, the constituent workout of which are specifically designed to achieve that goal.  If a program if physical activity is not designed to get you stronger or faster or better conditioned by producing s a specific stress to which s specific desirable adaption can occur, you don’t get to call it training.

 Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe

Waves for Water CX Weekend

A hearty congratulations to Trevor "Hall'n Ass" Hall for his top 'o the podium finish at Saturdays Waves for Water Cyclocross Race.

Photo by Dan Liberator

Here's a rundown of how we did:
Terence S     Sat/Sun
Dan L.          Sat
Darryl S.       Sat/Sun
Trevor H.      Sat (1st)/Sun
Dave S.         Sun
Erik O.          Sun (4th)
Paul C.          Sun
Peter E.         Sun
Jenny E.        Sun

Keep Your Mojo

We cyclists are lucky enough to live in a part of the country where, if you were so-inclined, you can find a bike race, or some other organized ride, nearly fifty two weeks a year.  If you race road, track, mountain and cross you could race nearly non-stop year round.  If you love to race, like I do, this is a door wide open for burn-out.

For years I was of the HTFU school – race hard, race often and treat every training ride as though it’s your last.  Luckily with age comes temperance, and with the passage of time I’ve learned that a body, as well as a mind, needs a rest.

A bike racer’s schedule includes training, racing and recuperation.  Recuperation (i.e. rest) is the stepchild – easily overlooked and underrated.  It’s easy to think that the most effective way to improve is to train more, train harder and to race more and to race harder.  Rest doesn’t factor into the equation. A young body can absorb a huge amount of work, but as we age rest plays a bigger and bigger role in peak performance.  Simply put we need to allow our bodies (and our minds) the time to recover from the stress of training, go too far and you risk overtraining.

Overtraining is physiological, basically you’ve broken your body down below its ability to readily recover.  Burn-out is psychological equivalent of overtraining.  In short you lose your mojo.

An effective way to avoid burnout is to define a set date/race that marks the end of your season, and stick to it.  Once the season is done take it easy for a few months.  Some people advise “hanging up the bike” for a while.  I’m not a big fan of this approach as I love riding my bike, it’s a part of my everyday routine, and thus I’m not going to hang it up, but I will avoid the temptation to make every ride a hard training ride.

I decided that my 2014 season would end at the MFG Cyclocross finale at Woodland Park.  The last minute announcement of a sanctioned UCI race here in the Seattle area this weekend tempted me to come out of retirement, but I’m going to stick to my guns – no racing until March.

Caffeine

I love my morning cup of coffee, well actually I love my morning five cups of coffee as I drink at

least one pot a day.    When the kids were little I started mixing caffeinated and decaf 50-50, as the stress of dealing with toddlers mixed with a pot of high octane was inching me towards a nervous breakdown.  Lately I've been having trouble sleeping through the night and I can't help but blame my hot dark friend.

Yesterday I brewed a first in the morning cup of 50-50 using my handy Motofish Coffee Aeropress, but from then on it was strictly decaf.  I had no noticeable withdrawal symptoms (i.e. headache) and I slept like a rock.  I figure that I'll try this for the remainder of the year and see what happens.

Caffeine is a performance enhancer and I've known athletes who have cut it out of their daily routine, and only take a hit of coffee or a Red Bull before a race.  The theory being that caffeine gives you a bigger jolt if your not sensitized to it.  Seems reasonable, I think I'll try it.

Send back some caffeine thoughts.

C-O-L-D

We're in the middle of a deep freeze here in the Northwest but that didn't deter five intrepid souls from venturing out into the frigid and dark night.

As you can see Paul D finally found a use for those Marmot 8000m mittens.

By Midwestern standards it was probably balmy - mid twenties - but it was plenty cold for us thin-blooded types.  I wore leg warmers under my old and holy Swobo wool tights.  On top I had a synthetic tee shirt, a thermal jersey and the heavy Voler Thermal jacket.  The last time I wore that was twelve months ago while Matt B, Paul C and myself were braving the minus seven temps at Bend UCI Cyclocross race.  I wasn't a conservative as Paul on my handwear and seemed to fare perfectly fine in mid-weight gloves.  I did, however, find the limit of the Sidi winter training shoes; despite wearing toe warmers I rolled into the house with a numb right foot.  It took a heating pad and ten minutes in wincing to get it to come back to life.

