There are few pleasures in life as great as to achieve a goal, to accomplish something that doesn’t come easily. Great lessons are taught through this activity; we learn that it is our determination and not our doubt that defines our limits. We learn that through studied discipline we can cultivate the skills required to work incrementally towards becoming what we want to be.
This is true for our personal, social and professional lives – and any other aspect that I may have left off. But to achieve our goals is usually a rather complicated mess; it requires introspection, it often requires reliance upon others to do their part or at least not interfere with you doing yours, and it is usually rife with hard choices of long-lasting and difficult to understand consequences.
In its most basic form, Cycling provides us a path to discovery in a less complicated model than do our actual lives. We train our bodies, we become more healthy. We become more healthy, we train more. We become stronger, we go faster. We derive more pleasure from our efforts. We experience reward for sacrifice. We associate progress with the pain of an effort. We enjoy Cycling more. We ride more. We become healthier still. We become stronger still. We go even faster. We suffer more. We associate more pain with a greater sense of achievement. And though it all, we discover it that unlike every other walk of life, in Sport we are islands: what we find here is only what we have brought with us.
Eventually, exercising will become training. The activity becomes richer with the application of the discipline that comes with this rebadging. Exercise is something you do regularly but without structure. With training comes a study of your body and how it responds to stimulus. Long rides have a different effect on the body than do short ones. Successive hard efforts have another effect, as do longer and shorter periods off the bike.
Training Properly requires discipline and patience. It means you don’t just throw your leg over your machine and pedal off to ride along tree-lined boulevards. Training Properly means having a plan for each day. It means heading for the hills one day, and the plains another. It means controlling yourself and not trying to set your best time up the local climb because you feel good that day. Training Properly means restraining yourself on a group ride and not joining in on the town line sprints if your plan doesn’t call for it. Training Properly means leaving for a ride despite the rain falling from the heavens and the loved ones whom you leave at home.
Training Properly comes down you and you alone; much can be learned from books and coaches, but the path is yours to walk. The discovery is yours to experience and to shape into what you are seeking. There are, however, some basics to keep in mind. Also keep in mind I’m not a “Sports Doctor”, “Physiotherapist”, or “Smart”. And never take medical or sporting advice from Some Guy On the Internet.
Be patient. Have discipline. Train Properly. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
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I got new shoes and pedal / cleats last week, nothing too fancy just some Scott road comp (these in black - cheap & stiff http://www.scott-sports.com/global/en/products/2182610001014/shoe-scott-road-comp-black-480/ ) and some Shimano SPD SL.
I started off with the cleats too far forward and then couldn't get comfy in a central position so I ended up sliding them all the way back so it feels like the ball of foot is just in front of the pedal spindle. I've had about 8 fairly short rides using them and after the 3rd ride I started getting aches in the upper guns that felt like the muscle groups were working in a slightly different way or were being worked harder. These aches soon passed and I now 'seem' to be putting out more power and going faster than with my previous shoe / cleat position. Now this could be for a few reasons, the shoes are considerably stiffer than my previous ones and I could just be applying more V-power, but I've had no aches in my calves at all which makes me think these are maybe working less now?
I have a fairly unscientific to most things in my life including bike fit so will leave the cleats where they are for the time being and see how I get on with them. The real test will probably come on a longer ride.
Having had two Retul fits done with a very informative fitter, I've not only improved my position, but also learned why that position is better. My road-bike might have a pair of spacers and an inline seatpost, but biomechanically, it's what I needed. I may not look as pro, but pain should be in the guns, not the neck.
When you properly analyse every angle and measure every variable (as you do on a Retul scanner), you can know exactly when that "faster" position ends up hurting you. On my TT bike, my body's natural instinct was to hang off the saddle, in order to get the arms level, with a 90-degree elbow angle (both comfy and pro!) - with the right saddle (a thoroughly anti-V Cobb saddle), that position seemed both comfy and aero, but the Retul fit showed a flaw: I had my knees too far out front over the axle, overstressing the ligaments and losing power because my quads had to work at inefficient angles. By moving my torso back a bit we reached a better position for my legs - and had to bring the aerobar assembly back (and slightly up) to compensate and return my arms back to their (correct) initial position. Surprisingly, my back is now flatter (by exactly 2 degrees) - more power, less injury-risk, and more aero - in one strike. Conversely, my road-bike position changed from a setback post and short stem to a medium (110mm) stem and inline post - and while the saddle-to-bar drop is slightly shorter now, the actual body sits lower since the elbows aren't locked straight anymore; again, more power, less discomfort, more aero.
