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I Love Bicycling is a website that is geared towards cycling for beginners with road cycling tips, training articles, nutrition tips, weight loss, how to’s and bike repair articles.

Don’t Get Dropped! The Importance of Aerobic Threshold Training

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Don't Get Dropped Aerobic Threshold

It never feels good to get dropped. The 1, 2, or 3-minute high intensity efforts always feel the hardest as you’re stomping up a climb, or trying to follow the wheel of an attack. But the issue might be more with the 10, 20, or 30-minutes before you got dropped if you were riding too far above your Aerobic threshold. The counter-intuitive answer to being able to ride harder, can sometimes be to ride easier.

 

Balancing Energy Systems

We’re not talking Functional Threshold Power (FTP) here, but a similar threshold at lower intensity that is arguably just as important. Training terms can be confusingly similar.

Your Aerobic Threshold is the highest point at which you’re primarily using your aerobic energy system. It uses Oxygen to generate power without accumulating any lactate byproduct that results in rapid fatigue. Most riding depends on Aerobic Metabolism for low intensity, long duration power. You should feel like you can sustain the workload for a few hours.

Higher intensity efforts such as short punchey climbs, sprints, and attacks require ANaerobic metabolism: high intensity, short duration power above your aerobic threshold. ANaerobic metabolism fatigues quickly and needs to recover before repeated efforts. You can think of your anaerobic energy system as a battery that only has a few minutes of explosive energy contained within it. The battery drains as you ride above your aerobic threshold, and replenishes as you ride below your aerobic threshold.

The threshold between these two metabolic energy systems doesn’t act like a light switch, either on or off. Instead both energy systems work in coordination to meet the required power output at any given moment. So although you’ll always be using some amount of anaerobic energy, if you can ride under your aerobic threshold, you’ll be able to save your anaerobic energy reserves for high intensity efforts when they are required.  

Relative contribution of each energy system to power output over a given duration

 

If the pace of the group is above your aerobic threshold, you’ll need to recruit more and more anaerobic energy just to keep up. You might be able to keep in touch with the group for a while, until someone attacks or you hit a climb. Then you’ll try to reach deeper into your anaerobic reserves, which will have been slowly depleting over time. You’ll feel like you’re dead in the water as you search for power that your legs just don’t have!

The true limiter to performance during a race is often your aerobic endurance

The limitation isn’t your high intensity power; it’s actually how well you are able to conserve energy and recover between the high intensity efforts. So it’s the attacks, short punchey climbs, and other high intensity efforts where you feel the lack of fitness, but the true limiter to performance during a race is more often your aerobic endurance.

 

Aerobic Threshold Training

  • Find your Aerobic Threshold – the maximum pace which you can sustain using primarily your aerobic metabolism. This will be a moderate pace that just begins to feel uncomfortable, but that you can sustain for hours at a time. This should be around 4-6/10 on a scale of perceived exertion, or around 75% of your max heart rate (HRmax).
  • An easy way to determine this using heart rate is to go for a steady ride of at least 30 minutes at moderate intensity. Aim for around 5/10 relative effort, or 75% HRmax (pick up an HRM here). Observe when you just start to breath heavily above resting respiration rate and when your HR plateaus. This will indicate your approximate aerobic threshold.
  • This informal test only provides an estimation of your aerobic metabolism. Your target aerobic threshold can change considerably day to day. Don’t be concerned if one day it feels way too high to maintain, but also be sure to enjoy the days where you float on the pedals and can seemingly ride forever well above your threshold! You can test aerobic threshold with greater precision by having individual physiological testing done in a lab setting (which will be discussed in a future article!).
  • Knowing your aerobic threshold, you can train to ride for longer periods of time just under this threshold without dipping into anaerobic stores. At least 2 hours is ideal, but improvements can be gained even with rides shorter than an hour. Pros with far too much time to train will regularly ride at this steady intensity for 4-6 hours to further develop their aerobic metabolism.
  • Note: if you only have an hour or less to train, that doesn’t mean you have to ride at a higher intensity to make up for less volume. Riding above your aerobic threshold will start to use anaerobic metabolism and actually provide less training benefit to your aerobic system. Unless you have intervals or another workout prescribed for that day, you can still benefit from riding below your aerobic threshold for shorter durations.
  • If you are already doing interval training and have extra time, add a sustained period (10-20+ minutes) of this aerobic threshold training before and/or after the interval workout, to further develop your fatigue resistance and stamina at this moderate workload.

