Do supplements actually work?

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supplements

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.

supplements
Supplements

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!

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What kind of cyclist are you?

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riders-behind

What kind of cyclist are you?

oxford-cyclist-scarf
exhibit A

 

Do you ever wear lycra on a bike?

a) Cyclists how wear lycra give us a bad image
b) I cycle to work in lycra shorts and then change into my work clothes.
c) I started shaving my legs, just so it would go better with my lycra shorts
d) I  have spent £250 on a semi- see-through – figure hugging skinsuit.

How do you respond to a question about which is better – Shimano Di2 or SRAM Red mechanical?

riders-behind

a) Is Shimano the thing which moves the chain?

b) It is only for those who have more money than sense.

c) Although SRAM red is 150grams lighter than Di2, on balance the easy of shifting will save me 1 or 2 watts in a race.

d) I have to ride Campagnolo

 

What is your favourite speed for cycling?

 

a) I don’t know what speed I go at, but it is faster than walking pace
b) I cycle at a steady 15-17mph.
c) I once did 50 mph down a steep hill in Yorkshire.
d) The fastest speed I can go at without passing out.

 

Do You Wait at Traffic Lights When They are Red?

broad-st-traffic-lights

a) It’s always nice to have a chance to stop and get your breath back
b) Yes, Unless no one is looking.
c) I thought red lights didn’t apply to cyclists?
d) You don’t get red lights if you do a proper race (or on a dual carriageway).

How Much Did you Spend on Your Latest Bike?

a) £25 6 shillings and 3 pence.
b) £1000 from local bike shop
c) £7,000
d) Free bike from team.

How do You Feel When Another Cyclist Goes Past You?

two-cyclists-touring

a) I feel sorry for those cyclists who arrive at work all sweaty.
b) Indifferent
c) I’ll just draft behind them for a few minutes before leaving them for dead on the long hill past the traffic lights.
d) A recovery ride is a recovery ride.

How long do you spend watching the Tour de France?

a) Well, I quite like the mountain scenery in the Alps. But, why I don’t understand why only one rider is wearing a yellow jersey.
b) I’m never in during the day
c) I can recite the most memorable lines of David Duffield and Phil Ligget by heart.
d) Only the highlights to see how I did in the stage.

So What Type of Cyclist are You?

  • Mostly A’s – You would fit nicely into the slow cycling movement. More concerned with looking good than going fast. You’ve learnt the art of enjoying the bike
  • Mostly B’s – You’re a good old fashioned cyclist who just rides the bike because you like doing it. You probably remember the days, when people used to cycle to youth hostels, with little more than a few pence in the pocket and a spare pair of socks.
  • Mostly C’s – If fate had been different, you could easily have been a Tour de France rider, but you’ve made up for a lack of pro wins  by sprinting for village road signs on Winter Training runs. At least you look the part and have better bike handling skills than triathletes.
  • Mostly D’s – The real deal. Congratulations on your new contract with Team Rupert Murdoch professional cycling team!

10 reasons to love cyclists

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I don’t know why but apparently, there are some people who hate cyclists . I can’t understand. As a motorist I find many excellent reasons to love cyclists. Here are a few, I’m sure you can add a few more.

1. Target Practise – A cyclist helps develops our advanced motoring skills. For example, how close can you get to a cyclist without knocking them off? This is quite an art – best practised in a white van whilst travelling 15mph above the speed limit and with mobile phone in your right hand. You have to be careful though because occasionally, cyclists may make ‘dangerous manoeuvres’ like move 10 cm to the right to avoid a pothole in the road. If they have the audacity to move more than 1 foot from the edge of the road see no.2.

scarf

2. Practise Your Musical Rhythms. If you see a cyclist in the road, this is an excellent reason to practise sounding your horn. You can practise the art of playing your horn very loudly or you could just practise a simple rhythm like repeatedly holding the horn down. Unfortunately, this can often lead to disappointment as for some reason, beeping a horn is insufficient to make a cyclist disappear from OUR roads.

