Not in our genes

If anyone ever wonders why bike racing will never get big in the US, look no further than the Amgen Tour of California. Granted we got a hill-top finish but it was a hill-top in the middle of nowhere. Not only that, I tried to get there by going up the road in the other direction (Sierra Road, Felter and Calaveras form a loop) but no cigar.  Here was a diligent highway patrol officer blocking the road 6.5 MILES from the finish! Wouldn't want to have any problems with congestion now would we? Only a handful of local residents, who couldn't care less about riding, were let through. None of them were friendly enough to give me a ride.

Felter to Sierra, 6.5 miles of emptiness

Sierra, Felter and Calaveras are insignificant roads. Not much traffic there, only a few locals who go in and out. But the road at the Calaveras-Felter end is wide and it would have been easy to park on the shoulder in many locations without blocking the non-existing traffic. Yet someone thought it would be better to close the entire road for several hours? This was no doubt an effort to make sure not too many spectators would show up???

Lots of empty space. The finish is over the hill somewhere

When we went to see Flèche Wallonne in Huy in April, we were able to drive to within a km from the finish. And that just half an hour before the race was due to arrive in the middle of the city.

And the headlines? "An oldster of 39 grips the power in California" is what Sporza calls it. You could think it is unfair to Chris Horner, who put in a valiant effort and then boasted only Contador could beat him, but it is what it is: Geriatric cycling.

Andy Schleck, who only lamented the fact that he would have loved to win it for Wouter, said he "was surprised his form was so good already." Clearly Andy must think he was on a training ride among the geriatric public.

But that did not deter the folks from TrainingPeaks from discovering another first-in-class, superhuman performance. Here is what Hunter Allen sent the coaches group this morning: "STAGE 4  -RORY'S FILE!!!    6.3w/kg !!!!  HOLY MOLEY!!!!!!" Read it and weep people.  This is what it takes to be one of the world's best.

One of the world's best, in a performance that by the numbers at least outdid the infamous Schleck-Contador 2010 Tourmalet day (their power was rated at 5.9W/kg) is none other than Rory Sutherland. Rory, a compatriot of the soon-to-be-the oldest Tour winner, may be a great rider -I don't know him- but he has a rather modest prize list so far. He did win the Australian U23 National Road Championships and a few races stateside, but so far all the major events have eluded him. He is now however, the official king of the gadgets.

Taking a break

Yesterday I found out that I passed my power based training exam. I heard from the cycling manager that I had been power licensed for some time, but nobody had notified me and he could not tell me exactly what happened or why. In any case I am happy to say that I passed the test and if you have any questions regarding training with power, feel free to contact me.

I also want to let everyone know that I will be taking a break from this blog for a while. I am not sure how long yet, but 1 to 3 weeks seems in order. During that time I want to think more about the future of the blog and what direction I want to take in. I want to thank all my readers for sticking with me, and for all the comments I received -although most were not posted here, but arrived on facebook, or in emails, or in conversations with friends.

This blog has been undergoing a steady metamorphosis. It started out as a way for me to keep track of my workouts and write an occasional piece about my racing and training experience. Then I added more comments about training in general, but last year after the summer after a brief recess, I took a different tack and began writing about Belgium and bike racing in Belgium. That dramatically increased my readership but it also brought on a lot of extra work. Although I was able to promote the blog with some measure of success, the increased workload is catching up to me.

Look here for information on cyclist housing in Belgium.
Look here for information on traveling to Belgium to race.
Look here for information on what you need to race your bike in Belgium.
Look here for information on how to read the race calendar.


And that is why I have to say, later. Hang in there and check back in a few weeks.

Busy week ahead

In the coming days there will be only a few short updates. That is because I am attending the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. There I will once again be reminded of how hard it is to develop drugs that work. Contrary to what people think, making a drug that works is very difficult. Even when everything looks great in theory and we all know the drug should work, and we know it works in animals, we often find that it doesn't do a thing in humans. That is something WADA should think about before putting out lists of forbidden substances. It may well be that we think these work, or that we have a rationale as to why they should work, but that means very little without a solid double blind study. And studies are sorely lacking here.

Westin St Francis, home of the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference

Today I ran 8.5 miles in the hills and it was pretty rough going. I hope I am not getting sick. My ribs are pretty much healed now but my shoulder still bugs me and I cannot sleep on my left side. My orthopedist thinks I need a cortisone shot but I am holding off for now. He says grade II AC separations are worse than either grade I or III (total separation) because the ends touch and they keep rubbing and that causes inflammation. It sounds logical and makes good sense, but who knows ? This type of medical reasoning is very common and I too have often indulged in it. Unfortunately it is largely unproven and probably just as often wrong.

