Cycling Skills

Putting on the Sunscreen

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 02:56:00 +0000

Let's face it, somehow bike racers have a skewed vision of vanity. When was the last time a cyclist showed you his "great" tan lines? If you know many bike racers, it probably hasn't been long at all. But we all know that too much sun isn't good for you.

To help keep all the time in the sun in perspective, there's a great sunscreen info graphic on InformationIsBeautiful.net that has a very good description of sunscreen—what is protects against, how much to use, how long its protection lasts—and the types and dangers of skin cancer. It's definitely worth taking a look so you know what type of sunscreen to buy, how much to use, when to put it on, and what you're trying to avoid by using it ... least of which are those tan lines you worked so hard to get.

Post-race Recovery

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 05:12:00 +0000

Riders have long sought out how to train better. With a lot of work going into workouts, the focus is also turning more and more to the recovery necessary. The demands of professionals riding the Tour de France are about high you could imagine and recovery during the event is a key determinant of success over the three weeks of the race.

Cyclingnews.com has an excellent article covering Mark Renshaw and his recovery routine for between stages. It's a good insight into professional racing, the importance of recovery, and multitude of details that are covered to help athletes perform at their peak over the course of the race. It's a balance of sleep, diet, massage, clothing, rest, media and fan obligations and much more.

The Church of Strength Training

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:00:00 +0000

We all know how contentious relations are in the Middle East and in places around the world due to religious differences. People fight over land and differing beliefs, yet little seems to change.

In the world of bike racing, strength training is the religious war. When the weather gets cold, coaches, trainers, and athletes head inside and start to beat their keyboards (in place of their chests), sling insults, and proclaim how strength training is the prodigal son or a false saint.

I could leave you in suspense as to my position, but I won't. I sit right on the fence.

(I'm sure that was totally unsatisfying if you were expecting a tirade for or against strength training. But the reality is, it all depends. Yes, like most things in life, the issue is not black or white.)

First, the argument against strength training. For those of you who love strength training, you'll hate this part. For the scientists and data junkies, login to PubMed and get your search on. (1) There is a lack of research showing definitively that strength training helps with cycling performance. It's easy to cherry-pick studies that show an improvement in VO2max, increased threshold, maximal power production, etc., but they are limited, have flaws in methodology, don't show significant differences, and/or haven't been reproduced. (2) The lack of specificity in most strength training means it doesn't translate to cycling performance well. (3) It takes energy to do weight training, and that is energy that could be used to do more specific training or to recover faster. (4) Cycling is an aerobic sport. That's it. An athlete's maximal strength has little to do with cycling success. Even at peak wattage, a cyclist is producing only about 50% of his/her peak force. Increasing this wattage further is a product of improvements in the person's energy systems, not muscular strength.

Next, the argument for strength training. (1) If you can't physically turn the pedals, you need to get stronger. And you probably have a hard time getting out of bed and walking to the bathroom. I'm not sure you should be worrying about riding a bike in your condition. (2) You can't generate power if your core isn't strong enough to support/stabilize the force your legs produce. Well, actually, that's not very relevant since generating maximal force is not really required to perform well in a sport whose success is based on your cardiovascular performance. (3) Maximal force is correlated with standing start performance. So you're a kilo rider? Oh, you only ride road races. Did that 50m gap at the start line ever win you a race? (4) If you're injured, you can't train....

Wait, what was that? If you're injured you can't train? Since when!? Since I've been lying here with my herniated vertebral discs. Since I pulled a muscle in my neck. Since I tried lifting a box my wife made me move and I may have torn my biceps. Since I broke my hip after tripping over a toy on the floor.

OK, I've been a little harsh on the strength training. It really doesn't help your cycling. But it can help you maintain muscle balance and be a part of good abdominal and back health. It can be part of a general strength and stretching routine that helps you get through life without injuring yourself in daily activities—or carrying your track equipment between the car and infield. And it can be a good weight bearing activity to help ensure you develop and maintain good bone density (cycling alone is great for cardiovascular health but often leads to decreased bone density if its the sole activity for a person).

So where do I come down on strength training? I think it is a good off-season activity for cyclists because they need the strength and suppleness to get through everyday life so they can keep riding consistently. And for long-term bone health, cyclists need to do a weight bearing activity. But for cycling performance, ride smarter. That may be better form on the bike, more hours, less hours, more intensity, improving 1 minute power, ... whatever. But you'll find the time and energy you spend on the bike will pay off more than the time and energy you spend doing strength work ... just as long as you stay healthy enough to stay on the bike.

USA Cycling 2010 Officials of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:10:00 +0000

Old school officials' patch

The work of an official largely goes noticed except for the start and results at a bike race. I remember officiating much of SuperWeek working 12 hours/day in temps of 90+ with about 6 hours of sleep/night by the time we'd eat and be able to get back to where the officials stayed. Sure you can find people who work more, but the point is, the time and energy of officials is often taken for granted unless something isn't correct.

Not that there's anything wrong when a job well done means an event goes smoothly and event personnel become sidelights to the races. But it's good to give a shout out to officials who work long, hard days, do a great job and rarely get noticed. So check out the USA Cycling 2010 Officials of the Year. I know a few of these people, and they're great people as dedicated to the sport as any racer!

