I Love Bicycling

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.

Training Tips

Epic Bike Rides – What Makes Them Epic and A Few Notables

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epic bike rides

Even though epic is an overused word that people throw around to describe rather pedestrian situations, you can still have epic bike rides. You should also understand that one person’s epic ride could be another person’s average day in the saddle. Some combination of ride conditions that are outside the ordinary will determine if your ride meets the esteemed and venerable title of “epic bike ride”. And despite what certain cycling clothing companies want you to think, wearing their clothing will not make the ride epic. Only the ride makes the ride epic.

Weather

It is easy to go for a ride when it is nice out. It is not as easy to go for a ride when conditions are not ideal, but you are prepared. It is least easy when you set out on a ride when it is fine, only to have the weather turn and you are stuck in an unexpected deluge/blizzard/heat wave/cold snap/gale force wind. Generally you are unprepared and have to suffer the whole way home. Weather is often one of the contributors to an epic bike ride.

Terrain

Terrain dictates your ride. Should you do a hilly or flat ride today? How about by the beach (and the wind)? Maybe into the mountains? An overload of one feature can contribute to an epic bike ride. Three mountain passes in one day? That could be part of an epic bike ride. A flat ride with a headwind for three straight hours? That could also be part of an epic bike ride. A road washed out and now the pavement is gone? Yes, probably a large contribution to an epic bike ride.

Duration

Going way beyond your normal time on the bike can contribute the level of epic in your day. Maybe the longest ride you have done in the last year was four hours. Sure, an eight hour ride is a great idea! It will probably be epic, leading you to the failings of the next topic, nutrition.

Nutrition

You are likely to bonk/crack/get the hunger knock on an epic ride, especially if it goes beyond your normal duration. Of all the epic conditions listed here, this is the easiest to avoid and the most likely to happen. Stay fed and hydrated so you can remember your epic ride and not have to suffer unnecessarily. The ride itself should provide plenty of suffering.

Mishaps

Something is going to break… sometime. One flat on a ride does not contribute to making a ride epic. But four flats (fixed with spare tubes, patches and a frame pump; CO2 is not helping here) and a broken chain (that you repaired because you were prepared) can send you on your way to an epic bike ride. If you know you are going to have a long day in the saddle, make sure you bike is dialed in. Again, conditions of weather, terrain and duration should take care of most of the epicness.

Fitness/Physical Condition

You signed up for a big ride a few months ago, but you did not train properly. You are going to do it anyway, what could go wrong? You are going to have a rough day in the saddle. It is all in the name of a good story; at least some good will come of it.

Sometimes You Are the Hammer, Sometimes You Are the Nail

Hey, look, that kid that just spent the year racing in Belgium showed up on the ride. The casual pace you were hoping for turned into a lined-out frantic attempt to stay in contact with the group. You are at the limits of your fitness, pedaling squares trying to not get dropped like a rock twenty miles from home. Those twenty miles would be so slow and lonely. Hang on! Either way, it could help your ride be epic.

Navigation

That road looked interesting, so you took it. Now you are hopelessly lost and nothing is familiar. Your two hour ride clicks over to four hours. Will you ever get home? Most likely, yes, but with less dignity, destroyed legs, and a story.

Epic Bike Rides to Try

Dirty Kanza 200

The Dirty Kanza 200 is a two hundred mile race in central Kansas. That is two centuries, without stopping. Do you think Kansas is flat? You are wrong. Remember the Wizard of Oz and the tornado? It is windy too. Plus there is not much pavement on this ride. You are responsible for yourself too. There is no outside support.

Belgian Waffle Ride

The BWR is another mixed terrain ride over a long distance. It is in southern California in April, so for riders coming from colder parts of the country, the heat could prove to be a challenge. Again, come prepared to support yourself and probably get your legs torn off.

Out Your Own Door

There are probably lots of places close by to your own home that you have never explored. Plan a really long day to check them out. This is a recurring theme; be prepared for the conditions you might encounter. And bring friends for an extra level of fun (or to commiserate with about your shared misery).

Arbiter of Epicness

Only you can be the arbiter of your own epicness. Be wary of attaching the title of epic bike rides too frequently; it diminishes the meaning of the word. Now go for a epic bike ride that will make a great story.

How To Improve Your Fitness Without Training More

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Achieving better fitness with a limited schedule can be difficult. To get stronger within your time constraints, you must be exacting in your methods of both training and recovery. This is the best way to make the most of your time and effort.

How To Improve Your Fitness Without Training More

Riding Hard

There is no sense in riding easy if you have only a few days per week to ride to improve your fitness. Three very hard days on the bike should get you passable fitness to get you through your local group rides. More than three very hard days on the bike could burn you out if you do not get a week of recovery every four weeks or so. A very hard day means blindingly hard, so hard that you probably want to quit, have tunnel vision or maybe even release your bowels in your chamois. If you have never tested this dark, dark place, now is the time to try it.

