Back to Basics - Road Race Sprinting Part 1: Introduction and Psychology

We've seen that mad rush to the finish line, the elbow-to-elbow charge at the head of a seething bunch and the last desperate kick on the pedals and literally throwing the bike through the finish line. We may have seen the irrational nudges, shoulder charge or head-butt the frustrated banging on handlebars. We may have heard the noise, felt the rush of wind at the roadside and seen the gasping riders after they've crossed the line. Only a relatively few have been there. This is the realm of the sprinter.

View image | gettyimages.com

From an interview with Brian Viner in July 2009 this comment by Chris Boardman sums up the psychology of sprinters, he was talking about Mark Cavendish;

"And he doesn't see the world in the same way as everyone else. In a sprint, with bodies everywhere all going at 70mph, I'd see the bodies, but he sees the gaps between the bodies. That's the difference"

I think he meant 70kph but it's still pretty fast; drive down the road at 40mph in your car, these people would be passing you. Now imagine that in a tightly packed bunch just inches apart.

Generally during a sprint, and in the last few minutes before it, the sprinter's body is full of adrenalin. He or she is in the full fight mode. In this situation the brain collects and processes information as fast as it can to such an extent that sprinters often remember every detail as if it were slow motion. The road surface, the movements of the other riders, the moments to make a move, when to make a final kick; all of those things happen so quickly yet the sprinter has plenty of time to react. This high speed processing creates a feeling of control and considering the potential for big accidents they are actually quite rare suggesting that the control is impressively real.

The adrenaline really does, as Chris Boardman said, let the sprinter see things differently from the rest of the bunch. The sprinter's brain really does see possibility; the gap will open up, there is enough room, I can do this. In all the high speed and pressure of a handful of intense seconds the sprinter is still making considered decisions, just faster than any other considered decision you'll ever make. Can I get through, what if so and so goes early, do I follow, do I go 95%, left or right the decisions all taken faster than you can read the words. That's what adrenaline can do. Adrenaline can also make a person hide, shake and run away, turn them into a quivering wreck, but the sprinter uses adrenaline, lives for it and harnesses its power, that's the difference.

Of course there is so much more to the psychology of sprinters.

To anyone other than the sprinter the lead up to the sprint, high speed jockeying for position and that last few hundred metres looks dangerous. Spectators and non-sprinting cyclists see high speed, close proximity, the odd elbow being used and riders blocking each other and pushing to get out of a box and all of this at a speed hovering around 40mph (60kph). In fact for very many cyclists it is just too much and they won't get involved. There is very definitely an element of risk and an element of fear.

View image | gettyimages.com

The sprinter sees things differently. The biggest risk for the sprinter is not ending up in the gutter with a broken bike and broken bones; by far the biggest risk for the sprinter is someone getting to the line ahead of them. You can recover from broken bones, most serious sprinters know this because they've done so (or they've seen their opponents do so), your bike can be mended, but you never recover from the missed opportunity when you were second across the line. That second place stays with you. The fear of not winning is greater than any fear of crashing and it is this fear that stokes the adrenaline level mentioned above.

Nobody likes to finish second but in a sprinter's mentality it would be better to win the sprint for second place when a lone rider has already won the race than to be beaten to the line in a bunch. It is all about being the absolute fastest in the final rush for the line. There is no greater thrill in sport. The sprinter may dream of a lone race win, and occasionally it might happen, but they tend to be realist and understand that their best chances will always come from within a decent sized group. Winning at the head of a charge of 50 or more riders is always the biggest rush.

When the sprinter doesn't win it doesn't matter what he or she says, they feel a very deep sense of failure. That feeling is horrible and leads to a level of self analysis which some will share and others will internalise. The sprint takes about 10 seconds at the end of hours of racing but in those seconds the sprinter has invested everything, a fraction of a second's hesitation, or starting an effort a fraction of a second too early, misjudging the wind, the gradient or the opponent; all of these things can make the sprinter lose. They are all failures and failure is the sprinters biggest fear.

Telling the failed sprinter that they have another chance tomorrow is no real consolation. Challenging the sprinter to do better (no doing better isn't enough to), challenging the sprinter to win tomorrow has a better chance of success.

When you see Mark Cavendish almost in tears because he or she got it wrong and doesn't need sympathy, he needs the challenge of another race, another boost of the sprinters number one friend adrenaline followed by the second drug of choice; endorphins - winning gives a shot both and makes the sprinter feel better; until the next time.

