training Archives - Page 7 of 10

Pacing on a climb

October 29, 2015September 8, 2014 by tejvan

It was interesting to watch the Vuelta Espagne stage to La Camperona on Saturday.

1.9 miles. Average gradient of 13%. But, with ramps of over 20%.
1,295ft / 395m of uphill ascent in less than two miles.
Strava segment of La Camperona

On Strava, Robert Gesink is the quickest with 13.59. An average speed of 8.2mph. 399 watts average. A VAM of 1,694.0

The interesting thing was watching the climb unfold on Eurosport. At the bottom Valverde attacked, gaining a 20 second advantage. Froome was dropped from the main contenders and slipped away. But, as the climb unfolded, Valverde blew and Froome came back in contention. Picking off the favourites who had gone hard from the start; on that climb it was Froome who was the best of the GC contenders.

At 12-13 minutes, it’s quite a long climb. Also, at an average speed of 8.2mph, there is much less aero benefit from sitting in the wheels than usual. Therefore, there is less downside to getting dropped and going at your own pace. Froome likes looking at his stem and power meter, but bbviously sometimes there must be a benefit to looking at your power meter in a climb. Or at least be very confident in your ability to pace a climb.

I would say a power meter can be helpful, but it is important training to learn the art of pacing, without looking at a computer.

Blowing up on a climb

Everyone knows that awful feeling of getting carried away on the bottom of a really steep hill and then having to grovel all the way to the top. It happened to me this summer on Bushcombe Lane – with 25% gradient. It takes a certain patience to ride within yourself and make sure you can go all the way to the top at your best pace

Yesterday, after the race, I did some hill efforts, but purposefully kept to a lower power than usual for doing hill climbs. It was a nice feeling to be able to go all the way up the climb, knowing at any stage you can pick it up if necessary.

It all depends on the climb. Take a traditional British hill climb 3-4 minutes, and it requires a very different pacing to a 13-14 minute climb. But, even on a three minute climb, you can still blow up badly, if you get pacing completely wrong. Chris Boardman in his hill climb tips, always recommended riding a hill climb leaving a little for a sprint in the last half.

But, that doesn’t necessarily work for everyone. I dont really have a sprint to speak of. If I wait for a last minute sprint, I would never do my best hill climbs. I need to ride close to the limit for as long as I can.

The only real way to learn how to pace hill climbs, is to experiment and do real hill climbs in practice. Forget intervals on turbo, go out and find a suitable hill and do a few efforts. If you can measure your time, power and heart rate, it gives even more data to work with. Try your favourite hill in different ways. One day go like a madman from the start, another day pick it up after half way.

Thanks to Ken Norbury for this photo from yesterday. (album on Google Plus)

New cycling records in New York

September 1, 2014September 1, 2014 by tejvan

I’ve often written about cycling in New York. Unfortunately, it’s hard to write anything too upbeat or positive. Cycling in Jamaica, Queens is really for the brave / foolhardy. In Manhattan there may have been a growth in cycling – even a cycling revolution. But the revolution is yet to reach the outskirts of the New York borders.

The first thing that strikes you about cycling in Queens is the paucity of any other cyclists on the road. If 0.1% of journeys are made by bicycle, I’d be surprised. Subconsciously you start asking – What do people in New York know that I don’t know? Is cycling illegal in New York?

Union Turnpike – 6 lanes for cars. 0 for bicycles

It seems quite a few motorists seem to think so. You can be cycling in the gutter, and big SUVs beep at you – not because you’re in the way, but, well simply because they can. I was doing some interval training on a wide quiet road near Douglaston. It was really quite frequent that cars would beep their horn. The strange thing is that the road was so wide they could easily overtake without even slowing down. In England you might get beeped if you’re cycling up Snake Pass two abreast – there motorists really do have to slow down for 10 seconds. But, in New York, your simple presence is enough to irritate some drivers.

The other thing about cycling in New York is that it’s very slow. This is because of the road set up and traffic lights. You can wait for ages at traffic lights, even though there are no cars. If America replaced traffic lights with roundabouts, they could probably increase their GDP by at least 1%. Perhaps it wouldn’t be practical in lower Manhattan, but there are many lights where you will wait for nothing.

