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Archives for August 2011

Training With “Fartlek”

08.09.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 3 Comments

I was in the middle of my regular Tuesday ride at the Veloway today when it occurred to me that I had written about this ride early in the life of the Bike Noob blog. Tuesday is my “fartlek” ride. And since most current Bike Noob readers probably haven’t seen that three-year old post, I’m going to resurrect an edited version of it.

Back when I was a runner — okay, I was never anything more than a jogger — interval training was considered the way to go to train for a race. I entered my share of t-shirt runs, and sometimes I even got serious about training for them. But intervals put me off. They seemed too regimented — too serious.

Then I read about an alternative method of training. It’s called fartlek — from the Swedish for “speed play.” A fartlek trainer runs at a certain pace, or tempo, for awhile, and then turns on the gas and runs hard for awhile. The bursts of speed are not over set distances, and recovery times are always different. That’s the kind of training I enjoyed doing.

I thought about that on today’s ride. I had fully intended to do intervals. I even had the fast sections mapped out in my head. I knew approximately how long my recovery times would last. But when I started my first interval, I just couldn’t get enthusiastic about it.

Then it occurred to me — do fartlek. I started pulling on the pedals through a twisty inclined stretch, a little less than a mile. At the high point, I backed off. I rode through a relatively flat area without pushing hard.  On another twisty incline I stomped on it again, and held the fast pace for almost another mile.  On an ess curve that features a right-angle left followed by an acute-angle right, I laid the bike as far over as it would go without falling (great fun).  Then I coasted back to the start.

I did five laps, and did fartlek for four of them.  Each time, my fast and slow sections were different.  I got the training benefit without the regimentation that takes the fun out of biking.  Tonight, I can feel it.  I fell asleep in front of the TV.  I’m going to bed earlier than usual.  This might partly be because I slept poorly last night, but it’s also because I had a tough workout.  I like the feeling.  I plan to do it some more.

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Categories // Technique, training Tags // fartlek, speed

My Sweaty Head

08.07.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 10 Comments

My wife and I headed out this morning to do another of those training rides for an upcoming charity event. Usually, I put the bike rack on the car the night before so I’m not rushed getting in on in the morning when we should be heading to the ride.

Last night I didn’t. My garage is just too hot with the sweltering weather we’ve had here lately, so I decided to get an earlier start and handle it this morning. (I did remember to freeze our water bottles last night, though.)

So in the relative coolness afforded by 78 degree (25C) weather, I attached the rack at 6 this morning. I methodically added items to the vehicle: bikes on the rack, helmets and shoes in the back of the car, gloves, cell phone, a few dollars in the plastic bag with the phone, a Clif Bar, bike computer, tire pump. There. I think that accounts for it all. Oh — let’s put on the sunblock now, hm? And don’t forget the sunglasses.

We left the house five minutes before my departure deadline (That was a first!) and got to the ride start 30 miles away in plenty of time. I did the reverse of what I’d done at home, pulling all the gear out of the car, pumping the tires, getting into the bike shoes.

“Aw, I can’t believe it!” I exclaimed.

“What?” asked Pat.

“I didn’t bring a bandana.”

Sweat was already beading up on my arms. I always wear some kind of sweat band on my head. Without one, this would be an interesting ride.

Over the years, I’ve tried a variety of sweat bands. The first, and the one I still go to most often, is the lowly bandana. Although it becomes saturated with sweat in a short amount of time, I’ve found that if I wring it out at a rest stop, or maybe even a long stop light, it does a pretty good job of keeping my eyes free of moisture.

A bandana, a Head Sweats doo-rag, and a Halo head band with the rubber strip.

My next favorite is a commercial product, a Head Sweats doo-rag. It’s really my favorite, but because it covers the head and not just the forehead, I avoid it in hot weather. I want those big vents on my helmet to let the heat escape from my noggin.

I also have a couple of Halo head bands, which feature a rubber strip on the bottom. The rubber is supposed to steer the sweat away from the eyes, so that it drips off the temples. Problem is, these things get saturated even more quickly than a bandana, and after a month or two of use, they’re even less effective than a bandana.

