Get in Gear

The month of April is dedicated to cycling tips.  Items and advice to help you get better at cycling.  You can be riding your bike to work, on a joyful cruise through a park, or doing this competitively, these simple executions, on any bike, can help improve your ride, fitness, and enjoyment as a individual.

Getting started: Take care of your bike

It doesn't matter if your bike is $50 or $25,000, simple bike maintenance is a must and it can be taken care of easily.  It doesn't take much effort but doing the following will guarantee the longevity and performance of your bike:

• Pump tires to adequate air pressure before EVERY ride (AP varies so look on the wheels and follow the instructions)
• Wipe the bike to clean any sweat, rain water, or any type of residue to protect from rust and deterioration
• Oil and clean the chain, brake lines, derailleur, and crank set
• Take the bike in for an annual performance adjustment (advanced riders)
• Pro bike fit (advanced riders)

After you perform these tasks, your bike will always be ready to go and give you the opportunity to perform at your very best.  It also is the most efficient way to ride because as any triathlete, dual athlete, or cyclist will tell, efficient speed leads to victory and personal records.

This now brings us to riding on different terrain (Uphill, Downhill, and Flatland) and how we use the bike gears to tackle any obstacle with reckless abandon.

Uphill:

No matter the size of the hill, how you execute gear shifts will make all the difference between getting to the next level and bonking out.  It is an elementary task but simple executions will help get over local hills, mountain passes, and even the Alps.  Just follow these tasks, no matter what the circumstances.  Do not take any hill for granted or it can be a humbling experience:

• Stay Calm (Don't overexert yourself during ANY part of the hill)
• Go two shifts below your flatland gear about 200 feet before the start of the hill (This is to build up your cadence without overexerting yourself)
• Find your cadence (Don't fight the hill, go with the hill---over time and practice, this will become clearer)
• Sync your breathing with your cadence (Your breathing and cadence is rhythm...find it...stick with it... and you will find yourself getting stronger as you're ascending)
• Shift gears (This is based upon the hill and how you feel but shift gears as your ascending to find a comfortable cadence)
• Hammer on the bike (You should only do this for two reasons---survival or improvement). 
• Survival---This is your only option left to conquer the hill (You can always get off the bike and walk it up the hill as well)
• Improvement---(Hammering on your bike is the quickest way to enter your lactate threshold which isn't a bad thing because this what you are trying to build for on race day so keep chugging away but do it at your own risk)

After you conquer the hill, drink your favorite electrolyte beverage as a reward.  Now, I have tried them all: Powerbar, Gatorade, Hammer, Cytomax and Amino Vital and none has helped me out more than Amino Vital.  The drink is an elixir.  I feel better during and after my bike ride, which is vital (pun intended) since I have to run afterwards.  I recommend drinking this after your workout as it will help recovery as well.  I can't count how many times Amino Vital has saved my ass. 

Downhill:

There are two situations to consider when attacking a downhill: Training and Race Day

Training--- Get into your big gear and hammer---That's it, just go for it---It builds muscle and confidence

Race Day--- You can follow the training situation but I recommend you save your energy--- Just let gravity do the work and only pedal if you feel you are losing speed.  There are very few moments in where you can recover during a race, this is one of them.  Take advantage of it

Flatland:

This is based upon you.  No one can help you with this but you.  Find your cadence.  Find you gear.  Find your breathing.  When its comes together, ride it out.  You will steadily improve and push yourself.  You will redeem the rewards on race day.

Good Luck and Have Fun

Bike Repairs for Dummies

Today, I had a 44 mile bike ride followed by an 8.1 mile run planned, but things are outside of your control sometimes.  I was 10 miles into the bike ride and getting into the thick of things.  I had just made the right onto Warrenville Road and starting hammering up the hill and just as I reached the precipice, something gives in the bike.  I first think it has something to do with the chain slipping off or derailleur issue, so I stop turn over my bike to see what is wrong.

Weird...nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.

I rotate the pedals a few times....everything runs smoothly.  Alright, maybe the chain slipped and caught itself again.

I get back onto the bike and start chugging away, thinking the "slippage" is anomaly.

I click my right leg and start pushing off.  After I build enough speed, I attempt to click my left leg into the pedal but there is a problem.  The pedal is not where it is supposed to be.  The pedal is almost scraping the asphalt.  Oh snap, we have a problem here.  The pedals are supposed to be at an 180 degree angle and linear.  They were about at 120 degrees.  Luckily, I am right across the street from a gas station because I do not have my tool bag with me but looking at the arm shaft and connection to the crank set, I wouldn't have the right tools anyway (1).

(1) Note: Always bring your tool bag on bike rides with the following contents:

• tire wedges
• spare tubes (at least one)
• Allen key set
• credit card
• ID or drivers license
• cell phone 

I find myself lucky again because Lindsay's business is only 5 minutes away.  I give her a call and she has to close a little early to help me out (She is the best). 