The standard of driving in New York is shocking. If you stand anywhere at the roadside, you will quickly lose count of the number of drivers who are either eating a hamburger or using their mobile phone whilst driving. I’m only surprised I didn’t see someone doing both at the same time.

Record slow average speeds

My riding in New York was a curious mix of short, hard, intense intervals and slow recovery rides. On the recovery rides, I could come back with an average speed of 11-13 mph. I remember one ride I went to quite a big cycle shop on Jamaica Avenue to buy some cycle energy powder. The visit proved in vain, they didn’t stock any food products because the owner told me the staff just ate them! It was really funny how he said it; he really was serious, he even brought out a fat lad from the workshop to prove his point!

Disappointed not to get any energy gels or energy powder I returned to Cunningham Park and did some more riding. 13 miles took me 1.11.12 for an average speed of 11.3mph (even with auto stop / start). By comparison 68 riders in the National 10 mile TT averaged over 30mph. This is an absolute record for the lowest ever average speed recorded on a bike ride. The intervals were pretty intense; it really teaches you how to do a proper recovery ride and not one of those – 20mph, sneak a few KOM type recovery rides.

I remember vividly my first ever recorded bike ride on a mountain bike, aged 13 or 14. I had a speedo and averaged 13.5 mph for a 36 mile ride to Burnsall. The next ride I smashed that average speed and managed 14.5mph. 20 years of intense training later, and I’ve managed to average a paltry 11 mph.

It’s not all bad cycling in Jamaica, Queens. There is an outdoor velodrome at Kissena Park, which is usually empty.

There are also some very nice cycle paths near Cunningham Park.

If you know the roads you can find some alternative routes, which are quite good. I used to suffer cycling along Union Turnpike, but have found a back road way through St Johns College.

Also, if it’s possible to discern, I think there are more cyclists on the roads, than when I first visited 10 years ago.

Another epic slow cycle was being the lead cyclist for the Sri Chinmoy Marathon at Rockland state Park. It was an early start and I forgot my cycle shoes. I had to ride 26 miles on speedplay pedals, using ordinary shoes. That was a real pain.

I did get some good interval training in – mostly short and fast. It was curious that I could cycle uphill at 18-20mph, but still come back with average speeds of 11-13 mph.

sanitation-hill-rider — ‘Sanitation hill’ – a favourite for interval sessions. Also, another cyclist just to prove I wasn’t the only one.

Training for 12 hour time trial

June 10, 2014May 21, 2014 by tejvan

At the moment I can’t decide between training for a 12 hour time trial and training to be fast up hill climbs. My training is often a mix of racing up hills, then trying to do 80 miles of endurance. Getting the best of both worlds (or perhaps failing to maximise either). Anyway, the rides are a lot of fun which is the main thing.

The Chiltern ridge makes an excellent training area. You can go up and down the hills of the Chiltern ridge until you get tired of hill intervals, then you can take the flat roads back to Oxford. I’ve learnt not to overdo the hills. Every training ride doesn’t have to take you to the max. If you leave something in the tank, it makes the next training sessions more productive. If you really go for it, you can spend the next 7 days recovering.

Clearly defined goals are important

In cycle training the first thing is to have a clear goal of what you want to achieve. Later in the year that will be easy – peak for the end of October for a 3 and a half minute effort. But, at this time of the year, the goals are not quite as prominent. I hope to do my first 12 hour time trial this year at the end of July. But as it’s my first 12 hour, I don’t have any major expectations; I can just turn up and see what I do.

The event will be the National Championship 12 hour TT on a pan flat course in Yorkshire. In the run up to that, I will have quite a few 10s, 50s and 100s. Racing 50s and 100s is an excellent preparation for a 12 hour time trial.

Though the idea of racing 3 consecutive 100s (3* 4 hours), does put the 12 hour into context. The record for a 12 hour time trial is 317.9 miles set by Andy Wilkinson (Port Sunlight Wheelers) in 2012. (26.48 mph average)

These are a few thoughts about training for a 12 hour time trial, though I haven’t done a 12 hour yet. I may revise this post, when I’ve actually done one!

Getting the miles in

At the risk of stating the obvious, if you want to do a 12 hour time trial, you need quite a few miles in your legs, and be comfortable with riding for 5-7 hours. If you can manage 6 hours, the logic is that if you pace yourself correctly and manage food / hydration, you should be able to keep going for 12 hours.