Pinning Race Numbers: A Commentary

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 03:32:00 +0000

How to pin on race numbers—it's a topic I love, some for the rhetoric of the argument, but also because I think it demonstrates a person's perspective on bike racing and their ability and/or willingness to see it from different perspectives. So a little commentary on the topic....

(The following addresses the #1 technique for quality number pinning, but for a more instructional and comprehensive coverage of the topic, check out the original Race numbers: Pinning and Placement.)

Bike racers want their numbers to lay flat and not flap in the wind. They think that crumpling their number helps this. Let me give you the secret: 8 pins. Not 4 pins (and absolutely not 4 pins using the provided holes—this is cycling, not sailing club), not even 6. You get a handful of pins at nearly every race. Save a few. Then don't be lazy, don't whine, use 8 and this entire official/racer argument goes away, save the lazy bike racer.

But of course, bike racers are (by definition, I believe) lazy. So we have a problem.

For officials, seeing the numbers on riders whizzing by 5 deep at 25+ mph is an exercise in futility. A single line at 30 mph is no better, but this is the job of the official. Some officials are lazy, too (former racers?), and don't actually try to read all the numbers every lap, so they don't care how numbers are pinned. These officials should be stoned--they are the ones that take a millennium to figure out results because they have no practice at picking out 10 places in order at the finish. But most officials do care and spend the entirety of a race trying to decipher the perspective-bending Dali-esque attachments racers manage to make with their numbers. For them, crumpled numbers are the emblem of their nearly-futile task, not the cause of it. Sure, the stickler quotes the rule book, but one of the jobs of an official is educating riders. Aside from the occasional power trip, it's just part of the job.

So we have lazy bike racers and officials who've found a scapegoat for the nearly impossible task of reading thousands of numbers during a day.

The reality is that the rule is stupid for three reasons. First, like all other riders, I pin on my number, warm up, go to the bathroom, sit down, load and unload my rear pockets multiple times, and perform numerous other actions that WILL crumple my number whether or not I did it intentionally.

Second, the Tyvek material used for numbers reflects sunlight pretty well if you get the right angle. A poorly crumpled number (intentionally or incidentally) will probably have a few surfaces that reflect light and reduce the visibility of the number. However, a pristine number can reflect light across its entire surface rendering it completely illegible.

This illustrates the third point that proper placement of the number is usually far more important than the surface smoothness for visibility of the number. Up on the back: bad. Down along the side of the jersey: good. Right side up? Yeah, I'm talking to you, genius--put your number on right side up. (Cat. 2 - Cat. 5 -- I've seen them all do it this season.)

That all points to the fact that you need to learn how to put on a number like a pro. When you crumple the number, don't just wad it up and be done. You need to decimate it! You're not buying a new iPhone because it has 16 icons on a screen--you want it because the pixels are so densely packed you can't even see them! So get comfy and start crumpling. And rolling. And flexing. Now repeat. Finally, find a nice edge and smooth it all out. Hey, don't rip it--that's way amateur. But when you're done, the thing should feel like silk and lay on your jersey like your head on a 400 thread-count Egyptian cotton pillowcase.

Once you take the pro approach the officials won't notice a thing but the high resolution outline of your number. Unless it's upside down. Or on your back. Or flapping like a sail from 4 pins poked through the 4 dummy holes.

So just use 8 pins, put it on your side, and get the race started already.

Standing Causes HR Increase

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:00:00 +0000

It's common to see riders standing when they are riding, whether it's going up a hill, accelerating, or stretching out. But if your goal is conserve as much energy as possible, it's also good to know to that your heart rate will usually increase when standing, even when putting out the same power.

Red = HR, Blue = speed
Yellow = power, Green = cadence

This graph from a recent ride caught my attention because it shows this tend very clearly. HR increases slightly while power, speed, and cadence all decrease noticeably during each of the three periods of standing. This graph is from a roller ride so the conditions are different with regard to speed and power change; speed and power wouldn't decline like this on the road, but I like to remain on the rollers so this naturally what happens when I'm stretching out. While the increase in HR is small, it's still noticeable and all the more telling since power declines.

The reason for this increase in HR is that you are activating additional muscles to do work, and a rise in HR can be expected when recruiting additional muscles to do work. But similarly, it means that you're using additional energy to supply these newly working muscles that aren't necessarily putting more power in the pedals.

So keep in mind: when max power is the goal, standing may be your friend. But when it's time to conserve energy, seated is the way to go.

Being a Bike Racer is a Lifestyle

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 03:14:00 +0000

While the focus of bike racing is often on a rider's talent, training, skills, or equipment, the often over-looked fact is that to be a bike racer requires a particular lifestyle. Hard work, lots of rest, singularity of focus, discipline, travel, lots of time away from home, sacrifice, compromise, good attitude, good team player, and not least of all, family and friends to support you through it all.