It's cold so if you get out there layer up and look out for the ice.

Words to Grow Old By

"When you're motivated age doesn't count"

- Sven Nys

http://www.behindthebarriers.tv/cross-talk/shimano-presents-cross-talk-with-sven-nys-part-i/

Embrace the Pain

This past weekend my friend and teammate Matt S ran the Las Vegas Marathon.  His first.  A few days before the race Matt texted me that he was suffering from a calf injury and was questioning his prospects of finishing (he said for sure that he would start – I didn’t tell him that once you start you pretty much have to finish as there isn’t a sag wagon picking up

Darryl showing a good suffer face

stragglers). 

In his race report Matt noted how I told him to “embrace the pain,” which is true; reading it third hand makes my comment sound kind of cliché or flippant.  I really did mean embrace the pain.  Don’t whine, don’t complain “why me,” instead accept the pain as part of what real living feels like, accept it and move on.
At no other time in human history have so many been allowed such a pain free life.  Physical pain slash suffering is part of being a human on this Earth.  Accept it at face value and move ahead.

I was riding my bike last winter, it was probably around thirty five degrees and raining when a gal pulled alongside in her Escalade.  I noticed the she was wearing a t-shirt.  At what other time in human history could a person travel twenty miles in near freezing rain wearing nothing but a cotton t-shirt.  The window is pretty small.  Nobody ever found enlightenment in an Escalade.

For me pushing myself to physical exhaustion is a way of feeling alive.  A way to know that I’m not sleepwalking through my brief time on this planet.  When you look at it this way physical challenge is something to be sought out, and once found appreciated.  Cherish the suffering for this is when you feel alive.

Rest

Several years ago I read an article penned by a pro Ironman competitor in which she described a typical week in the life of a pro endurance athlete.  In a word her life was boring.  She really only did four things: train, eat, meet sponsorship obligations and rest.  Far and away the biggest part of her day was spent resting.  It’s easy to think that pro athletes train all the time, a more accurate way to see it is that they train a lot but they rest even more.

The way we humans increase our aerobic fitness and muscular strength is to first tear

Be like Jens and put your dogs up

ourselves down (via training) and then to build ourselves back up into a slightly stronger state (via rest).  With this in mind it’s easy to see the importance of an effective rest regimen.  Unfortunately the vast majority of us focus too much attention on the training (tear down) aspect and too little on the recovery (build up) portion.

The human body has an amazing ability to adapt to a rigorous lifestyle PROVIDED that you give it ample opportunity to recover from a hard effort.  This became very clear to me over the course of a number of multi-week mountaineering expeditions.  A mountaineering expedition basically consists of three things: climbing, eating and lying in a tent.  Acclimatization and bad weather prohibit climbing every day and so eating and lying in a tent are how one spends the majority of an expedition.  No matter how fit I was coming into the expedition the first two or three days always proved tough, I never failed to wonder if I was up for the challenge, but by day four I typically had hit my stride and was able to routinely do what only days before had either been impossible or extremely arduous.  With enough rest my body was able to quickly adapt to the rigors of a mountaineering expedition.

When it comes to working out your training schedule for the upcoming season be thinking about how to incorporate rest into your regimen.  Working out a way to consistently get a good night’s sleep and taking one day off a week are two good ways to start.

And You Thought It Was Cold Here

Our former teammate Courtney McFadden is tearing up the pro Cyclocross circuit this year.  She's been in the hunt in every major race this season and finally she hit the top step yesterday at Jingle Cross held at my old stomping grounds of Iowa City, Iowa.  Actually I'm a third generation Iowa State Cyclone and Iowa City is the turf of the University of Iowa Schmuckeyes, so actually the place sucks, but it's still Iowa and I'm an Iowan - kind of.  Anyway I digress.