Essentially the sprinter is the world's fastest addict!

View image | gettyimages.com

So how do we get into the realm of the sprinter? My next "Back to basics" blog post will focus on the techniques of the sprinter and then I'll look at the tactics of the sprinter and finally at training....

The post Armstrong era - I'm back - lets take our sport back!

Cycling has now entered the post-Armstrong era, sure he'll be around for a while finding non-sanctioned events to take part in and having legal arguments to keep hold of the money that organisations rightly want back. But in terms of real cycling we are now post-Armstrong (and post-lots of others too!).

I've not blogged much lately, other pressures of life and to an extent not being sure quite how to react to what has been happening to my favourite sport. We've talked about it, worried about it, sometimes been the butt of jokes about it and sometimes argued about it.

We've all known about drugs for a long time and even at an amateur level most people who raced for any length of time will know of people who were at least suspected of using banned substances on occasion.

Personally I know what steroids can do in terms of training and strength building - I stopped cycle racing because I needed steroid treatment for an eye problem - I'd almost certainly never have been tested but I wouldn't have felt comfortable competing unfairly.Winning feels brilliant; but only because of the sense of acheivement, having done your best and beaten other, often stronger, riders. Cheating to win would never feel the same.

On a high dose of steroids for several months I found that my power, especially climbing, was much greater than normal (generally climbing seated in a gear two cogs higher than I would normally use) and I stopped doing any kind of training because I knew something of the damage I could do to my body had I carried on.

Some people will take the chance with their health, will want to win at whatever cost and will continue to find ways to cheat. But most cyclists are not like that. Most cyclists love the sport and would love to see fair competition and winners who are real heroes.

The challenge post-Armstrong is how to take back our sport, let the world know that most cyclists just love cycling and all the freedom, pleasure and benefits it brings.

At the top level Team Sky seem to have the right approach.

Let's take back our sport from the grass-roots upwards!

Back to Basics - Sprinting - coming soon

My next "Back to basics" posts will look at sprinting.

Many cyclists believe they can't sprint or are rubbish at it. It's true that we can't all be like Mark Cavendish, Mario Cipollini, Erik Zabel or Sean Kelly but everyone can sprint and everyone can get better at it by the combination of training, technique and tactics.

Perhaps these posts should be called the 3Ts - because training, technique and tactics are the basic tools that any cyclist can use to improve any aspect of their performance.

In the meantime have a read back over the Climbing - Back to Basics - Parts 1 to 3 and watch the real experts in the Tour de France. And when they get the chance watch Cav, Goss and co. in the sprints - hopefully my next posts will go some way to explaining (in simple terms) how those guys do it.

Back soon!

Climbing - Part 3 - Technique - Back to basics

This third article on climbing looks at how you can improve climbing technique to make climbing easier and faster.

The main technical areas where most riders can improve are; pedalling, breathing, body positioning and timing and controlling their efforts. Trying to improve in several areas at once is difficult so for most people spending a bit of time on each until it becomes habitual and then moving on to the next will provide the best results.

Modern bikes offer different gearing options compared to those used for racing 20 or 30 years ago so some techniques have altered to take advantage of that. Previously very low gears were used by tourists but those gears were too widely spaced to be practical when racing so often when racing riders would push higher (heavier) gears than used today. The changes in gearing include more sprockets on rear wheels enabling a wider range of gears, whilst still keeping close steps between the ratios, and compact and triple chainsets enabling smaller rings to be used at the front.  Because of this riders would be well advised to look at the techniques of top climbers from the modern era rather than those from the past.

Technique 1 - Pedaling

My previous post "Pedalling - back to basics" covers various aspects of pedalling and much the same priciples apply when riding up hills although when climbing the cadence (how quickly the pedals are turned) would normally drop compared to when riding on the flat.

Many riders pedal too slowly up hills and rely on brute strength to keep moving perhaps moving body weight around to add some extra force to the pedals. Watching top riders climb you can see that most of them are actually still turning the pedals quite quickly and it is when a rider 'blows' that the cadence really drops.

How fast you should pedal would vary depending on the physical shape and natural rhythm of each rider but for a rider who rides at 90 to 100 rpm (revs per minute) on the flat would climb most hills with a cadence of 70 to 80 rpm.

For most riders that kind of pedalling rate seems very high and the only way to make it feel natural is to train at high cadence on hills, at first it will feel un-natural and you'll get breathless (see below for technique) more quickly but with perseverance it is effective.