Specific IntervalsHow To Improve Your Fitness Without Training More

Set out with a plan of specific intervals for your extra hard days. This way you cannot cheat or have the power fall off by the end of the ride, or if you do cheat, you will know it was blatant. High intensity interval training has proven to be quite effective in increasing fitness with short workouts. Remember the last paragraph; you must be prepared to really slay it on the bike to make the most of these workouts. Start with small sessions once or twice a week and build up.

Sleep

Without sleep, all of your hard training, all of the hours you suffered on the bike are for nought. Sleep is when you make your real gains. It is when your body compensates for the training stress you put it through and adapts to the load. It is always incredibly important, but if you are burning the candle at both ends with work, family and other obligations on top of training, quality (and large quantities) of sleep will keep you afloat in all aspects of life and let you make fitness gains.

Nutrition

Again, with the focused approach that is necessary when you are short on hours, your nutrition needs to be completely dialed too. You will not be doing huge volume, so you do not need large quantities of food, but you need to make sure you are getting the highest quality food. Good nutrition will fuel your workouts to the best of your ability along with fueling proper recovery.

When you are pulled in many directions, it is easy to fall into a routine of quick and dirty food. If you want those fitness gains bad enough, you will need to figure out a way to get the best nutrition possible. It will make every pedal stroke that much better and mean that much more in the long run.

Drink lots of water (with electrolytes, not purified water, whether it is distilled or reverse osmosis) to keep your blood viscous and flowing. It will deliver nutrients to your muscles more freely and keep your heart’s work to a minimum.

Cross TrainingHow To Improve Your Fitness Without Training More

With limited time, sometimes a full training ride is difficult to squeeze in. On those days, cross training may be a quick way to maintain fitness that you are trying to hold onto or increase. If you can keep it cycling specific, whether it is in the weight room, skating or nordic skiing, that is great. If you have other activities that fit into your schedule, like running, that is fine too, although it will not have as much of a positive impact on your cycling musculature.

Recover Hard

Recovery should be happening whenever you are not training, although that is probably a stretch when you have a busy life. When you are recovering, do it full on. Get your feet up, keep hydrated, eat well and keep the external stress down. An additional recovery tactic is compression gear. You can wear it when you are at work under your normal work clothes.

Do it Full-on

If your time is limited and you want to make fitness gains, everything you do has to be full-on: your riding, your sleep, your nutrition and your recovery. Make it a routine that works and you will make the most of your time.

Alcohol And Training And Its Effects On Recovery

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alcohol and training

After a hard day on the bike, you feel like you can reward yourself with a beer (or three). You are a little dehydrated from the ride and a little hungry, although you feel great. What effect does alcohol and training have on your body? What does it do to your recovery? And how will it affect your ride the next day?

Alcohol and Training Basics

The cognitive effects of alcohol are well known to everyone: impairment of coordination, decision making and sensory perception. Beyond the cognitive effects, there are other effects that alter metabolism, muscle function, thermoregulation, cardiovascular function, and neurological function.

Metabolism

Alcoholic beverages have calories that your body uses for energy, but they also alter your metabolic processes. It impairs glycogen synthesis, blocking your muscles from their energy source. Insulin production increases, further inhibiting glycogen synthesis and storage.

Muscle Function

With less accessible glycogen, muscles have less available energy. Additionally, alcohol and cramping have a correlation although the exact mechanism is unclear, although dehydration associated with alcohol may play a role.

Thermoregulation

Alcohol is a diuretic, forcing the body to urinate out excess fluid. It is also a vasodilator, leading to increased fluid loss through evaporation. A night of drinking is usually a sweaty night. Less fluid leads to increased cardiovascular effort and decreased evaporative cooling. This leads to an elevated core temperature.

Cardiovascular Function

The dehydration leads to lower blood volume, higher viscosity, and more effort for the heart. This leads to less efficient delivery of oxygen to the muscular system and decreased performance ensues.

Neurological Function

Alcohol is a depressant, leading to slower cognitive ability. It impairs absorption of B vitamins, which are critical to neurological function, along with zinc, which is critical to immune support. It also impairs sleep quality, a critical time for the body to repair itself.

Performance Effects of Alcohol

Small amounts of alcohol have limited affect on aerobic performance. Over the threshold results in a more dramatic decrease in aerobic performance. In an endurance sport like cycling, any small loss of aerobic performance leads to big losses out on the road.

Larger performance losses occur through inhibiting the regular thermoregulatory processes. A higher core temperature leads to greater loss of fluids through sweating. Less available blood volume because of sweating causes higher cardiac stress and effort. This results in decreased efficiency due to less oxygen getting to the muscles and higher energy requirements to keep the blood flowing.

Lower available glycogen means less energy for the muscles. This leads to less time to exhaustion and when you do ingest more carbohydrates, the synthesis to usable adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the fuel for your muscles is inhibited.

Recovery Effects of Alcohol

The biggest recovery effects of alcohol and training are through disturbed sleep. Limiting sleep limits the time that your body can repair itself and perform important brain functions. When you sleep, your body produces human growth hormone (HGH), a powerful chemical that promotes cell growth and regeneration. Without HGH, your body would begin to fall apart because no repair processes would occur.

All of the effects of alcohol on performance also come into play for recovery. Your body is not working optimally, leading to diminished performance in all of the body systems – dehydration, compromised delivery of glycogen, an overtaxed cardiovascular system all lead to poor recovery.

This leads into training the next day. A hangover still exhibits symptoms of your body working sub-optimally. Your body is still recovering from the effects of you essentially poisoning it. One night of five drinks can lead to three days of recovery for your body from the drinking.

You Are Human

Humans drink alcohol; it can be social, it can be for the taste. Consider the effects of alcohol and training and what effects it will have on you and your riding goals. Remember that unless you are on the razor’s edge of cycling performance, an alcoholic drink will not make or break your season. Go enjoy yourself, but not too much. Your riding requires it. You enjoy that too.

Pedal Away The Pounds E-Book – Just Released

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The modern day lifestyle is largely built around working too much, not having enough time to do the things you love, and stress from those two that leads to eating foods that aren’t always the healthiest. All of this on top of not exercising as much is just about the perfect recipe for being heavier than you otherwise would like to be.

There are a lot of diet and exercise plans out there to get you to lose weight but they don’t always focus on the right things and, let’s be honest, aren’t always the most fun or appetizing. The key to losing weight and keeping it off is to do it in a way that is fun, manageable, as well as tasty. This approach then isn’t something you just do for a period of time and go back to what you were doing originally. It is an approach that creates a healthy, balanced lifestyle that leaves you feeling great, doing the things you love, with the body you want.

Riding a bike is one of the best ways to increase your activity level and lose weight for a number of reasons:

  • It is soft on your joints (a potential issue if you’re carrying a few extra pounds).
  • Gets your heart rate up.
  • Can promote muscle growth.
  • Overall is just fun to do because you’re traveling at speed covering more ground exploring more places.
  • Additionally, it is also something you can easily do with others which has even more benefits.

Combining the benefits of riding a bike with eating the right foods at the right time will give you the body you want as being active and eating certain types of foods was what nature intended and have you ever seen a fat wild animal?

In our Pedal Away The Pounds – A Guide to Cycling & Weight Loss E-Book we will give you the tools you need to first ride a bike whether you’re a first timer or have ridden before on a regular basis.We will then get into the basics of food and why you should know what things are and how your body reacts to them. Following this is a detailed look at exactly what we should be eating and how to prepare it as well as shop for it. Then we get into what to eat surrounding your ride because you can’t exactly have a full-course meal while out on a ride. This then leads us into alternative ways of eating and why they are good or bad. Summing up the book is then a chapter on the little things that contribute to your weight; things like sleep and addiction. Accompanying this book is also an 8-week training plan to get you rolling on the bike and burning more calories.

We hope you embrace our approach to weight loss and that it’s not just something you do for a set period of time but rather as a way to adjust your lifestyle permanently toward that of a healthy, enjoyable, productive lifestyle.

Where to Buy The Pedal Away The Pounds E-Book

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33% Off The Cover Price Discount Code

Used discount code: startnow (all lowercase, all one word) to save 33% off the cover price of Pedal Away The Pounds through Sunday, July 24th.

What’s A Recovery Ride And How It Can Make You Faster

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recovery ride

It’s a beautiful day and your legs are spinning easily and effortless underneath you. You’re not out for a land speed record and can enjoy the sights. You don’t run out of energy or water because you’re not riding long enough to do so. Why not do a ride like this everyday? It sounds like bliss. For some, this is every ride but for others the draw to ride harder and farther is always there so day in and day out they dig themselves into a deeper hole. They may find that it takes a little bit for their legs to come around and feel good. If this is you, you’re in desperate need of a recovery ride. This can be a challenge if you’re always trying to go hard so knowing when to do one and how to do one right will help to ensure that you get the most out of your recovery ride, and not just in the recovery department but in enjoyment factor as well.

What Is a Recovery Ride?

A recovery ride is a ride dedicated to riding easy and just spinning the legs to get the blood flowing. The increased blood flow without the higher stress on the muscles from riding hard will help to enhance and speed recovery. If you’re particularly tired from a day or three of hard riding, you will probably feel like crap at the beginning and not want to do anything but by the end of the ride you will feel great. It is a boost for the muscles as well as the mind.

The Importance of a Recovery Ride

If you’re looking to recover, why not just stay planted on the couch? The couch is good, particularly if you’re horizontal on it, but it doesn’t get your blood flowing. Doing a recovery ride after lying on the couch will get your blood flowing along with loosening up your muscles. Muscles at rest will tighten if they’re not used or stretched properly. A recovery ride will also keep your legs from feeling stale the following day. Ever take a day off and get back on the bike a day later only to find that you feel tired and unmotivated to ride? This falls within the premise of a body in motion stays in motion while a body at rest stays at rest. When you try and go against what your body is used to, it resists. A recovery ride keeps you riding but at a level that is low enough to not cause increased strain.

When to do a Recovery Ride

You should do a recovery ride about two times a week depending upon how much you’re riding and/or training. It should follow two to three days of harder riding and a single day even if it is a much larger ride than you would normally do. Think century, race, a ride you would maybe only do two or three times a month. You should also do a recovery ride when you set out on a harder ride but simply are too tired to keep going at the same pace. Sometimes it’s good to push through this with “overreaching” training. Other times it just digs you a deeper hole and doesn’t make you any stronger or faster. Simply spin easy for a much shorter duration instead of flipping it and heading straight home.

How to do a Recovery Ride

A recovery ride sounds easy; just ride easy right? Well yes but there’s more to it than that. You should make a concerted effort to spin your legs more than you normally would. Also, when going up any climbs, go extra slow and again, spin as easy as you can up it. If you have to get out of the saddle, do it gingerly and keep your heart rate and/or power down if you’re measuring it. Your recovery ride should range in length from 30 minutes to one and a half hours if you ride more than fifteen hours per week. Also, since you need to go so easy on climbs, seek out the flattest route you can find. In conjunction with this, you want the roads or trails to be mellow with few cars or other riders to avoid. Going slow isn’t fun when it’s on a main road. Find the nice country road or scenic bike path and enjoy.

Also a great way to ensure that you ride slow and resist the urge to go a bit harder is to ride with someone else who is also doing a recovery ride. Include a stop at a coffee shop too. This will help the ride to be focused around conversation and enjoyment, not going hard. Another great option for a recovery ride is to ride with someone who doesn’t ride as much and couldn’t keep up with you otherwise. Someone such as your significant other or friend who you have been trying to get into cycling. Ride slow and next to them. This will keep you at a mellow pace until they try and drop you up a climb; then let them do it. You’re on a recovery ride.

Rollers vs. Trainer – Which Should You Choose?

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rollers vs. trainer

Sometimes conditions are not optimal for training outdoors whether it is the weather, time constraints, or suitable roads. There are ways to cheat what life and mother nature throw at you and train indoors. The two main devices for indoor training have devout supporters based on what each device provides. This is your introduction to the debate: rollers vs. trainer.

Why Ride Inside?

It is raining/snowing/freezing/scorching/hailing and you still need to ride. Maybe you had to work longer than you planned and your window to ride is small. Perhaps you had to spend the day with your family and it is dark out now. Or you have certain intervals and you cannot think of a road with a long enough of an uninterrupted section to do them.

All of these factors are possible and you still want to be in top form for an upcoming event and you feel that if you miss a day, you will fall behind. This is when you ride indoors. It lets you do a focused workout without interruption. Riding inside also allows you to keep your equipment cleaner and protects you from any weather related discomfort – both hypo- and hyperthermia mostly.

Keep Cool Inside!

When training inside, set up a powerful fan to blow on you. While riding outside, even on hot days, there is a lot air flow to cool your body down. The fan will mimic this airflow. Without the fan, you will get hot very, very quickly, to the point that you will compromise the benefit of your training. The only time it is OK to forego the fan is if you are getting ready for an event in a location that is far warmer than where you live. You are then training your body to cool itself. You MUST be prepared to drink two to three times the water you normally would for the duration of your ride.

Rollers

Rollers come first in the rollers vs. trainer debate because they have been around far longer. They are a simple device that allow you to ride inside; a cylinder, often referred to as drums, under the front wheel and two under the rear wheel inside of a frame. The front and middle drums connect with a belt. When you pedal, the rear wheel rotates the two rear drums. The belt moves the front drum, rotating the front wheel. The physics of keeping the bike upright are the same as on the road – spinning wheels and the centrifugal motion keeps you upright. It has a different feeling on the rollers because you are not going anywhere.

While riding rollers, you must maintain focus or you can come off. It is not very dramatic however like you would probably imagine. It is more of a flop over to the side or off the back. When starting out, try it in a door frame, next to a wall, or next to a sturdy table. It will allow you to get on the bike and get the wheels spinning with support. Once you have mastered that, you can jump on the rollers anywhere. On rollers, you are building your bike handling skills along with your fitness.

The differences in rollers comes in the diameter of the drums. The larger the drum, the less resistance for a given set of rollers. There is a limit of how hard you can go on rollers. You will not be able to do short, all-out efforts on rollers because they do not provide enough resistance.

The other factor, that mostly determines quality but can also affect noise while riding along with a small component of resistance, is the material of the drums. Higher quality rollers have alloy drums, while lower quality have plastic drums. Alloy drums will last far longer and should be quieter. And quality matters with rollers. These rollers have been the gold standard for years.

Trainer

A trainer holds the bike stationary by elevating the rear wheel off the ground and has a very stable base to keep you from tipping over. The front wheel is also stationary (and should be elevated to the same level as the rear wheel with a block, phone book, or some other stable object). The trainer has a resistance unit that the rear wheel spins when you pedal. A good trainer’s resistance unit will mimic the resistance you feel on the road – the harder you go, the harder the trainer resists your effort.

While riding a trainer, you do not need to keep focus on your handling; the bike is static, except for the pedals and rear wheel. For the majority of cyclists, resistance on a trainer is impossible to run out of. You can go as hard as you want and still have a challenge from the trainer. Your body is the limiting factor.

The main differences in trainers is the type of resistance unit:

  • Wind – The most primitive form of trainer resistance and also the noisiest. It does provide progressively harder resistance. This trainer provides a solid starting point.
  • Magnets – Quiet, although less progressive resistance than the road and other options. This trainer is a quality, economical option.
  • Fluid – The quietest and most engineered resistance. It is supposed to mimic road feel as closely as you can on a trainer. This trainer has been a very solid option for a long time.

The size of the flywheel on the trainer also helps dictate the feel of the trainer; the bigger the flywheel, the less it feels like you are pedaling through mud.

There is a new category of trainer – direct drive trainers. You remove the rear wheel and mount the rest of the bike on the trainer with the chain of your bike driving a cassette on the trainer. These are supposed to provide the closest feel to the road. They are also the most expensive.

Rollers vs. Trainer

Now that you know what goes into rollers and trainers, here is the showdown: rollers vs. trainer. If you need to put down serious power when training indoors, a trainer is for you. If you would like to work on your handling while getting your workout, use rollers. Rollers also give you the benefit of being slightly more interesting as you have to pay a little bit of attention to keep from falling over, but you are still riding inside. You might need some supplemental entertainment with either to keep you from boredom.

The best of both worlds would be to have both a trainer and rollers. If you are diligent in your search, you could find a used quality trainer and rollers. It gives you options and versatility in your training.

When You Should Stop A Cycling Workout

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When You Should Stop A Cycling Workout

Bicycle racing is not only hard, it puts a premium on suffering. Whoever suffers the most at the right time often wins. Sometimes that suffering to win is an acute ten seconds, sometimes it is two hours. And there is suffering even when you don’t win. To get to a point where you have the fitness and ability to deal with the pain, you have to put a lot of time towards training and suffering through intervals and long rides. But when is the suffering too much? Knowing when you should stop a cycling workout will help keep you from digging yourself into a deeper hole and come back stronger for next time.

The Love of Riding

If you did not love riding your bike, you would not put in all the work. You ride because you love it. Even on days you do not feel at your best, you feel it is necessary to ride. You do it because you want the freedom of the road; it’s an escape and you don’t want to miss out on training. But sometimes riding when you are not quite one hundred percent can set you back more than you can gain.

Hitting Your Mark

Every workout should have a structure and a goal. If you’ve done a cycling field test, you know your training zones. Your intervals should be a combination of a target zone, a challenging duration that is achievable, and an adequate rest interval. When one or more of these variables is not quite right, you cannot hold the zone. If the duration is too long or there is not enough rest in between intervals, it is time to assess the workout. Is your fitness not quite up to one of the factors? Are you too fatigued? Are you getting sick? Is your mind not up to the suffering of the day? Know when you should stop a cycling workout is hard to gauge but important to identify. This is a time to be completely honest with yourself. Nobody else is watching. You will not improve if you cannot answer these questions truthfully, unless it is a question of mental suffering and your head just isn’t in it.

When Is It Suffering & When Is It Time To Quit?

Again, workouts should be a challenge. Some should be such a serious challenge that you question your life choices and want to leave your bike in the rain to rust into a useless pile of scrap. Those are breakthrough workouts; you make such large physical and mental gains that you remember them months and years later. It’s the second most rewarding suffering you will find, the first after success in races from suffering.

But when you do not find that dark place to be inviting, when it is hard to turn the pedals over, when you do not feel right, it might be a good idea to know when you should stop a cycling workout. Not hitting the marks early in the workout could be an indicator. Late in a workout, on your eighth one-minute full gas effort, your power is not quite as high; that is normal. But if your second effort is way below your first, that workout may be too much. Again, honesty is the key. Do you want to abandon a workout because you are really cracked/getting sick/under-slept/et cetera or because you do not feel like putting in the work? If you’re training with heart rate, not being able to hit your normal numbers can indicate that you are fatigued. Even if after warming up and doing the first or second interval you still can’t get your heart rate close to your objective, it’s time to spin home easy.

Factors To Gauge When Assessing When You Should Stop A Cycling Workout

Properly assessing the reasons why your body feels the way it does can help you make an honest decision whether you should keep riding or not. Things like have you slept enough and have you eaten the right foods to feel good.

Fuel Up

Make sure you have enough of the right food in your system before starting a workout along with plenty of water. Abandoning a workout because you haven’t fueled up properly is no reason to quit a workout, especially when you are in good condition otherwise to have good workout.

The Common Cold 

The rule many use for colds is if it is from the neck up, you can ride. If it has moved down into the respiratory system, do not ride. But if you feel like you will get over the head cold quicker and get back to full training sooner, go ahead and rest. It’s better to error on the side of rest than trying to push through and making your sickness worse.

Beyond The Common Cold

There are more maladies in the world than the common cold. What about gastrointestinal distress? What about some sort of fever? Road rash? Headache? Not enough sleep (do not discount the importance of sleep!), muscle soreness? Back to the addendum to the last rule, if you feel that you will heal faster by taking time off and get back to quality training sooner, take that time off. Again, being honest with yourself is key. Most of the time taking an opportunity to heal will be more important than a poor quality workout.

Honesty is the Best Policy

It is clear; honesty is your guide. Some intervals should make you want to abandon a workout and maybe the sport entirely. There is a rest interval at the end of that dark place where you can evaluate if you should continue. Most of the time, you should. But if you are feeling off, if it is really hard to hit your objectives, if you are sick, have not slept enough, out of calories, it will be good to know when you should stop a cycling workout and just ride home easy. Make sure when you abandon a workout you do it for the right reasons – so that you can come back stronger and suffer even more next time.

Top 10 Biking Mistakes a New Cyclist Makes

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All cyclists make mistakes, even the pros. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about and learning from the mistakes is part of cycling. Most of the top ten biking mistakes are simple and easy to remedy. Here’s a rundown of the most common.

Biking Mistakes

The good thing about common biking mistakes is that they can be addressed with little effort and require nothing more than a few tools and a bit of thought.

#1: Seat Too Low

You have probably seen this in action many times; riders with folded legs pumping up and down, furiously uncomfortable. It’s difficult to even watch it. Riding with folded, cramped legs is not only uncomfortable, you never develop power speed or anything that resembles efficiency.

Solution:

Raise your seat until you have only a slight bend in your knee while your foot is at the bottom of your peddle stroke. This article gives a detailed run-down of how to determine your proper seat height.

#2: Cross-Chaining

It’s one thing to use the wrong gear on the back; it’s not that big of a deal but drivetrains do have their limits. Cross-chaining is when your chain is diagonal from the biggest gear in front — to the smallest gear in back — or vice-versa. Cross-chaining will quickly wear out your chain and gears. It stresses the gears and chain sideways and can damage them if done too much.  Always strive to keep the gears in a position that allows for a nice, straight chain line from front to back.

Solution:

Briefly cross-chaining your bike won’t hurt it. If you notice that you’ve cross chained, immediately shift either one — front or back — of your gears to compensate to align the chain back into more of a straight line.

#3: Using The Wrong Seat

First timers are often drawn to the widest, squishiest saddles available.  These plush giants are not your friend. A hard, thin saddle gives your sit bones proper support, allows for enhanced movement, and prevents chafing.

Solution:

You don’t have to go rock-hard and skinny as a toothpick. There are plenty of medium-hardness saddles available. Bike shops have a wide range of proven test saddles. Try them out and read up on choosing the right saddle for you.

#4: Improper Tire Pressure

Riding with under-inflated tires has always been among the top ten biking mistakes. High pressure road bike tires are typically rated at 125-130- lbs or more. Testing them with your fingers by pinching them doesn’t work because unless they’re extremely low, they always feel stiff and hard. Riding with under-inflated tires is incredibly inefficient. You might not even notice that you’ve wasted a whole day, getting nowhere.

Solution:

Top off your tires before every ride. Use a tire pressure gauge to inflate them to the indicated psi printed on the side of the tire. And then adjust the psi for the conditions at hand.

#5: Wrong Clothing

The experienced – or the well-prepared, at least – pull out a lightweight jacket and protect themselves from the worst of the weather. Other issues with clothing might go the other direction; failure to wear adequate gear in hot weather, resulting in a red, blistering condition known as sunburn.

Solution:

Watch weather reports ahead of time and take precautions against bad conditions. Include a nylon shell that you can fold up and stash in your jersey pocket in case of rain or unexpected cold weather. If it’s hot, wear light-weight materials and sunscreen.

#6: Stationary Crashes

This first time biking mistake is not isolated to first timers. It catches most cyclists off-guard at some point but happens to first timers almost invariably. You forget to unclip until the last minute and fall over into a curb or beside the road at an intersection — it’s damn embarrassing. Another slow-speed or dead-stop crash is caused from dirty cleats that fail to release immediately and you topple over like a bag of potatoes.

Solution:

Be aware of it when rolling to a stop. Don’t allow distractions to get the best of you. Unclip your favorite foot a few moments before you stop. If you step in mud, sand, or any other kind of material that sticks in your cleats, it transfers to your pedals. Keep that in mind when you next try an unclip.

#7: Over-Confident

Over-confidence manifests itself in a number of ways. One of the most common is blowing up during a climb because of the failure to pace yourself.

Solution:

Never underestimate hills. They can be steeper than they appear, or much, much longer. Always reserve energy and pace yourself appropriately. Once you’re close to the top, and you are sure, you can then give it your all knowing you will make it. Finishing strong is better than starting strong and then faltering.

#8: Attacking for No Good Reason

Attacking for no good reason is a typical biking mistake of the new rider. Sure, it looks impressive, but why? Attacking or attempting to pass other riders at high speed increases your heart rate to the point of no return and just makes everyone else mad in your group.

Solution:

Stay with the flow of other riders. If you need to pass, make your intentions clear. When appropriate, slip by them courteously. The exception to this of course is if you’re in a competitive ride. Then attacking is encouraged but there is always a time and place.

#9: Pushing Big Gears

It’s one thing to push the big ring if you’re a pro, you have every right to do so. But first timers or beginners often push the big ring way too much. It leads to cramps, wears you down quickly, and it’s for the most part insufficient for cruising in wind, hills, or rough surfaces.

Solution:

Your bike has at least two gears up front, get to know them both. Use the smaller ring to spin more often. Find a cadence that you can maintain for the duration of your ride. A higher cadence places less stress on your muscles allowing them to last longer.

#10: Getting Lost

It’s not uncommon on organized group rides to stray down the wrong road for miles and miles when you suddenly realize that something’s wrong. It typically happens when you have your head down, following someone’s rear wheel, and you miss a designated turn. You might not think that this one is a top ten biking mistakes but if you’ve ever ridden with group of cyclists, it’s more common than you might think. It’s an accumulative error; like sheep leading each other.

Solution:

Never take for granted that the leader of the pack knows where he or she is going. If you begin to feel that you’ve taken a wrong turn, stop. Take a few minutes to evaluate your situation and take steps to get back on the right path again. Use maps if you have them. If all else fails, ask a local where you are.

To Draft Or Not To Draft While Training For Triathlon

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to draft or not to draft

Have you ever finished a group ride with the thought “Wow! I just finished riding at X mph! I can’t believe I could ride that fast!” However, this thought is quickly overshadowed by the realization that you achieved this high speed by the draft in cycling while behind someone else throughout the ride. This leaves the question to draft or not to draft in your training for triathlons?

From the moment I picked up cycling I’ve always enjoyed training alone or with a partner, rather than participating frequently in group rides. Many times when I’m out on my rides I’ve watched cycling groups that contained roadies and triathletes. It made me ponder the topic of drafting while training, especially from a triathlete’s perspective where drafting is not legal in most races. Although there are some perks to drafting when in a group of similar fitness level, I firmly believe training without drafting is more beneficial in the world of triathlon. There are several advantages one may experience with this training philosophy that will aid in making you a better cyclist overall.

To Draft or Not to Draft – Train Like you Race

If you’re used to drafting as a triathlete and have little experience pulling yourself, you’ll face a rude awakening on race day when you have to maintain a legal distance between yourself and the cyclist in front of you. In non-drafting races it’s better to train learning how to pull so you can become used to different cycling situations that could alter your speed. When riding without drafting you’re forced to learn when to change gears, how to approach hilly terrain, and the elements. Training in this manner will also make you stronger physically because you’ve faced all the elements and terrain ALONE during training, pushing your body to adapt. Additionally, your leg muscles will adjust to pulling and thus, become more efficient as well as powerful.

