Your a bike rider!

February 7th, 2010 § 0

Foggy RoadMy wife chirps a “be safe” and walks out the door, taking the dog for a walk. I am just beginning to get ready for my bike ride.

40 minutes later, she arrives back at the house just as I am putting one leg over the bike. “Your still here!”, comes the surprised shout. I knew this was going to happen – especially in winter. Maybe it is the cold days that fog the brain and make limbs slower; maybe it is the extra layers that have to be pulled on to prevent freezing – but it seems to take ages for me to get out the door. The Winter Tights don’t help, not one for tight-wearing at the best of times – there is nothing for it but to pull on these constricting loops of black Lycra. However, the extra thick material is like toast and cannot be avoided.

Then comes all the extra paraphernalia of winter riding. An extra inner layer, the gloves, the skull cap, two pairs of socks and must not forget the overshoes (where you discover much too late that you have put the left overshoe on the right foot). Bumbling around in all these extra layers makes one feel slow and lethargic.

The little cul-de-sac where we live is cold and quiet – no one seems to be stirring. My breath fogs in the cold air and I cannot wait to get moving, just to stay warm. The wheels make that swishing sound on damp tarmac as I turn the first rotation of pedals and clip in. Ten minutes later and I am wishing that I had worn a scarf or buff as my face is freezing.

It is not long before I encounter some other sole out on the opposite side of the road and we nod or wave as we pass. Probably in silent contemplation of knowing that we are not alone in our craziness. As a car driver, I used to be jealous of those motorbike riders who nodded to each other – like a brotherhood or some coming together of deed and thought. Now the same thing happens to me out on the bicycle. It should be mandatory.

On the way home, I am passed by some skinny snake who doesn’t even look like he is trying. All I see, is the flash of some cycling club jersey, a quick hello and he is off the front. The jersey looks thinner than gauze and his only deference to winter is a pair of 3/4 leggings. Could I see overshoes? Not sure, he is already 100m in front.  I give a little chase since the road is descending and the truck driver I hear behind me, must think that we are crazy. I hit 50 Km/h and then back off – my lightly clad nemesis dissipates into the gloom ahead.

Why do I put myself though these unfeasibly cold mornings? Risking life and limb amongst the unforgiving traffic. Freezing my ass off as a biting wind shears my face. The 40 minute preparation time, the stripping of layers in a tepid hallway. The hunger pangs – because breakfast was a quick bowl of cereal. The cold feet despite my best attempts at layering. Numb fingers on the drops. Water droplets forming an annoying layer on the cycling specs.

I laugh as I remember. Your a bike rider!

Gradient

January 30th, 2010 § 1

12% Road SignLiving on the North Ayrshire coast of Scotland, you would think that cycling life might be relatively flat. However, the land mass in these parts sweeps steeply down to the sea. In effect, this means that whilst the A78 main coastal road hugs the coastline, any move inland will likely result in some sort of climbing.

A case in point is the “Haylie Brae”, a snappy road which climbs out of Largs into the upper moorland above the seaside town. With its double hairpin, it seemed like an ideal candidate  for experimentation with the Gradient function of a brand new Garmin Edge 305.

From 6m above sea level, the climb starts on the Irvine Road, just before you hit the traffic lights that take you left onto the A760. If you time your run correct, you can hit the lights at Green, which will prevent stopping at the top of the ascent that takes you up to the lights. Once you have turned left, you are onto the “brae” proper. The road wastes no time in ramping up to 13%, passing a cemetry on your left but there is no time to contemplate the sleepers by your side – although you might wish to join them. Around a hairpin and things turn a little dark and damp, with the moss coloured walls and trees leaning over – to make the road seem like a tunnel in feel, if not in look.

A quick glance at the Edge, shows the gradient easing off just a little to a less hurtful 8% but the heart rate is still climbing into the heavier side of the 160’s. Another right hand hairpin awaits ahead and the shady outlook opens up a little. It could almost be alpine if it weren’t for the freezing cold and dankness of the trees. The high branches above lean over like great spidery arms, cutting out the light.