Because this lifestyle is one of the least talked about but most challenging parts of being an aspiring professional cyclist, I always enjoy hearing various stories the provide some insight. A recent story about Michael Creed entitled Why I never doped and my future in the sport does the obvious in talking about his perspective on doping, but I think the insightful part of the article is what you learn about his lifestyle as a new pro in Europe and what he's willing to do and not do for the sport. A view of a Tour de France hotel room (via @andykloedi) can be pretty insightful, too.

Keep an eye out for stories about cyclists and how they live day to day, between the races, at the races, when they see family and friends, and other insights that share about the lifestyle of full-time racers domestically and abroad.

What a Roadie Needs to Know to Race on the Track

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:53:00 +0000

Dan Currell and the crew at the National Sports Center Velodrome in Blaine, Minnesota put together a great guide for riders interested in trying out racing on the track. The guide is really designed for riders familiar with riding the road, but who need to know the differences and subtleties that will make learning to ride on the track a successful transition.

It covers differences of riding a road bike versus a track bike, the markings on the track, some basic rules of the “road” when racing on the track, equipment, gearing, leg speed, events, and more. If you're interested—or simply curious—about racing on the track, it's definitely worth a read.

Track Cycling – An Introduction: What a roadie needs to know to start racing on the velodrome by Dan Currell

Patience and Race Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 01:38:00 +0000

Author and coach Joe Friel has a great post over on TrainingPeaks.com addressing the often overlooked racing topic of patience. Road racing is not a sport of simply going harder the next guy. If you're looking for that try mountain biking or time trialing. But if you toe the line at a crit or a road race, it's good to understand that when you expend energy is very important to your success. The article talks about this in reference to a stage race, but the principle applies whether you're racing Le Tour or trying to make it to the end of the group ride for the first time.

Favorite new tool: Kool-Stop Tire Bead Jack

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:23:00 +0000

If you’ve learned how to change a tube, then you know about tire levers. They’re small and get the job done, but I don’t know anyone who likes them. You fight to get a grip with one, then fight to get the tire where it needs to go. If you’re trying to mount a tire that is especially tight, this can be a long, finger numbing battle ... one that I haven’t always won, and I bring a good amount of skill and experience to the process.

I happened to run across a comment about a tire jack tool. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was referring to but with some quick digging I found it! The Kool-Stop Tire Bead Jack might not replace your set of tire irons on the road—although, it’s small enough that it’s possible—but it’s a dream for your toolbox to use at home or out of your car.

Anyone who’s changed a tire knows that slippage on the tire and/or rim while using tire levers is just part of the trial and error process of mounting a tire. No longer! The Tire Bead Jack provides a secure hold of the tire and a very secure fulcrum point for lifting the tire onto the rim.

At about $12, it’s not expensive. You might not use it every day, but if you plan to keep riding your bike, you’ll probably see how a tool like this would be a great asset to avoid those tire mounting struggles.

A chamois for the office?

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:30:00 +0000

Who said you couldn't kit up at the office? I guess it helps if the office is a parking lot with a van and a few folding chairs.

Team BMC management at work

TrainingPeaks WKO+ 3 with CrossOver Mac 8

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:10:00 +0000

[Update Jan. 29, 2012: The usefulness of running WKO+ on Mac via CrossOver has run its course. Updates to CrossOver Mac (v. 9–10) have rendered the process described below unusable and Mac OS (10.7 Lion) requires you run CrossOver Mac 10. Unfortunately a functional work around has not been found. Unless you have access to running the versions of software noted below, this process is no longer recommended; it may appear that everything is working properly until the final steps where you actually try to run WKO+ at which point it fails. And as the comments show, many gotchas have popped up over time as new devices come to market that have made a working CrossOver setup a fast moving target to pin down.

As result, I am now running WKO+ on my MacBook Pro by using Windows 7 Professional running inside the VMware Fusion 4 virtualization software. I have also heard from multiple people that Parallels Desktop 7 virtualization software works well. It is important to note that I have 8GB of RAM installed—lots of RAM will make a huge difference for running a virtualization set up for WKO+. This setup isn't as clean as it was with CrossOver but I can still manage just one computer for my primary work. I do have a recent model basic Windows laptop running Windows 7 Home Premium with another install of WKO+, and I can say that my VMware setup runs much faster so overall this Mac setup works great.

[Update Jan. 24, 2011: Updates have been made to this post since it originally was posted in January 2010 to include some subtle updates. The following information presents using version 8 of CrossOver Mac. Version 9 is now the current version but has been generally reported to not work well with WKO+. If you've had success with version 9 of CrossOver Mac, please post your experience in the comments.]

Let me cut to the chase: running TrainingPeaks WKO+ 3 with Mac CrossOver 8 is pretty easy. You have a Mac and want to run WKO+ without messing with Windows? Just keep reading.

Some background...

In early 2009 I posted step by step instructions for running TrainingPeaks WKO+ on a Mac using only CrossOver Mac—no Bootcamp, Parallels, or other installations of Windows needed. I figured it could be helpful for others but was surprised at just how popular, especially considering it wasn’t the most straight forward process. Success varied, but it showed there was a big interest for Mac users to run a Mac-only solution.