The Science Bit

In simple terms when climbing at lower cadence the leg muscles will fatigue more quickly because of the higher force they have to apply to the pedals. At the same speed with a higher cadence the force exerted each time a pedal is pushed is lower BUT pedalling at a higher cadence will burn up more energy causing the heart and longs to work harder. There is a choice between putting more stress on your leg muscles or burning more energy. As long as energy supply and hydration are sorted the second is usually more effective.

There are couple of good articles on this subject see;

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/article/technique-pedal-like-a-pro-12772/

http://bikecan.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=BIKE_CAN_CyclingResources

Technique 2 - Breathing

It seems almost too obvious to say, but it often needs to be said; However fit and strong you are if you don't breathe you won't move. If you don't breathe effectively then you won't climb effectively.

Ideally most breathing at areobic levels is done via the diaphragm and you should breathe in a controlled and calm manner - once you are gasping or taking short fast gulps of air then you are getting insufficient oxygen for the effort you are making, the work becomes anaerobic and you will fatigue quickly, power will drop and you will build up lactic acid which will hurt your muscles.

Technique 3 - Body Position

When climbing wind speeds are relatively low so win resistance is less important than it is on the flat. This allows you to ride in a more upright position and that in turn helps with effective breathing.
Keeping your head up will also ensure the air pathway to the lungs stays clear.

Sitting on the saddle when climbing uses fewer muscles than standing up so when climbing for a long time sitting down requires less oxygen. Sitting down and gripping the top of the bars (on dropped bars) reduces pressure on the diaphragm and keeps the airways open making breathing easier. The easier it is to breathe the more energy you can generate to climb. Often holding the bars toward the middle means that your elbows are further out from the body and this gives more room for the intercostal muscles (between the ribs) to move so that you can beathe more deeply.

Like the pedalling techniques above this does not always feel natural at first and repeated training using these techniques is required to make it feel more natural and to be able to climb like this for longer.

Sometime when you want to accelerate,  the gradient is too steep or your gear not low enough (or you can't manage to maintain the seated position any longer) you will stand on the pedals - this allows you to apply more force to the pedals but the effort will tire leg muscles more quickly.

When climbing standing on the pedals (out of the saddle) you need to concentrate on breathing and balance. Breathing - keep your head up, keep elbows comfortably apart. Balance - keep enough weight on the back wheel to maintain good grip and prevent the wheel from slipping but keeping enough on the front wheel to keep it firmly on the road.

When moving from a sitting to standing position the bike will tend to slow down briefly while you make the transition and in close groups could cause a crash. To prevent that you should push harder on the pedals to lift yourself off the saddle rather than just standing up in a natural way.

Technique 4 - Timing and control of effort

Some riders climb best on short hills of a couple of minutes or less while others prefer long climbs taking to minutes or more. Whichever you prefer you are always going to have to climb the other sort of hills and you should measure your efforts so that you are riding strongly as you crest the summit. Knowing how hard to ride to crest the hill strongly comes with experience and getting to know where your own thresholds lie - both of those things come only with training - lots of training.


In summary - How to become a good climber

The old way to become a good climber was to get on your bike and climb hills, and do it again and again and again. That is still the best way but with attention to techniques and power to weight it will be even more effective.

Climbing - Part 2 - Power to Weight - Back to basics

In part 1 I concluded with the two things that make climbing harder than it could be for most cyclists and the reasons are insufficient power-to-weight ratio and technique, and that both can be improved through training. This post looks at the first of these; training to tackle the power-to-weight ratio.

Clearly there are two issues to tackle here and in order to be most successful there is a need to strike a balance between them. Power can be increased by using specific training but doing so can increase body weight. Various training and dietary techniques can reduce weight but can also reduce power.

So how can you improve your power-to-weight ratio without gaining weight or loosing power?

Unless you are already very fit and trained in cycling the first step is to ride regularly and at a pace that makes you breathe hard and for half an hour or more at a time. Doing this consistently over a couple of months will bring basic "bike fitness" (i.e. being able to cycle for an hour or two fairly easily and able to start some more challenging training).

Assuming you are already bike fit then let's look at power-to-weight specific training. Joining a gym and following a planned programme of resistance training can be effective but as the training can be done on a bike why pay to use the gym.

POWER

The basic principle of training (see my previous post "Back to Basics - What is training?") means that repeatedly stressing the body by carrying out a particular activity will cause it to adapt and become more effective at that particular activity. The more a rider climbs the better they will become, but if the climbing is done at slow speed that's where the improvement will come.

