[fatdoc]

i felt the effect of sunday last night at my regular running training.
4 x 400m with 1 min rest, 4 sets. every lap under 75 seconds.

i felt that i was running in sand in the 14th, 15th, and 16th lap. MORE REST NEEDED!!!

however, i did feel positive effects on the cardio side, recovery between sets was much quicker. 

AH HA!

so, it now transpires you are aerobically *fit as* already cos yr a awesome runner.... hence a very impressive entry into the world of roadbiking. this makes me feel better, i thought your base fitness was as woeful as mine... no wonder you're outstripping me in distance, speed (and no doubt ability).... no way i'm taking up running though - i'd be limping in 3 mins 

[Percy B]

Being fit already is a big help, but learning how to ride well and handle your bike takes a bit of time. The more miles you do the better you'll get, particularly if you are riding with people and get used to riding in a bunch. Track racing is a very good way of honing bike handling skills cos you ride sooo close together and you ain't got any brakes!

I have used a cadence sensor aswell as a HRM for the last year and its a very useful training tool. I had always been a bit of a 'grinder' - just sitting down and grinding out the biggest gear I could, but all the stuff about raising your cadence and being more reliant on your aerobic capacity for long rides got me psyched to try a ride a higher cadence (it worked for Armstrong and Contador...)
And the up shot is.... my cadence has got a little quicker, but the 90 - 95 revs a minute thing just doesn't do it for me. I now ride at about 80 rpm, any faster just don't work for me. The only thing I haven't tried is a compact chainset as a means of upping the cadence, but I just can't be doing with pecker chainrings - I like my 53/38 setup too much (with 23-11 on the back. I still love cranking out a big gear!)

Fatdoc - I used the ride up Mam Nick as a way of getting fit enough and learning my prefered climbing technique in order to get my scrawny arse up Winnats pass. Its not as quite as steep but still a pretty good indication of how you'll do on Winnats. If you need to stop on Mam Nick then you need to do it a few more times before Winnats will be viable. If you're 'cruising' up Mam Nick (ie: making it up in a oner without feeling like you're about to die), then you should be alright on Winnats (ie: you might be lucky and not need to stop and chunder on your handlebars!) By the way, I don't use the gearing mentioned above if I'm going to ride up Winnats - I put on my spare back wheel which has a 25-12 on it. This still feels like I can hardly move the pedals by the time i've got to the top of Winnats, but I'm a glutton for punishment.

[Yossarian]

i think the really high cadence thing is a bit of a read herring. it's not as efficient as a lower cadence, but it causes less muscle fibre damage and so helps out in long tours.

i think there is a danger of club cyclists reading too much into pro training programmes. so ekimov used to ride 450 miles a week when he was a teenager. maybe that's helped him be a great your rider. but if you want to win a cat 2 road race, what is more sensible - trying to ride 450 miles a week, or doing targeted and very hardcore 2 hour rides three days a week, plus intervals. that was what the scientists were suggesting to me...

[Yossarian]

i think the really high cadence thing is a bit of a read herring.

that's what i've red anyway...

[fatdoc]

perc,

thanks for the advice mate... mam nick is right up there on my next hill to climb list, knowing how it compares to winnats is exaclty wot i needed.

i've got up it on a kona stinky (43lbs) but the gearing is mad low on those freeride bikes...

as the damp weather seems to be trashing the grit in style i could well be found trying mam nick on sunday morning..

[Percy B]

I'd join you, but I booked a two hour training session at the velodrome on the sunday evening, and I reckon fresh legs could be required. Unfortunately this also means I'll miss the first half of the Comitted premiere at the Works, but that's being disorganised for you! Might go out Saturday for a ride though. Not trained on my bike at all for the last month due to work and having to get fit for climbing in order to set for a number of competitions, so the first ride for a while could be humbling....

Once you've got your eye in and are feeling particularly stupid, I like to ride out of Sheffield up Ringinglow and over Stanage, through Bamford and over Mam Nick, then drop down to Chapel (nice long descent), get on the A6 for a bit towards Manchester then turn left down to Macclesfield and head home over the cat and fiddle to Buxton, then do a bit more A6 and come down Millers Dale then through Litton, back through Stoney and Baslow and back up the long drag underneath Gardoms. I my experience, this makes your legs hurt. A lot. And makes you walk like John Wayne for several hours afterwards.

[webbo]

in regard to the cadence thingy.i used to use a cadence/rear wheel computor when turbo training.i used to try and keep my revs in the 90/100 revs a minute range.i feel this has improved my pedaling although on the road i don't always keep my revs this high due to terain/wind etc.
however if you are going to road race you need to be able to suddenly up your revs to respond to attacks.a useful workout on the turbo is use a low gear and try to pedal at 120+ revs for 30 secs rest for a min the go again for 10 efforts.

[Bowie]

Once you've got your eye in and are feeling particularly stupid, I like to ride out of Sheffield up Ringinglow and over Stanage, through Bamford and over Mam Nick, then drop down to Chapel (nice long descent), get on the A6 for a bit towards Manchester then turn left down to Macclesfield and head home over the cat and fiddle to Buxton, then do a bit more A6 and come down Millers Dale then through Litton, back through Stoney and Baslow and back up the long drag underneath Gardoms. I my experience, this makes your legs hurt. A lot. And makes you walk like John Wayne for several hours afterwards.

 

"Once you've got your eye in and are feeling particularly stupid, I like to ride out of Sheffield up Ringinglow and over Stanage, through Bamford"... and then struggle back past fox house is good enough for my junior start up outings!