Fortunately, I had a reasonably good winter; despite a few weeks off, I had a few 6 hour rides which provides a good winter base. In early spring, my rides were a bit shorter as I got over an injury and concentrated on short hilly time trials. But, now the exams are coming to an end, I have more time for training. The hope will be to do a 5-6 hour ride once a week.

If you don’t have such a good basis, it is good to start off with a 3-4 hour ride every 7-10 days – in addition to shorter rides during the week. A couple of months before the event, if you can make this long ride 5-6 hours it will get help you get used to the duration of the event.

Target for training

In terms of 12 hour training, I will be hoping for a couple of 300 mile weeks, possibly the odd 400 miles. It would be nice to have chance to do a really long ride, like 150 miles, that would give a lot of confidence for a 12 hour and give an idea of what it is like to ride for 7 hours.

But, you don’t need to do 300 miles every week, it could be counter productive. Recovery is still as important for 12 hour training. Like all aspects of cycle training, you also have to listen to your body and know when you are fatigued. My training schedule has built up over several years. When I started cycling, I couldn’t manage what I do now. This is why it’s hard to give concrete training plans.

Training on a time trial bike

I would say it is essential to train on the bike that you are going to be racing on. There’s no point doing long training rides on a road bike, only to find after 3 hours of the race that the TT bike is too uncomfortable.

Last year, I was in a lot of pain for a 100 mile TT so I felt to do a 12 hour, I’d have to do something radically different.

Firstly, I got a new saddle (Adamo Saddle review) – which is super-excellent for a long time in the TT position.
I also did a bit of upper body core strength – in particular the plank – for strengthening the back.

These two factors have made a big difference. I can now ride on TT bike for 6 hours without too much discomfort. It would be a shame to be in good cycling shape, but to have to give up because your back or neck can’t take it.

Rest and recovery in the rain

May 2, 2014 by tejvan

The Bristol Megahilly was a target for several months. But, at the same time, I was also very relaxed during the race. In the end it went very well. I was surprised how much watts I could put up the last five minute climb – nearly 360 watts for last 5.30, which is pretty close to the magic 6w/kg. It wasn’t so long ago, that I was struggling to do 350 watts for 5 minutes, whilst fresh – let alone after 1 hour 10 minutes of racing.

I enjoyed the hilly race a lot, so this week, I planned to have some training rides similar the race. But, it didn’t happen. The legs just weren’t there, and it’s been a quiet week, with several training rides curtailed in effort and duration. I’ve been struggling to replicate racing form into training. Quite a few times this week, ambitious training plans got quickly shelved after a short effort suggested I wasn’t going anywhere fast.

It’s a funny thing listening to the body. On Sat, I did a 10 mile time trial, and the next day, I felt even better in the Sunday race. But, the 1 hour and 17 minutes off intense hills, seemed to take a lot out. Sometimes, the best laid plans of mice and men. When you’re legs / mind / heart are not into interval training – there’s no point flogging a tired horse.

When it rains why is it harder to train?

I was out training yesterday and it was quite wet. When it rains harder why does it become harder to make big efforts? I gave up after a couple of hills, and headed home. I wasn’t sure whether the rain was an excuse or the body was still just tired. Apparantely, the rules of cycling say I should just ‘harden up and stop being a big southern softie.’ or something like that. But, the only thing I seem to get from training in the rain is just wet and cold.

When I got home, I poured out a litre of water from my time trial frame, all over my conservatory floor.

This weekend is just a short visit to Shap Fell and the first hill climb of the season. I’m taking the opportunity to wear the national jersey. I may even get a chance to ride Britain’s major mountain – Great Dun Fell.

Ripponden bank and stage 2 of T de F

July 2, 2014April 21, 2014 by tejvan

A training ride over Cragg Vale, Ripponden Bank and several other climbs which seem to proliferate around the Hebden Bridge area. Some of the climbs like Oxenhope Moor, Cragg Vale and Ripponden Bank feature in the TDF stage 2. Shame they didn’t put Luddenden Moor in there.