 

Set your Sights on the Long Term

It can feel counter-intuitive to focus more on your lower intensity aerobic endurance if you’re getting dropped by high intensity anaerobic efforts. However cycling is an endurance sport, and performance depends on endurance fitness and aerobic metabolism. Aerobic threshold is just as important as lactate threshold (FTP). Improving your aerobic fitness is a long-term project and can initially feel slow, but when training adaptations begin to accumulate, the payoff is that you’ll have more energy left to win the sign-post sprint, attack the climb, or spend more time at the front working for your teammates!

Interesting Things You Didn’t Know About Carbon Fiber Bikes

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carbon-fiber-bikes

Carbon fiber bikes are the most popular performance bicycles on the market today because of their incredible strength to weight ratio as well as their stiffness.  Many companies have managed to create frames which are under 700 grams, yet they are strong enough to sustain the load from sprinting, climbing and high speed cornering.  The best carbon fiber bike frames are super stiff which makes for efficient power transfer at the bottom bracket and very little flex anywhere else laterally but allows vertical flexation to allow for a comfortable ride.  However, there are several things you may not know about carbon fiber bikes.

What Carbon Fiber Bikes are Made From

Most of the carbon fiber used in bike frames are constructed from organic polymers called polyacrylonitrile (PAN) (link to how it’s actually made).  They are made up of long continuous strings of molecules held together by carbon atoms.  Carbon fibers in bicycle frames are combined with epoxy resin in the simplest sense to take a pliable cloth-like material into and turn it into a rigid, solid material.

Types of Carbon Fiber

Bicycle frames are composed of bundles of carbon fibers held together by resin.  The carbon used in bicycle frames comes in what is called ‘sheet style’ or carbon ply and is woven together from spools of carbon fiber, much like a large spool of thread. There is another type of carbon fiber called chopped style which is very short in length compared to sheet style, and is used in products like pedals.

Types of Weaves in Carbon Fiber Bikes

Woven carbon fiber has a number of different weave types.  The physical properties of carbon fiber is that it is strong in one direction meaning that perpendicular to the direction of the strand, it is week. Thus you need a strand going in that direction also to make the ply strong. This weaving can be done in a number of different ways to best utilize the strength of carbon fiber. Below are a few of the main types of weaves of which have different qualities of strength and thus are utilized on different areas of the bike depending on the approach of the frame design.

1x1 Plain Pattern
1×1 Plain Pattern
2x2 Twill Pattern
2×2 Twill Weave Pattern
4x4 Twill Pattern
4×4 Twill Weave Pattern
Unidirectional Pattern
Unidirectional Pattern
  • 1×1 Carbon Fiber Pattern
  • 2×2 Twill Weave Carbon Fiber Pattern
  • 4 Harness-Satin Carbon Fiber Pattern
  • 5 Harness-Satin Carbon Fiber Pattern
  • 8 Harness-Satin Carbon Fiber Pattern
  • 4×4 Twill Weave Carbon Fiber Pattern
  • Unidirectional Carbon Fiber Pattern

An example of one weave pattern can be seen on this stem.

stem

Carbon can be incredibly strong is some directions, such as a the forces imposed on a bicycle all work in the same direction.  However, the material is brittle in others, for example you would NEVER want to hit your top tube with a hammer.

Where Carbon Fiber is Made

Manufacturing carbon fiber is a difficult industrial process and only a handful of companies across the world have the capacity to make it.  Companies such as Mitsubishi, Toho, and Toray manufacture the majority of the world’s carbon fiber in Asia.  There are few domestic companies in the US that make less than one third of the world’s carbon. (Greg LeMond’s company is slated though to work with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to develop low-cost, high-volume carbon fiber and not just for the cycling industry but a number of industries including transportation, energy, and infrastructure.)