Having seen the cleat conversation here, we also discussed their placement on my new White Princesses, as well as crank-length. I ride 175mm cranks, since that's what my 58cm road-bike and 60cm TT bike came with - but I'm open for changes. In short, the fitter's opinion (as a former racer and current biomechanics researcher) is that placing the axle slightly behind the ball of the foot is a good idea for those that ride with the ankle down on the downstroke, but that extreme placements are not the best of ideas for regular cycling. What's irregular? Ultra-distance, where nobody really knows, or triathlons, where the reduced work done by the calves might help keep them fresher for the run. In both cases, he recons the idea is highly unresearched and, just like 155mm cranks now and 190mm cranks in the past, might end up a fad. The foot is a very strong device, and the calves are easily up to the task (IE, not the limiting factor) of transmitting whatever V your quads may be delivering.
@Calmante
That was one hell of a week. Many of my friends went on a ride they held in the northern Galilee, or to watch the mock-crit (more of a parade) on the cobbles of Jerusalem - I believe it was Nick Nuyens who slipped and crashed, but I'm not entirely sure. Later that week, my mom happened to meet the entire Saxo Bank team chilling at the pool in her small desert town.
@tessar
Interesting stuff. There have been a number of posts recently that have got me to thinking that I need to look at my bike fit especially my position in the drops where I think there is potential for both more comfort and power/efficiency.
Once the Keepers Tour is out of the way, I might start with some experimenting and possibly a fitting (now is not the time to be messing with something that works reasonably well and might not be "wrong").
@Chris
I'd never advise experimenting before a big tour, but I still did so - did my road-bike Retul a week before a 600km, 3-day (non-competitive) tour. In fact, I had just bought the new bars my fitter recommended and was busy wrapping them when the car came to pick me up.
If your current position works, of course it can wait. In my case, without a guru to guide me, I kept fiddling with my fit until I found something I thought was right, but still brought me pain. I had the saddle bit right - instinctively, trial and error brought me to the biomechanically-correct position, which I discarded since it didn't "look pro" (well, it just looked wrong - saddle slammed forwards on a setback post). The bars are where my trial-and-error just didn't work, since I tried to solve each problem or pain individually, rather than look at it holistically and consider the entire body and my own limitations (I was very inflexible at the time). I had aches in my back which got so bad after 30-40km, that I wouldn't be able to turn my head the day after a century. There was no way I could do the ride that way.
Enter the Day 1 of the 600km ride: 220km horizontal, no pain whatsoever. Enter day two, and apart from that bolt of pain the first time I sat on the saddle, I was still painless through another 220km. By day three, my palms became sensitive (tingling when applying pressure - this remained for a few weeks), but my back was alright, and I still had the power and will to sprint between gaps and pull the worn-out weaker riders back to the group.
There's nothing more reassuring than knowing your setup has been verified by tracking your body's motions at millimetre accuracy.
@tessar
You've obviously given this some thought and paid good attention to the reasoning behind the changes.
I can see that a proper fitting might work but the experimentation process that I have in mind is going to require a number of long rides and testing saddles as well as positions. I also want to work on my core strength first so that I can be sure that I can rule out any other factors. I just don't have the time to get any of that in at the moment.
@Vin'cenza
One thing has little to do with the other. Later tonight, I'll explain myself with some diagrams... But you don't use your calves to "mud-scrape;" you use your hamstrings.
The site is all wonky and won't let me log in...
I've decided to put this issue on hold until we hear from Meg Fisher about her experience.
@Calmante
Log in should be working again...let me know if its not. Gotta love the ol' cache.
So after years of riding Mountain, BMX, etc. I decided to get another road bike. It'd been years. I had inherited an Italian made Bianchi with Campagnolo on it in my early teens, but I outgrew it. I had a CX bike for a bit, but it was a single speed, and just did one thing only very well. I really wanted to get back to those long days my youth. We would ride our bikes from just after the cartoons were over in the morning until we were in trouble for being late for supper. I've wanted to commute to work and get here faster than in my car. I've wanted to race with my friends. I've wanted to really dish out the V on my mountain bike, and there is only one way to do it La Vie Veloiminatus. My good friend and local legend at the LBS where I work part time is a pro. He's telling me "Jew half to train Fred, No jus ride!" So here I am with the latest object de carbone (my other bike is just as sexy only in the off road sense), a new Composite framed, Ultegra equipped, skinny tire'd rocket ship that I fail to look pro, or even remotely demonstrate a magnificent stroke upon. What have I gotten my self into. I went on a 50km "club ride" with the C-group and held my own. I was all proud that the B group didn't catch me before the top of the one big climb, only to find out they had a flat along the way... I'm slow, I know it. But train I shall. V and dime brothers. Thanks for the inspiration!
Here's my first real ride:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/157344473
Mtnbikerfred
@Calmante
I want abuse, but you're just going to give me diagrams. How disappointing.
Can't wait to mark them up to show you how I'm right. Heh.