Alternatives to Fenders and MudflapsA Few Personal Prejudices
I have been wet and cold and endangered often enough to forgo without regret winter cycling on the roads. I admire those of you who still do it, and I worry about you. It makes me uneasy that my ability and drivers' ability to see and stop is not great, what with droplets on the goggles, wet brakes, and worn out windshield wipers. Too many cyclists, from new enthusiasts to the superfamous, have been wiped out, or put out of commission for months on end. At the velodrome topFirst, if I am going to ride on a path, I refuse to be a purist. I drive there. When you go cross country skiing you don't put your skis on the asphalt in front of your house. When there are soaked sponges hanging overhead, Larry and I drive to the velodrome. After the warm up, I put on the heart rate monitor to compare average heart rate with average speed: I start Protrainer monitor's averaging function when I reach 130, and then zero out the bike computer. I stay in the same gear to have a basis for comparison from day to day. It should allow spinning fairly fast, 80 to 120 per minute (faster for some), to relearn the timing of the downstroke and the pullback. A Performance 8.0C cadence computer can be had for 28 dollars. It displays average speed with current speed on the same screen, no toggling. With all these numbers to watch, we do not even notice the sameness of the view on the velodrome. Because of the absence of cars, cats, kids, cracks and culverts we can concentrate on accelerating gradually and evenly through the usual 20 miles or 80 laps. No, of course we do not get dizzy; on the contrary, the quality of the workout is without compromise. No stop signs, traffic lights, or looking back at good bodies. If there are any around, you can see them on the next pass. Hitting wet velodrome red or blue paint at an angle also means a no compromise crash. The Windtrainer topIf the weather is wet, I ride my windtrainer, an inexpensive Performance Travel Track with a fluid filled resistance unit and no adjustments for resistance. For that I use the gears of a six cog cluster made up of cannibalized old freewheels. Again, no boredom. Warm up is spinning in lowest gear for a few minutes. Then:
Then I try to get beyond a few times. Next, I unclip a shoe, and pedal with one leg in top gear, trying to reach a cadence of 60. After repeating a few times with each leg, I clip both in and go for 80. These numbers look low because I find that my unit with a spring loaded roller is a bit harder to push than some others. However, the spring gives me unchanging friction on the rear wheel, good for objective comparisons. Afterwards, I accelerate again (that provides larger loads than just maintaining my speed and makes me feel muy macho) to 26-28 mph repeatedly. Finally, at the pulse of 130, I start the monitor stop watch function which means that my Protrainer Polar (Heartmind, Sark Products, Total Body Fitness, Health and Fitness Medical) will begin averaging my heart rate, I zero out the average speed and go hell bent for leather for 13 minutes. (I started with 8 minutes after the season, and I add very conservatively one minute every few weeks. The goal is not to get hurt). I have set my limits on the monitor at 130 and 140, so if at the end of the 13 minute workout I get the average pulse reading of 145, I may see that 3 minutes were above pulse 130 and 10 minutes above 140. A cool off follows, and the total ride lasts about 40 minutes over 8-12 miles. Since I zero out the average speed during the workout, the distance is erased with it, and I rely on the odometer reading at the start and the end for covered distance information. The stop watch mode can be put in the timer mode, which records time only when the wheel is turning. Obviously, I need cleated shoes to be able to pull back (which should be the primary
mode of propulsion according to Keeping records topHaving a pencil and a log ready is important, because progress is a consummate boredom killer and rereading your log can be a very uplifting experience. Calling training "boring" is the most boring excuse of all I have been hearing. It takes just a minimum of creativity to turn a boring activity into something worthwhile, as Tom Sawyer taught us with subcontracting the painting of Aunt Polly's fence by clever selling the right to do it to his pals. We are cleverly selling to ourselves the right to pedal and sweat. I record the average speed and average heart rate, maximum speed and cadence achieved, timer time and distance and odometer reading. And, by the way, there is a puddle of sweat on the newspaper under each elbow at the end, as I remain on my aerobars through the session, not looking at my top tube, but forward, to keep the neck extensors strong and, finally, painless. I rely on the windtrainer as my primary aerobic training source and do it three times a week first thing in the morning, before the heat in the house is turned on. I use a fan if needed, since the blood that flows to the radiator (skin) for cooling, can be better used in the muscles. Before racing in Hawaii, no fan. The huge advantage of the windtrainer training is in timing and location: almost nothing can interfere with what you do at home in early morning. Dr. Arnie Baker published a book in 1995 called "Smart Cycling," It contains some pretty intensive training. He makes a point, that the hard day should come TWO days after major exertion, which fits with the time it takes to regenerate the muscle protein molecules. He reminds us that in a fit person, the anaerobic threshold may be at a very high percentage (he mentions 93%) of the maximium heart rate. I like his suggestion that during intervals, if unable to manage, we should decrease their number, not the quality. Currently (Feb. 1999), Travel Track is on sale at Performance for 139 dollars. Magnetically braked Minaura is under $100. I have never ridden on one and I don't know how the noise level compares with a fluid unit. It seems that the problems from the bicycle seat have been exaggerated. It is certainly easier to make adjustments at home than at the side of the road. Another home advantage: you can transfer to your easy-chair seat any time you want and turn on the record player. QBullets are used in this site. QBullets
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