Break in the ... clouds

With the race season taking a strange hiatus right when the weather starts getting good, it makes one wonder if perhaps the race organizers simply prefer the rain?  So off to the roads I go, smiling all the way.

Got some family bike rides in with the wife and kids and it's really fun to watch all three of them grow in strength. Taught the kids to roll out in a pace line (with about a 4 foot gap between bikes), taught them about the benefits of drafting when we found a very windy section, and they got to test standing out of the saddle on a steep little hill.  All great lessons to learn, and as it turns out the wife was listening and learning too.  I'm very proud daddy/husband.


But there's still some work to be done beyond the family bike ride, and typically that involves a solo effort for hours at a time and lots of ideas flow by during those miles and miles... So it's time to update the blog.

The route I took was a new one suggested by a friend who recently stayed over to visit our place in Entiat, WA.  He asked "have you ever ridden blah blah canyon road, where's that lead?", "what about this highway, how's the shoulder?", "Do you know where this road pops out?", "What's the view like up here on this bluff?".  How embarrassing I didn't know a single route he'd mentioned!  With such beautiful scenery all I'd ever ridden was the highway back and forth to Chelan, or Wenatchee.  So I've determined to explore around the area a bit more.

I'll try to list out the areas by route name here in order to keep track of them, and if they're worth riding again, mostly for my own reference. Standby...

Review: Real Ryder -Indoor Cycling Bikes

Real Ryder ABF8 
Indoor Cycling Bike -Review

Disclaimer: my theory on indoor cycling
As a group cycling instructor (fyi, not a Spinning® instructor, note the fancy trademark) I believe that the exercise we are doing should closely replicate the actual experience of riding a bike. 

This allows our participants to gain strength, burn calories, and do it while riding a bike.  Any additional movements that aren't applicable to riding a bike, should be excluded and are more risk than they're worth because actually increasing in strength on the bike will provide the caloric expense and functional strength that people are looking for.  While it may be fun to "hover" or "jump", it provides such minimal benefit that the risks to joints are not worth it.  Plus, it doesn't contribute enough to the act of cycling to make it worthwhile.

I was asked by a couple different folks at the gyms I work at for a review of the Real Ryder group cycling bikes, and finally got a chance to check them out. So here's what I've found:


Movement, but still stationary?:
It took some pondering on my part to consider the actual movement on the handlebars while on the road.  

The Real Ryder bikes seem to favor a turn right, go right type of movement.  But I know when I ride I push left to go left, this is called counter steering. A great example of how to turn is given here: 3 Step Cornering


Hard to explain, but here's a video of the movement of these bikes:

As you can see, the spring loaded movement creates resistance, and the bike essentially springs back to the center position. Also, the handles lead the bike into the direction it's turning.  Most similar to a very low speed turn on a real bike, which will develop bad form for corning in the real world.  This of course isn't ideal, but can be entertaining!

Really interesting movement, and something that would be fun to teach with, but not very fitting for real world mechanics.  Also, the Real Ryder feels much loose than a real bike (comparatively floppy!), this is probably due to centrifugal forces keeping the real bike rolling forward and upright. 


Arms vs Core:
The Real Ryder bike seems to sway more the harder you pedal, so folks with high power output may be dealing with a harder movement to control at the handlebars. I tested this at both 65 cadence and very high tension, as well as 200 cadence and much less tension.  The sway was much more pronounced at the high tension.

Turning with the hips is a crucial skill to develop to safely take corners and keep control of a bike outdoors.  In fact I'm pretty sure that's one of the reasons modern bike saddles are designed the way they are.  That skill can indeed be improved on the Real Ryder bike, but will require specific instruction in order to avoid just muscling the handlebars, an easier movement in general.

Also, using the core to turn (hips plus handlebar) will allow for a deeper and more useful workout than a stationary bike, which is well... stationary.  The only time we successfully integrate substatntial corework on a stationary bike is standing out of the saddle, or for some power drills in the saddle.

Tall and short:
I observed a participant friend who is close to 5 feet tall comfortably ride these bikes, but she was at nearly the bottom end of the height adjustment.  Another participant who is 6 ft 5 in, may not fit on these bikes, but we've haven't tested that






The saddle height adjustment is a retaining pin that fits in the seat post every inch or so. While stable this is not very accommodating for people with different height requirements.  Indeed, my perfect fit is halfway between two seat height positions unfortunately... 








