SSG

Why The Magura Hydro Rim Brakes Don't Matter*

2012-01-19T09:44:00.000-08:00

Typical of the bike industry. Something "new"comes out and everyone is a twitter figuratively and literally.

Seems Magura has gone back to the future by introducing their RT8-TT hydraulically actuated rim brake.

Um, wait a minute....didn't they already do that in 1997?

Yep, Bart Brentjens rode 'em to some glory back in the day, then real hydraulic discs came out and rim based systems became antiquated.

So, why all the hubub about the "new" magura's? Honestly, I don't know!

A couple of counter weights to the media frenzy...

1. They are ugly!

Yes, they've been compared to the Campy Delta V's...

Maybe the Industrial-German-Techno version of a Delta V. And lest we forget Delta V's SUCKED at braking! Presumably the Magura's won't follow suit.

2. They are heavy!
From cyclingnews - "Not surprisingly, the RT8 TT is impressively light with a claimed total system weight of just 495g —comparable to a Shimano Dura-Ace mechanical setup when factoring in cables and housing." 495g, 250g per wheel...that's over a pound for levers, housing, fluid, and calipers. For comparison - you knew this was coming right? - TRP's new TTV weighs in at about 110g, and when paired with the RL879 lever at 77g each, puts your total weight at a paltry 187g per wheel, then add another 15g for cable and housing you're still around 200g per wheel, or about a 1/4 pound lighter.

3. They are expensive!
From cyclingnews: "Pricing for the complete Magura RT8 TT brake system is set at €599." at todays exchange rate that makes these a $773 investment in old technology...which brings me to the final reason these are irrelevant on arrival. Again using the TRP TTV's as comparison...they will likely have a retail price of around $150 per set (if we use the similarly v-brake based CX9 as a relative price point). Throw in the levers for $60 and you've still spent less than a third of the price..plenty of coin left for a new TT helmet!

4. Rim Brakes?
Why would you invest, presumably, tens-to-hundreds of thousands of dollars on a rim based system? Brake perfomance will not be impressively improved over existing options because it still comes down to the pad and the rim. The rim surface is uneven, prone to flexing, and inherently mediocre at adhesion, especially in wet conditions. Disc brakes on road bikes are coming. Now the UCI may waffle and waiver on allowing them, but they will be the standard within a few years, guaranteed!

Not to be a complete Nega-Nerd I'll give the Magura's props in two or three areas...

1. They mount on existing brake configurations according to cyclingnews. This is important b/c other systems like the TTV require post mounts and manufacturers willing to produce compatible forks and frames (which they are doing in droves since under the BB mounting is fairly standard in TT/Tri bikes, and most major manufacturers have embraced the fork mount version, but I digress).
2. They look killer under the fairing!
3. For their launch bike they chose TRP pads and pad holders, look closely....nice!

*The big qualifier - I work for TRP Brakes about 10 hours a week doing marketing so I AM BIASED

Indoor Training - The Sufferfest Goes Under The Microscope

2011-11-08T07:50:00.000-08:00

Suffer (verb): Experience or be subjected to (something bad or unpleasant). To tolerate or endure evil, injury, pain, or death. In general usage the preferred preposition after suffer is from, rather than with, in constructions such as He suffered from hypertension. Within cycling a more apt preposition might be for, as he suffered for cycling.

By Matt McNamara

The gang of n’er-do-wells at The Sufferfest have consistently raised the bar on quality indoor training videos over the past couple of years. Toolbox editor, and avowed hard man, Dr. Stephen Cheung wrote a thorough overview of the series in 2010, while the Pez himself gave two tired thumbs up to “Local Hero” earlier this year. So what is left to say? Well, as a power based coach and one who loathes indoor training more than most, I thought I’d look at the training value of the videos from a power based perspective to put a little science behind the praise.

Easy to follow on screen instructions encourage maximum volume for the musical accompaniment.