The original post used TrainingPeaks WKO+ 2 and CrossOver Mac 7, and both have since moved to newer versions. I was very interested in upgrading to TrainingPeaks WKO+ 3, but I was afraid the setup wouldn’t work. Given all the advantages of my working set up (not installing, maintaining, protecting, backing up or running Windows in any way), I was hesitant. But as with all things foolish I figured, “Let’s just see what happens?” Since then I've updated again to the latest version of WKO+ 3 and am now seemlessly syncing my WKO+ data for multiple athletes between my Mac setup and Windows setup using Dropbox. Drop me a line if you're interested in more details on that. If you want more background on the project, check out the original post.

The process...

I said this was pretty simple. But it’s not Steve Jobs simple. Downloading from your device directly to WKO+ doesn’t work out of the box, so you’ll need a separate Mac-native application to do that. But generally, all you need is:

Desire to run WKO+ without ever starting up Windows
Mac with an Intel processor
TrainingPeaks Device Agent, GoldenCheetah, Garmin Training Center, PowerAgent, or other software to download data from your power meter or heart rate monitor. I recommend TrainingPeaks Device Agent for it's simplicity of installation (included needed drivers for various devices) and the fact that it supports lots of devices. The drivers Device Agent installs will work in GoldenCheetah, too, if you choose to use it.
CrossOver Mac version 8 (30-day free trial, $40); version 9 is the current version but those buying a license should be able to access version 8 and the old version may be available by hunting around the Codeweavers website
TrainingPeaks WKO+ 3 (30-day free trial, $129)

The original instructions were lengthy, it helped to be running specific builds of WKO+, and a little digging in Windows was needed. This year’s process is A LOT easier.

Install TrainingPeaks Device Agent, GoldenCheetah, Garmin Training Center, PowerAgent, or whatever other software you want to use to download data from your device.
Download the TrainingPeaks WKO+ 3 installer
Install CrossOver Mac.
Install Internet Explorer 6 in CrossOver (optional step, but I did it, everything works, so I’m including it). In CrossOver, select Configure > Install Software..., then select Internet Explorer 6 from the list and install it in a new bottle of its own following on the onscreen prompts. A standard install works fine—no need to customize it.
Install TrainingPeaks WKO+ 3 in CrossOver. Select Configure > Install Software..., then click “Install unsupported software...” and install it in a new bottle of its own. When asked for the installer file, find where you saved the WKO+ installer and let it go through its paces.

That’s it. No tweaking needed. Launch WKO+ and go to work. I was able to upgrade from my previous WKO+ 2 license and activate in version 3 right in the new install—no fancy work around needed like in the original setup (I left that part out of the original post's already lengthy directions).

To get files from a previous version of WKO+ I recommend reviewing the online help topic “Migrating Your Data...” at WKO+ Start Up Guide: First Hour. This will give you the needed background for migrating data, but I found a slight modification to those directions that works better:

Manually create a new athlete in WKO+ 3 with the same name as the data you want to import
Exit WKO+
Find the folder created for that athlete’s data (should be at /user home folder/Documents/TrainingPeaks/WKO/Data/).
Drag the old .wko files into that folder
Launch WKO+ again and ta-da! This only seems to work, though, if you manually create the athlete in WKO+ first.

To get new files into WKO+, you’ll need to use TrainingPeaks Device Agent, GoldenCheetah, Garmin Training Center, PowerAgent, or whatever other software you want to use to download data from your device. Then find the file you downloaded in that application (or export it from that app), and open it from within WKO+. Unfortunately, dragging and dropping a file from the Finder onto WKO+ doesn’t work when using CrossOver as it would when using WKO+ in Windows.

Since using this setup for nearly a year, I've found one caveat. The data comparing different files in the multi-file/multi-range analysis tool doesn't work. The graph displays the comparative data just fine but the numerical data isn't displayed.

Got all that? Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the fact that you have one less reason to run Windows! Unless you're me and had to buy a Windows computer for another use and are now syncing and maintaining both anyway. I still do 95% of my WKO+ work on the Mac, though.

Testing is training

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:00:00 +0000

A number of riders I talk to are resistent to doing a fitness test. Maybe it's the name, "test," that gets them nervous. What else could we call it? Evaluation? Assessment? Masochism? OK, maybe that last one's not helping.

It seems some riders want to be in peak form before they do a fitness test. Get over it. Do the test already. It's probably better training than you do most of the time and the purpose is to assess your current fitness—not your ideal performance—in order to improve your training. It's not so you can tell your friends how much you bench (power is today's cycling equivalent of the meathead weightlifter talk).

So if you have a fear of doing a fitness test, do like I said: get over it and do the test already. If you think that disappointing numbers are going to ruin your future in cycling, you need a shrink not a training plan. So instead, use the data from the test to determine where you are now, how your current performance compares to a similar time last season, and what you can do to improve your performance for the future.

There are lots of fitness tests out there. If your coach prescribes one, follow those directions closely. If you're doing your own, just pick one and stick with it so you can compare your results over time. Two popular training books, The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel and Training and Racing with a Power Meter by Allen & Coggan each describe some assessments.

In short, use a fitness test to challenge yourself and plan your move forward. Save the psyching out for your competition at the races.