A view from the cockpit

While sitting on the bike, you've got a multitude of hand positions. Including a tapered aero position that simulates my own aero bars.  Very cool hand positions, I'm glad manufacturers are starting to get there's more than race position, and beach cruiser position for hands.

Most of the time I was riding with my hands "on the hoods" or with a wide grip on the outside of the bars.  It's unfortunate that the handlebars do not slide forward to allow for people with gigantic legs, or with tiny legs.  This is another drawback that limits the size of the folks that can use this bike. While there are plenty of places to put your hands (again to muscle the bike through a "turn"?) it seems if you knees hit the bars while out of the saddle, you're just out of luck.

In the cockpit view you can also see the cherry red tensioner knob just begging to be turned up (heh heh) and two places for your water bottle (as long as it fits, no Nalgene bottles!).

A close up of the electronics:

     

• RPM -Rotations per minute
• RPM Avg -Average Rotations per minute

• Heart Rate
• HR % of Max -Based on input Age I'm guessing (220-Age)
• HR Avg 
• Garmin ANT+ Link -New tech from Garmin: more info

• Training
• Distance -always terribly innacurate
• KCal -ditto, but still fun measures between workouts!

Conclusion:

These bikes are fun.  They add a much deeper core training to the class, and have the latest technology but also limit the participant base.  Fad?  Maybe, but they're fun.

The trick will be getting folks to use their weak core muscles in addition to their also weak and injury prone arms and shoulders.  The instructor I spoke with mentioned she was dealing with shoulder issues and blamed the "turns" that she does on the Real Ryder.  I observed her muscling the bike handlebars instead of using her core as intended, so perhaps just bad form?

• Durability: 8* (they seem commercial grade, but jury is still out)
• Ease of use: 5 
• Real world functionality: 7 

• Benefits

• Instability engages core more easily
• More opportunity to train technique
• It's harder than simply pedaling now!

• Drawbacks
• Loose unstable bike may not be safe for all participants
• Potential shoulder issues for poor form
• Develops poor corning techniques
• Saddle height / Handle bar position limits participants

Sequim 2 -2013

Don't have too much of a report for this one.

Sat in the pack for nearly all the ride, allowing other teams to chase down breaks... phew!

At the final lap, made some simple mistakes but positioned ok for pack sprint, took 9th.  Really want to race Sequim 3 (no such thing), to redux some of the mistakes!  The weather was incredible, the pack behaved nicely and I feel like I'm starting to identify the stronger riders now.

Had fun with the other Roosters, and I love our cat 4 guys all working together.  At this race I feel like there was a couple things that I could have done differently, but really enjoy the comradere of teamates.

Afterward stopped by Fat Smitty's in Poulsbo with a few of the guys for a Smitty Burger, and then had angioplasty on the way back home to clear the arteries.  But the burger was tasty!

Seward Park 4-18-13

Wouldn't normally write up a report for a weekly race like Seward Park, but it was pretty epic yesterday... good or bad you be the judge.

Got there to register a bit early, thought I was late.  It was raining and cold/windy, forgot my base layer and only had a jersey, shorts, and arm warmers... oh and Nuun socks.  Not much "warm" up, but did open up the legs a bit on the course and saw ducks wandering here and there.

For the race itself there were about 25 people. Skipped first prime, missed 2nd, but caught up to the sprinters for the 3rd, and jumped the leader on his right side as he was looking left... shazam $12.  Crap, then only had 6 minutes to get ready for the "win an out".  Looked like it would be a field sprint, but hard to say.  "Win an out" means that if you sprint for first and don't get it you keep riding, then sprint for third, then sprint for fourth... The winner of that round gets to stop racing, everyone else has to do it all over again. 

I wasn't ready for the 1st place sprint, so let 3 guys charge off. Then we circled around again and I'm 2nd wheel of the pack catching the sprinters.  The sprint goes off for 2nd with 4 guys jockying for best wheel and trading out lead, and I gradually bridge solo but let the sprint go out knowing I'd make up ground on the downhill and that they were tiring out from all the effort to trade out wheels.  Sure enough I found the 3 after the downhill on a riser. I was catching up and they were still distracted so I snuck up on them, drafted for a moment behind them, then attack far left.  Immediately 1 dropped and 2 pursued, but I knew there was no way they'd hold my pace.  So I hammered up the hill and then rode easy across the finish line for a tactical, and not all that hard fought 3rd.

I like that kind of racing, tactical.  Also, really like the mixed fields in these races.  I get to ride with cat 5, to cat 2-3, and women all on the same course.  Makes things interesting for sure, and you can pick out the lower cat riders by their low WSBA #s.  Make choosing a wheel very easy.