Anyway, without one of these options, I would be reliant on the foam padding around the inside of the helmet. But on my helmet (a Bell Sweep) those pads are skinny. They’ll absorb sweat, but not a lot. And frankly, it had been awhile since I’d taken mine out and cleaned them. I adjusted the helmet as snugly as possible and headed out.

It was a simple 30-mile out-and-back. A tailwind pushed us north. I fell in with the ride leader and we quickly outpaced the rest of the 30-mile riders. We chatted most of the way to the turnaround. It wasn’t until we stopped there that I remembered my lack of a head band. I hadn’t noticed it. I took off the helmet and squeezed the pads to get out any schmutz, but there wasn’t much to be gotten.

On the southbound leg we ran smack into a headwind that slowed our progress. This route has long rolling hills, so it was slog up, fly down, and try to counter the effect of a wind that sometimes hit head on, and sometimes came at you sideways. Now I could feel the effect of no headband.

The sweat poured into my eyes. I found that if I turned my head, the wind would whisk the sweat away. I kept flicking my head to the left, and watching the water droplets fly off. It was a bit of a bother, but soon I forgot about it.

For some reason after several years of riding experience, the one item I find myself going back into the house for is a head band of some sort. I can never seem to remember that, even though I’m pretty good at other items.

As I put the bikes back on the car after the ride, my wife asked me about it.

“Not bad,” I said. “It didn’t cause as much trouble as I thought.”

“I’ve been after you about this for years,” she replied. “Your job when we get home is to make a ride checklist. It’ll stay in the kitchen and we’ll check it over before each ride.”

I wiped off my forehead and got into the car.

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Categories // Accessories Tags // sweat

Ever Had an LBS Damage Your Bike?

08.04.2011 by Ray Niekamp // 13 Comments

I don’t mean to knock the local bike shop. I rely on them for many things, from routine replenishments of energy food like Shot Blocks to purchases of gloves, computers, other accessories, and even complete bikes.

I’m lucky enough to know a guy who is a skilled bike mechanic, and I can bring my bike over to his house for a quick turnaround at very reasonable prices. So I’m less likely now to run into trouble than I was one evening a few years ago when I took my old bike into a shop for repairs.

My old Raleigh’s alloy wheels weren’t clinchers. I could mount clincher tires on them, but I had to inflate the tires to only about 70 pounds, rather than the 100 pounds they would have been able to handle on clincher wheels. Higher pressures meant the tube would bulge out from between the wheel and tire and burst. One afternoon, I had a flat during a ride. I fixed it, but was concerned about the fix. So that evening, I took it to a bike shop to get a new tire and some tubes. While I was there, I figured to save time, I’d have them mount the tire.

As a browsed through the store, I heard a sharp BANG! like a gun shot. I trotted back to the service area, where the scruffy-looking mechanic stared embarrassedly at the blown tire.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” I said, “those tires shouldn’t be inflated more than 70 pounds.”

He looked at the wheel and nodded agreement. He took out a new tube, put it in the tire, and started to pump it up.

BANG!

By now, the other store employees were gathered around to watch the show. He took out another tube and repeated the process. This time, it looked okay, so he put the wheel on the bike.

BANG!

“Hey man, this just isn’t gonna work,” he said to me.

“It’s worked in the past,” I said. “I’ve done a metric century on these wheels.”

“Yeah, well you won’t any more,” he retorted. “Not only won’t this wheel take this tire, now it’s out of true.”

“So true it,” I said.

“I’ll have to charge you,” he answered.

“No. You knocked it out of true, you make it good.”

“No can do,” he said.

He gave me another tube. I paid for the new tire, and left the shop with my bike. A few days later, I bought my current bike (at a different shop), and I haven’t messed with the Raleigh ever since. I suspect the tire I bought, which was a different brand than the one it replaced, might have been the culprit. It probably didn’t seat on the wheel the same way as the other one did. But the failure of the mechanic to pinpoint the problem and recommend a workable solution bugged me. I vowed never to go to that store for service again. (I continue to buy routine items there, like socks and recently, a new pump.)

Most bike store service departments I’ve dealt with are wonderful, with competent mechanics who do good work in little time. But have you ever dealt with one like this guy? Or worse?

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Categories // Maintenance Tags // LBS

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