How Sheets of Carbon are Made into a Frame

After you have the plys of carbon, (the carbon cloth) it is then cut into the shapes desired and is laid with an epoxy that consists of two parts; a hardener and a resin. There are many different properties that epoxy can take so refining it so it is strong enough yet not brittle while being able to withstand heat is a delicate challenge.

Each layer of carbon is laid by hand in a metal cast in the shape of the frame around a bladder that will expand to place pressure on the inside of the frame pressing the layers of carbon together. The frame will have different types of ply in different areas for performance and strength along with a different number of layers in each section of the frame. For example, there will be more layers of carbon around the joints as opposed to in the center of a tube.

Once the frame is fully laid with layers of carbon in the metal cast, it is placed in a press to hold the mold in place. At the same time the inner bladder is inflated which compresses the carbon layers together. This pressure allows the resin to flow while in an industrial oven to ensure a close contact of each layer of carbon. Once set, the frame is removed from the press and the bladder is deflated and removed. Typically each part of the frame is built in its own mold and then is fitted together after each piece has set.  The video below is of Giant’s manufacturing facility in Tachia, Taiwan which shows the stages from start to finish. Pretty cool indeed.

Pros of a Carbon Fiber Bikes

Carbon fiber bike frames possess the best weight to strength ratio in comparison to steel, aluminum, and titanium.  Carbon fiber bikes also have the longest frame fatigue and often companies offer lifetime warranties (excluding crash damage).  Carbon also is more comfortable since the woven fibers can dampen vibrations on long, bumpy rides.  Because of the flexibility of the material and strength is has, companies are able to design really cool unique bike frames that are durable and strong such as this Trek TT bike or the Cervelo P5.

trekweirdcarobn

cervelo-p

Repairing Carbon Fiber Bikes

It is possible to repair a carbon road bike if you were to crash or crack the frame.  Most bike shops do not have the resources to repair the bike in shop, so most of the time the frame is sent away to specific carbon repair experts (such as a place like this).  It is suggested to NOT attempt repairing the carbon frame yourself with an at home kit, as the integrity of the job will not likely last.  The experts however, will add extra layers of carbon to extend around the damaged area to form a stronger, next to inseparable, bond becoming part of the existing carbon structure.

broken-bike

Carbon is just one of the several type of materials that is used when constructing bicycles.  While carbon fiber bikes may come with the highest price tag, there is a reason for it, and hopefully understanding a bit more about the material will allow you to greater appreciate the coolness and complexity of bicycle design!

Foot Pain While Cycling – The Cure

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foot-pain-while-cycling

Feet transmit all of the power from your body to the pedals. If they hurt, your performance will diminish. The harder you push on the pedals, the more your feet will hurt, further diminishing the power you have worked so hard to gain. There are a lot of variables that can cause foot pain while cycling. Test them out to see why you have pain and how you can cure it.

Nerves

Much like hands, feet have a series of nerves that branch off to terminate at the toes. Impinging these nerves can lead to numbness and foot pain. The mechanism of the impingement is slightly different from hands, though. In the hands, it usually occurs before the nerves split off to the fingers near the heel of the palm, or even further up towards the elbow. In the foot, it often occurs inside the shoe, which places pressure on sensitive nerves.

Heat and Swelling

Heat can cause swelling of the feet. Your body’s response to heat is to send blood to extremities with higher surface to volume area to dump heat as quickly as possible. Swollen feet can also be a result of dehydration, as when blood thickens and it has difficulty traveling back up the legs in the pedaling position. This swelling can cause pressure points in your shoes that are not normally there. Staying hydrated will keep your blood flowing freely and keep you cooler because you will have enough fluid to keep sweating adequately. Your feet will thank you.