Courtney finished on the podium Friday, Saturday and then won on Sunday.  She beat two sport Olympian Katerina Nash who wears number one on her jersey for good reason.  Nash has a killer last lap and Courtney led her out - a gutsy move that paid off.

Courtney leading out Katerina en route to a win

Everyone mark your calendars for the UCI (i.e. pros will be in attendance) races that will he held December 6th and 7th.  The Dec 6th race will be held at the Marymont Event Center in Tacoma and the Dec 7th race is at good old Fort Steilacoom State Park.  Even if you don't plan to race come down to see the pro women and pro men race.  It is definitely something to see.  In my opinion the NW has some of the best and deepest cross racing in the country but we always seem to get overshadowed by the East Coast scene.  Let's show them East Coast snobs what we can do.

The Day Before

Over the course of the past few Cyclocross seasons I've been experimenting with what type of day prior workout works best.  I've had some good races following big (60-80) mile hard team rides, but examining the entire data set I'm going to have to conclude that those results were anomalies.  In my opinion the best thing to do the day before a super hard effort race (such as Cyclocross) is to go for an early morning 30-40 mile ride at a stiff but not insane pace (around 20mph).  After the ride stretch out and then put your dogs up as best you can.
Leave a comment regarding your day before regimen.

Lloyd on Weights

Lloyd L. wrote a good comment regarding weight training and so I thought I'd include it as a separate post.  One thing that's got me curious is plyometrics (talked to Michael P about it last weekend and now Lloyd is mentioning it).


Sometimes riding solo works

In order to win races you either have to ride away or be able to sprint.  Eventually the riding away
tactic will become less and less effective as you'll be moving up through the categories and the other riders/teams will be less willing to just let you ride off into the sunset.  So really winning on the road means sprinting and a big part of sprinting is explosive power - get ten feet of space between you and the competition.  I'm thinking that this plyometrics thing might be the ticket.  Curious to see if anyone knows anything about this technique.

And now Lloyd:


My personal thoughts… Friel's Cycling Training Bible is a great place to start. He spells out what types of workouts to do and when to do them -- in relation to your training and racing schedule. Some of his information is, in my opinion, a bit dated in regards to the actual exercises but the scheduling and basics are spot excellent. I've been working with physical trainer's (PT's) this past two years and it has helped enormously. Some of the latest teachings include involving your core in all exercises as well as the importance for balancing your strength.
For instance, if you're going to improve the strength of your quads, ensuring your hamstrings and core properly offset the pressure will reduce your chances of injury as well as improve your overall quad strength. One way to do this is with deadlifts and squats. Historically I had awful form and as a result was prone to injury. For me, having a PT guide me on these exercises is paramount. I also avoid most machines because they isolate a given muscle-group without paying credence to the overall balance.
Another example is chest press; Instead of using a typical bench, I do them with dumbbells while positioning my shoulders on a large inflated exercise ball. I do this while keeping my back straight and horizontal to the floor with my lower leg perpendicular to the floor and my feel about shoulder's width. To keep my balance and the exercise smooth, I have to keep my core engaged the whole time. Additionally, as is generally the case, doing exercises like above actually require lower weights and lessen the chance of injury.
One area where Friel is rightly tentative is plyometrics which can include explosive high-impact maneouvers. As the description suggests, they can lead to injury if not done thoughtfully. However, with careful preparation, plyometric exercises are excellent for building explosive muscle response (think spring). As part of my Anatomical Adaptation phase (Friel specified phase which prepares the body for more serious weight training), The PT had me start with drops off a 1ft box, landing on my toes and holding for 2sec before resetting and jumping up to a higher box. The exercises seemed trivial and wanting in value but it is a necessary foundation for later exercises. Another preparation callout is building lateral knee strength which is something cyclists are generally very weak at.
I didn't even touch on the seeming mundane and sometimes crazy looking warm-up exercises the PT has me do before we even start on the real workout for the day. Bottom line, I highly recommend getting a Personal Trainer if only for a month or two so that you can learn proper form and technique.

