A Rider’s Almanac

The answer: Ride!

I snuck out a bit early today and went for a 44.3 mi excursion through Fairbanks Ranch, Rancho Santa Fe, headed up to La Costa toward the coast and then back south along the coast. I was planning to go out easy today, but still managed to average 18.3 mph. Considering it was windy and I was riding alone, that’s not too bad for and old guy.

It’s days like today when I’m stoked that I live in San Diego. It’s the dead of winter in much of the country - world for that matter - and I get to hop on my bike and ride on a perfectly sunny day with temperatures in the mid 60s through some of the most scenic terrain in the world.

It’s also days like today that I’m reminded of why Team Climb On was formed and why the fundraising we do is so worthwhile.

Life is good!

I’ve set a personal goal for myself this year to ride at least 6,500 miles on my bike. Sounds like a lot, but if you break it down, it only works out to be 125 miles a week. That may still sound like a lot, but if you break it down a bit further, it’s only three 42 mile rides a week or viewed another way, it’s 50 miles on Saturday, 50 miles on Sunday, and a short 30 miler sometime during the rest of the week. I realize that last one works out to 130 miles, but I figure it’s not a bad idea to bank a few extra miles. Another favored alternative is to take the Amtrak Surfliner from Solana Beach to Anaheim Stadium and ride back to Pizza Port (also in Solana Beach). That racks up 85 miles on Saturday, which leaves only 40 miles for the rest of the week. So as you can see, with a bit of functional decomposition – yes I am a software engineer by profession – it’s really a very achievable goal.

In the less favorable category for ways to achieve my mileage and training goals, is to ride the dreaded stationary wind trainer. It is inevitable that sometime during the year, especially here in San Diego that the rain will blow in and put the kibosh on my riding plans. Heck, just a few days ago a really big storm came in – we had flash flood warnings, small craft advisories, mud slide warnings; the works – and we got a good soaking. I think we amassed 0.15 inches for the weekend! If that’s not torrential, I don’t know what is. It was like 50 degrees too. It goes without saying that I couldn’t possibly ride out on the road, so I was forced to ride the stationary trainer. I had to keep my mileage up after all.

Ah yes… the trainer. I fear the trainer… I dread the trainer… But alas, I ride the trainer…

I know plenty of people that enjoy riding stationary bikes, wind trainers and the like. Not Me! Sam I am! For me, it’s pure torture. I’m always happy I’ve ridden the trainer when I’m done, but during the workout… pure torture. Of course, since our own government is still on the fence as to whether or not waterboarding is actually torture, I suppose I can’t really consider riding the wind trainer torture. Does anyone really buy that? I bet you they wouldn’t have any trouble characterizing it as torture if they were the subject of the “interrogation.” But I digress. I do know one thing for sure though. If I was forced to ride the trainer for too long, I’d talk.

I’ve tried everything to make the time on the trainer go by faster. I’ve tried reading books or magazines, but with all the movement associated with riding the trainer and the sweat pouring off of my head and down my arms causing the pages to stick together, that doesn’t work. I’ve tried hiding my watch for intervals of time so that I wouldn’t be focusing my attention on how slow a minute really is, let alone 45 of them. The idea being that I would cover the watch for a period of time; what I believed to be 10 or 15 minutes and then peek at the watch. The problem I quickly ran into was that I always overestimated the periods of time so when I looked at the watch, less time had actually elapsed then I thought. That is very demoralizing.  I’ve tried listening to music, but it didn’t take me long to realize that on average, each song is about 4 minutes, which means that I need to listen to at least eleven songs before I’m done riding the trainer. It didn’t take long before I found myself counting the songs as each completed. When my pulse is hovering around 165, my legs are burning just a bit, I’m tired of staring at my reflection in the window of my car, and I’m only at song 4 of 11… torture.

Oh well, such is life with the type of weather we get in San Diego. I’ll continue to suffer through the torture that is the stationary wind trainer because at the end of the day it all for a very good cause.

On this day in Cycling History:

• 1945 – Bicycle frame builder Mario Confente was born in Montorio, Italy. He built frames under his own name, but also built for Bianchi and Masi, bringing the latter to Carlsabad, CA in the mid 1970s. He also made bikes for Eddy Merckx, who would always put his own decals on the Confente frames.
• 2008 – Tom Boonen of the Quick Step Team wins 3rd stage of the Tour of Qatar.

If you’re ever in the neighborhood and you come out for a training ride with Team Climb On, you’ll quickly find that there is a bit of a competitive spirit floating around amongst the team. Now to be honest and fair to the team as a whole, the competitive spirit resides disproportionately with a couple/three riders, but as a whole, the group is quite competitive. Our collective competitive nature doesn’t just manifest itself on the bike; it also manifests itself in our fundraising efforts.

IMHO, there are two major hurdles to successful training. The first is simply the motivation to get on the bike and ride. The second is to make sure the training ride is working toward meeting the overall goal of improving fitness.

Let’s be honest. We all have those days – likely more often then we care to admit – where we don’t feel like getting on our bikes for a training ride. One solution to this is to get involved with another rider, or a club or a team of like minded individuals that can keep you honest and get you on your bike when you least feel like it.  This solves our first hurdle to successful training, but what about the second? How do we ensure that our training rides are challenging and pushing us to improve our fitness? One answer, one that works for us, is a bit of good ‘ole competition. Now mind you, when I speak of competition, I’m not talking about going for Olympic Gold (although it might feel that way at times). I’m talking about the bragging rights type of competition - King for the day, Rider Du Jour, or whatever peaks your fancy.

Introducing some intervals in the form of sprints or king of the mountain challenges is a fun and easy way to add some competition to your rides. You will also find that the intervals will go a long way to improving your overall fitness over time. At Team Climb On, our sprints come in the form of city limit signs. Any sign or landmark along your training ride will do, but for us, these sign types are nicely spaced along our normal training rides. Each rider is aware of the signs and can attack for them at any time. The sprinters in the group like to wait until the last possible moment (200m is good), while the non sprinters like to attack for the signs with one kilometer to go. Whatever your pleasure, you will find that the short interval of high intensity effort will do a number on you in the short term, but will make you stronger over time. You will also go home knowing that you put in a good effort on your ride. For the non sprinting types, we also race to the tops of some of the climbs along our training route. These can be any climbs along your route. Our climbs range from short and steep (.5km / 6-9%) to longer more gradual climbs (3km / 4-6%).

This is probably the point at which I should throw up a disclaimer, so here it is:

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL, PROFESSIONAL COACH, OR THE LIKE. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU SPEAK TO YOUR DOCTOR IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT EMBARKING ON A TRAINING PROGRAM WITH AN INCREASE IN YOUR NORMAL EXERTION LEVEL.

The goal of the competition is simply to push each other to reach a bit deeper then each individual might believe they can go. The key is to have fun with it.

On this day in Cycling History:

• 2008 - Slipstream-Chipotle wins opening team time trial at the Tour of Qatar.
• 2008 - Germany’s Hanka Kupfernagel wins the Woman’s World Cyclocross Championships in Trevisio, Italy
• 1978 - The professional bicycle racer Robert Forster is born. Forster is currently riding for Gerolsteiner.
• 1953 - Spanish professional bicycle racer Enrique Martinez Heredia is born in Huesa, Spain. Heredia is best known for his 1976 Tour de France win at Mallot Blanc.