In article <[email hidden]>,
Luigi de Guzman said:Ryan Cousineau said:In article <[email hidden]>, Luigi de Guzman
Quoted message said:On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 18:40:35 -0500, Rick Onanian <[email hidden]> wrote:
>On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 16:45:57 -0500, Luigi de Guzman <[email hidden]> wrote:
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:I suppose you're on the trainer because of your frigid locale as much as anything else, no?
NoVA isn't really frigid--when I got the trainer, there was way too much ice/slush everywhere to
even think about making a start outside. Now daily high temps have climbed up into the 40's
Fahrenheit (4-6 C) range, so theoretically I could start riding outside again. But then, right
about the time I get to the library--a bit more than a mile down the road--I stop being able to
feel my fingers.
Yes. Gloves, I know.
And I only do the outside bit street clothes.
There are still options, though I might encourage you to expand your view of street clothes 🙂. BTW,
for great winter gloves, check out skiing/snowboarding gloves, two sports with lots of windchill and
very good incentives to figure out how to make gloves work in the 40F range.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:Because out here, and I don't mean to torment you, the weather is very mild right now. A trainer
might be good for very specific training, but I prefer cross-training: I couldn't make my usual
ride today, so instead I spent a few hours in the afternoon beating myself up on a mountain bike
(dirt trails are great cold/winter weather rides because the slower speeds and brutal climbs
mean less windchill and more exercise-induced heating).
I hadn't thought of that. The only remotely mountainbike like thingie readily at hand is my
rusting ten year old huffy, which approaches suitability because it has tires that are not
narrow. And that rusting conveyance is set up for my brother. Maybe time to yank the seatpost up
a bit higher and throw a cheap bike around in the dirt--hell, that's what I used to do when I was
a kid....
Good idea! After all, everyone rode rigid MTBs on trails 10 years ago. Actual good non-Huffy rigid
MTBs can now be pulled out of trash cans in working order these days; their value has fallen to
almost that of early-80s road bikes.
There has been a certain symbiotic relationship between the difficulty of modern trails and the
capability of modern suspension bikes. But that's less likely to effect you in NoVA than it is me,
oh-so-close to The Shore. Even so, they didn't tear up the easy trails when people stopped riding
rigid forks. So go ride those trails. It's great fun.
Quoted message said:I'm not sure I'm all into the whole specific versus crosstraining thing. In my current state,
*anything* will do, I think. The whole literature on getting in shape seems to have been written
for supermen who intend to ride Paris-Brest-Paris, and not for lardarses who intend to lose weight
& get into reasonable form for summertime. Those PBP riders probably aren't carrying the
additional 40 kg that I'm carrying....
The truth is that most of the riders here started as lard-asses. Luigi, my _father_ rides to work
every day he can manage it, constantly complaining to me about how tired he gets (at the same time
praising the new SPD shoes I found for him, and describing how he set a "new world record" on his
commute). One thing I have found is that I have to periodically re-motivate dad once in a while,
because as it turns cold, he easily finds reasons to avoid riding the bike to work. This year, the
impetus for getting him back on the bike last week was to try the new shoes I set up.
When I was a 178-pound lardass (that being about 10 pounds shy of my heaviest weight), I just got on
my bike and rode to work. The training program for non-supermen is like this: gradual increases,
don't force the issue, recovery time!
The long version is that a longer ride a few times a week is better than a short ride every day.
When I started riding to work, my goal was 2 days a week. After a month or so, I allowed myself 3
days a week. I didn't ride to work all five days in one week for many months.
In your case, the use of a trainer and my assumption that you have the time means that you can have
"recovery" rides on your "rest" days if you prefer: very low intensity (it feels stupid, like you're
not doing any work at all, if you're doing it right).
My training is always focussed primarily on keeping my commute effective, secondarily on having
fun, and lastly (but not unimportantly) on kicking ass in every race I enter this year. To that
end I'm going
Quoted message said:Will buying an HRM and all the associated 'performance' stuff make me a better machine for turning
oxygen into miles? probably.
But the question is: does it really matter? I'm starting from zero, or some point arbitrarily
close to zero. *Any* gain I make is a gain, right? I resist 'training' because 'training' is what
athletes do. In the immortal words of former Phillies first-baseman John Kruk: "Ma'am, I'm no athlete--
I'm a baseball player!" (Speaking of ballplayers, I hear David Wells, the Yankee Hutt, is a keen
cyclist. No grimpeur, he, but he can really tear up those descents...)
Yes, yes! If you're like me, what you'll find is that training is not an end (er...), but enters
your life as a means to greater cycling goals. If you never find any, there's no need to train.
Don't get me wrong: doing particular training activities will make you go faster on the bike, and
training works better than "just riding along". The difference to my riding that occurred when I
started adding intervals to my routine was astonishing. Riding to work just got much easier and
faster. It was like a shortcut to fitness. Except that intervals hurt like crazy and are hard to get
motivated for.
Quoted message said:I don't know. All I know is that in May the honeysuckle blooms, and it's awful nice to have ridden
out to where the honeysuckle blooms before breakfast, in May.
Quoted message said:I'm pleased to say the new fork seals seem to work, and I rolled down my favourite trail at a
respectable clip, and rode obstacles I have not ridden before.
Do$h is always the problem. Only suspension time I get is borrowing Dad's bike to get around town--
it's a front-sus, sprung-post city bike thing he never uses, due to the fact that he's always out
of town, and old enough to be terrified of traffic....
Don't worry about suspension. All the benefits of off-road riding can accrue with a rigid bike and a
few dirty trails. Even taking a road bike out on gravel paths can make a difference, as you will
notice the rolling resistance, thus getting you back into that going-slower, working-harder
situation again.
Also, it will lead you to explore new places, and that may well be enugh motivation to get yourself
on the bike more often.
Quoted message said:Quoted message said:But Luigi: the trainer. Just in time for Lent!
You didn't need to remind me. You're giving me bad ideas as to what I should give up for Lent.
I'm giving up chocolate again. I really, really like chocolate, and it turns out that fortuitously,
I am planning to use a 6-week interval-based training program to ride a race set for Easter weekend.
Combined with my hope of losing another 6-10 lbs. for racing season (If I lose about another 2
pounds, I will be decisively under my previous lightest adult weight), it's the perfect penance.
Quoted message said:-Luigi Penitenziagite!
"...3 Our Fathers, 3 Hail Marys, and 4 interval reps on a hill."
--
Ryan Cousineau, [email hidden] sfu.ca~rcousineOpen ↗ President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club
