On Wed, 06 Jul 2005 01:01:14 -0700, Ryan Cousineau <
[email protected]> wrote:
>In article <[email protected]>,
> jj<[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I've read a lot recently about the recommended warmups on the bike and I'm
>> just wondering why such a long length of time is recommended, even for
>> casual rides. Chris Carmichael recommends an hour or more for racing
>> warmups.
>>
>> I seem to be ready to go after about 5 or 6 minutes on the road. What am I
>> overlooking? Aren't riders leaving their best legs in the garage doing an
>> hour or more on the trainer pre-race? Just wondering. ;-)
>>
>> jj
>
>I have not a clue about the physiological issues involved in warm-ups.
>
>All I know is that the longer my warmup, the better I race. Last weekend
>I rode my bike to a 30-minute criterium about 35 km from my house. The
>hour-and-a-bit of moderate work gave me from-the-gun jump, and I felt
>great. No result, though, as I was held up by a crash in the last
>corner. But I was in the greatly depleted lead bunch even after an
>earlier unsuccessful solo break.
>
>The trick to warm-ups is that you aren't going all out. There may be
>some brief efforts to get things working correctly, but for me it just
>get the legs feeling correct and eager. I make an exception for longer,
>colder races, where I use the trick of hiding in a heated car as long as
>possible and "warming up" with the early racing miles.
Thanks Ryan.
Actually, a short story from yesterday: I was just getting dressed to go
ride when suddenly my UPS went off and I looked out the window and saw a
torrential downpour, followed by high winds and then...lights out! I shut
everything down and went to plan B'.
Take a nap. ;-)
About an hour later I got up and the sun was out so I got ready to ride. My
wife had just come in the door and was babbling about trees down and I
realized that my primary route out of the neighborhood was probably
blocked.
So we jumped in the car for a quick tour and discovered a mini-tornado must
have touched down south of me and ripped apart several large trees,
including one blown onto the powerlines and just about toppled a telephone
pole.
So I jumped on the stationary bike and with no fan, or music <g>, I sweated
out 30 hard minutes, kicking myself for not getting out before the storm.
As I was riding I thought, 'hey, why not go out and tour around the
neighborhood and watch the guys repairing the damage and stuff?'.
So I changed shirts and jumped on the road bike.
Immediately I noticed my legs felt really, really good - not at all tired
like I thought they might from the hard effort on the stationary bike. As
you know there's no coasting - mine is the type with the large flywheel -
so my quads were pumped.
Out on the road it was a great feeling, as though I had about doubled my
normal power in the legs - certainly a nice illusion. ;-)
So I cruised the neighborhood, which is quite hilly and went up all the
little side streets with their steep entries, getting in about 10 miles in
small bits. Pretty nice. So now I'm planning on using the stationary bike
frequently to warm up the quads and glutes and calves and increase the
sensation power before rides.
I think with the ability to coast, even though I hit a couple small hills
pretty hard, I'm not getting the blood flowing and the muscles pumped well
enough, so I think this kind of warm-up will be perfect.
jj