Monday: Another lunch meeting and no working out.
Tuesday: Spin class with the Team. 690 Calories. Highlight was the 10-minute standing climb. Yow. Talk about burning in the quads. I was feeling a little tired and thought I might skimp out after 5-minutes or so. I had done the full 8-minutes the week before. I rode next to my Mentor Lisa tonight and she challenged me saying that I couldn't stop until she did. What the hell, we both made the 10-minutes. Felt good except for the cramping in both calves 30 seconds after I stopped. I've been cramping a lot lately. Going to have to figure something out. Other exercise of note was the Team Spin. The group is divided into three parts and each part pedals as fast as they can for 20 seconds in their easiest gear. The next 40 seconds are easy spin while the other parts of the group do their sprint. Repeat 2 more times. I got my cadence up to 177 rpm which I hear is pretty good. It doesn't sound very hard, but believe me, it is.
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Spin class (Thursday night light). 695 Calories. This was a scaled down version of Tuesday's class. The coaches don't want to poop everyone out before Saturday's long mileage. Did another 10-minute standing climb and this time my calves didn't freak out on me. I think I could have gone another few minutes so I can really see improvement in my bike fitness level.
Friday: Nothing
Saturday: Big Ride. 45 Miles. 2920 calories!
Sunday: A little cross training to stretch out the legs. 6-mile hike at Iron Mountain in Poway.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
sTorrey Pines Part Deux
Another big ride today. Just a hair under 40 miles. We started out in Carlsbad and rode to Del Mar and back. The B3 group consisted of 6 riders, down from the largish size of 12 from the week before. The groups are starting to even out. I was happy with my decision to stay with this group another week. The members of this group are all pretty strong riders and it seems that we are all getting more confident riding with each other. We had a minimum amount of "inchworm" syndrome this week. Inchworm syndrome is when the length of the pace line contracts and expands as each rider's pace changes. It makes it very hard to stay 12 inches off the back tire of the person you are following in a pace line to be able to draft effectively. Everyone rode a very consistent pace which made it a lot easier. I got some good tips from Coach Jay about how to maintain good drafting distance without braking so much and wasting energy trying to catch up.
We did the Torrey Pine thing again and this time riding through the gnats was terrible. There was no way to get through it without getting some in your mouth or nose. Nasty. Riding up the hill was harder for me this week than it was last week. Probably because I didn't get enough sleep.
I made some nutritional changes this week. One thing I did was use an electrolyte supplement in my water bottles. I drink a lot of water but I seemed to always be dehydrated. I think what was happening is that the electrolytes were being flushed out of my body with all the water I had been drinking and all the sweating. I also remembered some of my marathon training and ate a small salt packet 20 miles into the ride and felt instantly better. I also made sure to bring food this time and experimented with a couple types of energy bars. Overall I felt really good at the end of the day and definitely could have kept going.
The changes I had made to the fit on my bike were all great. No sign of foot numbness or knee trouble. The new pedals worked like a charm and I got a very satisfying click every time I got on the bike.
In other news, check out my kickin' new Captain America bicycle jersey.
Hell yeah...
We did the Torrey Pine thing again and this time riding through the gnats was terrible. There was no way to get through it without getting some in your mouth or nose. Nasty. Riding up the hill was harder for me this week than it was last week. Probably because I didn't get enough sleep.
I made some nutritional changes this week. One thing I did was use an electrolyte supplement in my water bottles. I drink a lot of water but I seemed to always be dehydrated. I think what was happening is that the electrolytes were being flushed out of my body with all the water I had been drinking and all the sweating. I also remembered some of my marathon training and ate a small salt packet 20 miles into the ride and felt instantly better. I also made sure to bring food this time and experimented with a couple types of energy bars. Overall I felt really good at the end of the day and definitely could have kept going.
The changes I had made to the fit on my bike were all great. No sign of foot numbness or knee trouble. The new pedals worked like a charm and I got a very satisfying click every time I got on the bike.
In other news, check out my kickin' new Captain America bicycle jersey.
Hell yeah...
Friday, February 22, 2008
Re-fit
Who says we don't have real weather in San Diego? It rained today. Actually it's still raining. Had to cancel my usual ride my bike to work day. Even with the weather, I still had some bike stuff to do. I had scheduled another appointment at Ye Olde Bike Shoppe, aka TrekStore San Diego, to check the fit of my bicycle. I had already been previously fitted but something was just a bit off. On the longer mileage, I had been feeling just a twinge of knee soreness. I had also felt some numbness in my feet. Nothing dramatic during the lower mileage but I was worried that it could turn into a bigger problem on the longer rides.
