My first err, um, race................ - Page 2

>Wot's causing me to cramp? (how's that for open-ended?)

This topic is done ALL the time on heaps of forums.
From _my_ research and trials I found the following:

Drinking large amounts of bourbon and coke the
night before a ride is not good if you don't rehydrate.

Drinking coffee all week is not too good either.
Though, apparently, if you are a regular coffee
drinker, dehydration is not an issue as your body
makes up for the caffeine's diuretic effect.

Taking in insufficient amounts of magnesium,
potassium and other electrolytes is not good.
Make sure your diet includes them.

Lack of sleep is one thing I noticed increases
cramping. This is why the bourbon-fueled, all
nighters aren't so good pre-race.

>I suspected on the AC it was cos I got too cold
>descending Falls without pedalling much

You should always try to pedal on descents,
especially long ones, otherwise you stiffen up
(your legs! mind out of the gutter!) and can't
power up as quick. Just soft pedal down hills.

>Im fairly religious about my riding positin after years
>of tweaking and Im strting to suspect that my seat is
>a few mill's too low.

That's an interesting call. I don't reckon I'd notice
a few mil difference. I think my seat can go up a
bit at the moment.

>Only shows itself on longer or harder rides

That's probably because your body is already low
in electrolytes and water and longer/harder rides
just exacerbate this situation. More water and
more sleep. I don't drink coffee any more but I
also don't often drink sports drinks. Water is much
cheaper! I'll usually mix up a gatorade after a long
ride, but I drink water on the ride. Cleaner bidons
too.

>I am also guilty of being a 'toe-pointer'.
>IE toe is too downwards a couple of people have
>mentioned over the years

Huh? Never heard of this. Extending the toes
would mean your seat should be higher maybe?
None of this should have anything to do with
cramping though.
Try the more water, more electrolytes, more sleep
method.

>(PS whattya do that allows you to surf this much?)

Don't sleep much and I'm on a computer all day so I
just do a little multi-tasking when I'm waiting for
something else to finish running..
What about you? You reply pretty quick (and bloody
often! )

__________________
hippy
http://www.thehippy.net/

Work on a computer (PC bluuurgh!) and hate my job!

but I lurv ridin...

the toe-pointing theory is cos I think i might be not using the lower part of my legs properly due to foot angle and I feel sometimes like Im pulling up with my hammies too much when tired or climbing alot

NOT THE COFFEE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

youre scaring me man. I am seriously addicted altho i suspect does 'bung' me up a bit (dont ask) and it does seem to encourage rather 'turbo-like' side affects
5 cups a day. take the wife, take anything. just not the coffee...

I have shed 10kilos in the last 6-9 months and so have slowly dropped alot a crap out of my diet, but the coffee???

The few mills for my seat is a tweak. i only ever move it a bit at a time otherwise it feels like Im on someone else's bike

__________________
'ungrounded' Dutch...

Well done mate. gotta say I was impressed. I was riding in the C grade bunch, in the front, the back, the front again, till 25 minutes into it I just got spat out the back, and pulled out. So I was standing there talking to Ray when I saw you finish, cramping (was that you?). Good job.

You should come riding in the Mascot bunch on Saturday mornings if you can. Leaves Mascot Cycles, Bridge rd Richmond at 7 am, slow to Blackrock, fast to Mordialloc, stop for a whiz and a chat, then medium-fast back to Richmond. It's good training cos if you can do that ride, you can race, except in racing you don't need to be polite about pushing in or letting people in.

For shaving legs - do it when you want to. No-one will say you're not worthy.

Come up and say g'day if you see me. I'll be in C grade with the Blucher bike with a strange mix of blue, white and yellow, and "odd" tyres.

Cheers
Ben

PS Buddy system sounds like a good idea. Might be a good excuse to ride D grade, rather than riding C grade and never finishing!!

flyingdutch wrote:
> advice needed
Advice given (below). Just remember that you paid nothing
for it! :-)

> what kinda lead up do you do? Is it your hardest ride of
> the week?
Always. With my part-Scottish blood, I feel that after
spending $10 to enter, I'm going to go as hard as I can to
win. You don't want to finish and think, "ehh, I could have
done better if I'd gone harder". Unless you win, of course,
in which case it doesn't matter!

> Do you taper up to it in some way?
Not for weekly races, because it messes with your training
too much, but yes for more significant races (or long slogs
like the Alpine Classic). It's a trade-off between results
in the short term and condition in the long term. It's
amazing how many people race (or train hard/long) the day
before an important ride, because they always do that ride
on that day, then wonder why they didn't perform when it
counted...