To boost the power for climbing will involve work hard on the kinds of climbs where improvement is desired.

Short Steep Climbs

To boost your power on steep climbs find a steep climb which takes at least a couple of minutes to climb, the sort of hill generally climbed standing on the pedals. For those without access to the necessary hills a turbo trainer with fairly high resistance can be used instead. 

Initially you should warm up thoroughly and then start to train on the climb making repeated short efforts with recovery periods between (interval training). You should make efforts of 40 to 60 seconds duration, pushing a fairly hard gear and accelerating as much as you can in the last few seconds of each effort.  You should be trying hard enough that by the end of each effort it is difficult to keep climbing.

In the first stages of training you might be able to manage four efforts with a gap of a few minutes between (e.g. 50 second efforts with 3 minute rests). The rest periods are important and you should pedal easily during them but don't stop pedaling. As you improve you could increase to 6 or 7 efforts in a session. After that you shouldn't need to increase the number of efforts but you can always increase the effort you make each time by riding faster and pushing a higher gear. If you can manage more than 6 or 7 efforts then you are not trying hard enough in each effort. The rest periods should stay the same so that each time you make an effort you have had the proper recovery period.

After your interval training you need to ride some more at a steady pace to let your body warm down properly.

Long Drags

Long drags are climbs which are usually tackled sitting on the saddle and take at least a few minutes to climb.

Interval training can boost the power needed on these climbs but the efforts will each be significantly longer and normally done sitting down. Like for steep hills you should be pushing hard and try to increase your pace at the end of each effort. When starting this type of training you should aim for about four efforts each of 4 to 5 minutes with rest periods of the same length.

Over time the length of the efforts can be increased rest periods should not be lengthened and may even be reduced (e.g. climbing for 15 minutes and only resting for a few minutes whilst cycling back down the hill before climbing again). About 30 minutes total climbing in a session should be plenty even for the fittest climber, remember you can always ride faster if it isn't hard enough.

Technical Climbs

The climbs I define as Technical are those where the gradient changes during the climb and there are often twists and turns which tend to interrupt the climber's rhythm.

The single climb is likely to go on for some distance but the changes in gradient and rhythm mean that it is a mixture of the long drag and the steep climb, sometimes sitting down and sometimes standing on the pedals. Effective training for the two types of hills, as above, will generally enable you to handle this type of climb quite effectively. If necessary you can train on this type of hill or undertake sessions combining interval type efforts on both types of hill. Making extra effort at the points where the gradient and direction occur will boost your ability to handle such changes in future riding.

WEIGHT

To have a high power-to-weight ratio the rider should aim not to carry excess body weight.

In general training on the bike is good for controlling body weight. Training as described above for climbing steep hills may cause a minor increase in body weight but the weight will be more than offset by the increase in power. Training with weights in a gym can cause significant increases in power but these can be accompanied by increases in body weight which are too great to be offset by the additional power when climbing.

If the rider needs to reduce body weight significantly to help with climbing then simply increasing exercise whilst not increasing calorie intake is the only reliable system. To lose the weight too quickly can risk causing a loss of power and lack of energy making recovery more difficult. It is therefore important to continue to eat healthily whilst increasing training.

Significant weight loss should be always be gradual and at a rate which doesn't create an ongoing feeling of fatigue.

TECHNIQUE

In my next post on climbing I'll look at how technique can be improved to climb more effectively.

Great Manchester Cycle - back to basics paying off!

The Great Manchester Cycle took place today and I lined up in Sport City at about 7.30am with 1500 others ready to tackle the 52 mile ride. A little early drizzle had cleared and occasionally the sun shone, but it was quite windy and still only 9C. My training over the recent weeks had consisted mainly of commuting, a 27 mile round trip 3 or 4 days a week on my Brompton. In a back to basics style that training was simple, riding more than normal and sometimes riding harder (especially on the way home).

After a long wait near the start line I took off my rain jacket with 30 seconds to go, stuffed it in my jersey pocket, and was ready to go. The start itself was fairly steady and it took a while, with so many riders of differing abilities and experience, for groups to form and settle into a pace.

I had planned a steady start and hopefully a nice steady group at 20mph or so. Turning towards the Mancunian Way with a fairly strong following wind the noise of tyres and the buzz of riding fairly quickly in a bunch were too tempting and I found myself clipping along between 25 and 28mph. Through Salford Keys the route got narrow and had 'interesting' features including bollards and posts in the middle of the narrowing paths. This first time through everyone slowed down and we came through unscathed with a group of about 10 as we headed past Manchester United's stadium and towards the city centre.