Clogged Cogs

Two tired horses

This past Sunday at the Woodland Park CX (MFG#6) my cog-set got so clogged with pasty mud that I ended up riding the final three laps in one of only two available gears.  The muck had become so packed in between my cogs that by the end of the race the teeth on my lower eight gears were barely even visible.  My friend Doug D. told me that he had the same problem and that Russell S. had advised him to switch to a lower quality cog set as a cheaper rear end is less likely to clog.

I’ll try to investigate this further but leave a comment if you’ve encountered and have successfully dealt with mud-packed cogs.

Smile When You Do That

So this weekend our own Matt S. is off to Vegas for his first marathon.  Last week he and I were talking about what to expect; I told him that the last six miles were probably going to hurt and that he should smile the entire time.

The smiling advice comes from one of the hardest women in modern athletic history - Natasha Badman.  Once an overweight depressed single mom, Badman turned her life around and became a five-time Ironman world champion, and she did it all with this huge smile on her face.  She said that she smiled because she was so thankful for simply being healthy and fit enough to even be in the race let alone win it - five times.

During long grueling events it's easy to start feeling sorry for yourself, to obsess over the pain, the boredom the misery.  The best way that I've found to combat this is to simply put a smile on your face.  You can't be miserable if you're smiling.  so few people in this world have the time, the health and the money to do what we do so be happy.

Be like Dave and smile when you do it

Randy on Weight Training

Here's some good stuff from our own Cat 1/2 Randy B.

Before I started racing, I was into powerlifting and was 40 pounds heavier. I did this for about 7 years.

First of all, I would like to talk about weight lifting myths. Weight lifting will not make you bigger and bulky. It can if you train hard, overload your body and eat tons of food. High reps do not make you more defined. Clean up your diet. Eat healthy food and you will become more lean. If you eat a bunch of junk food and do high reps, you will still look like you eat junk food.  Just because you’re getting stronger, you are not gaining muscle mass. As a person starts a new activity such as weight lifting, your neuromuscular system starts creating new motor engrams allowing your body to perform a specific activity much easier thus making it seem like you are building muscle.

As cyclists, most people are afraid to lift weights because they will get heavier. None of us are going pro so does it really matter. Your upper body will not be as fatigued at the end of a race, you will be more balanced on the bike, and you will just feel better all around.

High volume high intensity builds muscle mass (15 to 20 rep range 3 to 4 sets), high intensity low volume builds strength (1 to 5 reps 2 to 5 sets).

When it comes to exercises, through personal experience, some of the best ones for your legs are front squats, lunges, step ups, calf raises, stiff legged deadlifts. Leg extensions are useless and serve no purpose so don’t do them. Here are the proper techniques for front squats and lunges. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPZFg9nriB0   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAfEGsJqJjA. Understand that a good day in the gym lifting legs will make you feel sluggish on the bike for a couple of weeks. It doesn’t matter because it is winter. Once you stop squatting and other heavy exercises, your cycling will get stronger and faster throughout the next couple of weeks. It doesn’t really matter how many reps and sets you do. This is personal. Do what works for you and keeps it fun. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PROPER FORM ON ALL EXERCISES. I am more than happy to help anyone with this. Continuing to lift legs during racing is possible, just be aware of how your legs feel. However, do not squat or lift heavy. Step ups, lunges, calf raises, box jumps are all good exercises. If you don’t feel good on the bike then stop lifting legs completely. This is just something you will need to experiment with.

Upper body exercises are also very important. Learning about you muscular imbalances and fixing them is a big part of lifting. If you cannot do a certain exercise, it is mostly due to an imbalance somewhere. I have shoulder issues and cannot do certain exercises. I realized my front deltoid is much larger and stronger than the rear. Once I quit working the front and focused on the rear, my mobility has improved and can do exercises without pain. I am not going to go through exercise for the upper body because there are simply too many. Just remember that if you work your chest and shoulders in the front, you must also work your back to compensate. Again, the reps and sets are up to you and which exercises as well.