The Method
When starting this project it was immediately obvious that the only way to truly measure the effectiveness of the videos was by using a CompuTrainer system. CompuTrainer is a stable and highly accurate ergometer that has been the industry standard for over a decade. Although showing its age in a few important areas (read: user experience), the CompuTrainer Lab model is accurate to within 0.5% when calibrated and offers a downloadable format that can be imported into various analysis software. [Note: CompuTrainer reports that a very redesigned software package is coming soon. = ed.]

Thanks to special licensing with the UCI, you get to join the racing on some very famous courses.

The next step was to decide what I wanted to measure. Once again the obvious choices presented themselves: By looking at training stress score (TSS), intensity factor (IF), and interval composition I could get a pretty comprehensive view of the workouts and their efficacy as training tools.

The final piece of the puzzle was to translate the workouts into a file format that would work on the CompuTrainer. This was a daunting task, frankly. Each video is an hour or more and the workouts are based entirely on self selected Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale efforts that are cued by on screen prompts! That meant I would have to watch each video, record the time stamps of all on screen prompts and then create an erg file that matched those up with my own RPE scale.

Fortunately, I stumbled across a critical component when I found an excel spreadsheet by Ted Meisky, a Sufferlandrien of some repute, who had already broken each video into the component sections I needed. Further, his spreadsheet was laid out as a text file that is easily converted to a CompuTrainer compatible format. You can download his spreadsheet here and a bit more information about the rationale here .

He has also given the spreadsheet several custom inputs for each athlete including the ability to select the threshold power level and the percentages of threshold power used for recovery and maximal efforts (those nefarious 10 on a 10 scale intervals). I used my FTP (functional threshold power) with recovery at 50% (most athletes will self-select a 50% threshold effort for recovery) and max effort at 140%, as that scaled the workout to match my preferred RPE scale where a 7 is considered a circa-threshold effort.

Since I wanted to know the individual TSS and IF scores for each video, I went ahead and created each workout again in Cycling Peaks ERG+ software. The ERG+ software allows me to see TSS/IF values and to scale the workouts for different FTP levels. Unfortunately, it will not open a standard .erg file, so I had to manually create each workout (so much for saving time!). In the end it was worth the effort because I now have good data on each of the videos, so let’s see how a few stack up…

The Hunted
This wasn’t the first video produced, but it was the first one I purchased a little over a year ago. Like most, I was immediately impressed with the quality of the experience. Not only did I complete the ride, but I actually wanted to come back for more! For me, the key was the music, each song kept a good rhythm that helped me stay on task. Admittedly, the first ride was not at the same power level that would be assigned by the .erg file – but I think that is one of the true benefits of an RPE based workout; you can scale your effort to your current fitness level, enjoy the experience and simply go harder as fitness allows.

That said we are here to quantify the workout from a power perspective so let’s look at some data from both my ride (ahem!) and an estimate of actual work expected.

Here is the graph of my ride. Not as disciplined as I might like, but at least the efforts at the end – those oh-my-G sprints – were decent:

So it worked out to be 58 minutes at a Normalized power of 252W, an IF of 0.84. Training Stress was 67 points and I burned through 825KJ’s. Compared to the erg file build which looks like this:

Total TSS is up to 81 and Intensity Factor rises to 0.89 – right in that “Sweet Spot” zone we coaches espouse so readily. Still, I’d say that I got pretty close for not having an erg file to push me!

Next up we have The Downward Spiral –

Looking at this one from a coaching perspective I can say that the composition of the workout is surprisingly difficult! With a TSS score of 100 and an Intensity Factor of 0.98 this is one tough hour I set the “max effort” values at 140% of FTP to better correlate an RPE of 7 with a threshold effort, and that had the hard intervals at and above my Maximal Aerobic Power (MAP/VO2max). Fortunately, one can adjust intensity down pretty easily using Mr. Meisky’s erg spreadsheet, so you can scale it to a more sustainable level that is maybe 115 – 125% of FTP. When scaled down to 125% the hardest intervals fall just below MAP and the TSS and IF scores fall to 82 and 0.89 respectively.