Heading back to Sport City the wind was in our faces and the group constantly changed as we caught up with riders who had started a bit more quickly and dropped others. Back in to Sport City and the course became a little more technical with a few nice tight turns. Riding my old road bike in such circumstances brought back memories and the bike itself handles such corners, and sprinting out of them, as well as it used to.

Perhaps I was a bit over-enthusiastic but I was having fun and kept moving up, group to group, and stayed with riders younger and fitter than I am.

There's usually a price to pay for such behaviour and for me it came in the shape of cramp sprinting out of the corners at Old Trafford on the fourth and last lap. First a twinge in my quads and soon afterwards in my hamstrings at which point with 5 miles to go it was time to back off a little and stretch the muscles. I watched the group disappear up the road all the time shedding riders in ones and twos as the headwind took its toll.

Not wanting to stop I did some stretching and 'heel of the hand' pressure on the affected muscles whilst pedaling more gently in a slightly lower gear and the cramps eased. With 3 miles to go I was able to build up the pressure gradually and got back to a reasonable pace into the wind for the finish. Around the final bend at Sport City and the commentator announced my arrival "number 773, Seamus Kelly, must be from Ireland"

For me it was a good morning finishing 186th out of about 1500 riders and well ahead of my planned time.

For thousands of others it was a good day too, the keen sporting cyclists, the triathletes, the families and those riding for a cause. It was amazing to see thousands of cyclists enjoying the day and their own personal achievements. Around the finish are you'd have struggles to find anyone without a smile.

Here's hoping this will run again next year.

Climbing - Part 1 - back to basics

Riding bikes up hills is the thing most cyclists find difficult and it is especially difficult for novices. Most people end up learning to climb without much help or advice and often end up finding it much harder than they ought to.

To understand why riding up hills is hard here's a little bit of science (skip the green bit if you don't like science):

The Science Bit

When Albert Einstein worked out one of the best known pieces of science he probably did it because he realised how important it is for cyclists wanting to ride faster or climb hills.

e = mc(2)

In words the formula reads "energy equals mass x constant squared"

The formula is used to show how much energy is required to move an object. But what does it really mean?

"Energy" most of us understand, although it comes in a variety of forms, and when riding a bike the energy is provided by the engine (the rider) except when heading downhill when something called potential energy comes into play.

"Mass" is a bit like weight in that it is a measure of the amount of material in something (the weight of an object varies depending on its location but mass is always the same - think of how light things are on the moon)

The "Constant" is a way of measuring the things that affect the movement of the object like gravity, friction etc.

When riding a bike on a level surface the constant is mainly made up mainly of air resistance (the coefficient of drag, the CD value car makers used to publish in the 80s, multiplied by the speed of the bike) and the mechanical efficiency of the bike and the drag from the road surface (these last two are relatively minor). The squared bit at the end of the formula means that to double the speed of the bike requires four times the energy.

Riding up a hill the constant includes a measure of the gravitational pull of the earth (itself a constant  called g) as well as the factors applying on the flat. As speed is much lower going up hills the air resistance becomes less significant and the energy requirement to ride against the gravitational pull of the earth becomes the most significant factor.

__________________________

What does it mean in simple non scientific terms?

So does that mean that the lighter you are the better you can climb? Not necessarily classic climbers like Lucien Van Impe, Robert Millar or Marco Pantani were all very slightly built but what about Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Big Mig Indurain who all climbed brilliantly and were much heavier riders (with much more mass). The bigger climbers simply needed more energy to climb at the same speed as the lighter ones and in the examples given they had sufficiently powerful engines to be able to produce that amount of energy.

The important factor to be able to climb really fast is to have lots of power compared to how much you weigh (a high power to weight ratio).

There are two main reasons why climbing is harder than it should be for many riders and these are:

a) power to weight ratio is too low
b) technique needs improving

In the following two posts Climbing - Part 2 and Part 3 - I'll take a look at how to use training to tackle the power to weight issue and how to improve technique to climb more effectively.

Pedalling - back to basics

One constant in cycling is the need to pedal effectively. The more we pedal the more the body will adapt to pedalling and the better it becomes.