[fatdoc]

below is a copy of a post I've put on a uk roadcycling forum, it's not the busiest but seems a good forum... you lot seems to be the fonts all knowledge and so i'm keen to read what you have to say...

"I've had a road bike for about 6 months now, and i'm well into it. My goals are do some sportives next spring & summer, and enjoy the whole thing, so i'm trying to get a bit fitter.

My work commute gives me 80 miles a week, other sports permitting i'm then out for 35 or so miles one morning at the weekend. I intend to extend this a lot in times to come.

Now, I have a computer problem, the Cateye CC HR200DW Wireless I got this year has failed me. I'm more than a bit agrieved but the HRM has failed. It's not the battery - it's just dead. Not amused as I've lost the recepit...

But, I have been given the long term lease of an elite Mag turbo trainer, which is good because I was doubting i'd get to work all the time by bike in winter.

Soooo, what I'm asking for is a reliable (preferably water resistant, ish..) combined wireless HRM, computer and wireless cadance gadget.
I want all the bike computer / cadance stuff to work off the back wheel, so my turbo stats can be worked on over the winter.

It would be nice if the data is able to be up loaded / imported and analysed, (but it would have to be Mac compatible software,) this is not an essential.

I realise this may be a fairly expensive purchase, but i've just saved £130 or so on the turbo, so it wont feel quite so bad!"

so guys, is there such a gadget out there?? if not, what suggestions do you have...

ta!

[Yossarian]

ha. well, i use a polar 720i. wireless, uploadable (but not mac, so i don't bother) and annoyingly short range. for example i had the watch bit and the wireless receiver on opposite sides of the bars and it wouldn't pick it up. so, great tool, but not what you require it would seem.

whay don't you get a nice cycleops wireless power meter? very very expensive (ok, less than srm cranks) but suitably scientific for sir...

[fatdoc]

hmmm


i'll be looking, but one presumes that this gadget could be more than the cost of my frame.... time to re-evaluate my position

[webbo]

i've only used a wired rear wheel computor and a seperate h/r monitor.i just put up with the crap look of cable every where.i don't bother now with  cadence as i'm fairly sure i'm pedaling in the 90/100 revs range when i'm using the turbo also i'm not trying to get race fit.if your only going for sportives i wouldn't get too hung up on it all.i would just stick with some of those workouts i posted earlier and every now and again try them using a bigger gear/more resistance that would give you an idea how well your progressing.

[fatdoc]

good advice webbo... i just need something to focus on, never mind replace my HRM 

what about one of these? not unduly eexpensive for what you get IMO

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx?Cat=cycle&ProdID=5360027225&N=Polar%20CS200cad%20Wireless%20Heart%20Rate%20Cycle%20Computer

i know i'll not get speed and distance on the turbo, but i'll get cadance and HR... that should stop me slacking!

[webbo]

i rate polar monitors they seem to last longer than some of the others.you might need to check whether the cadence feature is wireless.

[fatdoc]

i have, it is...

i'm havin it.

 

[Percy B]

Good choice! I have one, and its the shit. However, if I had been able to afford one (as in not balked at the expense!) I would have got the next one up, which has got the altimeter in it too. A nice feature that will tell you how many metres of climbing you do each ride, climbing rate (metres per hour), etc, etc.
Totally spurious data that is largely irrelevant, but absolutely essential to anybody like me who's a gear freak and likes techy stuff (although I'm also a Luddite who can't work stuff properly when I get it - ask Dobbin who spent 30 mins on the phone to me this morning trying to help me set up a new router!)
I got the monitor on your link Fatdoc, but also have a Polar altimeter watch so I got all my bases covered! I'm surprised I ever get the bike to move, the weight of the electronics I'm packing!
By the way, I spent a painful 2 hours in the velodrome last night, (before a mad dash back to Sheffield for the second half of the film at The Works) and during sprint half laps during the track skills session managed to get my heart rate to 198! I may go for the big 200 next week....

[fatdoc]

cool.

 that velodrome shit is just scary...

thought about the computer model you have, and even i found it hard to justify... maybe for the alps year after next (i have a long term plan here)

i'm really hoping the polar has more longevity than my old cateye...

i'm a bit frantic a the mo... ALL my riding data is in a exercise book, somewhere in the house... and I've lost it!!

It's possible my bike diary has entered a school bag and now resides in the local primary school... i'm considering burglary!!!

[Bubba]

Have all you shavers seen that new, very posh looking bike shop opening at the bottom of Greystones Road? "La Bicycletta" or something? Sorry if it's old news, was just passing by yesterday...

[fatdoc]

oh shit.

didnt know it was open yet....

[Bubba]

It's not open but looking very close to being so - lots of posh looking kit inside.

[Bowie]

Have all you shavers seen that new, very posh looking bike shop opening at the bottom of Greystones Road? "La Bicycletta" or something? Sorry if it's old news, was just passing by yesterday...

oh yes! its just down the road from me. It looks awesome - proper bespoke stylee amazingness. Have seen quite a bit of kit in their, they must be an internet based co.? its defo bike pr0n.

[Percy B]

Aren't those the guys who import Hed wheels/frames, and other exotica? I think they normally have a full page ad in each weeks Cycling Weekly. Get those wallets ready boys - operation 'Deep Ream' is about to commence.....

[Bubba]

Think I saw Hed wheels in the window

[Norton Sharley]

Cycled past this morning suited and booted, with hangover (thanks Bubs & Fatboy), looked in the window.  You should have seen the look of disgust I got when they realised I was on a proper hardtail. 

[Norton Sharley]

btw just gave every roadie who posted on here punter points cos a) I've got hangover, b) I'm at work, c) you're all gay.   

ta ra for now