It took about 3 minutes in the store to figure out what was going on. It appears that I had my clips too far back on the shoe. They are supposed to be at the ball of your foot so that you get good power with each stroke. Mine were too far back, so I was basically riding on the arch of my foot. This resulted in me dropping the heel of my foot too far at each down stroke which was annoying my knee. Whip, zip, slam, bang, a few minutes with the alum wrench and I was good. Of course, now my seat was too far up so we had to spend a few minutes playing with that.
One other thing, I had been having trouble with my right pedal. My shoes wouldn't fully clip into them. We tried a bunch of things and then determined that it was a problem with the pedal itself. They replaced my pedals then and there and now I get a very satisfying click when I step in. Now, I'm ready to ride tomorrow in Carlsbad...
...if it would only stop raining!
It took about 3 minutes in the store to figure out what was going on. It appears that I had my clips too far back on the shoe. They are supposed to be at the ball of your foot so that you get good power with each stroke. Mine were too far back, so I was basically riding on the arch of my foot. This resulted in me dropping the heel of my foot too far at each down stroke which was annoying my knee. Whip, zip, slam, bang, a few minutes with the alum wrench and I was good. Of course, now my seat was too far up so we had to spend a few minutes playing with that.
One other thing, I had been having trouble with my right pedal. My shoes wouldn't fully clip into them. We tried a bunch of things and then determined that it was a problem with the pedal itself. They replaced my pedals then and there and now I get a very satisfying click when I step in. Now, I'm ready to ride tomorrow in Carlsbad...
...if it would only stop raining!
Monday, February 18, 2008
Training Log February 18-24
Monday: Nothing
Tuesday: Spin - 860 Calories.
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Spin class canceled due to rain so we spun at home to the Spinerval dvd. 1260 calories of butt kicking.
Friday: It rained all day and I did nothing. So sad.
Saturday: 40 miles and 2550 calories later and I was ready for pancakes.
Sunday: More rain and lazy. My one day to rest and boy did I do a good job.
Tuesday: Spin - 860 Calories.
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Spin class canceled due to rain so we spun at home to the Spinerval dvd. 1260 calories of butt kicking.
Friday: It rained all day and I did nothing. So sad.
Saturday: 40 miles and 2550 calories later and I was ready for pancakes.
Sunday: More rain and lazy. My one day to rest and boy did I do a good job.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Torrey Story
This week's big Saturday ride was supposed to be another session at Fiesta Island to practice pace lines without traffic. Apparently, there was some sort of triathlon time trial thing going on we had a last minute change of plans and had to hit the road after all. I decided to move up a group to the B3's. The group was 12 people with most being pretty experienced riders.
The ride was 2hrs 50 minutes and we rode 28.6 pretty hard miles. The highlight was "Torrey". There is a 1-1/4 mile stretch of road running along side Torrey Pines State Reserve that is a 1900 foot climb and it is all uphill. While not the most feared climb in San Diego, it not a hill to be trifled with and is usually spoken of in hushed tones. Our route first took us down the big hill and then we did a U-Turn to climb back up it. Going down was a blast. No paces line were in affect as everyone just screamed down the hills. I was doing just a hair under 25 mph on the way down. About halfway down the hill, something started hitting my face as I rode by. We were right near the ocean and there was a pretty strong wind blowing in so I assumed it was sand. Get to the bottom, and everyone is talking about it. I look down and see dead bugs splattered on my arms. We rode straight through a swarm of gnats, sand fleas or whatever they were. Good thing I ride with my mouth closed.
The ride back up the hill was adventure on it's own. I started out as pace leader as we headed back. We had actually gained a little elevation after the steep drop so the way back up to the top started with a downhill. I hadn't realized what exactly was going on so I tried to maintain a good pace leader speed. As soon as the downhill hit, people started flying past me. Whoops! I tried desperately to get into a higher gear so I could crank down the hill. To much, too fast as I throw my chain. Went from first to last in about 20 seconds. Frown. Chain is really locked up but I'm able to get back on the road in about 2 minutes with help from Coach Jay. It was a blessing in disguise as I get some nice one on one time with the Coach. As we start up the hill, he gives me some climbing tips. There's the standing climb, the seated rocking climb and one other I can't remember anymore. Next thing you know, I'm caught up the the last rider. I keep cranking. My fitness is pretty good right now with all the marathon training and with my rides up and down Fairmount avenue when I ride to work so I start passing people. I'm so glad I elected to get the triple cog set rather than the double when I bought my bike. Those baby gears really make a huge difference when climbing. All of a sudden, I'm at the top and I've caught all but 2 of the riders. Felt pretty good.
