Total Cycling Performance

Which Bike Trainer Maximizes ‘Total Cycling Performance’?

This is a Guest Post by Ron Fritzke, who is a cycling product reviewer with a passion for ‘all things cycling’. A former 2:17 marathoner, he now directs his competitive efforts toward racing his bike…and looking for good cycling products.

Coach Bob’s been encouraging you to get in regular off-season rides. I can say ‘ditto’ to that admonition…to a great extent what you do in the off-season dictates how you’ll do racing this spring and summer. But what do you do if you aren’t fortunate enough to live where the weather’s always nice enough to ride outside?

That’s where a quality indoor bicycle trainer comes in http://cycling-review.com/accessories/bicycle-trainer/.

If you’re serious enough about your training to have a coach, you’re most likely not going to benefit from a wind trainer. Wind trainers are notorious for being too loud, and they don’t provide enough resistance to follow Bob’s advice to “have a goal for each workout with a designated outcome”. In short, wind trainer’s won’t allow you to do the intervals that are in the coach’s plan.

Mag trainers are a bit better, particularly now that CycleOps has come out with their Magneto model. The CycleOps Magneto http://cycling-review.com/accessories/bicycle-trainer/cycleops-magneto-bike-trainer-review/ is the first and only mag trainer to supply ‘progressive resistance’. The resistance level in mag trainers varies according to where the magnets are on the flywheel.

The engineers at CycleOps designed the Magneto to make good use of centrifugal force. In the Magneto, the faster the flywheel spins the further the magnets move toward the outside edge. This increases the resistance level progressively without the rider having to dismount and change the setting by hand. This feature, coupled with CycleOps’ reputation for making quality products makes the Magneto a viable option.

In case you’re wondering if the Magneto will provide enough resistance, their speed vs. power graph shows that the unit provides over 300 watts when your rear wheel’s spinning at 25 mph.

Most serious cyclists choose a fluid trainer for their indoor riding. Fluid trainers are the quietest and provide a power curve that gets increasingly steep the harder they’re pushed. This type of trainer’s ideal for the intervals that Coach Bob has planned for you.

Until recently the Achilles heel of fluid trainers was their propensity to leak. The point of vulnerability was around the shaft that went from the spinning drum to the impellers within the fluid filled chamber. After a while the O-rings simply wore out.

When Kurt Kinetic came out with a new design everything changed. They isolated the fluid chamber from the rest of the unit, and coupled the impellers spinning through the fluid to the flywheel on the outside with the use of six pairs of strong magnets. By doing it this way, the flywheel and the impellers spin in tandem without the fluid filled chamber being breached. There’s an excellent video demonstrating this concept on my Kurt Kinetic Road Machine review page http://cycling-review.com/accessories/bicycle-trainer/kurt-kinetic-road-trainer/.

Kurt Kinetic now dominates the fluid trainer market and have added a couple of new twists in their Kurt Kinetic Pro and Kurt Kinetic Rock and Roll models.

The ‘Pro’ is essentially a Road Machine with 12 extra pounds added to the flywheel. This added weight supplies additional inertia, making it more difficult to ‘spin up’ the trainer. The rationale behind this is that it more closely simulates the effort it takes to accelerate out on the road.

The Rock and Roll is an interesting unit. The entire trainer can rock back and forth as the cyclist pedals. The advantage with this unit is that it alerts the rider to inefficiency in their cycling technique. If there’s any mashing or asymmetrical pedaling going on, the exaggerated rocking of the Rock and Roll trainer will make it known loud and clear.

While I’m sure any of you who’ve been under Coach Bob’s coaching for any length of time already have a suitable bike trainer, I hope that this short article has added a little bit of information about several of the excellent new trainers in the marketplace.

Thanks to Ron for his insights. Check out the links, add your comments below or contact me with questions, then Get Out And Ride!

Check out this Cycling Training Ride

Hey riders. I hope your off-season training is going well. Many of you are indoors now and will be for the next few months. Don’t waste your time spinning your pedals with no plan. Each ride should have a goal and should lead you to a designated outcome.

The first block of our indoor training sessions just concluded this week. Over the past 9 weeks, we’ve been building our various metabolic systems as we progress toward the upcoming outdoor season. Each ride is more challenging than the previous one. The increased challenge results from one of the following:

Longer intervals.
Intervals ridden at a higher power output/heart rate
Shorter recovery between intervals
Different cadence

The grand finale was a very challenging ride, but was a confidence-builder as each rider was able to surpass the goals set out for them on this, the toughest ride of the 9 week session. The ride recap looks like this:

Warm-up (20 minutes)
Main Set:
2 x (3 x 3 minutes “on”, each with a 1 minute recovery interval (RI)): with a 2 minute RI between sets
2 x (3 x 2/1):2
2 x (3 x 1/1):2
1 x (3 x :30/:30) followed immediately by
1 x (3 x :20/:20)
Cooldown (10 minutes)

So the ride was roughly 90 minutes or pure intensity. The following power meter chart clearly shows the interval effort:

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/sw/QTRDE3LELU54MNZHEZV2SHMAUQ

We begin our new training block this week. Let me know if you’d like to join us.

