Hills and Headwinds

Yesterday was the fourth year in a row that I rode in the Hills of Attrition (click on the link to get all the gory details of the ride from my Garmin Edge 800) - our first demanding event of the season, and for each of the four years, the time that I find out my maximum heart rate for the year.

The ride is around 55 miles long with seven big (from a New Jersey perspective) climbs.  This year, to add insult to injury, we had 20 - 30 mph headwinds to content with on 6 of the climbs and one big descent!!!  It was like adding two or three more climbs to the route.

We started at 8:30 AM on wet roads, and chilly temperatures, but it is amazing how things tend to warm up along with the increase in elevation gain.  After our first climb of the day, no one was complaining anymore about the temperature. 

The Gang of Four (and Dave's admirer) at the rest stop!

We settled into a good pace and one-by-one knocked off each of the hills, hoping we had enough left in out legs for the toughest of the climbs at about mile 42 - one of those where you look at the grade and are not sure if you are still on the road, or in an oxygen-starved state of mind, have accidentally turned into some one's sick joke of a driveway.  I have said it before, and I'll repeat it here "Last year's adventure seems to have physically transformed me, and the muscles in my legs - difficult but do-able is the frame of mind for these challenges now."  The climb topped out at a 22% grade, and my heart rate topped out at 200 bpm.  When doing the climb, I tried to catch brief glimpses of my GPS display to see just how steep it was, and how fast my heart was beating - the highest I observed were 18% and 180 bpm.  Apparently, as I suspected, the maximums occurred while my head was well over the handlebars to get maximum leverage on my pedals.

Now onto "You can teach an Old Dog new tricks!!"

A few posts ago I wrote about Triathlon training, and how based on the feedback from the speakers, it was apparent  that after 56 years on earth, I didn't know how to either swim or run (efficiently).  Up until yesterday, I thought I had cycling pretty well nailed down though.

This past Tuesday I attended a meeting in NYC of the New York Cycling Club - I was there to promote my bike touring business.  An interesting club with some 2,000 members that has been promoting cycling for 75 years.  I had a fun time talking about last year's tour with some of the riders, comparing memories and experiences along Lake Superior and Cape Breton Island.  One thing that the club does is hold 10 week long  "Special Interest Group" sessions for their members to hone up on their cycling skills, with a compulsory 40 - 100 mile ride every Saturday for the 10-week duration, starting in early March.  Being the curious type, I browsed their web site and found the "SIG-B" manual that describes the whole process.  It was there that I found that I didn't know how to ride (or at least ride as well as I can...)

In the book they describe the three ways you can turn your bike:

Steer – At speeds of less than 10 MPH or when roads are slick:

• Steer the bike (move the front wheel).

• Bike stays upright, body leans slightly in direction of turn.

• An upright bike will be hard to turn at higher speeds

Lean – The standard turn at speeds over 10 MPH:

• This is done without steering the bike (not turning front wheel)

• Follow natural line (visualize water moving down curvy mountain stream)

• Lean your body into direction of turn – moving your nose in line with your inside brake lever. Your bike leans with you.

• Exiting the turn, re-center your body over your bike.

Counter Steering – Nirvana – making you and your bike one

• Do everything from lean (above), but:

• Straighten your inside arm and continually push down on the handlebars.

• Push more for a tighter turn, less for a wider turn.

I tried out the "counter steering" on some of the faster descents of the Hills of Attrition and it was amazing how much more stable it seemed, and how much faster you could go through the turns…

The caveat here is "do not try this at home" unless you are very proficient in your cycling skills, as it does take some commitment and an act of faith that it works...  I suspect that the down side is that the transition between "being stable" and "losing it" may be a lot narrower than steering and or leaning.  I will proceed with caution in experimenting as I have had more than enough contact with the pavement to date.

Cheers to all, and I hope the cycling season is in full gear wherever you are!

The Bike Fitting

When I studied ergonomics as a part of my Systems Engineering Degree in the early '70s, I was fascinated by one of our text books titled "Fitting the Task to the Man."  The theory behind the text was to modify tasks which humans perform to better integrate with their physiology and limitations.

This week, on Thursday, I had an extensive bike fitting at Marty's bike shop.  My fitter was Jesse Epstein (Marty's son) who is one of only 30 bike fitters in the US to have been recognized as a Certified Master's BG Fit Technician  from Specialized Bicycle Components University and Andy Pruitt from the Boulder Center of Sports Medicine.

The fitting, which took over 2 hours, involved a full body survey and range of motion calculations, as well as what proved to be a rather humorous inventory of "prior injuries" - going through this part for me was probably the longest section of the fitting (apparently given the extent of my injuries over the years from skiing and cycling, I am lucky to be alive), and finished off, after all the data was gathered, with tweaking the setup of my bike.

Some of the range of motion assessments were rather funny, with Jesse bending me in half and telling me to let him know before it begins to hurt - to which I responded "Should we agree on a 'safe' word before hand?"  Apparently despite my lack of stretching, I am reasonable flexible (I can touch my palms to the floor in front of my toes with straight legs) but my hip flexors are pretty tight.  This is common for people who cycle long distances, and was noted by my massage therapist when I got a massage the week after my 5,300 trek last summer.