The ride back was pretty uneventful except that I made a huge mistake by not bringing any food with me. I stare jealously at the other riders eating everything from power bars to Oreo cookies. I won't make that mistake again. Energy started to wane pretty quickly but I made it back ok. Spoke to Coach Jay and we agreed for me to stay in this group for at least another week. While I'm a strong rider, my biking skills still need some polishing. The entire ride I tried to hold myself back from going out too fast but I think I was still too eager. At this mileage I've got the stamina to handle it, but I was pretty tired immediately after the session and pretty sore the day after. If I'm going to complete a century ride, I really need to learn to hold myself back.
The ride was 2hrs 50 minutes and we rode 28.6 pretty hard miles. The highlight was "Torrey". There is a 1-1/4 mile stretch of road running along side Torrey Pines State Reserve that is a 1900 foot climb and it is all uphill. While not the most feared climb in San Diego, it not a hill to be trifled with and is usually spoken of in hushed tones. Our route first took us down the big hill and then we did a U-Turn to climb back up it. Going down was a blast. No paces line were in affect as everyone just screamed down the hills. I was doing just a hair under 25 mph on the way down. About halfway down the hill, something started hitting my face as I rode by. We were right near the ocean and there was a pretty strong wind blowing in so I assumed it was sand. Get to the bottom, and everyone is talking about it. I look down and see dead bugs splattered on my arms. We rode straight through a swarm of gnats, sand fleas or whatever they were. Good thing I ride with my mouth closed.
The ride back up the hill was adventure on it's own. I started out as pace leader as we headed back. We had actually gained a little elevation after the steep drop so the way back up to the top started with a downhill. I hadn't realized what exactly was going on so I tried to maintain a good pace leader speed. As soon as the downhill hit, people started flying past me. Whoops! I tried desperately to get into a higher gear so I could crank down the hill. To much, too fast as I throw my chain. Went from first to last in about 20 seconds. Frown. Chain is really locked up but I'm able to get back on the road in about 2 minutes with help from Coach Jay. It was a blessing in disguise as I get some nice one on one time with the Coach. As we start up the hill, he gives me some climbing tips. There's the standing climb, the seated rocking climb and one other I can't remember anymore. Next thing you know, I'm caught up the the last rider. I keep cranking. My fitness is pretty good right now with all the marathon training and with my rides up and down Fairmount avenue when I ride to work so I start passing people. I'm so glad I elected to get the triple cog set rather than the double when I bought my bike. Those baby gears really make a huge difference when climbing. All of a sudden, I'm at the top and I've caught all but 2 of the riders. Felt pretty good.
The ride back was pretty uneventful except that I made a huge mistake by not bringing any food with me. I stare jealously at the other riders eating everything from power bars to Oreo cookies. I won't make that mistake again. Energy started to wane pretty quickly but I made it back ok. Spoke to Coach Jay and we agreed for me to stay in this group for at least another week. While I'm a strong rider, my biking skills still need some polishing. The entire ride I tried to hold myself back from going out too fast but I think I was still too eager. At this mileage I've got the stamina to handle it, but I was pretty tired immediately after the session and pretty sore the day after. If I'm going to complete a century ride, I really need to learn to hold myself back.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Spin Class
Today was the first Spin class session with the Team. The original training schedule showed us starting last week but it was an error. It was actually lucky for me that it was canceled because I didn't realize that I needed a spin trainer to do the class. You see, this class is different that gym spin classes because you get to use your own bike. You also get to have class in a parking lot outside of a bike store. Having to buy the trainer was an unexpected expense but I was able to find a really nice condition used one off of craigslist for under $100. Take a look:
No batteries required. It is a fluid resistance trainer and is set up so that your back tire gets viced into place and you rear wheel travels on a roller. The fluid inside the radiator looking gizmo provides the resistance. The fins dissipate the heat that is generated from your work out. The wire off the edge clips onto your bike and allows you to further adjust the rolling resistance. Not pictured is a plastic block for your front tire so that your bike is level while you train.
