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Charity Training Rides

05.30.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 5 Comments

Now that summer has arrived, many of us will be gearing up for big charity rides. These fundraising rides often give cyclists the chance to train before the event in an organized group. They offer newer riders the prospect of building up their mileage in a safe environment.

We were first exposed to these training rides several years ago, when my wife decided to sign up for the Hill Country Ride for AIDS (HCRA). She’d never ridden in an organized ride before, and was worried that she might not be up to the challenge of 50 miles. But the HCRA starts offering training rides in about February for the late April event.  After building up her endurance on several training rides, Pat finished the 50 miles, and that’s what got us into biking.

Now, we often tag along on these training rides, whether we’re planning to enter the main event or not. The reason? Well, they’re very much like a regular organized ride. Although there aren’t any rest stops, there is often sag support. The typical HCRA training ride has two or three pickup trucks patrolling the route, and one or two motorcyclists who can respond quickly to any trouble, or help out with directions. Before the ride begins, everyone enters the numbers of the sag drivers into their cell phones, to call them if a rider has problems.  In addition, ride leaders are sprinkled throughout the group to shepherd along slower cyclists, or make sure everyone else stays on course. These folks are usually experienced riders, and may even be able to assist with minor repair work.

HCRA cyclists are briefed before a training ride. Ride leaders wear hi-vis green helmet covers.

Earlier this year, we joined an HCRA training ride in Georgetown, Texas, about 30 miles north of Austin. I did the 45-mile route, and Pat did 29 miles. Because Pat is often the slowest rider, she usually finds herself riding with the “sweep,” the ride leader whose job it is to be the last rider on the course. But this time, she got out ahead of some slower riders and left them behind. As I and two others from the 45-mile ride reached a small town with about 12 miles to go, we caught up to the “sweep.” He was with two newbie riders, pedaling along slowly on their discount store hybrids. They were doing the 29-mile route, and it would be a long time before they got back to the starting point.

Starting another HCRA training ride. Rides like these help new cyclists learn to ride in a group.

These rides start easy, and get more challenging closer to the main event date. The first ride might be less than 20 miles. Then, there will be multiple route choices — or at least two different distances. More hills get thrown in a few weeks before the event.

Saturday, we both went out to a training ride for the Mamma Jamma Ride for Breast Cancer Research, which won’t happen until October. This one was a little different from the HCRA rides. It piggybacks onto a regular Austin Cycling Association ride. Usually, the ACA gives you a route map and cue sheet, and once you’re on the road, you’re on your own. But the Mamma Jamma folks supplied ride leaders, too. Pat and I were both part of the 28-mile group, but after a few miles we split into a 15 mph contingent and a slower group that was targeting 12 mph.  Pat was bringing up the rear of the 12 mph group, but a sweep stayed with her. Then, her rear hub broke, and she called me to come back to get her. I told the sweep to catch up to everyone else, and that I would take care of Pat.

If you’re gearing up for your first big charity ride, and are concerned about being able to cover the mileage, check to see if they offer any training rides. You’ll learn a lot, you’ll get faster and stronger, and you’ll meet some folks who might become future biking buddies. You can’t go wrong.

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Categories // Rides, training Tags // charity ride, training

Ramp It Up to Make a Difference

04.04.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 4 Comments

Things can turn around markedly in just a week’s time. Last week, I was concerned that I didn’t finish 65 miles, bailing from the ride at about 56. I was sore, tired, out of water, and moving slowly against an unrelenting headwind.

The DNF made me feel bad though, and over this past week, I’ve redoubled my efforts to get into decent biking shape. The day after the DNF, I did a spirited 25 miles with just as strong a headwind as the day before. On Tuesday, I met one of the club members at the Veloway, and he paced me for a couple laps at an intensity I usually don’t ride. Friday, 20 miles of hard work, including three hill loops of a decent suburban residential street with a grade that used to wipe me out after one climb.

Saturday, Pat and I decided to join the Hill Country Ride for AIDS group on one of their training rides. The route was interesting. One circuit covered 23 miles, a good ride for Pat. However, riders had the option of going around on a second loop, for a 40-mile total. I took that option, and even though the loop had a few longish challenging hills, I felt fresh at the end of the ride. My average speed was 15.9 mph, at the high end of my usual averages.

Sunday, I skipped the club ride because of a light rain. I figured I’d wait until the wetness cleared out in the afternoon. Sure enough, everything was dry by 2 p.m. and the temp had climbed to 82°F (27°C). The brisk wind from the southeast didn’t bother me as it did just a few weeks ago.

When I toted up my rides for the last seven days, I rode 108 miles. That’s nowhere near the farthest I’ve ever ridden in a week, but it’s the farthest I’ve ridden this year, and maybe for months before that.