Technical

Pedalling looks pretty simple and it comes naturally when you ride a bike a lot. There is just one really important technical issue with pedalling which relates to the correct position of the foot on the pedal. When pushing on the pedal the ball of the foot should be directly above the axle.

Think about running and jumping, the power is always delivered through the ball of the feet, the same applies to riding a bike, maximum power is applied through the ball of the foot. This gives rise to lots of discussion about the types of pedal and cleats. In reality most pedals with cleats (sometimes called clipless pedals) work perfectly well for those that want to use them although each rider will tend to have a preferred system.

For maximum power delivery the soles of the shoes used should be pretty rigid. There is also a theory that flat pedals work perfectly well and for most purposes except racing that is probably true, I've used flat and clipless systems for commuting and MTB and most of the time they are fine but in a sprint or hopping over an obstacle on a road bike the clipless have an advantage.

There are lots of studies and articles about pedalling technique but none that conclusively prove that techniques such as “ankling”, trying to pull on the upstroke or dragging the pedal through top-dead-centre make any measurable difference to the overall effectiveness of the rider. Training to pedal is therefore achieved by simply pedalling, lots and lots of pedalling.

The muscles that do most of the pedalling actions will develop as more of the fibres come into use and the circulation in the legs will improve in order to supply oxygen to the muscles. The muscles that are used  the most get bigger as more fibres are brought into use. That’s why after years of riding cyclists legs get to look different from other people’s legs (that and the shaving!).

How quickly should you pedal?

Does matter is how quickly you pedal. Ideally you should probably pedal faster in training than you think you should. If you want to know what quick pedalling looks like watch any video of Lance Armstrong - whatever he did or didn’t do in terms of doping he certainly developed the ability to pedal  quickly and comfortably.

Most people don’t pedal quickly enough and then in a competitive situation when they need to pedal really fast they can’t. If you train by pedalling slowly then your body adapts to be able to do that and pedalling fast is going to be difficult. If on the other hand you pedal more quickly when training the body adapts to be able to pedal quickly but it can pedal more slowly without difficulty.

Summary

Pedal quickly when training (watch Lance!)
Pedal with the ball of the foot over he axle
Pedal lots and lots

My next "Back to Basics" topic will be climbing with a bit of science for good measure.

Back to Basics - What is Training?

In cycling there are three main types of training which can be defined as:

physiological - adaptation of the physical attributes of the body
technical - development of physical skills and techniques

psychological - development of mental skill and techniques

The Training Effect

The human body is a very clever design and in essence if it needs to do a particular action frequently then it can adapt itself to become better at that action.

In very simple terms if you want to run fast then you keep running as fast as you are able and  over a period of time the body will make changes enabling it to run faster (see the science below). If you keep pushing to what seems to be your limit in this way the body will adapt in a wide range of ways to make that possible. All of those adaptations put together create the “Training effect”.

This is hardly new science and it is how human beings have trained for sport, for war, for work and for survival over many thousands of years.

At the same time human beings have used the basic training methods to develop technical skills, lots of repetition and carefully building up the parts that make a technique to become more effective. That's the way farmers learned to plough the land and also how soldiers learned archery. Those same principles apply now to those of us wanting to become more effective cyclists.

In psychological terms repeating a process enough helps to alter the pathways in the brain and is part of the effect of technical skills training. In addition the brain is able to learn things through effective thinking techniques such as visualisation and can benefit from strategies to boost morale. It isn't really surprising that increased morale actually boosts physical performance.

What do we need to do, and what do we need to understand, in order to become better cyclists?

The answer to that question depends on a wide range of variables including the specific areas of cycling where we want to improve. Do you want to ride further, faster, climb better, sprint better etc. These specifics will be addressed in the following blog postings starting with the one constant in cycling; pedalling

The Science Bit

There is an excellent explanation of the theory of adaptation in physical training from Colorado Sports Training at;

http://coloradosportstraining.com/site/physical-load/adaptation-as-a-main-law-of-training

In simple terms all organisms have the ability to respond to stress by adapting.

If your circumstances mean you have to run away (e.g. from large carnivores) frequently then your body increases the capacity of the heart to pump enough blood, increases the capacity of the lungs to supply oxygen to be carried in the blood and increases the number of fibres brought into use in the leg muscles. Of course if you have to run away too many times without giving your body time to rest and to make those adaptations while resting then you are likely to get caught (and eaten). This is where evolution kicks in because the better adapted are more likely to survive and breed etc.

By carefully planning your training you persuade your body, by creating the right amount of stress, that it needs to adapt and then you give it the necessary time and nutrients to make the adaptations and you become more effective.