3. Feeling of Superiority. Now, some cyclists can having that annoying air of self-righteous superiority. They think they are saving the planet by eating home grown leeks and cycling to work. But, whilst we can tolerate their imaginary fantasies, we actually know it is us motorists who are saving the environment because of our decision to use unleaded petrol and occasionally buying 40% recycled plastic in our car air fresheners.

4. Funny To Splash People. This is related to no.1 but actually more fun. With driving over a puddle we get to see more physical evidence of our driving skills. When the road is waterlogged if you drive really fast over a puddle, a big stream of water gets sprayed over other road users and pedestrians. Just watch the face of a cyclist after he gets soaked with your puddle – priceless!

5. Odds Are in Our Favour. Crashes are inevitable on our roads, well at least they are inevitable if we don’t pay attention whilst driving and try to send a text or fall asleep at the wheel. In fact vehicles on British roads kill over 3,000 people a year, but, when you do crash into a cyclist, the odds are heavily in your favour. Their lycra shorts may make a dint in our paintwork, but, this can usually be fixed. Just image if cyclists drove Sherman tanks – when we knocked them down we would have more than a bit of dinted paintwork to deal with! Now that wouldn’t at all be fair – so we should be grateful to cyclists for not threatening our reinforced steel SUVs with nothing more than a thin layer of slightly ridiculous lycra.

6. Humour. Driving is a pretty boring affair. I mean we get stuck in endless traffic jams and it can take one hour to travel just a few miles in Central London. Now it’s pretty annoying that cyclists don’t get so caught up in the traffic congestion – often sneaking up on the inside in these ridiculous cycle lanes. But, next time your stuck in a traffic jam feeling miserable that other people won’t leave their car at home, why not pass the time laughing at other road users. Cyclists are bound to be wearing some ridiculous clothing, or maybe they’re just getting wet. Look on the funny side of these absurd cyclists and suddenly those interminable traffic jams will fly by!

7. Cyclists don’t Wear Down the Road.

No one like potholes, (unless you have one of those 4*4s and like to show off your off-road skills). But, cyclists don’t wear down the road because their bikes weigh very little. Nevertheless, even though cyclists don’t create negative externalities, we can still complain cyclists don’t pay road tax (the fact it was abolished in 1937 doesn’t really matter, having a go at cyclists is usually a pretty easy way to get a contract with a major newspaper, even if you are just a half baked TV chef…)

8. Cyclists don’t Pollute the Environment.

No one likes the exhaust fumes created by cars. It is unpleasant and can cause health problems like asthma, not to mention the problems of global warming. But cyclists don’t create any pollution, at least if you don’t count the by product of all those organic baked beans, these hippie, sandal-wearing cyclists often eat.

9. Cyclists don’t take up Valuable Parking Space
space
(space taken by cars and bikes)

Try parking in Central London, – a nightmare. You can spend hours driving around looking for a spot. Just imagine if every bike took the space of a car. We would never be able to park!

10. Cyclists don’t Cause Congestion.

Congestion would be even worse if cyclists started driving. Every cyclist means quicker journey times for us.

Next week – 10 Reasons to Love Motorists

 

Planning for the BBAR

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The BBAR is the Best British All Rounder Competition. It was created in 1930 as a way of ranking riders for the three most popular distances of the time – 50 miles, 100 miles and 12 hour. The idea was that it would enable a national competition by allowing riders to race local events and then compare the average speeds of the riders in a national table. I believe it was the brainchild of ‘Cycling’ the forerunner to ‘Cycling Weekly’.  For many years, Cycling Weekly would publish the latest BBAR tables and give big features on the winning riders.

martyn-roach
Martyn Roach won BBAR in 1968

Over the years, time trials have evolved, but the basic concept is the same, the ranking is determined by the average of the average speed of those three distance.

