Every Penny Counts......

In many sports spending money can bring comfort but not necessarily competitive advantage. In cycling spending money can result in high-speed for less effort. How much money though? The Kask helmet above, as used by the sky team, is available in very limited supply and sizes now and hopefully more readily in early 2013 at about £300. 

So is it worth it? A big part of the thrill of cycling is speed, either flying down a winding hill, challenging yourself on a hill. All we want to do is go faster, when taking part in a sportive, out on a club run or riding with mates. The next stage is, of course the time trial, in my opinion the new British national sport. We do hold more events than anyone else as a consequence of road races being banned many years ago the Brits metaphorically stuck a finger up to the establishment and created covert time trialling. 

So the question is with huge advances in high-technology in recent years how much time can various accessories really save you? What are the key pieces of equipment that will make you go faster and how much time will they save you? 

Helmets

Not necessarily the one above, teardrop shaped aero helmets may look a bit daft but they do make you go faster than a normal one, despite usually being heavier. The key is optimising the airflow around your head and back making it as smooth as possible. The closer you look to an aeroplane wing the better.

Cost £100 to £400

Saving 0.5-1 second per mile

Skin Suits

Clothing is underrated as far as improving your speed is concerned. If you are serious about wanting to go faster then investing in a good quality well fitting one-piece skin suit should be top priority. Your body surface area and shape is the biggest thing slowing down after all.

Cost £90-£300

Saving 0.5-1 second per mile. 

Bars

Time trial handlebars come with extensions that enable you to move your forearms so they're in a much narrower position than  they are on the drops. What this does is effectively reduce your frontal area (As it heads into the wind) as well as improving the airflow around your upper body.

Cost £100-£600

Savings 2-3 seconds per mile

Tyres

Fast tyres are fast mostly because they have low rolling resistance which is one of the forces that slows you down on a bike. The best time trial tyres are also lightweight and narrow, as you would expect, although some modern TT wheels have been designed to work with wider tyres? Don't forget the faster tyres often wear out much quicker than cheaper tyres.

Cost £30 -£75 each

Saving 1-2 seconds per mile

Wheels

 

Aero wheels are characterised by low spoke counts and deep, tapering rim profiles, which are a better shape than rectangles for reducing drag. v-shaped rims are the most common-and the cheapest, but they are not as aero and don't handle as well as a more rounded shape.

Cost "£800 - £3000

Saving 0.5-1 second per mile.

 

So as you have read there is a possibility of saving significant time by upgrading your equipment and I still haven't mentioned gloves and overshoes.

Of course the most important saving is the bike itself (apart from your own fitness, profile and weight), I think that deserves a post on its own though. I will be going over all of the equipment as my training progresses and I try out the different equipment for myself....

End of Week One

To be clear, the picture isn't me, not even close but its pretty cool. There was no blog yesterday as time failed me and cleaning a dirty bike ready for the next ride felt a bit more important. yesterday was a four hour ride, the longest so far in this regime. Again it was 15 mins zone 1, 3 1/2 hrs in zone 2 and a 15 min zone 1 cool down. I was allowed into zone three for the hills if I had to. Despite the amount of climbing I chose to ride through Willaston, Ellesmere Port, Chester and through to Dellamere Forrest, coming back through Christleton, Chester, Wrexham a quick  halt at Eureka and home. Overall I did reasonably well. I hit 160bpm a couple of times on the 12% climbs but would defy anyone not to. My HR stayed in Z1 for an hour not thirty minutes but that may be down to tailwinds, long descents and a spell along a dirt track courtesy of the garmin. And, I must confess the odd play at speed particularly after a 12% decent. I also got my times wrong. I hit Eureka with 20 mins of the ride to go and 40 mins to go home. As it was supposed to be a team ride and ended up a solo one I felt I deserved some coffee. Rather than spend the full 40 mins in zone 1 I continued at a higher rate until 15 mins then dropped the speed down a bit though it was difficult going mostly uphill. Overall I managed about 68 miles at 15.9mph average. I also felt very good after the ride and the next day. In fact I haven't felt sore tired, or wanted to avoid the bike all week.

Today, due to child care arrangements I was due to hit the turbo, annoying on a sunny day but with the best excuse possible. The plan was a 15 minute warm up, then 3 lots of 2mins z2 and 2mins z1 finishing with a 15min z1 cool down. It should of been OK but having fitted a new tyre I had problems with the tacx, the speed was between 0 and 6mph for a cadence of 90-120 and a HR in excess of 130. so I need to sort out the technical difficulties for next time.

Overall a good week without any pain and interestingly some of the best sleep for a long time. Not sure I will blog every day next week I may go for a summary, depends how I feel.....

Zone 1 torment

Today's ride was supposed to be an easy one hour zone 1 ride. In other words keeping my heart rate below 118bpm. I decided to ride out to eureka for a coffee and (obviously) back which in the end took an hour and 10 minutes. With it being another blustery day the hardest part,again, was keeping my HR down especially on the short steep hills. In the end 14 minutes were spent in zone 2&3 but to be honest I think it's more or less impossible to do otherwise on a day like this. 

The plan was to keep the legs moving ready for a four hour ride tomorrow and sitting here 9 hours later it appears to of worked. I feel fresh and ready to go. I also did a set of stretches for the first time which appear to of loosened up a painful right hip. So overall just over a 20 mile ride at about 16mph with an average HR of 115 which was inside the zone. Lets see what tomorrow brings. ..... 

never start with an apology

In this case though I think I have to...my last blog included my ramblings about the Garmin 800 failing yesterday. I have to say Garmin have quickly got me up and running again. I thought that the device was like a normal car Garmin and detected movement and calculated your speed... which it does. That is until you add a speed/cadence sensor. Once again [I thought] the sensor kicked in if you lost a signal. Apparently not, if the device detects a sensor the speed runs off it regardless. My problem, I had knocked the sensor while cleaning the bike, it still picked up cadence but not speed so just assumed I wasn't moving, as did I while riding in zone one. So a quick adjustment and I am recording again.