Lindsay picks me up and we go to High Gear Cyclery in Stirling, NJ (Great bike shop if you are in the area).  Now, in my mind, I think this is going to be a quick fix but may need some extra cash (Strike 2...I did not bring my credit card) so I ask Lindsay to hang out until everything is a go because I want to get back onto the road as soon as possible.  Plus, Lindsay has plans to meet with her family at Chili's, which for the record, you do not get between this woman and her Chicken Crispers (especially when her meal is paid for).  Shouldn't be a problem though because it looks like it is going to be an in and out process.

I walk my bike into the store and one of the clerks walks up to me and asks, "What can I help you with?"  I show the gentleman my pedal placement.  His response, "Oh, Shit."  Now mind you, most of the employees that work at High Gear are well into their 40s and have been riding all types of bikes for 20+ years so you think this problem would come up once in awhile.  Craig ( the clerk) states that he has never seen anything like it. 

Wonderful

I go tell Lindsay this going to take longer than anticipated.  She is cool with it. I try to apologize but she says don't worry about it (she really is the best).

I go back into the store and Craig gives me some good news.  He can fix it where I can rid but it is going to take some time.  By the time he finishes, it is past 6 and I still have at least 15 miles left in my ride and will be fighting darkness. 

So I decide to go to dinner with Lindsay....in my bike gear. 

We stopped at Barnes and Nobles so I can catch up on my reading before we went to dinner.

After going to dinner and perusing through B&N, I can honestly say I know what it feels like when people see you and think you are an immediate threat to their children. 

Not the best feeling I have experienced.

Needless to say, it has been interesting so far today and I still have to run in 30 minutes. 

The night is young...

Getting Back on Track

We all have schedules in our lives.  Items and things that are important and paramount to our daily regiments that mold us in who we are and represent us.  But sometimes, life gets in the way, things change and we have to do what we all do best...adapt.  Whether it is serious or the most minuscule detail, we all let things alter what we usually do in a good, bad, or indifferent way.  Sometimes we revert to an activity we enjoyed in our younger days, skip on a workout, binge out of a diet, or just become complacent, which is ironic.  We allow these distractions to avoid complacency because the last thing anyone ever wants to be is bored.

However, getting back into a regular routine promotes balance and controls chaos in our lives. 

For the previous few months I have been wroking out on a inconsitent basis even though it is just to keep a good base until my training starts.  There are plenty of reasons why I did this: avoid injury, stay in decent shape during the offseason, repel insanity, and humilty.  However, in this process, I have felt consistently inadequate.  Something was missing.  I knew exactly what it was but didn't want to make the committment due the reasons listed above (mainly to stay healthy while avoiding burnout).

However, now I am three weeks into my training program (1) and my body hasn't felt this good since Ironman Wales.  Putting my mind and body on a schedule to improve myself and try to obtain a goal that was not on the plan when I started training for triathlons is completely liberating. I have a good flow in things lately.  I understand what I need to do and execute it.  If not, I immediately get stressed and angsty, which leads me to go out and train anyway, just so I don't take my failures on anyone around me (specifically, my girlfriend).  I no longer feel inadequate and it helps me in all facets of my personal life: work, love life, family, training, and social interactions. 

(1) I have no specific training program.  I have been involved with cross country since I was 13 years old.  From that time, you learn how to take what you like and don't like from your coaches.  What works and what doesn't work.  I try and not to think too heavily on my workouts as they usually come from my head the day of.  Sometimes, I even change it up minutes prior if it sparks a new challenge or just my interest.  It's unorthodox and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone but it works for me.  I tried to follow a workout plan in route to competing in my first half ironman but I felt an extreme unnecessary pressure to follow the law of the letter.  Once I stopped following it, I felt great and continued my training under my terms.  That was three years ago and I haven't looked back.  This is also why I am probably not a professional

The hypocritical ironic thing is I am person who enjoys chaos. The random things in life excite me.  Sometimes, I purposively put myself in positions to spark a different reaction in the situation to see how people act and how I respond to others' instinctual reaction.  We all put on upstanding fronts when things are normal and going well, but we are defined by how we adapt to things when they go wrong.  When the pressure is on and the chips are down, people show you who they really are.  I like to ignite that sometimes.  Of course, this can come from me at anytime. 

So to recap this post, I have just contradicted the importance of scheduling and controlling the chaos theory.  Or as I like to look at it, balance out the equation.  Look, it's our nature to be hypocritical.  We do it without even realizing most of the time.  So instead of fighting it, find balance in it.  There is good and bad in everything around you.  It depends on how you percieve and comprehend it. 

Maybe if I let someone much prettier than me explain it, it will resonate better: