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Archives for March 2008

Riding or training?

03.20.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

I suppose we all want to get better as cyclists. What “better” amounts to will be different for each of us. We could get faster, of course, or improve our endurance. We could become more skilled at biking maneuvers such as drafting, riding in a paceline, riding in traffic, etc.

I’d like to get better at all of these things. It doesn’t have to happen right away, but over time, I’d like to see some improvement. And I know how to improve: set a goal, figure out what steps to take to reach that goal, and take those steps.

Problem is, I haven’t committed to improvement. I ride. If my speed averages a little more than my last ride, that’s enough improvement for me. If I ride a little farther than I have been lately, that’s improvement, too.

I’ve got several books with sample training schedules, where the distance and effort are ramped up over a period of several weeks. I know that if I were to pick one of those schedules, or develop my own along those lines, I’d show improvement. But I haven’t.

Biking is still a recreational pastime for me. I really enjoy hopping on the bike and heading out for a bracing hour-long ride. I’m still new enough at it that regularly riding will get me headed in the athletic and fitness direction I want to go.

So I’m going to hold off on a scheduled training regimen for now. As the weather becomes milder and the days become longer, I’ll be able to ride more often. Maybe then I’ll be at the point where I’m setting biking goals, and start to train seriously to attain those goals.

When looking over my riding stats for yesterday’s post, I noticed that I am getting better. My average speed has gone up. My average ride is a little bit longer. That’s all I need. For now.

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Categories // training

Logging mileage

03.19.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

How far did I go today?  After several longish rides last summer (longish meaning about six miles or so), the question became more important for me to answer.  Not for any pressing need, but just to satisfy my own curiosity.

In the course of mining the web for anything bike related, I came across Bike Journal.  It’s a place to log your rides online.  You can enter the ride date, distance, ride time, average speed, ride type (flat, hills, etc.), and bike.  Those are the six default columns for data.  If you buy a premium membership for $20 a year, you get many more columns, and the ability to customize the look of your journal.  You can also take a look at others’ journals and see what their riding is like.

Bike Journal has built up quite a biking community in the years it’s been in operation.  It was just this month that the owner of Bike Journal cut back the number of data columns you get for free, and pushed harder for premium memberships.

I had been logging my rides on an Excel spreadsheet as well, and customized it to match what my Bike Journal data looked like.   I added columns for maximum speed, my weight(!), and a  description of the ride.  I keep monthly totals and year to date totals.

So, how am I doing?  Well, that’s why I keep these stats — I’m trying to find out.  My average monthly mileage is somewhere between 100-125.  In the five months of 2007 for which I kept records, my total mileage was 567.2.  Average speed: 13.9.  It’s a baseline to build from.

If I keep to my current average, I’ll rack up about 1200 miles this year.  Not much, compared to an older friend of mine, who did 2200 miles last year.

However, I don’t feel compelled to pile on the miles to match his number.  I’ll try to build throughout the spring and summer, but mainly to get ready for organized rides.  And to try to get a handle on my weight, which is around 214 these days.  I’d love to get it below 200.

I can see a time when logging my rides will seem like a silly thing to do, but that’s probably a couple of years away.  In the meantime, I just realized by reviewing my stats that I’m behind my normal monthly pace.  I have to get out and ride some more.

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Categories // Records & stats

Saddles

03.17.2008 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

Saddles are a sore point with most cyclists (pun intended). It seems to be an article of faith that upon purchasing a new bike, the first thing you do is get rid of the stock saddle, and put on something else.

Sadly, there’s no “best” saddle recommendation available. Since everybody is built differently, everybody has a saddle that is going to be the best fit for them. The problem is, how do you find it?

When my wife started training for her charity ride last year, her old saddle began falling apart. It was an Avocet gel saddle, and she liked it quite a bit. The local bike shop suggested the Specialized Dolce Gel to replace the Avocet, and despite what looked like an odd shape, my wife found that she liked it.

dolcegel.jpg

The Specialized Dolce Gel saddle.

Back when she had first put the Avocet on her Trek hybrid, I grabbed the Trek’s saddle for the Raleigh. It was a gel saddle, and I figured it would be more comfortable than the stock seat.

treksaddle.jpg

The Trek gel saddle.

I was right. For casual rides around town, and even some longer rides on asphalt “rails to trails” bike paths, it was fine. But on my 50-mile organized ride, it put me in agony with 15 miles to go. I went shopping for a new saddle right away.

Performance Bike, the online bike catalog store, has two brick-and-mortar stores in Austin. They carry a good variety of saddles, ranging in price from more than $200 to quite reasonable. The saddles with cutouts intrigued me. The cutout — to relieve pressure on sensitive areas of the bottom — seemed to make sense. I got the Forte Classic saddle. Forte is Performance’s house brand, and I assumed I was taking a risk of sorts, but the saddle won.

forteclassic.jpg

The Forte Classic.

But this one never really worked out. Although I rode it in the metric century, I was very uncomfortable during the last 10-15 miles. I had had the saddle for about a month at the time of the ride, and thought I would be accustomed to it by now. Didn’t happen. I was making plans to buy a new saddle when I bought the new bike instead.

The Specialized Allez Elite comes equipped with Specialized’s own Alias saddle. It’s part of the “body geometry” line of saddles, which come in different widths for different sized butts. The saddle is the firmest I’ve ever ridden. But firm doesn’t necessarily mean uncomfortable.

specializedalias.jpg

The Specialized Alias saddle.

The wings of the saddle hit my sit bones dead on. All I have to do to get comfortable is stand up on the pedals for a little while, or slide a little bit back or forward on the seat. That’s enough of a change to keep me feeling energized. The “Body Geometry” line of saddles has different width sizing, so the buyer can get a saddle that’s 155 mm across, 143 mm (the default, and the one I have), or a narrow 130 mm saddle. This was an eye-opening sensation. It caused me to rethink my attitude toward saddles — that they must be gel, or wide, or whatever. This saddle works. It’s the stock seat for this bike.

Don’t be afraid to try several different kinds of saddles before finding the one that fits you. And check with the store for their return policy. Maybe after riding on your new saddle for a little while, you might discover that it doesn’t feel so good 20 miles from home. Many bike shops will exchange saddles within a reasonable trial period. Others won’t. Ask.

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Categories // Components, Equipment

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