For a long time from 1930 until the 1970s, the BBAR was one of the premier domestic cycling competitions, with many of the top amateurs of the day trying to win it. Looking at the list of winners gives a great roll call of famous names including – Frank Southall, Charles Holland, Arthur Metcalfe, Ray Booty, Martyn Roach, Phil Griffiths, Ian Cammish. Beryl Burton won it every consecutive year from 1959 to 1983 (25 years on the trott). See list of BBAR winners

In the past couple of decades, the competition has suffered from less domestic interest. Fewer riders are interested in doing 12 hour time trials. It is the shorter distances – 10 and 25 miles which gain the most interest. You may get a few professionals trying to ride the national 10 or national 25, but the days of a pro road rider trying to win the BBAR are long over.

Although, it’s glory days are over, it still has the attraction of a lustrous history.  It also appeals to those riders wanting to do the longer events. It probably keeps interest in 12 hours alive.

The BBAR competition has quite a few drawbacks, but it’s had these drawbacks for the past 30 years or so. Despite all attempts to change it’s format, the format has remains unchanged for a long time, and in my opinion it would be a shame if it did change.

Ever since I’ve got into cycling in my teenage years at Otley CC, I’ve been thinking about the BBAR and thinking about doing a 12 hour time trial. Since I got back into racing in 2005, I’ve done the odd 100 mile TT, but despite getting close to thinking about  a 12 hour time trial, I’ve never got round to it. To be honest, I’ve found it’s very easy to think of a reason not to do a 12 hour time trial. Last year, I may well have done the National 12 hour in August, but with the National Hill Climb in October, it made no sense to risk dead legs when I needed to be concentrating on short sharp sprints up a hill.

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Fitting a stem to handlebars

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screw-mess

Last week I broke a stem due to tightening up the four bolts at different angles.

Not wanting to miss a day’s training, I bought a new stem on Monday for £14.99. However, I didn’t make a good job of fitting it. Firstly, the tribars are the old standard diameter of 26.0mm. But, most stems these days are the ‘oversize’ 31.8mm.
spacer

Therefore, I’ve been using some spacers to make the standard size of the tribars / handlebars fit the bigger stem.

When trying to fit the new stem, I found great difficulty in putting the bolts in straight. I could have done with another pair of hands. The problem was it was very difficult to tighten up the four screws at equal angle. The stem kept slipping. Also, the spacers aren’t perfect. It means it felt like a botched job.

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Tight hamstrings and exercises to loosen

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roller-massage

Since an accident back in January, I’ve had a problem with tight hamstring in the left leg which got injured. It was never particularly painful and it didn’t stop me cycling. But, tight hamstrings are not something to ignore as it can be a sign of long-term problems. Also, just resting tight hamstrings is not enough for solving the issue. A few weeks ago Cycling Weekly had a good article on tight hamstrings, which was good timing for me.

I’ve been trying three things to help loosen the tight hamstring.

1. Trigger Point massage roller

I bought one of these massage foam rollers from Amazon.  Trigger Point Performance Foam Roller

roller-massage
roller-massage

They are £35. They work best on massage the back of your thighs, where your hamstrings are. It is harder to massage others parts of your legs. But, it feels good and the product seems well made. In the absence of access to a massage, these feel like they do a good job in giving some kind of massage. They are particularly helpful for stretching the hamstrings.

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Broken stem and stranded without bicycle

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On Saturday, I mentioned my tribars came loose and kept moving around. On Sunday, I looked at the problem and started to tighten the stem bolts which had worked loose. Tightening them up and the end of the stem snapped.

broken-stem

I don’t want to have to buy a new stem just for one day’s cycling. So I’m stuck without bicycle for two days. It’s frustrating for a stem to break. But, as is usually the case with things like this – you do feel grateful it didn’t decide to break going down Buker Brow at 40mph.

It may have been partly my fault as the screws were not tightened up equally. Some were screwed in more than others. This probably put more pressure on some corners of the stem. Even so, it’s not great it broke. It is an expensive light weight Deda stem.