Your core is a large part of cycling and working it can be done all year long. Many people think they have a strong core but having a six pack does not count. What about your pelvic floor, obliques, etc. The FIBO challenge from Dynamax really works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2tcUNfBwFU. You can do a google search for the exercises. The tornado ball https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEn3KAjQHYE is a very good exercise. HSP has some good exercises on their Youtube channel with a medicine ball that work really well.

As far as the amount of time you need to spend in the gym, there is no set amount. I used to spend 2 plus hours a day while powerlifting. Now I only spend 45 minutes to an hour. Lift as long as you feel like it. I have gone to the gym, did some stretching, then went home because I just did not feel like working out. Keep it enjoyable. That is about all I can offer unless I feel like writing all night. If anyone wants to start lifting weights, I am more than happy to set a program and get them started with proper form and exercises. Send me an email with any questions you have. Randyebott@yahoo.com

More Winter Tire Thoughts

Thought I'd forward some thoughts Z shared with me regarding winter training tires:

A note about the Conti Gatorskins you mention is that a nice compromise between that model and the GP 4000 is the Conti 4 Season.  You get better durability but they are not as stiff and heavy.  Kind of a "mid" winter training tire offering better ride quality.  Personally, I've been having good luck with Michelin Endurance tires 700x25 which measure closer to 28's.  I also use training tires from Maxxis, Panaracer, and Kenda and have had good results there too.

Weights and Bones

Martha just emailed me this story with respect to weight training, competitive cycling and bone loss;

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/is-bicycling-bad-for-your-bones/?_r=1

The main take-away from the story is:

“For competitive riders, I’d recommend spending some time weight-training.”

Don't worry about becoming Hans and Franz

Despite 35 years of serious running I suffer from osteopenia (early stage osteoporosis) a situation that came to light after six stress fractures in three years.  I'm gambling that a regular regimen if weight training will keep me upright for another few decades.

Personally I think that the idea of avoiding weight training in order to "not bulk up," is a little misguided.  It's about the strength-to-weight ratio.  If you begin a weight training program now you could see a 15-20% increase in your strength by the time the spring races come around.  How many of us could lose an equivalent amount of weight (while maintaining current strength levels) by spring.  Not many.  In other words focus your attention on what's going to deliver the biggest bang for the buck.

By The Numbers

Steve B just ran the numbers on the Cucina Fresca Cycling Team 2014 season (still not final as some folks have yet to submit their race results).  Here's what we have so far:

Total Races = 914

Matt Stanigar podium at MFG Silverlake

Wins = 56 (1:16.3 ratio)
Podiums - 132 (1:6.9 ratio)
Top 10s = 389 (1:2.35 ratio)

So in short we put a CF rider on the podium in one out of 7 races and managed to top 10 in nearly half of all races entered.

 

This is going to make setting goals for next year a bit difficult.

A Weighty Issue

I find that as I inch closer and closer to the half century mark weight training becomes more and more important.  Here is a good article on that subject.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/fitness/how-older-athletes-can-fight-the-effects-of-aging/article21149953/

The winter months are a good time to hit the gym and start pushing around some weights.

For most of us racing is about achieving that next level: getting dropped to finishing with the pack, finishing with the pack to being in the sprint, being in the sprint to top ten, top ten to podium, podium to win.  Simply spending another ten minutes on the trainer isn't going to get you to that next level.  I think intelligent weight training is a great way to up your game.

I know that Randy B. and Lloyd L. do some serious weight training, perhaps we can get them to weigh in (pun intended) on the issue.

Wet and Wild Out There

Well it was slow to get here but it looks like winter has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest.  Time for those rain tires and fenders.  Earlier this summer I bought a pair of 25 mm Vittoria Open Pave tires and so far have been super impressed.  These are going to be my weapon of choice for the upcoming cold season.

In the past I've used Continental Gatorskins but they've always felt super stiff and heavy.  Leave a comment regarding thoughts on other winter tires.

Svenness

Cyclocross season is upon us.  I was just turned onto this web site:

http://www.cxhairs.com/

I have yet to dig deep into the site, but it looks to have mega info on cross racing and racing tactics.  I love the Svenness videos; I burned through a bunch of them already while on the trainer.

There can be only one!

Let's Get Serious

Two more - no matter what