A saving grace of this workout is that the MAP efforts are all fairly short ranging from 15s to just over 2 minutes. These short intervals fit nicely into the school of thought espoused by Dr. Guy Thibault (read it here: Intervals Part 3: MAP Intervals) regarding intensity and duration of MAP efforts and recovery. That doesn’t make it any easier to do “The Downward Sprial,” but at least you’ll know you are following a sound strategy.

Local Hero
Finally, I wanted to look at “Local Hero” the longest of the series so far at 85 minutes. This story-book tale of a young man-gone-good represents a great cross section of cycling with a cyclocross race, a criterium, lots of on-screen heckling, a selection of toe tapping good music, and the appropriately engaging Melbourne World Championships road race as a back drop. So what’s the breakdown?

Ouch! In about an hour and a half you get 130 Training stress points with an intensity factor of 0.95 when you build it with max power set at 140% of FTP. It is a manageable workout, but probably not in your early base period. To me this is yet another example of the wisdom of building several erg files to represent different levels of fitness (or desire) If you aren’t up to a 130 point workout at 95% FTP, simply build an erg file that has a lower percentage of FTP for maximum. At 125% max this workout scales down to 107 TSS at 0.86 IF. A bit more relaxed, but only a bit.

Summary
The return of winter sees the inevitable return of indoor training. This time tested right of passage will lead you to a fitter and faster next year, but that doesn’t mean it has to be as tortured as you might think. There are numerous tools and programs that will help you pass the time without going crazy and the finest among these is the Sufferfest series. Professionally produced and with an air of tormented humor, each of the videos so far has been just engaging enough to make me want to come back time after time. But of course, being a coach, I expect more than just entertainment value, so I put Sufferfest to the test.

Specifically, I turned to the venerable CompuTrainer system to see just how hard the workouts are and if they address specific systems development. The short answer is the workouts are well designed and appreciably difficult. Each workout measures north of 85 points in TSS and Intensity Factor when they are corrected against an athlete’s functional threshold power.

Though originally designed around rating of perceived exertion, the videos are equally useful for those wanting to build their own ergometer files, and in fact offer a unique ability to adjust the workload for those who do. Simply modulating the workload changes the profile to suit each athlete’s specific fitness needs. Dial it down 10-15% or so, and a challenging Level 4 workout becomes a manageable Level 3.

While the specificity offered by an ergometer based approach is quite robust, it should be noted that simply applying an appropriate RPE scale will accomplish much of the same thing. In short, as designed, an athlete with sufficient self knowledge and desire can make each of the Sufferfest series serve a useful training purpose at most any time of the year.

STERLING CROSS P/B SENDMAIL, INC

2011-10-07T13:53:00.001-07:00

Crossover Talent and Depth Highlight 2011-12 Roster

****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE****

SUNNYVALE, CA (September 8, 2011) – Brimming with talent the Sterling Cross p/b Sendmail, Inc Cyclocross Team is set to light the afterburners on a spectacular racing season in just a few short days. Boasting its strongest roster yet entering it’s fourth season, the team is deeper, faster, and more focused than ever on winning races and upending the status quo in Northern California racing.

Led by three time Olympian Eric Wohlberg, the mens team includes talent and depth in the form of standout road riders Adam Carr and Rand Miller, both of whom made successful transitions to ‘cross last fall and look to be even stronger this season. Fresh off a 2nd place at this past weekend’s Giro di San Francisco, returning rider Martin Acosta is another rider to watch this season having made the jump from Cat 5 to Cat 1 in a little over a year. The future is bright for this speedster from East Palo Alto. Elite Single Speeder Patrick Kitto is out to ruffle the feathers of the SS establishment this year, and coming on the heels of a very successful 2010 campaign, you can bet he will be punching tickets at the front all season long!

The womens team is led by 2010 Idaho State Cyclocross Champion, and Giro Donne finisher, Liza Rachetto, who looks to be primed for a breakout season. New to the team this year are the talented tandem of Anna Barensfeld and Starla Teddergren. Both ladies are coming off strong seasons on the road and looking to parlay some of that fitness into podiums at races on both coasts this fall. Returning rider Carmen Elliott rounds out the squad having rediscovered the fitness that kept her competitive in the pro-mountain bike ranks just a few years ago.