Moral of the story. If you hear rattling on your bike, look at it straight away and take care tightening things up.

My Dad asked if I could fix it with gaffer tape, which I thought was amusing.

Circuit of Ingleborough

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Saturday was the Circuit of Ingleborough organised by Pendle Forest CRC. It is a tough hilly circuit, on a triangle of roads between Ingleton, Settle and Horton in Ribblesdale. There are plenty of long drags, changes of gradient and some very fast descents – where you quickly lose any hard-won altitude gain. The course record is 1.01, set by Gethin Butler in very good weather conditions. In 2014, in more difficult conditions, Hugh Carthy of Rapha CC set a very good time of 1.03.24, just pipping his Rapha team-mate Richard Handley 1.03.44. Third was Ian Bibby (Madison Genesis 1.07.07) First women was Rebecca Rimmington 1.17.40 (Trainsharp) and first junior was Tom Cullen 1.21.55 of Otley CC. map-circuit-ingleborough My race. I actually thought I was entering the Tour of Pendle (because it is organised by Pendle Forest CRC), and expected to be racing around Barnoldswick and Pendle hill. I was surprised when I got the start sheet and saw the HQ was Ingleton – the same as the Circuit of the Dales. I didn’t mind though, it looked suitably hilly and the roads around Horton in Ribblesdale are amongst by favourite. Recently, I’d had problems with front mech, so yesterday took it into a bike shop to get fixed. There seemed to be a miscommunication problem because when I looked 30 mins before driving off to the race, they hadn’t done anything. It meant I had to rely on my very limited bike maintenance skills to try and get my bike ready. There’s no way you can do the Circuit of Ingleborough stuck on your 56 chainring. By dint of trial and error and pushing something very hard and hoping for the best, I got a solution of sorts. In the race it later slipped a little so there was a rubbing of chain, but in the wind and effort, I could barely hear.

cattle-grid
It wasn’t sunny. This is from Circuit of Dales, which uses same road from Horton to Ingleton.

The car thermometer said 9 degrees, but if I my sound unscientific, it felt a very cold 9 degrees. There was also a strong westerly wind, definitely a day to leave the Zipp 808 in the loft. The start is quite hilly, but with a strong tailwind I was making good progress. There was then a fast (and muddy) descent  into the village of Clapham. Unfortunately, I had to go through the streets of Clapham free wheeling behind a slow moving car. It took a while to get back on A65 and get back up to speed. After undulating terrain, there is a fast descent into Settle down Bucker Brow. Bucker Brow brought back memories from 30 years ago, before the Settle bypass when we used to drive to Morecambe in my Mum’s old mini (the classic old mini used to really struggle going up Bucker Brow at about 25mph) Anyway, before you knew it you were in Settle. Generally I took the descents fairly cautiously because there was a lot of farmyard muck on the road, and also my tribars worked a bit loose on the bumpy road surface, so I kept having to move them back up. At Settle, the nature of the course changes as you begin the long slog up the valley to Horton. The helpful tailwind also evaporated. The road runs parallel to the Settle-Carlisle line, but its definitely not engineered to be as smooth a gradient as the railway. There are numerous false tops, where you keep climbing, followed by a short fast descent. You were needing frequent gear changes. I’ve decided I’d really like Shimano Dura Ace Di2 (electronic shifters). It has to save time on a hilly time trial circuit like this. It was hard to get into a rhythm with all the changing gradients and dodgy bike equipment not quite working.

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Stuck in the big ring

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Some-days the force is with you, other days you’re stuck in your 56 big ring, wishing you had a compact chainset. The weather was great on Wednesday afternoon, but the legs weren’t as co-operative as I would have liked. On Sunday during the Maidenhead TT, I felt in good form, but Wednesday it felt harder work to do any good efforts. In a way I was kind of put out of my misery by a mechanical mishap. My chain came off, breaking my front mech and power meter, all at the same time. It meant the gears didn’t work on the inner 39 ring, so I was stuck in my TT 56 ring.

redhill-white-leg-warmers

For those who like to show off the size of their chain ring sizes, 56 teeth might sound impressive – though it is still paltry compared to some of the really big TT mashers, like Nik Bowdler running off a proverbial 74 teeth dinner plate.