Class consisted of about 70-80 people, with three different teams training there. The store, Hi-Tech Bikes appears to be a real hub for biking in the SD area and they are very TnT friendly.
Training on your own bike is definitely a much different feel than on a standard gym bikes. First of all, the bike is already fitted for you. Second of all, the shifting is a lot more controlled as you have real gears to go through rather than turning a resistance knob. Thirdly, you are able to work on your balance and bike handling coordination.
We did several different training exercises, paying close attention to cadence. Cadence is the speed at which you turn your cranks and is measured in revolutions per minute. I don't claim to fully understand the concept yet, but it appears that you want to maintain a consistent cadence when cycling for optimum performance. You shift up and down depending on terrain features such as hills. You want to get into a nice steady pace for maximum efficiency. We start at 65 RPM and sped up by 5 rpm every couple of minutes until we got the heart really pumping at 95 RPM. I didn't have a device to actually measure my cadence so I had to just watch my neighbors legs closely and tried to match their speed. It appears that I need to buy more gear.
We also did another exercise, ILT (individual leg training). When you first learned to ride a bike, you probably didn't have clip-in pedals. Consequently, when you pedaled, you got you power during the down stroke. With clip-in pedals, you are actually able to generate power during the upstoke. The upstroke uses the quads while the downstroke uses the hamstrings. The exercise trains you to use the quads for pedaling.
Next was 3-3-3's. Pick pretty hard gear and pedal. It should be enough resistance so that you can comfortably still chat with your neighbor. Do that for 3 minutes. Then shift to the next higher gear. You can still talk to your neighbor but its pretty hard, maybe a few words. 3 more minutes and then shift up again. At this point, you're lucky if you can grunt. This one is tough.
The last one we did was a standing hill climb. This was a brutal 8-minute exercise. My foot was still pretty sore for the half from hell on Sunday and I was only able to stand for a couple of minutes at a time. Even without the injury, I don't think I could have gone much longer than 3-4 minutes.
Great work out.
No batteries required. It is a fluid resistance trainer and is set up so that your back tire gets viced into place and you rear wheel travels on a roller. The fluid inside the radiator looking gizmo provides the resistance. The fins dissipate the heat that is generated from your work out. The wire off the edge clips onto your bike and allows you to further adjust the rolling resistance. Not pictured is a plastic block for your front tire so that your bike is level while you train.
Class consisted of about 70-80 people, with three different teams training there. The store, Hi-Tech Bikes appears to be a real hub for biking in the SD area and they are very TnT friendly.
Training on your own bike is definitely a much different feel than on a standard gym bikes. First of all, the bike is already fitted for you. Second of all, the shifting is a lot more controlled as you have real gears to go through rather than turning a resistance knob. Thirdly, you are able to work on your balance and bike handling coordination.
We did several different training exercises, paying close attention to cadence. Cadence is the speed at which you turn your cranks and is measured in revolutions per minute. I don't claim to fully understand the concept yet, but it appears that you want to maintain a consistent cadence when cycling for optimum performance. You shift up and down depending on terrain features such as hills. You want to get into a nice steady pace for maximum efficiency. We start at 65 RPM and sped up by 5 rpm every couple of minutes until we got the heart really pumping at 95 RPM. I didn't have a device to actually measure my cadence so I had to just watch my neighbors legs closely and tried to match their speed. It appears that I need to buy more gear.
We also did another exercise, ILT (individual leg training). When you first learned to ride a bike, you probably didn't have clip-in pedals. Consequently, when you pedaled, you got you power during the down stroke. With clip-in pedals, you are actually able to generate power during the upstoke. The upstroke uses the quads while the downstroke uses the hamstrings. The exercise trains you to use the quads for pedaling.
Next was 3-3-3's. Pick pretty hard gear and pedal. It should be enough resistance so that you can comfortably still chat with your neighbor. Do that for 3 minutes. Then shift to the next higher gear. You can still talk to your neighbor but its pretty hard, maybe a few words. 3 more minutes and then shift up again. At this point, you're lucky if you can grunt. This one is tough.
The last one we did was a standing hill climb. This was a brutal 8-minute exercise. My foot was still pretty sore for the half from hell on Sunday and I was only able to stand for a couple of minutes at a time. Even without the injury, I don't think I could have gone much longer than 3-4 minutes.