Here the road takes another lift and the gradient pops up to 15%. My heart has gone into the 170’s and I am spinning 39/25 with no gears left in the chamber. This is the hanging on time – just grinding it out, knowing that it will ease off at some point.The legs keep spinning but are beginning to complain – the teeth grimace but somehow you deal with the effort that calls on your body. Lungs heave up and down – there is only road – no lay-by or sidewalk or pavement – so no escape route.

After a few hundred meters, the road relents a little to 8-9% and thankfully, a few BPM’s are dropped as well. As you climb into the upper moorland, another gradient drop to 5-6%, and this remains the average for the next kilometer. The road straightens out, the trees thin and the vast open sky lifts your final efforts. The road finally tops out at 240m – with a little satisfaction and relief coming with the flatness ahead.

Stats:

Roughly 240m height gain in an unrelenting 5 Km.

Peaking at 15% Gradient

Haylie Brae Largs Elevation Graph

I like my helmet…

January 22nd, 2010 § 2

Catlike Whisper CervéloApparently, there was a near tragic helmet-less incident last week when German pro-cyclist Matthias Kessler swerved to miss a cat (of all things) and crashed head-first into a wall. This happened during a training run in Majorca. I suspect that when he does where a helmet – it will not be a Catlike…

Joking aside, this crash could have easily ended in tragedy and as it is, the cyclist’s condition has been downgraded from critical to serious. However, doctor’s are confident that he will recover and I suspect that every cyclist out there will wish the man, a speedy and full recovery. And yet, it is another reminder of the continuing debate of whether to wear or not to wear a helmet, since it is not yet compulsory to do so.

In the mountain bike world, it is an easy decision. There are far too many trees and rocks next to the trail for this ever to be a difficult decision. Couple that with the propensity for crashing into the wilderness at any given moment – although that might be just me and my limited skill-set. In any case, I have hardly, if ever, seen a mountain biker out on the trail without some sort of lid.

Despite this, CTC, the UK’s National Cyclists’ Organisation are against mandatory laws for the wearing of helmets. It is their belief that fewer people would ride their bikes if this was the case. Instead, they  have an alternative “Safety in Numbers” campaign, which explains that the more people cycle, the safer it is for each individual cyclist. I follow the logic but personally I don’t agree with it.

One single, tragic accident that is caused by not wearing a helmet is one too many.

Let’s face it, the problem is that for many years, helmets have suffered from poor design and criminal colour schemes. Maybe we should urge helmet manufacturers to do more. With modern design and technology now added to the mix, there are some great looking lids out there – although why is it that the best looking ones are always the most expensive? I wish for the day when the trickle-down effect of good design will touch all of the market spaces in terms of affordability and gone will be the day when the upturned Dayglo half-eggshell is seen as de rigueur.

Helmets are a fashion statement – but usually for all the wrong reasons. Forgive the pun, but isn’t it time we turned this on its head?

My review last year of the Catlike Whisper.

The Rotor

The Time-Crunched Cyclist

January 18th, 2010 § 0

The Time-Crunched CyclistAs a relative newcomer to the world of “serious” training, it seems pretty relevant for me to find a training regime that suits someone with modest ability and loads of time constraints. Of these, there are many: pressures of work, balancing home life with cycling excursions, northern hemisphere weather patterns, darkness throughout the winter months and many other little things that pick away at the threads of bike training. So much so, that the whole “new training structure” that we promised ourselves in January can unravel pretty quickly.

I was therefore surprised to find such a publication already out there on the market – to note: The Time-Crunched Cyclist by Chris Carmichael (he of Lance Armstrong training fame) and Jim Rutberg.  If you believe the blurb on the jacket, the aim of this book is to get you Fit, Fast and Powerful in 6 Hours a Week. Not a bad thing you might say as the one thing that is most precious to us amateur/recreational cyclists – apart from our bikes – is time. How though is such a thing achieved?

The Time-Crunched Training Program (TCTP) is a new approach to training that takes a different path to endurance fitness. It works around busy schedules by systematically applying greater intensities to achieve bigger gains with fewer and shorter rides. But that doesn’t mean it’s a shortcut to fitness; there’s no such thing. The workouts are strenuous and the workload is high.