After the race scooped up the prime, cheered on the rest of the field and drove home shivering uncontrollably from the cold.

Here's a video from a buddy of mine Slo Mo Shun, all props go to him and his crazy camera skills. This was 1 week prior, during his race:

Ice Breaker TT -2013

Really enjoyed the comradere of the Rooster women at this race.  Warming up chatting and getting to know Beth and of course give Emily a hard time (part of the fun of this sport I'd say).

Watching how people warm up before their race is really interesting and I'd say a huge part of the actual race day.  Today was no different, except with the weather just starting to change over to 'warmer' it was a debate on how many layers to wear.

I brought coffee again this time, and showed up a couple hours ahead of start time and glad I did.  There was a pretty long line to use the can.

The race itself I knew I was somewhat over fatigued.  It had been a tough couple weeks at work and the fatigue was cumulative for sure.  Warm up the HR wasn't responding as I'd expect and I knew that it was going to be a tough day.

At the start line I was using a borrowed set of clip on aero bars for my first "aero experience" and a borrowed TT helmet.  Would have been riding borrowed wheels, but don't have a 10 speed (thanks for the offer!).

The course was fun except for the truck that rolled past right before the official started me out, so I didn't want to get pinged for drafting and ended up waiting for him to move on.  Also, the turn around was a pain and I drifted the rear wheel for part of it having entered it a bit too hot.  The corner marshal heard me yelling at the cone "stupid friggin corner!".  No swear words so it was ok apparently, phew.

HR still didn't respond the right way, and I slowed way down at one point to catch my breath that had been evasive the entire day.  Was able to get back up to speed quick enough, and finished a half second ahead of the next masters racer for a 1st place finish in masters cat 4/5 35-39.  Could have done better in the open 4s if more rested up, but hey, it's still early season...

Tortilla soup was awesome, and met one of Roger and Austin's buddies who I've ridden with at the Bike MS 150.  Small world.

Frostbite TT -2013

So the only other TT I've done was last year at MOE.  Don't have aero gear (yet) but know how to manage the HR pretty well. So opted to race the "Retro" category, which ended up being a field of 20 or so riders all kinds of categories,  pro,1-5.  Don't know how many folks from the higher categories were actually there though.

The course was wet, with no rain but some sprinkles that started about halfway through the day.  There were a half dozen corners, that were more concerning on paper than actually in practice.  Thank you Emily and Alex for the early heads up that they were totally rideable.

My start time was 4th from last and I really enjoyed seeing our Roosters take off, good spot for the tent right next to the start line.  

Borrowed a trainer stand (thank you Beth!) to warm up and didn't face much challenge with nerves or anything, it was almost like old hat.  Very nice when things are relaxed and mellow before the race.  Warmed up with Derek Chan who was starting :30 ahead of me in the Retro division as well.   Enjoyed the company.

Trickiest part was deciding on how many layers, as I knew that if it really started raining I'd probably be cold.  But I love these new long johns the wife got me!

The guy holding us at the start is a buddy of mine, and he commented on me winning the "Cantilever Division"... Haha, that's what friends are for I guess! Didn't even get an extra push off or anything. Oh well, next time I gotta pay him a bit more.

Managed the HR right where I expected, and really enjoyed hammering the corners, skirted some service van that was going way too slow in town and slowly picked off my 'rabbits' until I ran out.  Finished in a full sprint with the HR responding as expected.  2nd by 1 second.

Looking at my HR graph, I had a bit more capacity so should have pushed it from farther out:

Kids follow parents example.... this is new research?!

Here's the title from my favorite research study site:

Parenting and Home Environment Influence Children's Exercise and Eating Habits

My goodness, will wonders never cease?  Kids follow their parents example in exercise and nutrition, there's a shocker.  In fact it's so surprising that scientists have conducted a study to determine the details, you can find it here

Combine that with the new determination by the AMA that obesity is a disease (here), and you've got parents giving kids a disease through lazy poorly fed upbringings.  Does this mean we as parents will be required to enforce healthy eating habits for our kids?!  Maybe.  

I love my kids and want the best for them, perhaps that means I'll be a cruel man and require my kids to finish their veggies, get off the couch, and get outside!  Apparently that means I'm fighting disease in my home as a (mostly) responsible daddy.
Kudos to Carrots.

Should we be compelled to do this?  No friggin way.

I'm gonna go ride my bike now....