Shoe Fit Contributing to Foot Pain While Cycling

Shoe fit is the most important variable to avoid foot pain while cycling. A pair of shoes that fit you correctly will feel as though they are not there; you should forget about your shoes while riding. Getting fit for the right shoes goes a long way towards comfort. Take your time when trying shoes, feeling out any potential pressure points. Do not buy shoes because they are on sale. You will pay later with pain and when you buy another pair of shoes that does not hurt.

If you have feet that are not the normal range, it is worth seeking out proper fitting shoes instead of trying to alter a more common shoe. There are even custom cycling shoe companies that will accommodate your feet. It may be a high up front cost but in the long run (with diligent care of the shoes) it will be worth it.

Pedals

Spending long hours in the saddle requires a pedal that provides adequate support for your foot. Road pedals have a large platform to spread the pedal pressure across a wider area of your foot. Smaller mountain bike pedals generally do not provide that support and can cause hot spots on the bottom of your feet. These smaller pedals, in conjunction with a sole that is not very stiff may lead to hot spots. If you do need to ride mountain bike pedals for long hours, consider stiffer soled shoes to minimize hot spots. A carbon sole is the way to go here.

Cleat Placement

Correct cleat placement, just like the correct shoe, will let you forget that they are even there. Placing the cleats poorly can lead to uncomfortable foot position and can cause pain in nerves from pressure points or strain from improper twisting of the foot. Take the time to dial in your cleat placement; it is well worth it for the comfort it will provide.

Once you have that cleat position perfect, you will want to keep it that way every time you change your cleats. Outline your old cleats with a marker before you remove it. When you put the new one on, you will be able to place it within the outline of old cleat, saving the time of dialing in and experimenting with the position again.

Bike Fit

Bike fit, like cleat placement, can avoid or alleviate strain on your feet. A good bike fitting session will look at all aspects of your fit, including the aforementioned shoe fit and cleat placement. As you have read in other articles, a bike fit will go a long way to improving your comfort and performance. This holds true all the way down to your feet.

Socks

Socks may be the most overlooked element of the foot pain complex. You want a sock that does not bunch up or is too bulky so that it creates pressure points in an otherwise fine shoe. They should keep your feet at the right temperature too. If they are too hot, it could lead to more swelling, exacerbated pressure points and chafing. Feet that are too cold start to hurt from the onset of frostnip and frostbite.

Keep Your Feet and Yourself Happy

If your feet are comfortable you are more likely to have a great ride. Take care of your foot pain while cycling and the only pain you will feel is your legs suffering to get up the climbs faster than you ever have before.

Atrial Fibrillation in Endurance Athletes

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atrial-fibrillation-in-endurance-athletes

Atrial fibrillation in endurance athletes has been getting a lot of coverage lately, especially for cyclists. It is a condition where the atria, the two smaller upper chambers of the heart do not beat in rhythm with the ventricles, the two lower chambers of the heart. Its symptoms are shortness of breath, weakness and heart palpitations, but often there are no symptoms. It can lead to significant medical conditions – both strokes and heart attacks.

Was it a Heart Attack?

When you hear about someone who is quite fit and middle aged having a heart attack, this is likely the cause. Heart attacks in the traditional sense, where a blockage or failure causes the heart to stop functioning correctly, are highly unlikely in someone that exercises regularly. Atrial fibrillation can be severe enough to interrupt delivery of oxygen, leading to heart attack-like conditions. The scary part is that you may not know you have atrial fibrillation until one of these signs pops up.

But most cases of atrial fibrillation share the common risk factors of heart disease. A much smaller percentage have atrial fibrillation because of genetics. Those are usually the cases of the heart attack in a fit person while exercising. There is treatment for atrial fibrillation, whether it is genetic or heart disease related, through medication, electrical therapy, and surgery.

Atrial Fibrillation in Endurance Athletes

Estimates count about 2.7 million Americans with atrial fibrillation. Most of those cases are associated with heart disease, but as the number of people exercising increases, so does the number of exercise related atrial fibrillation cases. The myocardial cells in the heart degrade as you age, a condition called myocardial fibrosis. It is stiffening of the cells of the heart muscle, resulting in less than optimal heart function. This can lead to atrial fibrillation because the muscle no longer can fire properly.