By now a light should be going on inside your head – since it sounds like there is a big trade-off here. Although you will be training less – you will be training a lot harder. As the book explains, “in the absence of time, intensity is the key to performance”. In other words, there will be a lot of efforts at below Lactate Threshold, some right on it and a lot at maximum intensity. Also, the training is geared towards more specific events and shorter races rather than a full season of racing. However, this should cover the yearly smattering of recreational racing or events that a high number of us will face.

The authors have no qualms in pointing out the limitations of the book. It definitely will not work for everyone and will take a very disciplined approach to the plan. There is not a lot of “give” in a six or eight-hour weekly plan – so missed training efforts will result in a misfiring outcome. Also, a Heart-Rate monitor is pretty essential – ideally a Power-Meter for the recession-proofed rider.

However, if you are a time-constrained rider and are targeting specific goals, such as a short summer season or short-track mountain bike racing, this might be the way to go. Bare in mind – this is a book from -some might say – a controversial American author, which might put some people off.

If this sounds of interest then go ahead and take a look at Velopress.
http://www.velopress.com/cycling.php?id=284

Article Caveat

Please note that this is not a book review since I have only read the introductory pages. As I am looking to tackle some major 100+ mile endurance monsters this year – this book is probably not for me but I could have done with something like this last year!

2010 racing season shapes up

January 13th, 2010 § 0

As the snow keeps me from any proper training (and hopefully everyone else for that matter), it is a good time to scour the cycling sites and start planning this years events. It is amazing how brave you feel when cossetted indoors. So here’s how things are shaping up…

May – Etape Caledonia

Decided to do this after “tack-gate” last year and the addition of a road bike to the collection. 80-odd miles on closed roads around Pitlochry and the magnificent Perthshire countryside. Given the dubious weather of late, it means not a huge amount of time left to get up to the required training distances – but should be achievable. As long as the snow disappears soon!

SXC

April – September SXC Mountain Bike Series

The usual round of 7 challenging races in different venues around Scotland. This year, some of the favourite’s remain such as Fort William and Drumlanrig but new rounds for me this year include Contin and Perth. Some of these races clash with a couple of road sportive’s I have my eyes on, so will just have to see how this pan’s out. SXC racing is very technical and very fast so maybe I am becoming a soft roady!

Montane KielderSeptember – Montane Kielder 100

As the site says: One Lap, One Rider, One Adventure, One Hundred Miles. I saw this last year but just wasn’t up for the distance involved so I plumped for the Merida Marathon instead at a more sedate 55Km. This time there is no whimping out. 100 miles off-road is a huge challenge: 10 hours of cycling and no roads. Pass the industrial Chamois Cream?

Ullapool Mor

September – Ullapool Mor

There might be time to recover from the Montane 100 to do this 13o mile road monster amongst some of the best scenery in Scotland. In fact, I managed my first metric ton in the same area last year – just need to double that HA HA!

Some serious training to to be done!

The Rotor

Grosset escapes prosecution

January 8th, 2010 § 0

You may have heard that charges against Alexander Grosset have been dropped with no explanation from the Crown Office. Grosset was the man charged in connection with the scattering of thousands of tacks during the Etape Caledonia event in Scotland last May. There are no plans to charge anyone else, which begs the question of why it took so long for the charges to be dropped.

As Mr Grosset continues to protest his innocence, it leaves the majority of cyclists who took part, very much in the dark.  Does it mean that the true perpetrator has got off Scot Free?

We are also left to wonder why this decision by the Crown will stay behind closed doors when the best justice for those involved would be a transparent and open statement by the authorities. I smell something bad in Perth.

Anyway, I have entered this year as a direct response to the disruption of last year. If I catch someone spreading tacks – they will be wearing my racing wheel as a new type of collar…

http://road.cc/content/news/12589-charges-dropped-etape-caledonia-sabotage-case

The Rotor

As reliable as a bicycle…

January 8th, 2010 § 0

Sometimes, nothing seems to be reliable anymore. Gone are the days when things around the house could be expected to work day after day. Maybe I am looking at the past through the proverbial rose-tinted spectacles but just recently, our house has been subject to quite a few things breaking down and I can assure you that this is not related to the recent crap weather.