> how far out do you eat/not eat?
My club races at 2:30, so I make sure to finish my lunch by
12:30. Eat too late and you can feel it sitting in your
gullet ready for an encore (especially if you're inclined
to get pumped/nervous just before the start), eat too early
and you run a lesser risk of starting to feel hungry again
before the race is over. You never want to feel hungry on
the bike, either racing, training, or whatever. Touring in
Japan once, I ran out of food and (shortly thereafter)
blood sugar on a longish climb up a freeway in the rain,
and by the time I got to the top I was cranky, cold,
irritable, cursing everyone and everything, and ready to
eat a sumo wrestler's jockstrap. Fortunately I found a
roadhouse selling a nice hot chicken curry instead. With a
full belly, the world was a rosier place, and I was quite
happy to go back out into the rain again and start enjoying
my holiday again.

> How much do you warm up beforehand?
I ride about 3.5km to the course, staying on the 42T ring
and spinning lightly. I do a couple of laps (total 4km)
gradually bringing the HR up to 150 (about 82% of my max,
i.e. not too hard and below racing levels). Then I spend a
few minutes stretching quads, hammies, and calves. If you're
cramping, try this yourself if you're not already. Hold each
stretch for about 30 sec, don't bounce, and don't go to the
point of pain. I think some people don't warm up even this
much, on the basis that they can warm up in the bunch during
the first few laps. The wisdom of this depends on the
likelihood of a successful break being made during that
time, which in turn depends on the bunch size, the course
layout, the wind conditions, etc. Certainly if you're
struggling to hold onto the bunch even when there's no break
on, it stands to reason that you should already be loose and
warm when the gun goes.

> Go easy the following few days?
Some races really wipe you out, and easy spinning is all you
can do. I found this to start with, but once you build a bit
more condition, you'll be able to go for an easy spin the
next day or even a training ride. Some people race both days
of the weekend, but that would take even more conditioning
(or maybe they treat one of the races as a learning/social
exercise, who knows). In fact I met one guy whose total
riding for the week consists of a race on Saturday and a
race on Sunday!

Hope these ramblings of a relatively inexperienced C-grader
are useful...

Cheers,

&roo

P.S. You've asked good questions and are obviously keen
to learn - why not borrow some books from the
library, google(tm) for race tips, or even (gulp)
buy a book or two? You can find stuff in 2nd-hand
shops if you're not prepared to pay RRP.

On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 19:48:20 +1100, Andrew Swan
<usenet@SPAMMERSandrewMUSTswanDIE.com> wrote:

>flyingdutch wrote:
>> advice needed
>Advice given (below). Just remember that you paid nothing
>for it! :-)

<good advice snipped>

Sometimes the A-graders get it wrong.

Conversation on a Wednesday morning.

"So, Brad, how did the race go yesterday?"

"It went great for about ten minutes. I was with Tiggs and
Hilton. Then I pulled over and chucked my guts up."

"Something you ate?"

"Nah. It was the training ride before the race."

"So ... er ... what? A warmup?"

"Not really. We did 240 something Ks through the Dandenongs
at an average of 34 km/h. Then we rode to the race."

"OK. Um. Overdid it a bit, eh?"

"Probably."

--
Regards. Richard.

""So I was standing there talking to Ray when I saw you finish, cramping (was that you?). Good job.""

T'was I. cant dance but I can bust a groove with a cramp-attack:-)

""You should come riding in the Mascot bunch on Saturday mornings if you can. Leaves Mascot Cycles, Bridge rd Richmond at 7 am, slow to Blackrock, fast to Mordialloc, stop for a whiz and a chat, then medium-fast back to Richmond. It's good training cos if you can do that ride, you can race, except in racing you don't need to be polite about pushing in or letting people in. ""

Wish I could. Sat am is visions of taking my girls to Tennis lessons

""Come up and say g'day if you see me. I'll be in C grade with the Blucher bike with a strange mix of blue, white and yellow, and "odd" tyres.""

Shall do. Me light green steel frame/chromed stays and new luverly carbon bits + red helmet (and red face, no doubt)


""PS Buddy system sounds like a good idea.""

I think that was a cry for help but as all you experienced lot have mentioned, Im starting to realise i gotta just get out there and make lots of mistakes (hopefully leaning to the lesser side...)
Maybe some newbie coaching group on a different day with a few Graders who 'simulate' a race for half a dozen newbies with stuff like 'verbals', pack-racing, cornering, working as a group/chasing down a break, staying on, etc.

Then again, can someone just lend me some sean eadi thighs for a few days???

__________________
'ungrounded' Dutch...

Ben, forgot to mention Sunday am is my big weekly
(theoretically longer/slower) ride

Usually beach rd. Nth balwyn to Frankston and return.
jumped on the back of the fitzroy guys this weekend. all was well until returning thru black rock(ish) way and the burst of 50kph was taking its toll on moi and losing my chain was a beautiful excuse to get dropped

do you guys go out Sunday am at all?

__________________
'ungrounded' Dutch...