Ergomo, with new battery

My Ergomos came back from the shop and they are fixed and outfitted with new batteries. One of these days I will write a product review on this item. For now, all I can say is that the Ergomo is the best deal in power meters out there -by a longshot.

315 W

I ran on a treadmill at the Westin in Boston last week and it estimated my power output to be about 315 W while I was running at 9 mph. 9 mph is a speed I can hold for about 30-35 minutes on a treadmill. I can run a bit faster outside, even though the consensus is that running on a treadmill is easier than running on the road.

As I mentioned before I agree with that statement, for short distances. I can certainly run at a faster speed on a treadmill for short periods of time, but I cannot hold this for very long. The reason I believe is lack of cooling. I am probably relatively inefficient in that I tend to generate a lot of heat and sweat a lot. I certainly sweat a lot more than other people around me, and it is not uncommon for me to leave a sizable pool of sweat behind after a long stationary workout.

Yesterday I rode on my rollers and I held 325W for 30 minutes (in aero position). I would not call it maximal effort but it was up there. What I like about this is that numbers are nicely consistent. It appears that something in the range of 315-325W is what I can hold for about 30-35 minutes. According to the lookup tables that would correspond to a speed of about 40 km/h (24.8 mph). The real speed is likely higher since this was done in a deep aero position.

My speed on the rollers was lower but it is a rather arbitrary quantity and depends a lot on the setting on my Kreitler "Killer Headwind" fan.

On the standard 20 minute test I can get a power to weight of 4.2 or better (mid Cat 2 range), but so far I have never gone all out on such a test so it is possible that I would do even better.

On Saturday and Sunday I rode a 35 mile loop through Orinda, Moraga and over Pinehurst. On Monday I rode on rollers, including the 30 minutes at 325W. Today I ran to Montclair and back for 8.8 miles. All I can say is that this time I felt a whole lot better than last time I did that run.

Bike Fit triangle

Bike fitting is a topic that evokes strong feelings amongst cyclists. Some think it is absolutely essential to have the perfect fit. They tend to think of that perfect fit as the one and only optimal solution. It exists somewhere in Plato's cave and it takes a real expert to discover it. Once discovered untold magical benefits will befall the fitted.

I am quite skeptical when it comes to fitting. I believe that humans are very adaptable and that they can get "used to" and perform well using a wide range of possible fittings. I know from personal experience that I did well on frames as small as 51 cm and as large as 61. I am 6'1'' or 182 cms tall and when I plug my measurements into a fit calculator the recommended frame size is always 58 cms (the old fashioned c-to-c seat tube or equivalent length). Currently I ride a 56 cm frame because I feel better in a slightly more upright position.

There is a way to bring some order to the chaos of fitting. Basically I view fitting as a compromise represented by a triangle of power, comfort, and aerodynamics. The optimal fit, or the range of optimal fits is somewhere in the inside of the triangle. Even though it is customary to think of the triangle as equilateral, the "exact shape" really depends on the person. In some people optimal power and optimal aero are close together, whereas in others optimal power is closer to optimal comfort. In most individuals however, we have a real triangle and serious compromises need to be made.

Furthermore, not the whole inside of the triangle is accessible to all. There are limits to how far an individual can go along the major axes. The range represents how adaptable a person is. Some people may never be able to get close to optimal power while in aero while others may never be aero while comfortable.

Boonen, road bike

Even in the textbook case of an equilateral triangle where the whole internal area is accessible, the optimal fit is not defined. It depends. It depends on the type of riding a person does and there are optimal fits for every riding experience. Many competitive cyclists will have two fits, one for regular racing and one for time trialing. They will use different bikes for these activities too.

Cancellara: road position

Cancellara TT position

If you predominantly race in packs, you probably want to bias your fit towards optimal power. Although aero is important, it is far less important in pack riding where you can draft. Comfort too can be compromised if the usual races are short 1-3 hour events. If this is your typical ride you will do best with a power fit.

If you predominantly ride alone and compete in long time trials or triathlon you will prefer a good aero position. You can give up some power to get there as the overall result will still be favorable. Experience has shown that nearly everyone has to give up power to get good aero. How much you should give up depends on how adaptable you are.

Finally, if you are an endurance cyclist and often ride in excess of 100 miles, you will value comfort more. Even ironman athletes will want to give up some aero and some power for comfort, especially when comfort means keeping the legs fresh for the run.

It also matters whether you prefer to climb or sprint on the flats, and whether you mainly ride on the track or on the road. Once again, you need not find a globally optimal solution and you can easily train two or three optimal but different positions. The only thing to keep in mind, is to do your race training using the position (and bike) you will ride in the race. Otherwise you may be in for a nasty surprise.