In addition to the elite team, Sterling Cross p/b Sendmail, Inc also has a deep and talented masters roster that includes 2010 Bay Area Super Prestige Series Champion Bill Strachan, making the jump to 45A’s this season along with perennial top 10 masters Rich Stone and Jamie Willin. Matt McNamara, with multiple district podiums will round out the roster in 35A’s.

Not to be outdone, our development squad has over a dozen hard charging members who are looking to continue the tradition of excellence that has become a staple of the Sterling Sports Group program. This year the team includes a small east coast contingent eager to carry the Sterling mantra to new audiences, and add their name to the history of the team. Who will be this years standout rider?

On the sponsorship side of the team are a committed group of partners including Sendmail, Inc back again as presenting sponsor. Also returning are marquee partners Southwall Technologies – a leader in environmentally advanced glass applications, HELP Pain – provider of high tech medical solutions to remote communities, and JF Fitzgerald – legendary makers of World class custom furnishings. On the equipment side the team is pleased to welcome back TRP Brakes and Challenge Tires, while embracing our newest sponsors Lazer Helmets and Mavic Wheels.

ABOUT STERLING SPORTS GROUP
Sterling Sports Group (www.sterlingwins.com) is the result of over 20 years of passion for the sport of cycling. Launched in late 2003, Sterling Sports is a growing company focused on creating a seamless interface between athlete and coach, technology and personal attention. They can be reached at 408.891.3462 or info@sterlingwins.com ###

USAC West Regional Development Camp

2011-08-19T11:48:00.001-07:00

Every year we get to watch the rise of talent on the professional scene. From new riders who seem to rise from obscurity to greatness before our eyes, to those we’ve watched toil and grow for years who finally break through to a new level. Each is inspiring and it’s easy to forget that, in truth, these riders have all paid their dues to the sport. Sometimes it’s nice to see the starting point of the journey too…

By Matt McNamara

I have previously written and talked about the value of the Old School to the heart and soul of cycling. Last week I was fortunate to spend a few days at the USA Cycling Western Regional Development Camp meeting and working with some of the new school. This is an annual camp offered by USA Cycling to give young riders the chance to learn the craft of racing while offering USA Cycling a look at the next crop of rising talent. It is the perfect first step in the pipeline to becoming a pro.

This year’s camp was again headed by coach Larry Nolan, a multi-time Masters World Champion and director of one of the top junior programs in the U.S. Larry’s professionalism and experience have made this one of the premiere camps offered by USA Cycling. In addition, his staff of coaches and support personnel including Laurel Green, Steven Meilich, Deb Nolan and Justin Morgan, brought all of their talents and focus to the thirty-four attendees for each of the six days.

Here is the whole crew:

Talent Identification
One of the primary goals of the camp is talent identification. The riders complete two separate field tests designed to estimate their functional threshold power and maximal aerobic power. The first test is approximately twenty minutes, the second around five. Both offer that unique level of pain and suffering that we cyclists seem to cherish. It’s true what one of my early mentors said: “You must suffer like a dog, Mattie!” Too true…

The rider and bike are weighed and then sent out on course. Several of the campers had power meters, but since we know the length of the courses, each rider’s weight, the elevation gain, wind speed, and their time, it is fairly easy to get power numbers for each of the participants. These numbers are then forwarded to USA Cycling along with an evaluation of each rider and a recommendation of who might be ready for the jump to international competition.

Improvement
This is my second year at the camp and one of the first things that stood out was the improvement of the returning riders. Nearly every returning rider posted a faster time than the previous year, some by as much as two minutes on the twenty minute test. While the ramp rate of year-to-year gain may taper, a 10% improvement is certainly impressive

The other thing that really stood out this year was just how fast everyone was. The general pace of the rides was manageable, but when they decided to throw down we were easily and frequently above my 320’ish watt threshold as I watched some group of riders climb away from me. That they could recover and hit out again as often as they wanted was the really impressive part…they just kept coming back for more.