Cycling is Hard

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:00:00 +0000

If you didn't hear the news about sports physiologist Allen Lim leaving the Garmin team for RadioShack, Velonews' story is a good read. Whether on the bike or off, jobs in cycling are simply hard work. Officials, coaches, managers, mechanics, soigneurs, and others work tirelessly to support the sport. Aside from slaving on the bike, the riders almost have the easy part of the job. This dedication comes from caring about the sport and the people involved, and making a change is often difficult because of the personal ties involved.

What to do following missed workouts

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

It’s nice to have the world’s most perfectly planned training schedule—or at least some plan at all—but what happens when life throws you a curve and you can’t follow the plan as written? I don’t know a single person who is able to follow a pre-written plan without missing a workout due to work, weather, unexpected travel, or some other reason. But when you get back to the bike, do you pick up where you left off, only 5 days later? Do you skip those 5 days and stick with what’s already on the plan for today? Will you be “ready” for the workouts that follow?

What do you do? The unfortunate answer is, “It depends.”

Of course you can always ask for advice. A coach can give you direction and not leave you assuming where to pick up your training. Some coaches even give specific directions on what to do when you miss a workout. If you don’t have a coach, you can ask a fellow cyclist you trust to give you some insight, but you can probably make a decision on your own.

If you have identified some key goals for the season, those dates are set and it is probably more important to continue with the plan mostly as written (do the workout written on the calendar for today) so the general progression of your training stays on schedule for those big events. Chances are the missed workouts were just more intervals—maybe there were a few more or they were a little longer than previous workouts but nothing that different.

Sometimes, however, there can be a few key skills or efforts that are important to “go back” and do. If you had planned a time trial, fitness assessment, drill, or something else specific to prepare you for an upcoming goal or determine your upcoming training, then you will want to work in that specific workout. If none of those were on the schedule, it’s just water under the bridge.

If the break was longer than a few days, then you can assume that you’re pretty well rested (at least from a training perspective). But if it’s been a few weeks, it may take some time to feel good on the bike again and get some endurance back. That doesn’t mean going back to old workouts, necessarily, but it does mean looking forward from this point to your next goal(s) on the calendar to see if some other adjustments are necessary to your overall plan. If you’re working with a coach, this would be a good time to talk. If you’ve developed your own plan, it’s now time to revisit your planning process and come up with a new training progression to lead up to your key goals.

Missing a workout or two rarely affects if you’re “ready” for a future workout, so don’t worry about that. If you miss a longer block of time, just revisit your goals and adjust your overall schedule accordingly. But regardless of what training plan you follow, missed workouts simply mean missed time and repetitions of intensity and recovery. You can’t get that back, so the best thing to do is move forward and let the missed workouts go. And for those compulsive types of us out there, that may be the hardest part of all.

Sunday Funnies: See it to believe it

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 12:00:00 +0000

This guy did this for a full 9 minutes!

Strength training during race season

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The following is in response to a recent question about strength training (off the bike) during the race season.

My first question is: what’s the goal of your strength training?

Any training you do takes energy and time, and any training you do that’s not on the bike takes away energy and time that could be spent cycling. While a rider can benefit from off-the-bike training, these cross training activities need to address a specific goal, especially if they are being done during the peak part of the season. Specificity is key to top cycling performance, and during the middle of the summer that means time on the bike. Cross training can provide a fitness base but does not provide the specificity needed for peak cycling performance since it does not exactly replicate the motion and position of cycling.

As a result, strength training off the bike during the middle of the season needs to address a particular deficiency that cannot be easily addressed through on the bike training because greater strength does not necessarily translate to higher power on the bike (see Dr. Andy Coggan’s Stength vs. power article for more detail on how more strength doesn’t necessarily lead to more power).

Generally, weight training is part of a cyclist’s training program in the following scenarios:

off-season cross training for full body development and maintenance
bone health (weight bearing exercise)
rehabilitation from injury or physiological imbalance
address a specific muscular weakness
increase short-duration (sprint) power [this is somewhat debatable—see above article link]
comprehensive physical development for young riders

As a general practice, for every weight/strength workout you plan, subtract that time and energy from what you will have available to spend on the bike. If you ride less during the core racing season as a result of strength training, reconsider how much weight training you do (if at all).

A few exceptions apply. If you have issues with your lower back like I do, then time and energy spent on core strengthening and flexibility in the short term can be well worth the time saved from injury in the long term (see 3 & 4 above). Also, if the strength workouts take place during time you would not have been able to ride, then it may be a great addition to your training.

If you have chosen to do strength training during your cycling season, I recommend always giving priority to the cycling workouts. That means strength workouts should follow cycling workouts on high-intensity days so that you have your full energy available to commit to the cycling workout. Next, make sure to balance your overall training plan so your body regularly has time to recover. Strength training also needs to be counted in your overall training hours to reflect the additional energy required to complete these additional workouts.

Obviously there is a great deal more to understanding how strength training can be a part of your annual training.

For more information, check out Cycling Anatomy by Shannon Sovndal or Weight Training for Cyclists by Ken Doyle, ask a cycling coach, and continue to learn more about the numerous factors and techniques for improving cycling performance.