It's not always sunny, but it's always good for you!

Today and I had a meeting with a colleague in Hebden Bridge. The weather was pretty wet and quite cold but of course we both arrived by bike. The canal paths got wetter as the day went on and the overflows were very slippery. The rain became incessant and hands got quite cold with very wet gloves on.

In the end though a 30 mile ride, when you really wouldn't want to go outside the front door, is still pretty good. You still get exercise and once you've got going you can still enjoy the fresh air and the outdoors.

Today I saw a Yellow Wagtail beside the canal, I've not seen one for years, and the usual range of ducks, geese and a heron. This cycling stuff isn't only good for your body, it's good for the mind as well.

The Science Bit

Note the science here is mostly correct but sometimes it may be totally made up. It's up to you to decide which each day.

How does riding in rubbish conditions benefit the mind?

The simple scientific answer is: Endorphins

The more detailed scientific answer is: When the body is subjected to certain stresses and also to certain pleasurable things (i.e. stimulae) the production of certain hormone related substances is increased. These substances include endorphins, sometimes called the "feel-good hormones" and sure enough they make you feel better.

The secondary scientific answer is: Whilst cycling in difficult conditions, including very slippery overflows like the one above, your mind is occupied by the immediate physical requirements and the parts of your brain which might be worrying or feeling pressured effectively get a break.

Back to Basics - Scientific Training

When reading about a "Back to Basics" approach to training some people may assume that I don't approve of scientific training methods and principles. But the back to basic training methods are actually rooted in and backed up by science.

The early scientists didn't have the range of tools and equipment that modern scientists have but the principles that they worked out underpin most modern science. Similarly the successful training techniques used by cyclists in the "Pre-Baordman" era actually underpin the work done since by the likes of Peter Keen and Brailsford's team.

So, if modern scientific methods are better, why would anyone choose to use anything other than the newest most scientific methods?

The answer is quite simply that for most of us what we are trying to achieve can be achieved without the need for lots of expensive equipment and coaching. In a way if it was good enough for Eddy Merckx it ought to be good enough for you and me.

• We want to get a bit fitter
• We want to loose a bit of weight
• We need to climb faster
• We need to sprint faster
• Our tactics leave room for improvement
• We want to finish that sportive
• We want to place in the 4th cat race

All of the above can be achieved using a more basic approach to training and by our own efforts with a bit of guidance and without the need for HRM, GPS, physiological testing, power measurement etc.

For some there is a real need for more; 

• if you are trying to add a few metres onto a World Hour Record 
• if you are looking for the edge to win the Tour prologue
• if you are just a fraction away from winning an important TT
• if you are loosing sprints by a couple of inches (in a proper race, not the clubrun!)

If you are in those situations then you've probably exhausted the basic techniques just to get there and now you need the little extra edge that the latest scientific techniques can give you.

If not then Back to Basics can save you a fortune and get you where you need to be. So I'll be writing a series of Back to Basics training blogs and for those into the scientific approach I'll include the science behind the basic methods.

Back to Basic - 4 - Ready?

Well another good week with 110miles of commuting, a good proportion of that being off road. Tomorrow should be a recovery day so that my somewhat tired legs will be ready for the Witches Curse on Sunday.

Has the training done enough, would I be ready? 

Unfortunately I won't find out because the event has been postponed until September due to circumstances beyond the organiser's control. Not sure what happened but was the event cursed from the start?

Problem now is what to do about the entry. By September the Back to Basics training should have me well beyond the shorter version so leaving the entry standing would be a waste. I can use it to enter something else so could go for the longer and even hillier version or maybe I'll go for the Phil and Friends event in the Peak District. Interested to know what others think.

Either way I'm getting to like the training without too much extra technology and I think I'll carry on using the same techniques through the year and see what condition it brings.

What will the training include?

• Riding bikes whenever possible
• Mountain biking
• Commuting
• Road biking
• Riding up loads of hills (easy to find round here)
• Turbo trainer when necessary
• Riding on feel
• Fun
• Keeping note of how much I've done
• Plotting routes on computer and maps

What it won't include:

• HRM / Pulse meters
• Power measurement
• Detailed training plans
• Pressure

I'll probably let anyone interested know how it is going.

Back to basics 3 - one week to go

Well this weekend leaves just a single week to go before the Witches Curse Sportive and I'm wondering how well prepared I am, and how much I can do in the last week. Last weekend a road ride with a bit over 2,000 feet of climbing left me struggling to hold off cramp on the last climb.