For the average endurance athlete, myocardial fibrosis and atrial fibrillation occur at the same rates as the general population. Elite endurance athletes may be at increased risk of myocardial fibrosis and atrial fibrillation because of the large cardiac loads they exert on their hearts. As many as twenty percent of endurance athletes have enlarged atria. Exercise has long been proven a benefit to overall health, including reducing the risk of heart disease, but the recent research on atrial fibrillation and endurance athletes shows an increased risk. Be aware that atrial fibrillation is likely to occur many years after starting an exercise regimen. It takes a long time with a lot of hard effort for myocardial fibrosis to develop. Someone who was an elite athlete at a younger age that has dialed back exercise is still at risk for atrial fibrillation.

Take the Risk

While endurance athletes are at increased risk for atrial fibrillation, they are at far lower risk of many other dangerous conditions: coronary disease, diabetes, thyroid conditions, obesity, stroke and most everything else associated with as sedentary lifestyle.

While you are continuing your cycling, always be in tune with your body. If you feel any of the symptoms of atrial fibrillation: weakness, heart palpitations and shortness of breath not associated with exercise intensity, see a doctor. There are medical interventions that can alleviate the atrial fibrillation, allowing you to continue your exercise and minimize the impact of the condition.

Beyond the awareness of knowing it exists, there is not much you can do for atrial fibrillation to minimize the risk. Continuing on the bike is the best option because it has so many other long-term health benefits. Listen to your body for any signs of atrial fibrillation. It is likely you will not have any, but if you do, get it checked out so you can get back on the bike as quickly as possible.

Handlebar Palsy – AKA Cyclist’s Palsy

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handlebar palsy4

Numb hands can ruin a ride, both because of the discomfort and the lack of control. A common and preventable cause of numb hands is cyclist’s palsy, also commonly known as handlebar palsy. It is the result of too much pressure on the ulnar or median nerve where they enter the hand from the wrist. Knowing its cause will send you on your way to finding solutions that work for your own handlebar palsy.

Where Hand Meets Handlebarulnar nerve

The ulnar nerve enters the hand at the wrist at the heel of the palm opposite the thumb. That pad on the heel is often where the hand rests on the handlebar. Inside that pad is the ulnar nerve, running through the Guyon canal and compressed by the bones of the wrist and hand. Enough pressure, and your pinky and ring finger go numb. More than enough pressure can lead to a fully numb hand.

The median nerve enters the hand at the wrist between the ulnar nerve and the base of the thumb through the carpal tunnel. Too much pressure here and you will feel your index and middle fingers go numb. The numbness can occur in conjunction with ulnar nerve numbness.

Solutions to Handlebar Palsy

Ensuring your hands contact your bars at an angle that allows your wrist to lay naturally is ideal. Any hyperextension of the wrist puts additional pressure on the nerves entering your hands. Resting your hands on the handlebar with as little bend as possible at the wrist lets the nerves lay unimpeded into your palms.

Changing positions on your handlebars during the course of a ride can alleviate symptoms of handlebar palsy. On a road bike with drop bars, if you feel numbness coming on, move to a different position that takes pressure off of the heel of your palm. On a flat bar bike it is a bit more difficult because there are more limited positions. If you often have handlebar palsy and frequently ride a flat bar bike, consider adding bar ends for an additional position. Remember to position them correctly. Perpendicular to the ground is not correct; The should face forward at an angle that allows your wrists to rest naturally.

Padding your hands will also help relieve handlebar palsy. This can either be done with padded bar, doubled up bar tape, gel pads under the bar or padded gloves. Try gloves on first to make sure they fit comfortably; too loose and they will cause blisters, too tight and they can cause even more numbness. Some overly padded gloves can also cause numbness by concentrating pressure on extra large pads.