Great work out.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Half from Hell
Today, Christine and I did the San Dieguito Half-Marathon. I initially thought I wasn't going to do this one as I might be tired after all the recent biking but I actually felt pretty good and it was looking like it was going to be a good day so what the hey.
We show up early and still had to park nearly a mile away from the start. We gear up and head over. The race started promptly at 8am and we hit the road. The field is 95% runners, including a lot of 5K and 10K people. There weren't that many walkers but since the course time limit was 4 hours I wasn't worried. My last few halfs were just a few minutes over 3 hours.
It was a pretty tough course. I don't know how it is possible but about 8-9 miles of the course was uphill. Nothing too steep but just a constant grind. Tough workout but within my abilities. I love a good hill.
Everything was going pretty well until Mile 7. The race marshal drives by in a van and asks if everyone was alright. Yup, doing fine. Mile 9 is the turnaround. The support people who hand out water seem to be packing up, with tables folded and dixie cups of water sitting on the ground. Weird but whatever. Those were the last event staff I saw on the course. Apparently, since the majority of the field was runners, they didn't feel that they had to stay on the course to support the rest of us. The last 4 miles of the course were unmanned by the support staff, including no water. Around mile 11, Christine and I get to a road intersection and there is no indication of which is the correct way to go. There is no one else in sight. We flag down a car passing by and ask if they know which way the course goes and they pointed to the road ahead. Guess what? They were wrong. Long story short, Christine and I got lost, and did an extra 3 miles before we got on course. We had to ask for directions 3 times before we made it back. I estimate that there were 20-25 people behind us including other walkers, and slower runners. One of the people behind us was an elderly man in his 70's, two teen-age girls and a young man who was really struggling. I hope they made it ok.
I was pretty mad when we crossed the finish line and there was basically no one there. We hike up the hill from the finish line to the park area and find the event coordinator and give her a piece of our mind. We let her know that the course is unmarked, we got lost and that there are other people on the course without any support. She apologizes and says that she will get someone out there. I ask and we at least get a medal.
Up the beer garden. We catch the last 5 minutes and who should we see but the race marshal who has been enjoying himself swilling beer for the last 90 minute while there were still people on the course. By this time, he's heard what has happened and I overhear him talking to another of the event staff basically not believing what we were saying and making it sound like we had to be a bunch of dummies to get lost. I speak up and tell him that the course wasn't marked. He swears up and down that he marked every intersection with a "half pound of flour". Christine steps in and continues talking to him about it. His story is that he did his "sweep" and everyone was alright and that he had a police car follow the last walker in to make sure they finish. He is responsible for the safety of the individuals but was content to make his final sweep 2 hours before the completion of the course time and then retire to drink beer. He refused to go back out and look for any other people on the course because he had been drinking. Whatever. Send someone, dude. As near as I can tell, what had happened is that
1) he was too lazy to see his job though. He should have had support staff available for the entire course time.
2) marking the course intersections in flour is a bad idea when hundreds of runners and cars are trampling by. I think that by the time we got to the intersection, the flour had blown away.
3) He wouldn't acknowledge that he had done anything wrong or that anything was even wrong. Boo for him.
Anyway, we called it a day and went out for pancakes. After it was all said and done, we walked over 17-miles when it should have been 13.1.
We show up early and still had to park nearly a mile away from the start. We gear up and head over. The race started promptly at 8am and we hit the road. The field is 95% runners, including a lot of 5K and 10K people. There weren't that many walkers but since the course time limit was 4 hours I wasn't worried. My last few halfs were just a few minutes over 3 hours.
It was a pretty tough course. I don't know how it is possible but about 8-9 miles of the course was uphill. Nothing too steep but just a constant grind. Tough workout but within my abilities. I love a good hill.
Everything was going pretty well until Mile 7. The race marshal drives by in a van and asks if everyone was alright. Yup, doing fine. Mile 9 is the turnaround. The support people who hand out water seem to be packing up, with tables folded and dixie cups of water sitting on the ground. Weird but whatever. Those were the last event staff I saw on the course. Apparently, since the majority of the field was runners, they didn't feel that they had to stay on the course to support the rest of us. The last 4 miles of the course were unmanned by the support staff, including no water. Around mile 11, Christine and I get to a road intersection and there is no indication of which is the correct way to go. There is no one else in sight. We flag down a car passing by and ask if they know which way the course goes and they pointed to the road ahead. Guess what? They were wrong. Long story short, Christine and I got lost, and did an extra 3 miles before we got on course. We had to ask for directions 3 times before we made it back. I estimate that there were 20-25 people behind us including other walkers, and slower runners. One of the people behind us was an elderly man in his 70's, two teen-age girls and a young man who was really struggling. I hope they made it ok.