After Friday’s Buxton MTT, my legs were still a bit tired, but it was Easter Sunday, good weather and I was keen to check out some climbs in South Yorkshire, used in the upcoming TDF stage 2. I rarely go in this area, but it is great if you’re looking for hills to cycle up. Despite frequently getting lost and not always knowing where I was going, it was a good ride.

Over Bingley Moor, I went through Cullingworth to Oxenhope where I joined the TDF stage 2. There is a good steady climb from Oxenhope up to ‘Cock Hill’ on to the moors. At the top, it is quite high at 1,400ft, (400m) It is a fairly steady gradient, not too bad with the wind behind you. I was stopped at two sets of temporary traffic lights, as the council work furiously to get the road ready for the ‘big race’

From the top of Oxenhope moor, there is a great sweeping descent into Hebden Bridge. Not too steep, just nice and long. It will make a good climb the other way, with quite a significant height gain of over 280 metres. At Hebden Bridge, I had a vague idea to look for Mytholm Steps, but my OS map didn’t go that far. I ended up going miles past, ending up in Todmorden. I stopped to ask a kind elderly gentlemen, (he had a badge to say he was a veteran of the Normandy landings). He’d lived in Todmorden all his life, and told me I’d come 7 miles too far West. It would have been interesting to stop and talk to him more. But, I moved onto find some climbs.

I saw this Pexwood lane, looking suitably interesting – winding it’s way up the edge of a moor. It was a great climb, with double switch backs – quite steep until it rather abruptly stopped at a ‘Private rood’ sign. I might have plodded on and tried my luck, but the road also deteriorated into an unmade surface. I turned around and went back to Mytholmroyd for the Cragg Vale climb.

Cragg Vale

Distance 5.3mi
Avg Grade 3%
Cragg Vale

Cragg Vale proudly claims to be the longest continual ascent in England. 968 feet of climbing in 5.5 miles. There is nothing steep, it is a classic long drag or as Magnus Backstedt would say ‘A big ring climb’ Though I didn’t use my big ring, despite an encouraging tailwind. But, it was possible to keep a nice steady speed, even at the steepest section halfway through.

Even at its steepest, it never seems to go over 7%, so you can do the whole climb seated down. It’s a good ‘easy’ taster of long Alpine climbs. You can get into a good rhythm and enjoy the scenery. Someone has put helpful km markers, telling you have long you have left. Though for some reason, who ever put these helpful markers on the road, decided the top of the climb was after -0.5 km of downhill. It did seem to kind of diminish the ‘longest continual ascent in England’ tag.

The climb was very popular, I both ascended and descended Cragg Vale and saw a lot of cyclists going up and down. I’m sure the Tour de France has encouraged more to try the climb – it is definitely worth a visit for any cyclist. At the top of Cragg Vale a strong wind was blowing, which made the descent to Ripponden almost as slow as the climb.

Preventing and treating saddle sore

May 29, 2014April 11, 2014 by tejvan

Saddle sore is a common affliction for cyclists, especially when you spend increasing amounts of time in the saddle. To some extent they are inevitable and can’t be avoided. But, it is worth trying to minimise their frequency and severity as much as possible, because they can become a real pain.

Many non cycling friends say that saddle sore is the biggest reason why they stopped cycling. It seems a real shame because they could probably make a big difference if they tried a few things. Some of the biggest names in pro-cycling have been afflicted with saddle sores – from Eddy Merckx (couldn’t start 1976 tour) to Joop Zoetemelk pulling down his shorts to show journalists a boil ‘the size of an egg’ on his inner thigh, to explain why he wasn’t able to challenge the winner of the 1976 Tour, Lucien Van Impe (Guardian link). Greg Le Mond abandoned the 1992 Tour de France on the l’Alpe d’Huez stage blaming unending torture from saddle sores. Fortunately, there is no need to despair as we can reduce the frequency and severity of sores.

Saddle sore typically has 3 stages:

Mild skin abrasion / chaffing
Red acne lumps, like acne (folliculitis)
Abscess

The third stage requires medical treatment, and not just self-medication.

Prevention of Saddle Sore

Prevention of saddle sore is the most important thing we can do.

Increase distance gradually. Firstly, if you are new to cycling, there is an element of getting used to cycling. If your posterior is sensitive at first, it will get less so, the more you cycle. If you start off with very long rides, you are not accustomed to – saddle sore is much more likely. I think I get less saddle sores than I did when I first started cycling. There is another reason. As your legs get stronger, they are able to take a bit more weight and less for your butt.

