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Intermediate Bike Training News |  |
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Dear Rick, It looks like another great weekend of riding is on its way. Last Saturday we rode out of Lyons and did the loop over the Peak-to-Peak Highway through Ward. This is a route we will use quite frequently throughout the season. And, we need to talk energy management again... RMCC rides are true intermediate rides. Most of us ride all year. Some of us even train specifically for long-distance cycling. This is not a club where you can come out occasionally and ride in the front, or even middle, of the group. You also aren't going to "overpower" the routes we ride. These aren't 45 minute rides like spin class. And these aren't little hills like around your neighborhood. Typically, you may start out climbing for 1-2 hours and still have 60 miles to ride. One last thing, cycling at this level is a team sport. At 20 mph over 75% of your energy is used to overcome the resistance of the air as you move through it. Taking turns drafting each other will save each rider 30-40% of their energy and will make the entire group faster. PLEASE NOTE that the RMCC ride start time moves to 8:45 this weekend. Have a great week of riding...  Rick Russon
Each week I see new riders come out. Maybe coming from another club, spin classes, skiing, or some other activity they think they are pretty athletic. So they take off with the front of the group only to get dropped after a couple mile warm-up. They spend the next 2-3 hours surging to stay ahead of the next group coming but keep falling further behind in the pack. As I mentioned before, this club has serious riders. Some of the front group are former racers with a wall full of trophies. One woman even set two records in national events over 300 miles. A competitive athlete who maintains a consistent level of training may lose only 10% of their ability by the time they are 60 years old. Enough to be uncompetitive in Cat racing but still fast enough to leave the average recreational rider in the dust. The goal is to ride smart - not hard. Last ride some people hammered the rollers then found out they had 15 miles of canyon to climb. Some hammered the rollers and the canyon only to find they had a half mile "wall" of 12-15% grade to climb up to Ward. Some "survived" and made it to Ward only to find out they had to climb further up to the Peak-to-Peak Hwy and the rollers on it. Good news is that I know you can do these rides no matter what shape you are in. You just need to ride within your capability and find other riders of similar ability to train with. If you will be a little patient starting out, your progress will be faster through the rest of the season.
PiYoChi is going well. Great workout of the core muscles. We have ended all lower body strength training exercises. Time to let the legs, hips, and back adjust to cycling specific loads. You can still spin. But, if you are like me, you probably will want to spend more time actually riding outdoors. If you do spin be sure to take the time to adjust the spin bike for the same position of your body that you have on your actual bike. Otherwise, you will be training a completely different set of muscles. The spin workout is short and fast so use it as a tempo ride to build aerobic capacity by keeping your cadence high.
I'll be blunt... you will either learn how to eat and drink on the bike or you will ride in the back of the pack or alone. Long distance cycling is a biochemical sport. While there are exceptions to every rule statistically you are probably not one of them. The majority of our study is spent trying to dial in our nutrition properly. Nutrition will change depending upon the length and intensity of the ride. For short, fast rides we tend to use the carb-only sport drinks like Cytomax. As the rides get longer the intensity usually drops. So we switch over to drinks that add a little protein and even some fatty acids like Perpetuem. On very long rides we can get tired of an all-liquid diet so we will eat regular food at break stops. Fig Newtons are the old standby. I like pretzels for the salt. Other items include Payday, Snickers or other candy bars. Twinkies, believe it or not, are almost the perfect sports nutrition bar. Just the right ratio of carbs, protein, and fat and lots of sugar.
Cycling physiology differs from other sports physiology for two reasons: 1) the bike supports all of our weight so all of our energy can go towards propulsion and 2) the use of gears allows us to adjust the workload so that our body can stay in its optimal energy-producing zone under most conditions. There are numerous free papers in the Midlife Cycling store that provide the basis to our training design. Anything that I add will be consistent with the existing training philosophy. I study health, fitness, and cycling materials on a daily basis to constantly look for ways to improve our training. I assume you are also running across other training suggestions and tips. Just be careful about mixing and matching information. Some of it has to do with racing, may be for people at a different fitness level than you, may be for different training philosophies, or may be flat out wrong.
The newest items in the store are the Optic Nerve sunglasses. These are an exceptional quality eyewear at a reasonable price. I have been riding with two pairs for several years and have yet to have a failure - other than my prescription running out half way through a ride. The three pairs selected from their line all come with four interchangeable lenses. They retail for $54 but RMCC members get 20% off. In the bargain section of the store there is one pair that is 50% off. Other items to satisfy the shop-a-holic in you are the books "Cycling Past 50" and "The Female Cyclist." And, of course my favorite product, the liquid glucosamine. This is a pharmaceutical quality liquid that works better for my body than any of the pills I have found. In the two years that I have used it I have not had to take any ibuprofen for joint pain or inflammation.
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