Our dishwasher (of unknown manufacturer and inherited from previous owner) is slowly falling apart: first it was the door hinge – we have to heave the unfeasibly heavy door closed from horizontal to vertical every time we put something in the damn machine; next it was the turn of the front handle, which seems intent in working itself loose. I believe it is only a matter of time before the door comes completely off – no doubt this will happen mid-wash – spraying the kitchen and dog in an effervescence of soapy mess.

Not to be outdone, the slatted kitchen blind has decided not to lockout anymore and one side slides to the bottom of the window frame – making the whole thing skew-whiff, rather like a devious and cheeky winking eye. Its Roman cousin in the living room has also decided to join the fray with a snapped runner making the raising and lowering slightly tedious. This is what happens when you go cheap and buy from Ikea.

The Dyson vacuum cleaner goes for a clear 15 minutes before the engine cuts-off. The timing was malicious as the darn thing was just outside its warranty period. Another cleaner has all the sucking power of a straw wielded by an asthmatic octogenarian.Bike Anthem

The frustration at these items has been aggravated by the time of year: when cleaning the house seemed suddenly and inappropriately important. Of course, I could not help but compare these household dervishes to the simple and unphased reliability of the bikes in the Rotor compound. The wheels go around and around and maybe I am just lucky – but despite some major crashes, nothing has broken and as yet, nothing needs replacing. I realise it would be naïve to believe that the gadgets with which we populate our abodes are going to last forever but it says a lot about the expected lack of quality that these are now endowed with.

Of course, the natural argument against this domestic tirade is that I probably spend more time looking after the wheeled objects outside the house than I do of the goods inside the house. Guilty, as charged. I am not obsessive by any means, but I do religiously wash the bikes after a run and I do look after my drive trains. I check the gears at least once a month for crisp quiet changing. Last job was a headset clean and maintenance. In my time, I have bled hydraulic brakes, built a bike from scratch and even tackled the harried frustration of mounting tubeless tyres. None of this is a boast. It says a lot for the pure simplicity of velocipede engineering that even someone like myself, imbibed with some modest bike mechanic skills and armed with the appropriate tools, can handle the majority of day-to-day fettling jobs.

In other words, within reason, anything can be fixed or replaced at reasonable cost. Note that I said “within reason” since I could not possibly include “carbon” in that statement. However, wheel-building aside, only a few specialist or time-consuming jobs are left to the master bike mechanic.

To misquote a well-known Ad phrase:
– If only everything in life was as reliable as a bicycle.The Rotor

Team Sky Website

January 4th, 2010 § 2

TeamSky Pinarello

Unless you have spent the last few months in an enclosed chamber with no contact with the outside world, it would have been very hard in the bike world to miss the launch and all of the associated press brouhaha of the newly formed pro Team Sky. As one of the leading team member’s Bradley Wiggins describes, this is a “space age” team, formed from a nucleus of British Cycling performance staff, who were keen to see British Track Cycling success, converted to the road.

The new website is certainly “trick” enough to define the notion that what we are witnessing is the birth of a super-uber cycling team, with plenty of monetary backing from main sponsor Sky. With Pinarello and Adidas also on board, this is certainly an epic and ambitious team. Whilst the majority of riders are non-British, it would seem a mute point since the UK headquartered Team Sky are likely to be loosely known abroad as “the British Team”.

Is the Sky the limit? I am sure there will be plenty of other teams out there who will want to crash the party. However, having a central ethos of putting clean cyclists on the podium is no bad thing in my book.

See the phenomenon at www.teamsky.com

Beware Energy Gels

December 30th, 2009 § 0

I saw an advert at a petrol garage the other day, which was propositioning the advantages of cleaner and more efficient fuel. This took me by surprise, since normally I don’t pay much attention to what I put in the tank other than having one eye on the price indicators that seem to revolve faster than a dime swallowing ‘one-armed bandit’ at the casino. Instead of three cherries, I get a figure with lots of zeros tacked on at the end.

To my mind, one fuel stop is as good as another and the expensive fluid that we slop into our tanks, pretty much comes with the same chemical formula as all the others. The fact that one fuel could actually be cleaner or more efficient – just hadn’t registered.

Gel Spillage

This got me thinking about the ‘fuel’ that I put in my own ‘tank’. Guilty, as I am of using energy bars and gels in the vain hope that they will somehow eke out that extra mile or gain me that infinitesimal step in speed that would turn me into a world champion. None of this is true of course, but I have grown somewhat accustomed to their use without actually thinking if they are any good, or indeed if the contents are actually advantageous.