Stable position. Related to the first point, saddle sore is more likely if you are rocking around your saddle. If you have a stronger core and can keep a strong position on the bike, it will help reduce irritation.

Buy the best shorts you can afford. Always use a good non – seamed cycling short (just in case you were afraid to ask – you definitely don’t want to wear underwear underneath cycling shorts!) A good quality chamois or synthetic chamois leather is important. From personal experience, I found some cycling shorts to be much better padded than others. The worse were some custom Impsport shorts, which were truly dreadful. In between were some Dhb Aeron Pro (£69.99) The best are unfortunately the most expensive. I strongly recommend the Assos F1 mile padded cycle shorts – I’ve found it really effective in giving the best comfort for long cycle rides. If you do regularly ride over 3 hours, it will be money well spent. There may be other shorts not as expensive which are still good. But, obviously I haven’t been able to test all varieties. ‘Reassuringly expensive’ is perhaps an apt description of Assos shorts.

t706-shorts-assos2 — £150 for a pair of shorts is some of the best money I’ve spent in cycling..

Use a good chamois cream. This can help reduce chaffing on the side of the saddle. My current Adamo saddle is a bit wide, so I’ve got into the habit of always putting chamois cream directly onto the skin, in the area where chaffing is likely to occur. (e.g. Assos Chamois Cream or other, such as Udderly Smooth which is a bit cheaper. As a last resort a bit of vaseline will reduce friction)

Move around. During a ride, take time to alter your position; give yourself time out of the saddle to relieve the pressure. Some kind of hilly rides will get you out of the saddle without having to think about it. But, other flatter rides, you may need to make sure you do relieve stress, every now and then. Note, you need to do this before your butt starts to feel numb or hurt. This is particularly important in time trials or when you are on the turbo because you’re more likely to get stuck in the same position.

Make sure your position is correct. Awkward positions could lead to too much pressure being put on the saddle. The weight should be evenly spread over the bike. If your seat is too high, your hips wiggle around more.

Don’t drive home in your sweaty shorts. Get clean and dry and soon as possible. It is essential to always wear clean shorts for every ride. I also find a bit of talcum powder with Daktarin (anti-fungal) added to be excellent for preventing any fungal problems. If it might be difficult to get a shower straight after a race, buy some antiseptic wipes to apply to groin area.

At night wear loose fitting pyjamas to reduce contact and allow air to circulate into the nether regions

Methods for dealing with existing saddle sore

Sudocrem one of best defences against saddle sores

Check for first signs of abrasion, and keep wound clean and disinfected.
Apply Sudocrem (12% Zinc Oxide). This is designed for sores and abrasions, and works quite well. I tend to put on sudocrem as a matter of habit after a ride now. (Sudocrem at Amazon)
Read more

Theory and practise of fuelling and pacing long rides

April 2, 2014 by tejvan

As a follow up to a recent post on energy levels for cycling, I tried to measure how much I consumed during a recent 120 miles TDF stage (120 miles, 7hrs on bike, 7hrs 30min in total, including 30 mins to fix mechanicals and take photos.)

9-bar
Firstly, it’s very difficult to remember how much you are eating. Even with the best of intentions, it’s hard to keep track of how much you’ve eaten / drunk.

One very rough rule of thumb is if you are drinking 400ml of energy drink per hour (30g of carb )- you need to be taking one additional 30 gram energy bar / gel per hour. If you keep an eye on your elapsed time, whenever another hour passes, take another bar / gel and check what you have drunk. This way you don’t have to count so much, but just to remember to take something on the hour.

From memory and empty energy wrappers, I think this is what I got through in the 7.5 hours on the bike.

3 litres of energy drink 4 * 750ml bottle (varying concentrations) usually a bit weaker than recommended = 180g
2 energy gels * 25g = 50g
7 or 8 energy bars * 30-35g = 255 g (inc 2* protein recovery bars towards end of ride)
1 banana * 25g = 25g

total 500g of carb / 7.5 hours = 66.3 grams an hour.