Today I rode 30 miles.

Or you could try syrup...

I happened to stumble across an edition of Mythbusters last night that got me thinking more about swimming, viscosity, drag and power. The infamous Mythbusters were trying to see if people swim faster or slower in syrup. Ironically enough they quoted the Boston molasses disaster as an inspiration for their endeavor. Not that it mattered much, but it just so happened we were on the Duck Tour while in Boston for the marathon, and the molasses story is a big thing over there. I had never heard of it before.

Getting to Mythbusters results is not as easy as it seems but I recall from seeing the show that one of the two guys swam the same speed in syrup or syrup-like goo as he did in water. They also invited an Olympic champion, whose name I forget, but who swam slower in goo. But then, after talking to him about his results, they decided to discard them because he faulted the unfamiliar situation for his slower speed. Apparently, when he can not see the bottom, it throws him off and messes up his stroke.

Then, today I found another result from an experiment done by the Chemical Engineering Dept. at the U. of Minnesota. These guys filled the entire pool with gooey stuff and had many people swim in it. They found that individuals swim the same speed in both media, regardless of stroke used (the MB only tried freestyle). One conclusion was that human swimming is so turbulent (despite the beautiful superman-like wind tunnel picture of Ian that I posted yesterday) that the effect of viscosity is relatively small. The results are on their blog.

And that once again confirms what I mentioned before. Swimming is a matter of muscle power, first and foremost. Maybe, if you are to become an Olympic champion you can shave off some seconds by working diligently on your stroke, but unless you have the power, don't even bother.

Today I rode 30 miles on my tribike.

Yesterday I swam 2 miles in the pool (in water!)

First things first

Ask any swim guru about swimming and they will tell you that it is all about "technique." Read any book on swimming and you will find the same recommendations. No wonder then that everyone thinks they need a swim coach to teach them the subtleties of swimming. No wonder everyone is spending so much time trying to perfect their stroke. Stroke drills, you don't see any runners or cyclists doing these types of drills, now do you?

The focus on technique has always bothered me. Surely technique is not what stands between me and swim glory.

And then there is this piece of wisdom. You need to lift weights. Why, is anyone's guess. My guess is that gyms like to get customers and gyms are all about weight lifting. Most coaches and trainers work out of gyms so it is not surprising they think (or are made to think) that all those weights must be useful for something. But there is one thing here that does matter. One thing that makes sense. Weight lifting, as some have pointed out, mostly benefits swimmers.

Now take a look at those swimmers and what do you see? Tons of shoulder, back, and upper body muscle. When I first saw Alain Bernard I thought he was a weight lifter. If you saw him out of the pool and did not know who he was, you would think the same.

Here is another tidbit. Scientists recently measured the power of the dolphin tail stroke. The results were surprising to everyone. It had always bothered people that dolphins could jump so high or swim so fast. For years everyone had been looking at drag (drag is related to technique), and that led to strange postulates about special skin properties. Remember the shark skin craze?

What scientists found recently however, was that dolphins produce a lot of power. At least an order of magnitude more than earlier assumptions. These dolphins are very strong. Earlier data and estimates on dolphin power output were way off the mark. These puny estimates were the main reason everyone went looking elsewhere for an explanation. Technique? Drag?

And that brings me to my key point: swimming is all about muscle. Muscle is key. Without a lot of muscle you will not swim fast. And poor me, a late comer to sports, who always focused on cycling when I finally did work out, I have no upper body muscle to speak off. So, it is no surprise that I am a poor swimmer. Building muscle where there was none before has not been easy.

First and foremost, swimming is about muscle. I am slowly learning this truth. So, unless you are a good swimmer -a natural so to speak- forget about stroke and stroke drills and focus on power. You will need to build muscle. All the rest will follow later, your speed, your position in the water -once you get some upper body muscle, aka pounds, you will no longer be out of balance with your legs hanging down-, etc.

So does form matter? Sure it does. Once you are a good swimmer you need to focus on your stroke. Because that is the only place where you can make additional gains. Once you have built all the muscle you can support and perfuse, your only options are to focus on drag and stroke mechanics.

Unfortunately for us mortals, that is where swim coaches spend their time. They work with individuals who are excellent swimmers to begin with. Those guys do not need any more muscle. They need form. They need that little bit of an edge that will make all the difference in competition.

But us mortals, what we need most is power. So forget about your stroke and focus on your power output. Focus on building muscle. That is where the big gains are. That is what will get you to where the competition really is.

3,000 m in the pool today 5/4

a gym brick 50/30 yesterday, 5/3

1 hr stationary bike on Saturday, 5/2

1:10 on rollers on Friday, 5/1