I was not surprised, given my lack of pain over the past summer, that my bike needed very little tweaking.  I had Jesse do a less extensive fit in the spring of last year and he pretty much nailed it.  The only modifications made this time were a slight tweaking of the seat to make it more level, and raising the position of the handle bars to open up my hip flexors by about 8° so I am riding in a slightly more upright position.  This will increase my efficiency in generating power to the pedals - should be fun because I thought before hand that I could generate a fair bit of power already.

Yesterday, I put the fitting to the test with a very hilly ride of the Piccolo Fondo Route of New Jersey's Gran Fondo this August (3,400+' of climbing in 40 miles - we will be using this route as a training route to prepare for the upcoming Hills of Attrition in mid-April).

The temperature was hovering in the low 30°s (Fahrenheit for my Canadian readers) so it was a good test.  I finished the ride without any pain or issues, and felt able to really put out the power on the flats.  It should be a fun summer with these adjustments to my fit.

As a follow-up I need to get back to Jesse with my comments and observations in about a month's time - so far it can be summed up with "Great!".

To those readers signed up for this year's Trans Canada ride, and are following this blog for tips on how to make it more do-able, I highly recommend a professional bit fitting before you start your training in earnest, it will be money well spent, and should help you avoid any injuries associated with your bike fit over your arduous voyage - it should also make it a lot more fun!!!.

Thanks again Jesse for the fit last year, and for this year's tweaking.  They have allowed me over 8,000 miles of pain free cycling.

.

The Shiv

shiv:  (noun) - knife

Early this month I attended a triathlon "expo" at Marty's shop in Randolph, NJ - the focus of the expo was to educate current and prospective triathletes of all abilities on the sport. There were three speakers - one discussing compression socks, one discussing the various aspects of training for the three disciplines in a triathlon (swimming, riding and running) and one discussing equipment. 

All three were fascinating and I learned a lot.

Compression Socks/Clothing:
The first presenter from CEP Socks discussed the mechanics, technology and benefits compression socks/clothing. From what I took away, they provide assistance in returning blood back to the heart/lungs from the lower extremities for re-oxygenation.  The socks are engineered to provide precise variable compression up from the ankle to the top of the calf (higher compression at the bottom/ lower at the top).  I think the theory is that gravity assists in the blood flow down to your calves/feet, but must be overcome on the return trip, and with compression socks you get better circulation and more efficient performance.
Note: Maybe this explains how "one sock" Bob on our trans continental trip rode with such strength and stamina - I can't imagine how he would have performed with two socks!!! 
During the presentation two thoughts kept popping into my mind...
1) Have these guys thought of marketing their product to executives who spend half their lives on planes and are at risk because of blood pooling in their lower extremities due to the reduced air pressure in aircraft cabins.
2) How long will it be before "assists" like this which are used for performance enhancement as opposed to a medical reason (e.g. varicose veins) are considered a form of "mechanical doping", and how would WADA or anyone else test for it.

Technique:
The second speaker talked about technique for swimming, cycling and running, and was fascinating.  His key points were that while you may know how to do all three, do you know how to do them efficiently?  I thought I did, but with the exception of cycling, was sadly mistaken.  Apparently a key point is to do nothing in your technique which either impedes forward progress or does not assist it. For example, in running you should not land on your heel, or plant your foot forward of your hips, as it in effect created a force pushing you backwards. In swimming,  you should strive to keep your body parallel with the surface (less drag) and perpendicular to the surface as much as possible (again less drag).  In cycling, drag is key, but you also want to avoid unnecessary motion (rocking of hips, upper body bounce, etc.).  As well you want to have your bike fitted to maximize the transfer of power to your pedals.

There was a rather interesting discussion on the challenges that triathletes face - particularly associated with the transitions from swimming (horizontal) to cycling (semi-vertical) and finally to running (fully vertical) and how thier muscles need to adjust, and how the at the start of the running they are hunched over because their hip flexors are tight from cycling. 
  
Aerodynamics:
The final speaker for the evening was Mark Cote, Specialized's Product Manager for Road Bikes.  His "prop" for the talk was the Shiv, Specialized's top of the line time trial bike. 

The Shiv

He was there to talk about equipment, and how aerodynamics can affect performance.  He graduated from MIT with a degree in Aerodynamics, and has spent his career in and out of wind tunnels testing his designs for Specialized.  Apparently the best efficiency gains for cyclists, especially time trialists or triathletes, are realized in order of importance, through:
1) Bike fit
2) Aero Bars
3) Time Trial "tear drop" helmet
4) Wheels
5) Bike (e.g. a time trial frame)

The way he described things made perfect sense, and it was great to hear someone so passionate about their work.  It was also neat to see someone with an extremely high degree of technical expertise able to communicate with people who just want to ride, but ride efficiently.

My next posting will cover the extensive bike fitting I just went through this week as a subject to a SPecialized research project for Roubaix.