Moving your saddle down and back can also relieve pressure on your hands. Beware that other positional problems may arise if you go this route. Whatever changes you make, do them incrementally.

If these solutions do not work, seek out a bike fit expert to examine your position. Additionally, you may want to seek out a health professional to determine exactly what is happening in your nerves. They can give you exercises to relieve abused nerves.

The Nerve

Understanding the nerves that cause handlebar palsy will give you a better idea of what causes it and how you can fix it. These simple fixes are effective and easy to try out. If the problem persists, go to a professional for an objective and knowledgeable view so you can keep riding in complete control.

Heat Adaptability As You Age

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heat adaptability

Coping with heat is always difficult if you live in a temperate climate. The body never acclimates to the hot and humid days at the height of summer. But does the body become less efficient at dealing with heat as it ages? It may seem like it because you have to adapt each summer. By learning about your body’s heat adaptability you can learn to adjust for the extremes of summer.

The Science of Heat Adaptability

Surprisingly, the available science supports the idea that as you age, your heat adaptability does NOT diminish as long as you remain healthy and active. If you needed more motivation to keep cycling, there it is. The elderly are more at risk for heat stress because they have often reduced exercise participation compared to the general population around them and when they were younger. Heat tolerance diminishes with lower aerobic capacity, the presence of chronic disease, and medication, lower hydration levels, and lower lean body mass. Epidemiological studies point to the elderly having lower heat adaptability compared to those younger, but many also fit these characteristics.

Another study comparing kids and older adults notes that decreased aerobic capacity accounts for lower heat adaptability in the older adults. In the kids it is because of an immature cardiovascular system. Both result in the same outcome – a lower ability to cope with the heat.

Still another study shows that controlling for aerobic fitness and morphological factors are what determine heat adaptability, not aging. It still may seem counter-intuitive, because most of what you hear about aging is that everything diminishes – VO2Max, muscle mass, fast twitch muscle – but if you maintain your fitness you will maintain your ability to cope with heat.

Coping Better with Heat

Sometimes you cannot control the hand you are dealt. Your aerobic capacity does diminish because you do not have as much time to ride and you lose some lean body mass. How do you cope with the heat then?

The key is to keep your internal temperature down. There are a lot of steps you can take to keep your temperature down and keep riding.

  • Ride at cooler times of the day. The morning tends to be cooler than the evening, but work with what you can. Avoid the heat of the day.
  • Ride at lower intensity and duration when it is extra hot.
  • Some routes are shadier than others. Choose the cooler one.
  • Make an ice sock. Take pantyhose, put some ice in it and pin it to the inside top of your jersey so it sits just below your neck. It is shocking at first, but will feel great after a minute. The biggest ice socks will last an hour and a half.
  • Hydrate! If you do not have enough fluid on board, you will not sweat enough to properly cool yourself. Carry a third bottle in a jersey pocket or stop frequently to fill up the two bottles on your bike. And hydrate with more than just water. Electrolytes are important!
  • Wear light clothing. If you foresee riding in the heat, it is worth investing in an extra light jersey and bibs. You may need to put sunscreen on under the jersey because some of them are that light. Get a full zip jersey so you can completely open the front for maximum air flow.
  • A flatter route will keep you cooler because the higher speed keeps more air coming over you. You may think a descent will keep you cool but the amount of time you’re climbing compared to how much your descending simply doesn’t equal out.
  • Take a break under a shady tree (or an air conditioned building) to cool off. A coffee shop is always a good option for a cold beverage.

If you know ahead of time that you will be riding in the heat, you can acclimate yourself. Your body will adapt to heat exposure gradually. Fortunately, summer sets in gradually too. If that does not work for you, you can do short indoor sessions at low intensity without a fan (and plenty of water!) to start the adaptation. The more heat you ride in, the higher your sweat output will be for a given intensity and temperature.

Keep Fit and Beat the Heat

Staying fit is the number one way to stave off the effects of heat while riding. Even if you do manage to keep your fitness, these tips will help make your rides more comfortable and help you perform better when the temperature climbs.

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