Speed, Leg Speed, and "Spinning Out"

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:00:00 +0000

Cyclists sometimes refer to “spinning out” in a sprint or down a hill, meaning they feel they reached the maximum speed they could in the gears they have. The implication is that with a bigger gear they could have gone faster in the same scenario. However, fitness and skill development (or lack thereof) are the limiting factors long before gear selection.

Leg speed is a skill that juniors are forced to develop due to junior gears (Huugh! Sorry, I just threw up in my mouth a little bit. That happens when I think about junior gears.) Track riders also develop this skill due to riding a fixed gear. And it’s a skill that all riders should work to develop through high cadence workouts. Accelerating out of turns, jumping, attacking, and sprinting will all improve if a rider is simply comfortable using higher leg speed (100–150).

At the end of the day, your top speed is limited by power—800 watts in a 53 x 12 is the same speed as 800 watts in a 53 x 14. But developing leg speed so your muscles will perform well at high RPMs can help you put all of your available force into the pedals, ultimately producing more power.

Power aside, let’s just look at the myth of spinning out. Not many riders are hitting 40 mph in a sprint. Never the less, it’s possible to reach that speed in nearly any set of gears whether you throw on a monster 55 chainring or you’re limited to junior gears (roughly a 48x13). As you can see in the chart below (click to enlarge/zoom), the absurdly large 55 x 11 requires a cadence of just over 100 to do 40 mph. Juniors can keep pace with a cadence of about 138.

On the track, pursuit riders use a cadence of about 120, kilo riders are around 140, and track sprinters are over 150. This isn’t the cadence you want to hold for an hour, but for accelerating out of corners, sprinting, or descents of a few minutes, the stock 53 x 12 on most bikes is more than enough. If you can’t hold 140 RPMs for the duration of a sprint, or 120 for at least 10 minutes, it’s time to add some high cadence drills to your workouts so you’re capable of it and become more comfortable maintaining this tempo.

So next time you hear a rider say he’d “spun out,” what he really just said is, “I can’t go that fast,” or “I’m lacking leg speed.” The chart doesn’t lie, and any rider should be able to put out 140 RPMs for a 10-15 second effort. Few riders have the power to turn the pedals at 140 RPMs in their biggest gear, but if you did you’d hit nearly 48 mph on a 53 x 12 and just over 40 on junior gears. Those are speeds that can win a lot of races.

The Feed Zone - Tips for Hand Ups

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Thu, 14 May 2009 02:00:00 +0000

So that long road race is coming up, and you’re starting to think that getting a few bottles during the race would be a big help for staying hydrated. The feed zone is a tricky place, both for riders and the people feeding them, because most people—on and off the bike—don’t do it much.

A few things to think about before you plan to get a hand up during a race:

If you’ve never done it before, race time is not the right time to learn.
If putting 1–3 bottles in your jersey will be enough for the race, that’s the best way to go. If that won’t suffice, then make time to practice before race day.
It’s great that Billy’s girlfriend volunteered to help at the race, but if she doesn’t dress like Mother Theresa, she shouldn’t be asked to do her great works either. Feeding a team during your first race is totally unrealistic! And if you’re a friend of Billy’s, you won’t do that to his girlfriend. Plus, you’ll have a better chance of getting your bottle.

At this point, if you’ve decided that you need to get a feed at the race, or simply that it’s about time you started learning how to do this, read on. If the person giving you bottles knows what to do, that will be a big help. Next, a lot of your success will depend on everyone around you staying sane and whether or not you have good hands. If you took up cycling because you were the kid who couldn’t catch a ball if offered a million dollars, this hand up thing is not looking good for you. But these basics will help both you—the rider—and your assistant if you’re new to this. In the cycling tradition—and lacking a better name—I call the person handing up bottles the “soigneur.”

Before race, plan the following:

What bottles, drinks (water, energy drink, etc.), and food should be put in a cooler or other container for quick and easy transport and access
Where the soigneur will stand (right/left side of road, and beginning/middle/end of feed zone), and where on the course the feed zone is located
What the soigneur will be wearing (clothing color, hat, etc.) so they can easily be spotted
Which lap(s) you plan to get a feed
What items you will get (energy drink vs. water) on which laps

Soigneur skills for handing up bottles:

Get close to the riders—usually this will be uncomfortably close for people new to feeding—but obviously don’t get into the road, which is dangerous for you and the riders
Hold the bottle correctly!!! Refer to image shown here.
Hold your arm straight out—this will be the right height for the rider and you won’t have to get quite so close
Let the rider absorb the impact of grabbing the bottle—don’t try to run along or move the bottle in the rider’s direction to lessen the impact. It’s a bike racer you’re working with, not Randy Moss, and there are usually lots of other people in the feed zone.
Pick up dropped bottles after completing the feed
New soigneurs should only try to feed one rider, two max. With more experience for rider and soigneur it’s possible to feed more riders but still tricky.