Clearly, things are shaping up for me. And it’s happened in the course of only one week. What caused the improvement?

I pushed myself. Instead of allowing myself to ride at my usual pace, I made it a point to shift up one gear higher than normal and pedal harder. The hill repeats were never a regular part of my riding. I’ve made it a point to get more saddle time (sometimes to the chagrin of my derriere).

Just riding the way you always ride won’t bring improvement. You have to ramp up the effort. I’ve put in more miles and greater intensity this week, and it’s paying off.

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Categories // training Tags // training

Trainers Vs. Rollers

02.07.2010 by Ray Niekamp // 8 Comments

Guest poster Don Blount follows up his post on rollers, by comparing them to trainers.

If the weather changes so you are reluctant or unable to get outside to ride, is it better to hop on a stationary trainer or on bike rollers?

The answer is, it depends on what you want to accomplish.

The consensus among a few experienced cyclists is that rollers will allow you to work on your riding skills, although you’ll need practice to be able to stay upright on them. However trainers will let the most novice of riders hop on and do power workouts without any type of learning-how-to-ride-them period.

So which is better?

“I would recommend both because they do two different things,” Robert Fuller said. Robert is a licensed USA cycling coach and team manager for Rocket Sports Foundation, a youth cycling team in Lodi, Calif. (www.rocketsportsfoundation.org) In full disclosure, Robert did my bike fitting.

“As you know, with a trainer balance is only a minimal factor so doing hard intervals, standing up, sprinting, and slogging away while watching a video or TV is much easier to do,” he said.

But with rollers “there is a riding/balancing skill that is hard to replicate with any other form of cycling,” he said. “When riding rollers you are forced to learn to control your body movements since any movement is magnified on rollers.”

Ah, so true. While riding rollers I’ve turned my head slightly to one side to look at something and found myself lurching toward the edge of the roller and then to the floor.

Robert continued that rollers carry an important benefit. “If an athlete has mastered being able to ride on rollers for 30 minutes without falling off, you know that rider is going to be a safer rider on the road.”

So given that, if he could only have one, he’d use the trainer. “I would say that a trainer is going to give you a better, safer workout for 99 percent of all cyclists.”

A longtime friend of Robert’s is Craig Sanders. Another full disclosure — I work with Craig. He helped me select my bike and introduced me to Robert.

The two used to race bikes together a long time ago.

If Craig had to choose between a roller and a trainer, he would go with a roller. “A trainer is the same as riding a stationary bike at the gym. You can work on power but nothing else.”

Avid cyclist and blogger Dana McEwan (“Maine Velophile“) uses her trainer to build her base. “I do mainly endurance workouts with it and not too many intervals, or at least standing sprints,” she said. “The frame can torque a bit so you have to be a bit careful about body movement on it.”

She added that by the time she’s ready to start doing intervals on the trainer, the weather in Maine is starting to turn milder, and she can do those workouts on the road. “A road ride beats a trainer ride any day.”

Another cycling blogger, Bryan Dewberry, (“Biking to Live“) just started using a trainer. He says his biggest problem with it is boredom. “If I hadn’t set up my laptop on a table in front of me I don’t know if I could do it,” he said. He’s thinking about getting cycling DVDs to play during his workouts.

And in talking with a few sales people at my local LBS, all avid cyclists, they agree with the uses of each piece of equipment but also are split on which to use.

Ann, who is short, prefers a trainer in part because if she fell off a roller, it would be a long way down.

Steve, a former competitive racer prefers to use rollers because it allows him to work on form. Yet, he said, the trainers come with DVD systems that help you simulate riding. And depending on how much you want to spend, you can get trainers with all types of resistance settings.

Dana McEwan uses a fluid trainer, which she likes because it’s quiet. She suggests going with a reputable brand, such as CycleOps. “If you can afford to spend a bit more, then look for a good quality fluid or mag trainer. The latter actually allows you to adjust the resistance remotely,” she said.

But her most important trainer advice? “Invest in a trainer specific tire! And never use a regular tire that has been run a lot on the trainer outside on your road bike. Dangerous!”

I paid $110 for my Travel Trac rollers during a Performance Bike online sale in Sept. 2008. I haven’t seen them anywhere near that price since. A basic trainer I’ve seen on sale for as low as $89.

I may add a trainer at some at some point, in part because my wife wants to do indoor cardio work on her mountain bike. Daresay she won’t go near my rollers.

So depending on whether you want to work on your form and simulate riding while working out indoors or care less about your technique and just want to crank, that may influence whether you want to go with rollers or a trainer.

However, in the end, I agree with Craig: “Riding indoors is boring. I’d rather ride outside.”

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Categories // training Tags // Blount, guest post, rollers, trainer, training

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