I was pretty mad when we crossed the finish line and there was basically no one there. We hike up the hill from the finish line to the park area and find the event coordinator and give her a piece of our mind. We let her know that the course is unmarked, we got lost and that there are other people on the course without any support. She apologizes and says that she will get someone out there. I ask and we at least get a medal.
Up the beer garden. We catch the last 5 minutes and who should we see but the race marshal who has been enjoying himself swilling beer for the last 90 minute while there were still people on the course. By this time, he's heard what has happened and I overhear him talking to another of the event staff basically not believing what we were saying and making it sound like we had to be a bunch of dummies to get lost. I speak up and tell him that the course wasn't marked. He swears up and down that he marked every intersection with a "half pound of flour". Christine steps in and continues talking to him about it. His story is that he did his "sweep" and everyone was alright and that he had a police car follow the last walker in to make sure they finish. He is responsible for the safety of the individuals but was content to make his final sweep 2 hours before the completion of the course time and then retire to drink beer. He refused to go back out and look for any other people on the course because he had been drinking. Whatever. Send someone, dude. As near as I can tell, what had happened is that
1) he was too lazy to see his job though. He should have had support staff available for the entire course time.
2) marking the course intersections in flour is a bad idea when hundreds of runners and cars are trampling by. I think that by the time we got to the intersection, the flour had blown away.
3) He wouldn't acknowledge that he had done anything wrong or that anything was even wrong. Boo for him.
Anyway, we called it a day and went out for pancakes. After it was all said and done, we walked over 17-miles when it should have been 13.1.
You're killing 'em
Today was the first TnT training session for the century bike ride in Tahoe. The cycle team consists of about 20-30 people of varying experience levels. Christine and I are pretty green, although I used to be a really consistent mountain bike rider about 10 years ago.
Training was at Fiesta Island, a small area on Mission Bay popular for cyclists. There are two paved loops around the island with one being slightly over 5-miles long that is perfect for training. After introductions and a few basic instructions we split into groups based on experience and fitness level.
Group A is for novice riders who don't currently exercise regularly.
Group B is split into three groups:
B1: Some bike experience but not completely comfortable, exercise a couple times a week.
B2: Bike experience, exercise regularly.
B3: Experienced riders who exercise regularly
C's: Very experience riders with great fitness. Have completed other endurance bike riding events.
I chose B2 because it seemed the best fit for me and after that, we finally got out on the road.
The lesson for the day consisted of learning about pace lines. I didn't realize it before, but cycling is a real team sport. Riders form a line of bikes and ride in a cooperative manner for the good of the group.
A few basic concepts:
1) Drafting: The lead rider creates a break in the wind providing less resistance for the riders following behind. Riders behind the pace leader expend only 70% of the energy that the leader does.
2) Signaling: The pace leader is responsible for the safety of the followers. The leader is the only one that can clearly see the obstacles in the road. It is their job to signal or call out road hazards such as glass, gravel, potholes, pedestrians. Usually, the leader calls out something along the lines of "glass-right", indicating the hazard and the direction. Often they will wave their hand in the direction of the hazard to make it very clear. When you are riding at a good clip, you don't have time to say much more than that.
3) The pace leader sets the pace (duh). When the leader tires, they will drop to the back of the entire pace line and the rider that was directly behind them, will become the new pace leader. As the pace leader drops back, the last rider in the line will indicate "I'm last rider" so that the former pace leader knows when to fall back into line without having to constantly look over their shoulder. They will then indicate that they are in the line "rider clear!" and the word will be passed up the line rider to rider until the new pace leader acknowledges it by raising their hand.
4) Holding the Line: This is when the riders work in concert to use the overall line length and size to create a group affect. A driver of a car may not see a single rider, but they can't miss a line of 10 riders. The group of riders become the size of a semi and use their number to claim road real estate when navigating difficult stretches of roads or at critical turn-offs.
There is much more to it, but those are the basics.