Rider skills and tips for getting a feed

Toss off extra bottles after the feed zone—this way if you have a half-empty bottle you can keep it in case you miss your feed
Aim to grab the bottle at the neck with your thumb and forefinger, and the rest of your hand wrapping around the length of the bottle
Anticipate the difference in speed of the stationary bottle and let your arm absorb some of the speed difference—don’t try to grab the bottle with an iron hand and arm
Let dropped bottles go—don’t look back after them as you’re only likely to cause a crash

General stuff to know

Feeding is a learned skill, so practice it!
Plan feeds earlier than needed in a circuit race so you can always have full bottles with you, even if you miss a feed one lap.
Only hand up 1 bottle at time. If you really need to hand up more, then you need to use a musette bag (photo of musette bag) which uses a little different technique and practice
Many relationships have been negatively affected by the failure to connect on a feed, so talk and practice ahead of time and leave any errors out on the course (don’t bring them home afterward)
Writing your name (and team name) on bottles helps you get them back, but expect (and plan accordingly) to lose some.

Now practice

Find a quiet street/road with an uphill—hopefully the races where you need to feed will also have a hill at the feed zone.
Practice with the soigneur on the right side of the road. This is the side you will feed in most races, plus most riders are right-handed which will make this easier (sorry lefties).
Have empty and water-filled bottles available (don’t use energy drink for practice—it’s sticky, and bottles sometimes squirt or pop-a-top during a feed); start with an empty bottle then move to water-filled bottles
Soigneur stands on the white line (or on the curb) on the side of the road
If necessary, before reaching the feed zone the rider moves any empty or near empty bottles to make room for new bottle
Rider approaches following a straight line near the white line
Rider maintains line through the feed zone—do not swerve in toward the soigneur to get the feed as this creates more chaos for riders and feeders alike; the soigneur should adjust their road-side position to be at the appropriate distance
Soigneur holds bottle straight out at arm’s length grasping the bottle from the top (bottle dangling down)
Rider puts hand out in bottle grabbing position (about 18“ in front of the shoulder at shoulder height with hand open) signaling they will take the bottle and helping the rider and soigneur home in for the feed
Rider holds line and keeps eyes on bottle as taking feed to properly catch bottle. I recommend wrapping the bottle into your chest to hold it securely (sort of like it was a football) and making sure you still have a safe line through the feed zone.
Rider then places bottle in cage or jersey
Rider tosses off any empty or nearly empty bottles
Repeat a half-dozen times or more increasing the speed as you get more comfortable

During a race

Stay to the left if you are not feeding—this will make life better and safer for everyone
Make sure to follow all of the pre-event planning noted above, plus remember and use the same techniques you did in practice
Expect the feed zone to be a bit chaotic during a race, but focus on getting into position (or out of the way) before entering the feed zone, and holding your line through the entire feed zone.
Rider and soigneur should communicate with each other each lap through the feed zone—confirm the schedule (as it was planned) or make changes as necessary

Example

In this video, riders are going through a feed zone picking up musette bags and grabbing bottles. They make it look very easy, and you’ll probably have a hard time picking up the feed zone action until you’ve watched through the video a few times. Look for riders slinging musette bags over their heads they have just grabbed, and a few bottles being handed out. Everyone continues to ride a steady pace and a smooth line. Watch the upper left corner as the soigneur with the white and red shirt hands out three bottles from 0:23–0:28 in the video.

Twelve Things You Absolutely Have to Know to Race Bicycles

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:00:00 +0000

The Wisconsin Cycling Association (WCA) website has an excellent resource and reminder for all bike racers called Twelve Things You Absolutely Have to Know to Race Bicycles. The list of 12 follows, but check their page for the quick details on each point. This really is essential info for all bike racers.

Be on time for races
Check your equipment before the race
Pin your numbers on correctly
Be a good, responsible citizen
Understand the free lap rule
Listen to the starting instructions
Ride so as to make it a safe race for everyone
Know the rules for working with teammates
Know when you finish if you get lapped
Be courteous to the folks you meet on race day
Understand the results process
Enjoy your race! It's supposed to be fun!

Selecting a Bike Rack for your Vehicle

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:41:00 +0000

Bike racks come in about as many options as there are vehicles to put them on. Roof, trunk, or trailer hitch mounted, with or without front wheel removed, holding 1–4 bikes (or more if you see those ProTour team cars). The list goes on and on and every manufacturer has what seem like infinite options.

To help you get started, the following list provides some considerations to make that will help you focus on the style of rack that will best fit your needs. Picking the manufacturer and features is up to you.

Ease of use: how difficult is it to put bikes on the mounts or simply reach the rack (e.g. roof racks on full-sized vans require a ladder)
Rack’s impact on use of car: does the rack block or alter your access to different parts of the car (e.g. impair or prevent access to doors, truck, tailgate, etc.)
Quality of attachment: what’s the risk of the bikes coming off the rack; what’s the risk of the bikes being damaged (i.e. things rubbing together)
Security of the bikes (theft prevention): how/if the rack can be locked to the car and the bikes locked to the rack
Dirt and bugs: amount of junk that will get on your bikes while traveling
Carrying capacity: how many bikes, wheels, and other gear can be carried
Cost: what are you willing to spend for the rack and its affect on fuel efficiency

Make sure to consider your type of vehicle (van, SUV, sedan), amount of gear, amount of travel, your budget, and other individual factors as you consider the list above. What’s good for one person won’t work for another so don’t just get the same thing your teammate got unless your situations are pretty similar.