However, a 56 is still no joke when you’re in West Wycombe and need to get back to Oxford over the Chiltern ridge. For some reason best known to myself I took a wrong turning and found myself fighting a gradient upto Turville of 10% +. I love climbing, but not when you’re mashing a ridiculously over-geared TT bike. At least my Quark power meter had broken again, so I couldn’t see how slowly I was going. Power meters – love ’em or hate ’em. But, when they keep breaking, you are tempted to throw them in the dustbin and ride on a strictly technological free bicycle.

The TT machine is a thing of beauty and speed. But, when you’re stuck in a 56 mashing 30rpm, the allure quickly dissipates. You suddenly notice how heavy it is, how unwieldly for steep climbs, and also how intrinsically uncomfortable it is. It was hard on the back, legs and I didn’t like the creaking sound it was making. I couldn’t really work out whether the creaking was from the bike or my body. Fortunately, at the top of Christmas Common, it’s downhill and then mainly flat all the way to Oxford. When I got onto the B road through Chiselhampton I was able to get back into something resembling a decent rhythm.  Another 50 miles on the clock, but quite eventful.

Tour of Ingleborough preview

At the start of the week, I was looking forward to the Tour of Ingleborough. 27 hilly miles around Ingleton, Settle and Horton in Ribblesdale. The start sheet was pretty impressive. 90 riders, including the in form Rapha duo of Richard Handley and Hugh Carthy. Also two Madison Genesis riders, including Ian Bibby. Unfortunately, on Thurs, my back suddenly went into spasm walking around Tescos looking for some vegetarian sausages. (not quite as impressive sounding as getting knocked of by wild dog at 45mph on a Portuguese mountain) I had to drop everything and rather awkwardly get home without moving any neck muscle. It’s getting better quite quickly, but it is touch and go whether it will be up-to one hour in the TT position tomorrow. It also relies on getting front mech fixed, I’m definitely not going to be doing the Tour of Ingleborough stuck in the 56.

 

Maidenhead & District hilly 30

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Today was a 30 mile hilly time trial around Christmas Common, Frieth and Henley. They are roads that I know quite well because I do a lot of training around here. Since the weather was surprisingly good, I decided to ride out to the event. A good 20 miles as the crow flies. Although the weather was near perfect, the recent rains are still in evidence. Water was flooding off the mono-cultured farmland and some lanes are still reduced to puddles and potholes. I nearly came a cropper on one lane near Turville. I was lucky to get nothing more than a jarring action on my brakes.

I’ve done the 30 mile hilly a couple of times, my best time is 1:10. But that was done in temperatures of just above freezing. Today, they were nudging into the mid teens. Unfortunately, road works meant we couldn’t use original course. But, last minute changes by Maidenhead found a course, just as good.

In fact, it was a brilliant start because the first 5 miles was a long gentle drag to the top of Stokenchurch. With a nice tailwind it exaggerated your speed. At Stokenchurch you turn left along the top of the Chiltern Ridge towards Christmas Common and Nettlebed. It was quite fast, though bumpy and you had to keep your eyes open for potholes. From Nettlebed, there is a long descent towards Henley. Here the traffic was starting to build up, and on quite a few occasions I got held up behind cars, who were stuck behind cyclists. The sun seemed to have brought every fair weather cyclist out on to the roads. For a cycling advocist it was a great sight. For a time triallist in race mode, it was a little frustrating waiting for big landrovers to overtake the tricycles and riders. Fortunately, I wasn’t too pumped up or impatient, I kind of expected it on this roads.

One mistakes was probably having a 19mm front wheel tyre blown up to 120psi. I always blow my tubulars up really hard out of habit. But, I really felt every bump on the very bumpy roads.

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