I spent the majority of the time following along learning the system but finally got a chance to be the pace leader towards the end of the session. It was a lot of fun. I settled into a nice steady pace. After a good 10 minutes at this pace, Mentor DJ came up the to the front of the line, looked me over and said "oh, it's because you don't have bike computer". I thought that I might have been going to slow. "Nope, you're killing 'em." Apparently I was doing around a 15-17 mph pace when I was supposed to be doing a 12 mph pace. Whoops!
I'm going to try and move up to the next faster group this coming weekend and see how that goes. We ended up doing 25 miles. Not bad for a rookie.
Training was at Fiesta Island, a small area on Mission Bay popular for cyclists. There are two paved loops around the island with one being slightly over 5-miles long that is perfect for training. After introductions and a few basic instructions we split into groups based on experience and fitness level.
Group A is for novice riders who don't currently exercise regularly.
Group B is split into three groups:
B1: Some bike experience but not completely comfortable, exercise a couple times a week.
B2: Bike experience, exercise regularly.
B3: Experienced riders who exercise regularly
C's: Very experience riders with great fitness. Have completed other endurance bike riding events.
I chose B2 because it seemed the best fit for me and after that, we finally got out on the road.
The lesson for the day consisted of learning about pace lines. I didn't realize it before, but cycling is a real team sport. Riders form a line of bikes and ride in a cooperative manner for the good of the group.
A few basic concepts:
1) Drafting: The lead rider creates a break in the wind providing less resistance for the riders following behind. Riders behind the pace leader expend only 70% of the energy that the leader does.
2) Signaling: The pace leader is responsible for the safety of the followers. The leader is the only one that can clearly see the obstacles in the road. It is their job to signal or call out road hazards such as glass, gravel, potholes, pedestrians. Usually, the leader calls out something along the lines of "glass-right", indicating the hazard and the direction. Often they will wave their hand in the direction of the hazard to make it very clear. When you are riding at a good clip, you don't have time to say much more than that.
3) The pace leader sets the pace (duh). When the leader tires, they will drop to the back of the entire pace line and the rider that was directly behind them, will become the new pace leader. As the pace leader drops back, the last rider in the line will indicate "I'm last rider" so that the former pace leader knows when to fall back into line without having to constantly look over their shoulder. They will then indicate that they are in the line "rider clear!" and the word will be passed up the line rider to rider until the new pace leader acknowledges it by raising their hand.
4) Holding the Line: This is when the riders work in concert to use the overall line length and size to create a group affect. A driver of a car may not see a single rider, but they can't miss a line of 10 riders. The group of riders become the size of a semi and use their number to claim road real estate when navigating difficult stretches of roads or at critical turn-offs.
There is much more to it, but those are the basics.
I spent the majority of the time following along learning the system but finally got a chance to be the pace leader towards the end of the session. It was a lot of fun. I settled into a nice steady pace. After a good 10 minutes at this pace, Mentor DJ came up the to the front of the line, looked me over and said "oh, it's because you don't have bike computer". I thought that I might have been going to slow. "Nope, you're killing 'em." Apparently I was doing around a 15-17 mph pace when I was supposed to be doing a 12 mph pace. Whoops!
I'm going to try and move up to the next faster group this coming weekend and see how that goes. We ended up doing 25 miles. Not bad for a rookie.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Training Log February 3-9
Time to start tracking this stuff again:
Monday: 2 mile walk during lunch, 2-mile walk in the evening. Cold!
Tuesday: We were supposed to have our first TnT cycle team spin class today at 6:15pm. Got an email at 5:10pm saying oops, they start next week! Too bad I lugged my bike to work and skipped my normal lunchtime workout in preparation for the class. Not a trivial item when you drive an Audi A4. Exercise ended up being a short walk to the polls, 2 mile walk after work.
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Nothing!
Friday: Bike to work. 20 miles
Saturday: TnT Ride - Fiesta Island - 25 miles
Sunday: San Dieguito 1/2 marathon from hell...
Monday: 2 mile walk during lunch, 2-mile walk in the evening. Cold!
Tuesday: We were supposed to have our first TnT cycle team spin class today at 6:15pm. Got an email at 5:10pm saying oops, they start next week! Too bad I lugged my bike to work and skipped my normal lunchtime workout in preparation for the class. Not a trivial item when you drive an Audi A4. Exercise ended up being a short walk to the polls, 2 mile walk after work.
Wednesday: Nothing
Thursday: Nothing!
Friday: Bike to work. 20 miles
Saturday: TnT Ride - Fiesta Island - 25 miles
Sunday: San Dieguito 1/2 marathon from hell...
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