If I counted correctly, I was fairly close to the 60-70 gram limit for absorbing carbohydrate. I never bonked, though my climbing muscles got exhausted after 2,500 + metres of going uphill. No amount of powerbars can change this.
If I was racing, I would be eating less energy bars, and would be relying on just energy drink and gels.

Pacing on rolling terrain

If you want to manage a 7 hour ride, it is best to pace yourself. But, for a route like the TDF stage, that doesn’t mean a constant power – because it would take you forever to get up some of the hills. There’s also a lot of freewheeling down them.

One interesting thing that stood out, is that when you’re going along a rolling road, you can look down at your power meter, and you’re doing 350 watts (I have an FTP of around 300 watts) – You’re doing a huge power output, when you thought you were just taking it fairly steady. Yesterday I spent a lot of time above anaerobic threshold (more than 15 mins of greater than 370 watts). No wonder I was shattered for the last climb of the day.

One thing I would suggest is be careful of rolling terrain, use you’re gears liberally. You will definitely want to increase power going up hills, but for the rolling terrain, it may be best to avoid those surges of power into anaerobic threshold – save that for the really steep long climbs.

Don’t just look for the big climbs, be prepared for rolling terrain. I was a bit surprised at how hilly that route was.

Energy consumption whilst cycling

March 31, 2014March 31, 2014 by tejvan

Eating sufficient calories for cycling should, in theory, not be too difficult, but in practise it is easy to get it wrong.

It is surprisingly easy to ‘forget’ to take on enough energy. But, at the other extreme you can try to take on too much in a short space of time – food the body can’t digest leaving you just a bloated stomach.

It is not just amateur cyclists who struggle to get the calorie intake correct. I’ve heard many coaches of pro-teams say one of the hardest things is to get Pro-cyclists to eat and drink in sufficient quantities. I’ve heard many times Director Sportives say of a pro-cyclist – he’ll be fine so long as I can get him to eat and drink. The problem is that when you’re racing, it can feel like an effort to eat and drink.

On a personal note, I’ve often messed up 100 mile time trials (4 hours) because I didn’t take the correct levels of energy / drink. This post is partly for my own benefit.

Top tip for optimal energy intake

The maximum rate of carbohydrate consumption per hour is 60-75 g.
This figure is very important as a rough guide to how much you should eat for long rides; you want to be aiming to keep a constant carbohydrate intake around this figure.
If you are taking more, e.g. 100 grams +, you will just get stomach problems because you can’t ingest it all, the food will be sloshing around your stomach, making you feel bloated / sick.
If you only taking less – e.g. 20 grams or less, you are under-fuelling and more likely to run out of energy and end up with the dreaded ‘bonk’.
One easy way is to split up food into 25 gram units – and take 3 an hour. Or 2*35 gram units
It does requires discipline to actually take what you need. When racing, you may not feel like drinking / eating, even though you need to. You can’t rely on the normal hunger / thirst indicators. Sometimes, you can just feel too exhausted to reach for a drink. In a Timetrial you can get stuck in the aerodynamic position and not want to move around to get food.
Twice in a 100 mile race, I didn’t stop to pick up a third bottle because in the racing mindset I didn’t want to lose 5 seconds picking up a bottle. But, I ended lost a few minutes because I took on too little energy.
Don’t do something in a race, you’ve never done in training. e.g. don’t suddenly drink litres of fructose / glucose energy drink if you’ve never done that before. Your stomach may not like it! You don’t want to find out in a big sportive / race.
Remember there’s a big difference between a steady four hour endurance / training ride and racing for four hours. The calorie consumption increases significantly the more effort you make. You might survive a steady training ride on little food, but if you race hard, the energy consumption will be significantly greater.

Easy to remember hourly units of 60-70g of energy

400 ml of energy drink mixed at 5% solution (35 grams) + one energy bar (35 grams )= 70 grams
800 ml of energy drink at 6% solution (70 grams)
3 * Energy gels (25 grams)
3* bananas (25 grams)

(you will need to check the carbohydrate levels in the energy drinks / bars that you use, and make sure you check the concentration – as this alters the energy levels)

100 miles to Whipsnade and Ivinghoe

March 30, 2014March 29, 2014 by tejvan

It was one of those days which made all the long, cold winter training rides feel worthwhile. Ironically, I was supposed to be racing the North Hampshire RC 19 mile TT this weekend, but it got called off due to continued flooding from the winter rain. It meant I could finally get round to riding the first ‘century’ of 2014.