I rarely carry more than one bike and have found that the best balance of all these factors means putting my bike in the trunk. It’s easy, secure, keeps the bike clean, and it’s free, but it doesn’t work well when I need to carry 2 bikes. I’ve used trunk and hitch racks and been moderately happy with them (work fine but limit/prevent trunk/tailgate access). My family even used to have a custom made trailer that could haul four bikes, a gross of wheels, tools, and leave enough room for a cooler, too. Next I’ll get a roof rack when I need to start carrying more bikes because it’ll allow me to get a box for carrying skis in the winter.

So figure out what works for you and then get shopping. Thule, Yakima, Saris, and Rocky Mounts are just a few names out there.

Train your brain: Dealing with failure

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

In the midst of putting time and effort into training and racing, one element that can often be overlooked is making sure you’ve got your head in the right place. The mental aspect of cycling is just as important to success as the physical. Maintaining focus during a race allows you to follow through with race strategy, save energy, stay nourished, be aware of race dynamics, and give your best effort. During training and daily life, having a good mental outlook helps maintain the consistency and lifestyle that supports your cycling habit through persistence, healthy habits, intense effort, and quality relaxation.

One of the challenges every cyclist will face is failure. At some point everyone has a bad workout, gets dropped from a group ride, experiences a mechanical problem that ruins a top placing, or fails to meet a top goal. Learning how to deal with these failures—small and large—is an important of being a cyclist.

Marvin Zauderer over at Pez Cycling has an article Putting Failure in its Place, that provides an introduction about how and why people respond to failure in different ways and gives some ideas about handling it productively. It’s not a guide to dealing with failure, but it’s a good place to start thinking about how disappointments affect our outlook and how we can react them. If you’ve never taken time to think about how you deal with set backs—on or off the bike—I think this is a good time to start seeing how you can learn and adapt when you fall short of your own expectations.

Use TrainingPeaks WKO+ on a Mac with CrossOver

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Big Update! Details on using new versions of WKO+ and CrossOver were posted 1-27-10. Check the new post for a much simpler process with these new versions.

Post updates:
(Updated 1-16-10 with a correction/addition regarding running WKO+ version 2 with builds later than 102. WKO+ version 3 will be covered separately, though reports are that it works, too.)
(Updated 6-4-09 with info to assist people using something other than WKO+ build 102 (i.e. build 103 or later).

Mac users training with a power meter or a heart rate monitor have limited options for quality training software. If you want to use the best training software out there, TrainingPeaks WKO+, but who don’t want to run Windows, the following is one option you can use. It’s not clean, it’s not pretty, and those pretty much mean it’s not very Mac-like. But it can save you from needing a box just to run Windows, using a virtualization application (Parallels, VMWare Fusion), or dual booting with Bootcamp.

What you need:

Desire to run WKO+ without ever starting up Windows
Mac with an Intel processor
GoldenCheetah, Garmin Training Center, PowerAgent, or other software to download data from your power meter or heart rate monitor
CrossOver Mac (30-day free trial, $40) [version 7 is covered here; version 8 will be covered separately in the future]
TrainingPeaks WKO+ (30-day free trial, $99) [version 2 is covered here; version 3 will be covered separately in the future]

Oh, and maybe a little bit of luck. But hopefully the following detailed information will eliminate most of the need for luck.

CrossOver Mac is a commercial version of Wine, the open source software that enables you to run Windows applications on a Mac or Linux computer without actually running Windows. Why would you want to do this? Running CrossOver Mac is a great way to run a single Windows application because it saves you from buying, installing, maintaining, safeguarding, backing up, and even booting Windows.

The downside is that WKO is not a supported application in CrossOver Mac so it requires some additional manual set up, the device download into WKO+ does not work, nor does the in-app help. (Users much smarter than me may be able to custom-configure their CrossOver installation to enable device download or enable the Help viewer; I would be eternally greatful for the sharing of such knowledge.) As a result, you need to download data using another Mac application, export the data to a csv file, then import it in WKO+. This process usually takes much less time than simply booting Windows, so I haven't found it a problem.

Now that you know that background, let’s get to business. Check out the WKO+ with CrossOver Mac installation directions (PDF, 42 KB; updated 1-16-10) for all the nitty gritty. If you have additional suggestions, please leave a comment. If you try this, I recommend you bring your own tech savvy and patience. Since I can’t see exactly what you did and all of your settings, I’m not likely to have many troubleshooting tips other than, “Try a clean installation of CrossOver and WKO+ following the directions exactly as written. Oh, and good luck.” But I do hope these details offer some assistance to others interested in a Windows-less WKO+ experience.

Sunday Funnies: And you thought getting kids on bikes was tough

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Cycling Terms and Slang

noreply@blogger.com (Lucas Wall) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Finding a one stop shop for cycling lingo is tricky. One of the best glossaries I've seen is Cycling Terms and Slang, which was shared by Bilko (a.k.a. Phil Stephens) and will soon be posted on the new Marymoor Velodrome website. It’s a great source for looking up a wide variety of words and acronyms related to road and track racing.

If you’re looking for other resources, visit the Glossary of cycling terms post from last summer.