Conversely, as a roadie who participates in draft-legal races, it is beneficial to have a few training sessions a week where you’re pulling the whole time. If you grow accustomed to riding by yourself and reap the aforementioned benefits, then it’ll make you that much stronger when drafting on race day. You’ll have an edge over the other cyclists who have trained only drafting in groups with intermittent pulling.

Making Adjustments 

When you’re drafting behind others, you’re forced to follow whatever the riders ahead of you do with the added benefit of increased speed. In doing this, it hinders you from truly experiencing the elements of headwind, tailwind, extreme temperatures, etc. Each element and terrain calls for a specific adjustment in gears. When facing a headwind you learn to play with your gears, downshift, and switch to high cadence. In contrast, when experiencing a tailwind, you learn to shift into the big chain ring and take full advantage of the added help from nature. These changes also apply to riding on flat versus hilly terrain. You also learn which gear to use in each situation according to your fitness level rather than another riders. Through trial and error you can find the gear that allows you to stay at a high pace but not explode during a race. Essentially, finding that “sweet spot” in each of these situations can best be discovered when training alone or leading the pack. It will make you a more knowledgeable cyclist and build confidence in your riding skills instead of a false sense of ability.

Mental Toughness

One of my favorite elements of riding alone includes the benefit of building mental toughness. Facing all the challenges of the road solo enables you to build mental folders that you pull from when suffering during training sessions. You don’t have a partner yelling words of encouragement or pushing you beyond your limits, it’s only you and the pain just as it would be on race day. These sessions aid in building confidence and positive self-talk which are vital to success. They also force you to be accountable for reaching your own goals within that training session. These are the sessions that help you realize all the success you aspire for is within you, and not dependent on anyone else, therefore a stronger work ethic is created as well. Consequently, you slowly begin to prove all those negative thoughts wrong that trick you into thinking you can’t achieve this goal. As a result, you’re faced with a level of strength you likely didn’t realize you possessed.

So to answer the question, to draft or not to draft in training for triathlons; each of us have different goals we’d like to achieve within the cycling. We can use strategies, advice, and tactics from others to become a stronger, overall cyclist. I don’t believe there is only one right way to train. Each type of training serves their purpose and yields a particular advantage. It is crucial to incorporate a variety of training sessions to your program.

Using Time as a Guide for Training

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Using Time as a Guide for TrainingTraining by time is a popular and easy method to use when outlining your cycling training program.  The only tool you need is a device that will record your ride time, whether that is a bike computer, a phone app, or a wrist watch.  It is an easy and inexpensive way to track your training and is helpful when planning training around all the other activities in your life.

If you have an hour available for training after work you can plan for an intensity that is appropriate for that time block or arrange your day to allow for a 4hr long ride with the confidence that you will complete your training goal before you need to get home for dinner.

Although races are based on a set distance, a rider must plan for the time that it would take to complete the course.  An 80 kilometer race might mean a 2hr effort if it is flat and fast, however if the course is a circuit with an 8km climb at 15% every lap the race might take 3hrs or longer depending on how many laps you are expected to do over the climb.  The intensity and pace required for a 2hr race is very different from what is required for a 3hr race; therefore understanding what your training effort should feel like for these different scenarios will increase your odds of success.

Using Time Based Training

When using time-based training, you will get a feel for the amount of intensity you can lay down on the pedals for various training efforts no matter the level of fitness you are at.  When training by time, it is important to keep in mind what your ultimate goal is.

Here is a guide and a few workout examples on how to manage training intensity based on time:

Time Intensity Workout
6-10 sec Maximal effort; Sprints Use in warm-up: Ride 10-30min or until warm, 3 x 6sec max sprint
10-30 sec Sprint practice: Start with 2 sets of 3 x 30sec sprint with 30sec recovery and build to 5 sets, 3min between sets
1-8 min High; Intervals Improve VO2max: 4 x 4min on a hill, riding steady-hard in between, work to increase number of repeats
10-30min Moderate; TT effort or Tempo TT Tempo effort: 2 x 10min TT effort with full recovery in between increase workout by 2min each week (2 x 12min, 2 x 14min)
30min+ Low; Endurance ride Long ride 2-5+ hrs

Maximal Effort – Sprints

The highest anaerobic effort will last 6-10 seconds and can translate into a varied range of distances from person to person depending on individual fitness.  A 30 second anaerobic sprint might equate to 250m for a male pro but only 100m for a beginner cyclist with their 30lbs. commuter bike.

Sprints are useful for road cyclists who want to beat their competitors to the line.

Moderate and High Intensity – Intervals

Moderate and high intensity intervals will help all cyclists, whether it is powering up a climb, breaking away from the group or just improving overall speed.

Low Intensity – Endurance

If you are planning a century ride or long distance races over 40km then you will want to add a lot of endurance rides in to your training.

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