At the start of the year, I’d planned to do a 100 mile ride every week as preparation for 100 mile TT and 12 hour, but, like many good intentions, it never happened – not even once. The furthest I’ve been in 2014, is about 80 miles. But, with the temperature creeping up to 20 degrees, it was a good a day as any. It was the first ride of the year in shorts, the first where suncream was needed, and the first without a winter jacket. Since it was a day of firsts and I didn’t need a winter jacket, I took the national hill climb jerseys for its first outing. Though rather inappropriately I spent the first 40 miles plodding along remorselessly flat roads towards Chinnor and Wendover. I wanted to do some new climbs and new roads so I headed East over to Ivinghoe and Whipsnade. It’s a bit further out that usual, but it was good to get some new roads in. I climbed up Ivinghoe ridge, Whipsnade hill, Aldbury hill, Aston Hill (Wendover) and finished off with Whiteleaf and Wardrobes. I could have done more hills, but I didn’t want to overdo it. I’m off to Yorkshire next week, and would like to try ride some of the Tour de France stages.

Compared to earlier in the week, I felt good. Although I wasn’t going full pelt up the hills, there seemed to be more power in the tank than at any other time of the year. I have an unscientific theory, that if the temperature goes over 20 degrees, I can ride at least 1mph / 20 watts faster.

Do supplements actually work?

March 26, 2014March 26, 2014 by tejvan

I’m currently reading M.Hutchinson’s ‘Faster: The Obsession, Science and Luck behind the World’s fastest cyclists‘ (at Amazon on 27th March), I got mine from Waterstones) – I’m half way through already – it’s a good entertaining read, I’ll do a full review soon.

But, at times I think aloud. ‘Very good, but can’t you just give me a list of things to buy which will make me go faster.‘ I’m not one of those who needs to understand the science behind going faster. I just want to know what I have to buy and do – preferably with a minimum of work and cost.

One of the ways to go faster is buying food supplements. (the legal supplements of course) Over the years, I’ve bought all kinds of recommended supplements, which very confident sounding people have claimed will make ‘all the difference’. Beetroot juice, Beta Alanine, Cod liver oil, Creatine, tumeric powder e.t.c. The problem is that although I’m very good at buying supplements, I’m very bad at actually taking them. I have a cupboard full of 3/4 full tablet jars. I buy supplements with good intentions, but somehow I always forget to take them after the first few weeks of enthusiasm dies off. Every five years I go through the cupboard and throw away everything which has gone well past its Best Before date.

Beetroot juice was promising

A few seasons ago, I was convinced that drinking a litre of beetroot juice before a race was worth at least 30 seconds in a 10 mile time trial. I clung to this rather unscientific theory because one day, after gorging on the purple stuff, I’d managed to take 3 seconds off my 10 mile pb on the F20/10.

The only problem with this wonder product, was that it rather reliably gave an unpleasant case of diarrhea. It’s one thing to lose a bit of weight before a race, it’s another to lose all your minerals and salts. Although I liked the idea of Beetroot juice and was pretty attached to the concept Beetroot juice made you go faster, even I had to admit it was interupting my pre-race routine. Alas, I had to give up this wonder supplement, but fortunately, it didn’t seem to make any difference to my 10 mile time trials. A few weeks later, I went up north to ride the V718 and took nearly a minute off my 10 pb from 20.00 to 19.07. So much for beetroot juice, when you can ride on a motorway.

Supplements chapter

Anyway back to reading Hutchinson’s book ‘Faster’, I was nervously getting half way through the book when those insistent voices were getting louder. ‘But, what can I do to actually make ME go faster?‘ Jokes are fine, but I want something to make me faster, preferably with not too much work.

Thank-fully, Hutchinson came to the rescue saying that some supplements are generally agreed to really make you go faster. He mentioned three, Beetroot juice, Beta Alanine and Fish oil.

Wonderful, I had all these in my cabinet, completely untouched for the past ten months (I actually bought some Beetroot pills once). Without daring to look at the best before date, I popped the pills and got prepared for an interval session. My skin was tingling with all the beta alanine. This was psychologically reassuring – If it makes your skin tingle, it really must work!