Archive for the ‘Triathlon cycling’ Category

As surely as spring brings daffodils out of the ground, cyclists too start emerging from their garages and basements, where they’ve spent the winter safely but boringly spinning the wheels but not moving.

Still, Spring weather can be as changeable as it is promising, the days are still short and sometimes the dreaded turbo trainer is the only option for keeping up the training. Apart from iron will power, how do cyclists keep up their efforts on the human equivalent of a hamster wheel?

Motivational videos are one approach. We tried some at T-Zero recently, but weren’t overly impressed. It made a change, but it also made us resentful of those lucky people who live in places with 300+ days a year of sunshine and have the option of swimming in the ocean in the morning and cycling into the mountains in the afternoon. Not only that, the commentary and music both irritated after a short time.

One suggestion is to use the video but turn off the sound and use your own music, which is OK, up to a point. The accompanying music is often set to match the tempo of the pre-recorded ride and unless you’re prepared to spend hours mixing your own playlists (we guess some people are), yours will not.

Transport for London (TfL) have dedicated a page to safe riding in winter. It’s mainly aimed at commuters but the points apply to anyone wanting to keep training on the roads through the cold and dark months. It also has links to advice on bike maintenance and courses in bike maintenance and safe cycling. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/13160.aspx

There’s an old adage in triathlon that says don’t try any kit for the first time in a race but when I received a brand new Planet X Exocet time trial bike the day before an event, I couldn’t resist.

Not only was this a new bike, it was the first time I’d ridden with a time trial set up. Following a bike fitting session with Andy Sexton of Bike Science, the riding position was radically different to anything I’d ever tried before. The saddle was about 4cm higher than my road bike and so far forward I thought I would fall over the front. The absence of drop handlebars left me feeling dangerously exposed with far too little to hold on to.

My first impression on leaving transition was, “help! I’m a long way off the ground.” I struggled to slip my feet into my shoes and managed to trap my toes between the pedals and the road and removed a good portion of a toe nail. Obviously I should have practised the running mount technique in advance but I’d had no time. I hadn’t expected it to be so different to the road bike.

An Ironman Machine.

The cogs and wheels of a bike are plain to see, but the components of human muscle are much less clear. A little background biology and some time invested in bike set up can help you towards faster, more comfortable cycling. There are consequences of the speed at which you pedal and the gears you use that can affect your race day performance. Your position on the bike can also improve your training and racing, whilst gadgets like tri-bars can see your splits shrink.

How Do Muscles Work And Why Does It Matter To A Triathlete?

A detailed knowledge of sports physiology may not seem like the fastest way to a new PB, but if you understand how your body works, you are in a better position to fine-tune it through training effectively than someone who is blindly powering through junk miles. We’ll start with the body tissues that get you up in the morning; muscles.

In the past, a bike-fitter’s work was mostly art. His tools comprised a tape measure, a plumb line and a spanner. Experience and judgement enabled him to position his cyclists at the optimum spot for power, comfort and aerodynamics – hopefully.

In the right hands, these methods still work well. But modern technology now gives us opportunities for a second opinion backed up by science. This doesn’t mean art has been removed from the equation. A good modern bike-fitter will not blindly follow the instructions on the computer screen but use the additional information to achieve the best marriage between bicycle and cyclist.

After several years of racing triathlons on a road bike I finally gave in to the envy induced each time I line my stead up against the array of shiny time trial machines you see at almost every event these days. I’ve also convinced myself that a new bicycle will reduce those incidents of sleek looking cyclists with their even sleeker bicycles flying past me after I’ve worked so hard to beat them on the swim.

Yes, I’m going to buy a time trial bike.

Michael Rice is founder and CEO of Trixter, the maker of X-Dream, the most sophisticated training bicycle we’ve ever seen.

Many a weekend warrior will know how discouraging it is to jump on your bike on a Saturday having been chained to a desk for 50-60 hours over the previous five days only to find their legs don’t want to push the pedals.

Before Michael Rice set up Trixter he worked as a Chartered Accountant in the City and then as the MD of struggling, £80m/year turnover company. He spent three years successfully turning the company back to profitability, but at the cost of his fitness and waist line. Consequently, he found himself repeatedly being wiped out by his fitter friends on their weekend rides.

He desperately wanted a means to keep in shape during the week that fitted with his office-bound lifestyle, but he couldn’t cope with the tedium of the standard exercise bikes on the market at the time. Nor, as a mountain biker, did he want to work his arms and legs separately. It took too long.

VRX-Biking is indoor cycling with a difference: the bike has movable handlebars to add an upper body and core workout to a quad busting cycle session. Tzero took a class.

With winter dragging endlessly on, maintaining cycling fitness becomes increasingly difficult. How many days training have you missed because of snow or ice, or simply because you couldn’t face another wet, cold and dark bike ride?

The turbo trainer, the usual alternative for many triathletes, sometimes loses its appeal, even with the aid of motivational videos.

Another way to keep enthusiastic about training is to join a spinning or indoor cycling class for a group sweat session.

Scott Beaumont rides the X-bike

Tzero accepted an invitation from Trixter to join an indoor cycle class with a difference at the Vale Hotel and Spa near Cardiff, with Trixter instructor Neil Troutman and mountain bike national champion Scott Beaumont.

Unlike some other stationary bicycles, the Trixter X-Bike set up more closely resembles a mountain bike than a road bike. The biggest difference though is the moveable handlebars. As well as simulating steering, they allow you to engage your upper body and apparently increase calorie burn by up to 55%. The idea is to mimic riding outside as closely as possible.