For instance, a typical energy gel wrapper may display the following ingredients:

Maltodextrin, Xanthan Gum, Gellan Gum, Acesulfame K, Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate.

Now unless you are a sports nutritionist or some kind of food scientist, it is very unlikely that these mean much. They also confirm my suspicion, just like my automobile, that I had readily accepted the makers’ assertions without knowing what I was actually putting in the ‘tank’. Faced with large colourful glossy spreads in your typical cycle magazine, I too had fallen for the statistics and the headlines: super-charge you performance, reduce muscle fatigue, gain advantages over your competitors.

Some of the ingredients are probably of little note; Maltodextrin for instance is formed from starch and likely is the main energy ingredient; Xanthan Gum is a natural sugar produced by fermentation of starch. As you would imagine from the name, this is responsible for turning the ingredients into a gel, otherwise the contents would spill freely down the front of your nice new cycle jersey. More worryingly is the inclusion of Acesulfame K and Sodium Benzoate. The first is an artificial sweetener, no doubt included to make the gooey mess tasteful and to keep the calorie count down. However, apart from the possible bitter aftertaste imparted by this ingredient, it has many critics who have asserted that it may be a carcinogenic – but so far studies have been inconclusive. Sodium Benzoate is used as a preservative to prevent moulding, and strangely (according to WikiPedia) is also used as a fuel in fireworks. That might explain use in an energy gel, although they have never made me go like a rocket.

As long ago as the early 90’s, the food and drinks industry was aware that this ingredient when combined with Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) may form the harmful substance, Benzene. This is not so good since Benzene is a well known carcinogenic. Further study has revealed that Sodium Benzoate on its own may cause damage to DNA. It is no wonder that this ingredient is still on the agenda of some food agencies for re-evaluation since the recommended daily intake may be exceeded by some sections of the population (in soft fizzy drinks).

Typically though, when you start to look into ingredients that have been deemed safe by the food standard agencies, it is like peering into a very murky pool. The food and drink industry has repeatedly argued that any benzene levels found in drinks pose little health risk to consumers. Heat and light seem to play a big part in benzene formation though and in the past, a survey of benzene in drinks found high levels in four brands, which were subsequently removed from sale. Manufacturers and retailers have been prompted to remove additives from food and drinks because of adverse reports and continuous dubiety. For instance, Sainsbury’s embarked on a program to remove almost all artificial colourings, flavourings and benzoate preservatives from self-branded goods by the end of June 2007 and drink company Britvic have taken Sodium Benzoate out of several drinks aimed at children.

Regardless of the science, the most dubious ingredient still appears in many products, including the energy gels that I have been packing into my rear jersey pocket. I think it is time to have a good old think about certain products aimed at runners and cyclists.

The Rotor

Give a Garmin

December 28th, 2009 § 0

Garmin Edge under the tree

I hope that Santa was good to you all out there.

I kind of knew what I was receiving since I picked it out beforehand! Not that I don’t trust Mrs Rotor’s taste but sometimes it is best to cast aside the cloak of Christmas secrecy and just state your wanted gift. Thus, I am now the proud owner of an Edge 305 cycling computer. Since this is the season of journalistic lists, it seems appropriate to mention that Cycling Weekly magazine named the Edge as the favourite piece of bike kit by CW readers. In the same paragraph, it also called us a bunch of anoraks – hunched over PC’s, downloading training data and squinting at graphs and figures. This is probably true, since I have no idea whether this little box will turn me into a better cyclist or as stated, an anorak.

At least, it will give me the satisfaction of knowing how much or how little distance I have cycled instead of trying to guess. I will also have no excuse for not knowing the time of day (I don’t wear a watch) and turning up 30 minutes later than my stated arrival time after a training run, and the Mrs is already phoning around the emergency departments. I will know with pinpoint accuracy where I am at any given pedal stroke, assuming I can make sense of the navigation screens. I will also know with some worrying statistics exactly how slowly I will arrive at a given destination.

Expect some sort of review, once I get the thing out on the road. Waiting for the snow to disappear.

PS – It is very dinky!