Sunday was a good day for bicycling. There was sun and the temperatures reached into the 60's. It was a good day for the Metro Grand. I registered on the day of the ride and I wasn't alone. The one year I signed up early it was 43 degrees and raining. Some people rode anyway (not me). They looked like textbook examples of hypothermia. But not this Sunday. Because of construction the route had to go west inland instead of east to Lake Erie. We rode thru New Boston, Romulus (no, not by the airport), Belleville, and Ypsilanti Township. I now know where the Rawsonville Ford plant is. What I remember about past Metro Grands is how bad Huron River Drive is and the number of railroad tracks. Yesterday there were only two sets of railroad tracks which we crossed twice, once on the way out and once on the way back. And I found out that Huron River Drive is just as bad going west as it is going east.
The most I had ridden this year before Sunday was 30 miles. The most Judy had ridden was 24 miles. We rode 47 miles. Fortunately it was pretty flat and the winds weren't too bad (10 mph) but still we were tired by the end. Actually I was tired half way thru, Judy was OK. Thank God for SAG stops and cookies. You know, when you're tired you don't notice the route much and it's not as much fun. You just look at the road about 10 feet in front of your bike and try not to think about how far you still have to go. This is not the position you want to be in for the PALM. PALM is meant to be enjoyed. You are on vacation and touring Michigan by bike. My advice would be to be in better shape than I am now when you do PALM. I plan to be.
A little garden update: my radishes are up. I took heart and planted some beets and turnips after the bike ride. I should develop a garden plan. Mostly I look at the open ground, look at the seeds I have, pick out one I want, and plant a row. Zen gardening. I'm getting a little better: I try not to plant the same plants in the same place, especially tomatoes and greens, and I try to avoid the shadow of the tree that's beside my garden. This year's experiment will be putting a raised bed behind my garage where there used to be an alley. Putting together the raised bed involved a hand drill and took me a couple of hours. My sister the graphics artist probably could have done it in 15 minutes.
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Preparing for Hills
After spending last week riding in Tennessee and receiving a request for suggestions on training for hills (Tennessee is nothing BUT hills), I decided while it may still be early in the season, it might be time to post this.
Training for hills is not much different than training for the flats, except you have to think more about shifting and your power output may have to go up briefly if, or when, you run out of gears. Always remember that your cadence (the speed that your pedals, not your wheels, are turning) is the single most important ingredient in managing long distance riding and hills. You should be maintaining between 70 and 90 RPM with your pedals, irrespective of your speed over the ground. Some folks liken this to always keeping only a light pressure on the pedals. You do this by shifting to an appropriate gear to maintain the appropriate RPM.
As you head up a hill, or even into a strong wind, your effort (pressure on the pedals) starts to increase and your RPM starts to decrease. This is when you need to shift to a lower gear. As the hill steepens, you continue to shift down to maintain the proper cadence (pedal rotation speed) until you run out of gears. At that point, you either tough it out, stand up, or you get off and walk to the top. There is no shame in walking up a hill. Personally, I have walked up many hills. The thing to remember, is to shift before you need it. You need to anticipate the down shift, because once you start to slow down and increase the pressure on the pedals, it becomes difficult, or sometimes impossible, to down shift.
What kind of gearing does your bike have? Make sure your bike is in good shape and sufficient gearing for hill climbing. The number of gears makes less difference on hills than the lowest gear available. A small 22 gear up front together with a large 32 or 34 gear in the back makes for some awesome hill climbing ability. That is what I use.
As far as training goes, realize that the hills on PALM may be steep at times, but are usually short. This means you need to train your anaerobic capacity. This is different from the aerobic training you may be used to. I won't talk heart rate here, but in aerobic training, you put forth an effort that you intend on maintaining for a long period. In anaerobic training, you train for maximum effort that you only intend to maintain for a short time. You can accomplish this by interval training. If you don't have any hills nearby, like me, once you have warmed up for 10 to 15 minutes, you can do intervals by shifting to a higher (that is, harder) gear and stand up to pedal. Presumably, your cadence will remain the same, but the pressure on the pedals and your power output will increase and you will start to breath hard. Do this for one minute then rest at your normal gear and cadence for 4 minutes.
Do five or six of these intervals a couple times a week and hills should become much easier for you.
Training for hills is not much different than training for the flats, except you have to think more about shifting and your power output may have to go up briefly if, or when, you run out of gears. Always remember that your cadence (the speed that your pedals, not your wheels, are turning) is the single most important ingredient in managing long distance riding and hills. You should be maintaining between 70 and 90 RPM with your pedals, irrespective of your speed over the ground. Some folks liken this to always keeping only a light pressure on the pedals. You do this by shifting to an appropriate gear to maintain the appropriate RPM.
As you head up a hill, or even into a strong wind, your effort (pressure on the pedals) starts to increase and your RPM starts to decrease. This is when you need to shift to a lower gear. As the hill steepens, you continue to shift down to maintain the proper cadence (pedal rotation speed) until you run out of gears. At that point, you either tough it out, stand up, or you get off and walk to the top. There is no shame in walking up a hill. Personally, I have walked up many hills. The thing to remember, is to shift before you need it. You need to anticipate the down shift, because once you start to slow down and increase the pressure on the pedals, it becomes difficult, or sometimes impossible, to down shift.
What kind of gearing does your bike have? Make sure your bike is in good shape and sufficient gearing for hill climbing. The number of gears makes less difference on hills than the lowest gear available. A small 22 gear up front together with a large 32 or 34 gear in the back makes for some awesome hill climbing ability. That is what I use.
As far as training goes, realize that the hills on PALM may be steep at times, but are usually short. This means you need to train your anaerobic capacity. This is different from the aerobic training you may be used to. I won't talk heart rate here, but in aerobic training, you put forth an effort that you intend on maintaining for a long period. In anaerobic training, you train for maximum effort that you only intend to maintain for a short time. You can accomplish this by interval training. If you don't have any hills nearby, like me, once you have warmed up for 10 to 15 minutes, you can do intervals by shifting to a higher (that is, harder) gear and stand up to pedal. Presumably, your cadence will remain the same, but the pressure on the pedals and your power output will increase and you will start to breath hard. Do this for one minute then rest at your normal gear and cadence for 4 minutes.
Do five or six of these intervals a couple times a week and hills should become much easier for you.
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