Add your comments below, then GET OUT AND RIDE!

1 for ’11

Happy New Year riders! You possess the ability, the power to make 2011 the best, most healthy and rewarding year of your life. So make it happen! And do so by focusing on 1 – only 1 – major goal for the year.

We all know ”making it happen’ is easier said than done. We can’t simply wave a magic wand over our head and “poof!” we’ve changed. It takes work, it takes time and mostly it takes dedication to a singular goal to make this happen.

Most of us make New Year’s Resolutions. They might be something like…….”I’m going to be more healthy this year.” Or……”I’m going to lose weight this year.”

Then as most of us know first-hand, these resolutions are completely gone and forgotten about within a very short period of time. Why do we not get “more healthy?” Why do we not “lose weight?” Everybody is different, of course, so there’s not 1 simple answer. However, an underlying reason why these resolutions fail is because most of them are too general. They are not specific, measurable goals, with short-term and intermediate “checkpoint” goals along the way.

Let’s choose the “be healthy” resolution. Just about anybody who makes this resolution is doomed to fail. Why? It’s not specific. What does “healthy” mean? Weight loss? Lower cholesterol? More pullups? Faster running times? Fewer Twinkies? Get the picture?

This resolution – let’s call it a goal - must be clearly defined. It must be challenging yet attainable, measurable and must be able to be tracked over the course of time with intermediate checkpoints.

So rather than the goal being “healthy,” let’s tighten this up to the following:

By Dec 31, 2011 I will weigh 150 pounds and my body fat will be 11.5%

We can then add shorter term goals and behavioral actions that will help guarantee our success, such as:

I will lose 1 pound per week, each week, until I reach my goal weight. My goal is to lose 25 pounds, so on July 1 I will reach my goal weight. I’ll check my progress each Monday morning.
I’ll lose the weight and reduce body fat (while maintaining muscle mass) by doing the following:
Lift weights 3 days per week. Once per month I’ll meet with a personal trainer to keep on track and to change my routine.
3 days per week I’ll perform strenuous cardiovascular exercise. I’ll alternate running and cycling. And I’ll work with a trainer or a coach to help set my training zones so I’m able to maximize my training time.

The other component to weight loss is nutrition. As the saying goes; “You can’t out-train a poor diet.” Most people are on the diet (and weight) roller coaster because they try to change “cold-turkey.” And this simply doesn’t work. After a while, old habits creep in and before long the person is right back where they began. Instead of this, I recommend doing 1 thing, and this is: Pick out 1 – only 1 – bad eating habit and change this until the bad habit has been replaced by a good habit. Then move on to the next one.

For example; if your mid-morning snack is a candy bar (or donut, etc), replace this with a healthy choice. No, don’t eliminate the snack, but rather replace the bad food with something good. A great substitute is an apple or some other fruit. You’ll get excellent flavor, along with fiber to help you feel full and all the beneficial vitamins, minerals, etc.

As soon as this habit has been replaced, then move on to the next bad habit you’ll break. Over the course of a year, you’ll be amazed at the progress you’ve made.

To recap, your New Year’s Resolution is to focus on ONLY 1 Goal for the year. This goal is challenging yet achievable, includes a firm timetable, is measurable and includes steps as to exactly HOW you’ll make it happen.

This CAN be your year. Believe in yourself, keep focused and surround yourself with positive, supportive people. And be sure to enjoy the process. It won’t happen overnight, so take each day at a time and be patient.

Add your comments below, then GET OUT AND RIDE! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Hello Cyclists,

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a blessed Holiday Season. Spend time with your family, your friends and with those you love. If distance doesn’t allow you to be together, pick up the phone and call.

And be sure to say “I Love You” to each of these people. Life is too short and too precious to waste a single day.

Merry Christmas. Take the day off, then tomorrow GET OUT AND RIDE!

If You See an Opening — Tear Into It

The clock’s ticking. Let’s see what you’ve got.

These are the final words spoken in this video about momentum, about motivation and about making history and not being history.

Most people are willing to settle for second best, to do only that which is required and no more. Sliding by is acceptable. Flying under the radar is acceptable. Not making waves is acceptable.

Well, that may be good enough for most people, but not for you. We only have one chance, so let’s make the most of it. Live each day to the fullest. Enrich your life and the lives of those around you. Do not accept second best.

Watch this video and let it sink in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl_1wh1obyM

Be inspired and inspiring, be motivated and motivating to others. Lead by example. Get out and ride!

Which Bike Trainer Maximizes ‘Total Cycling Performance’?

Check out this Cycling Training Ride

1 for ’11

Merry Christmas!

If You See an Opening — Tear Into It

Go find it!

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