So today's ride was the same as Tuesday's. 15 minutes warm up in zone 1, 90 minutes zone 2, and 15 mins cool down zone 1. I opted for the same route, the weather, dry and a bit warmer, rather than the rain of Tuesday but the wind was similar. So at about the half way point I realised was ahead of the last ride and opted to add a loop out towards Cheshire Oaks and back through the lanes towards Eureka, coming back through Burton I was still ahead so dropped back to the marshes the same as last time and climbed the steep hill with my heart ignoring the zone two target. The timer went off about 300 meters from home so only about a 20 second ride (I had a tail wind). I'm still finding it painfully slow in zone one especially on  the cool down, but managed to keep up at the top end of zone two throughout the ride.
End result I rode an extra two miles over the same time on Tuesday....well I'm impressed.

Only other activity today, some research on which wheels to put on the TT bike when it arrives, possibly Mavic Carbone SR's but will keep looking. It's a very easy ride planned for tomorrow. One hour in zone one.... Perhaps Eureka and back with coffee in the middle.

Technically tricky

So today was a three hour ride in zones one and two. Amazingly it was a dry sunny day with the roads only wet in the shade, of course Mother Nature always has something held in reserve. A force four to five wind blowing across the Wirral led to some difficult moments both staying on the bike and in the zones.

Not for the first time my Garmin 800 let me down. I set up the program again -15 minutes zone one, two and a half hours zone two, finishing up with 15 minutes cool down in zone one. As soon as I left the house my Garmin stopped recording speed and distance. Not good on an expensive bit of kit four months old. I tried to fix it with a soft reset but no use. It still worked through the program though using time and heart rate so I pushed on. 

I went out through Neston, willaston, into Chester and Wales before cutting across to the Wirral again. The early part was difficult with a force five tail wind I found it difficult to get out of zone one,   It was a glorious day and one to enjoy on the bike. Once I started heading back in to the Wirral the reverse happened and into the headwind it was spinning gears and very low speeds to stay within the prescribed heart rate. 

I stopped at eureka for coffee and found it packed, the atmosphere was great with a lot of laughter and conversation as people enjoyed the unexpected good weather.

Once again, using small loops and dropping down through Parkgate I managed to get the time exactly at three hours.

Final thought, although it feels strange riding slowly, it feels great, I see a lot more and feel as though I am really enjoying the bike, I'm out when normally I may of stayed in and the miles are coming along. Still early days but good so far......

First go of the training

So first day of the training and its hammering down outside, blowing up-to force four and the roads are very slippy. Two weeks ago I would of come up with an excuse and stayed home or at best hit the turbo. Today I was out there. The plan was for just a gentle ride in zones one and two. Quick explanation, heart rates help training, riding in zone one for a warm up and cool down helps recovery and zone two builds the engine and helps rest up after a years riding hard. It works on a percentage based on resting pulse and maximum heart rate. The resting pulse should be taken first thing before you get out of bed. A 10% increase can indicate over training or an approaching illness. Mine sits between 48/50 bpm. The maximum heart rate is a bit different. You may of heard of 220 minus your age as a maximum HR. that would put me at 171 but I regularly hit 180 and can hold 170 for a while so using that theory could blow my training. You can look back over your training and see what you have hit in the past year or take a ramp test amongst other methods. I haven't done it yet so more on that when I do. So my HR works between 50 and 180 with zone one being 108 to 117 bpm and zone 2 117 to 135. Being someone who averages a HR in the high 140's when trainingI was warned this will feel slow to me but to stick with it, keep the cadence high and drop the gears going up hill. The ride was a 15 minute warm up in zone 1, an hour in zone two pushing to the top end towards the end of it then a 15 minute cool down in zone one. 

I used my Garmin training mode to set the ride the day before, it beeps when your HR is too low or high and changes zones after the prescribed time - so off I went. And yes it felt very slow.... I averaged 15.4 mph which, considering I normally ride close to 19 has me wondering what is going on. I guess I will find out by the end of the week. I finished the ride in 90 minutes and six seconds, I don't know how I managed to get it so right but on the downside punctured within sight of home which didn't even upset me, go figure. Tomorrow is a three hour ride in the same zones so it will be out around Chester. One last point, the bike was stripped, cleaned, new inner tube and oiled straight after the ride, again not like me ready for tomorrow. 

Overall I'm impressed, so far, how using a coach motivates and intrigued on how it will all come together... Early days yet 

Day one

Today, the new training regime begins with a bit of a whimper rather than a bang. Mondays will be my rest days so today will be spent servicing the trinity TT bike, cleaning the winter hack after yesterday's wet ride and giving the giant defy a once over before putting it back on the tacx so still a little bit to do. 

I still don't know exactly what the week holds but should get that later on today..

I finished the old regime with a mostly downhill tacx turbo session on Saturday for fifty minutes averaging 238w and three 700 plus watt sprints looking like this

 

 

Sunday was a toss up between the bike show or a wet ride around the Wirral. Amazingly I opted for the latter. My garmin decided to stop working though and I forgot how to do a reset so the data is limited to Ade's device. It ended up an easy 28 miles at 17.2 mph stopping at eureka half way. While we were there we met a small group about to ride around Holland and Belgium for a charity ride. Impressive for the time of year though I hated to tell them it may not be as flat as they hoped  

Anyway the weekly mileage has been 187 and 9hrs 57m in the saddle. 

So on to the new regime.......