A Rider’s Almanac

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.