So every time I could ride a bike this week I've been pedaling a bit harder than normal and I've cycled around 150 miles - probably more than I've ridden in a week for a good number of years.

I've commuted on my Brompton and my MTB and taken the long way around when I could. Finally a weekend ride on the road bike around the West Pennines. This time the route was about 37miles but included about 3,600 feet of climbing including four big climbs and a difficult headwind on some of the longer climbs.

To my great relief the "back to basics" training over the last week and a half had worked quite well and the same final climb, with a strong headwind this time, was tough but there was no sign of the cramp from a week ago.

The only draw-back to the ride every chance using a range of bikes was the need this afternoon to wash three bikes - I don't think I had to do that even when I was a keen racer cycling over 300 miles a week!

I expect to commute to Manchester a few times this week and I'll aim to ride as much as possible but not to arrive at the weekend tired.

Back to basics 2

Training for the Witches Curse

Only two weeks to prepare for this event so I was wondering which way to train.

I asked myself, should I take the scientific route and get into checking my current heart rate zones power outputs and so on? I could devise a schedule to bring me to the event in the best shape possible. But the answer was no! In two weeks I'd just about establish where I am at now and start to prepare a plan to improve.

So the answer is take the training back to basics. Riding the bike when you can and when you can't get on in indoor trainer. Tonight its cold outside but a nice warm 4 degrees in the shed so turbo training it was - first time since.... since.... since a very long time ago. I remember using the turbo to prepare to spend a week climbing really big hills in Spain but that was 12 years ago.

Riding on Feel

The most old fashioned bit of the training is the method of gauging the effort - I'm using something we used to use 30 years ago - we call it riding on feel. It worked then and I reckon it still works now.
So how does back to basics work?

I've got to be able to ride up lots of hills so when out on the bike I'm riding up lots of hills. I've got to be able to build a bit of stamina and enable my legs to recover while riding so I have to work quite hard, relax a bit and work hard again.

Of course "feel" is built up over time and there are special indicators you can use to know just how hard you are actually working, that's a bit scientific really. For example if you are doing sprint intervals and you intend doing eight of them you know you were going a tiny fraction too hard if you threw up after only six or seven, a bit too easy is you still had balance, coordination and speech after eight. Do it a few times and you develop the necessary feel so that you only throw up after eight and so that the balance, coordination and speech only go as you make your eighth final lunge.

Back to Basics

Having entered the Witches Curse sportive - http://www.ctcchallengerides.co.uk/CTC2012_Witches_Curse_sportive.php -  I needed to get my road bike out and do some training. I'm only doing the 45 mile version but it has almost 5,000 feet of climbing and I'm not fit!

So today I took out my road bike for a training run. This bike has only been ridden once in the last 15 years and the frame was built for me by Vernon at M&B Cycles in Dronfield well over 20 years ago.

So here I am training for an event and this really is back to basics. There is no GPS, no cycle computer, no heart rate monitor. The bike itself is considered retro or classic now and there is no indexing on the downtube gear levers, no dual pivot brakes, no compact or triple chainset, no anatomically shaped handlebars and the frame is made of Reynolds 531 Pro steel tubing.

Once back on the bike feels just so as it did when I raced on it 20 years ago.

Simplex retro-friction gear levers - these are working perfectly well on an 8 speed cassette and I never really understood why indexing is so popular on road bikes

Campag Record Strada single pivot brakes - yes dual pivots and hydraulics or discs give more power. More power is not always useful unless somehow you are also able to create more grip on the road (it works on MTB because you have such large contact patches)

Cinelli bars and stem with original Benotto tape - gloves or mits provide the necessary grip and cushioning and nothing gives such a direct feel and control as traditional thin tape

Campag Victory seatpost

Reynolds 531Pro frame and forks - there isn't really anything better - lighter yes, but better no!

Shimano Dura Ace front hub with stainless spokes on a Mavic rim - great wheels which can easily be trued and adjusted and which are built to a tension to suit the rider. I built these fairly tight to suit my style and weight

Shimano Duar Ace rear hub, stainless spokes and Mavic rim. The largest cog used to be an 18 or for particularly hilly riding a 21 but nowadays a 25 is more in order. The Record cranks only take a ring down to 42 and a 25 tooth cog the biggest I can fit with the original Dura Ace rear mech. Still a gear of 45" is quite low.