Skills, Drills, and Laughs
Each day we would practice a different race skill or scenario. Group pace-lines, attack and counter attack, leadouts, fast cornering, and a simulated road race to name a few. Then we got to my bread and butter… cornering skills.

We set up a great little race course in a giant parking lot, the riders were divided into 8 teams of 4 and the course was divided into 4 sections: a straight line sprint, a short but narrow set of tight corners, a wide open set of “S” turns, and finally a combination of all towards the finish line. Each member of the team would rotate forward one station on each lap, so everyone got to ride all four sections.

The brackets were set up so the top two teams would advance to the final four, and the last two teams would battle for fifth through eighth. This guaranteed that each team would race twice for a total of 8 laps on the course. The fun thing about the circuit is that, while it favors those with good snap and excellent handling, it’s a team race so the competition ended up closer than you might expect. Of course the greatest satisfaction was that there were only two minor crashes and no injuries. Whew!

Developing Young Adults
Perhaps the most impressive part of camp are the riders themselves. These guys and gals are focused on cycling and truly love the sport, but more importantly they demonstrated a degree of maturity that was not entirely expected. The riders were always pleasant and respectful to the coaches and staff, often addressing us with mister or missus - a nice change from the all too common entitlement attitude seen in many of today’s teens. Their parents can be proud of the young men and women they are raising.

The riders were similarly toned towards each other. I didn’t hear one argument or disparaging word throughout the camp. Rather they functioned as a team, each rider encouraged and cheered by their peers.

Of course they’re still the ‘young’ side of young adults so plenty of antics, jokes and pranks were devised, and a few late night “go to sleep, now!” requests had to be enforced. I think the perfect crescendo of the team ethos meets youthful exuberance had to be the re-test offered to a camper who had been sick on the first day. The picture below covers all you need to know, except that it was hilarious and a blast to be part of the group, though I kept my kit on!

Summary
The USA Cycling West Region Development Camp serves several important goals. It is a talent identification tool used by USAC to help bring forward the next wave of young riders, but perhaps more important it is a crucible for developing riders to challenge themselves in new and familiar areas. That it fosters such a sense of community and loyalty year over year is a testament to the talents and commitment of the staff that works it, and importantly the riders who attend. To see the USAC pipeline in action is to marvel at the depth of talent that has embraced cycling as their discipline. The future is bright and I can’t wait to watch it…

2011 Cyclocross Team Kits Unveiled

2011-07-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

Sterling Cross - presented by Sendmail, Inc is pleased to debut our 2011 Team Kit. Thanks to the tremendous support of our sponsors we'll be unveiling our biggest and best program to date later this week.

I am especially proud of this years kit because EVERY SPONSOR that made the jersey has contributed significantly to overall health of the team! I feel very honored that so many great companies would step up to support our program!

Thanks...

Next up we'll be releasing our rosters by category, starting with the singlespeeders (which seems appropriate since The Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships are in SF this year!)

Latest Toolbox article on Pez

2011-05-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

Training Zones: HR and RPE:

For racers, and many recreational riders, tracking ones training is a standard part of each days routine. We jump on the bike with our power meter, heart rate monitor, GPS and speedomet looking to document, and later interpret, what we’ve done. But what measures truly matter? This first of two articles looks at some of the more common methodologies and metrics.

With both the Tour of California and the Giro D’Italia capturing our attention last week it’s easy to be repeatedly impressed by the efforts and talents of the pro peloton. Rider after rider produced mind numbing efforts during both races, surely piquing the interest of aspiring racers and fans eager to baseline those efforts against their own talents and abilities.

Of course these performances are built on years and miles of consistency and diligent development of the varied physiological systems required. Chances are these riders have a keen knowledge of their training zones!

The Value of Training Zones:
Nearly all training zones are based on maximums. How much, how long and how high? Heart rate based training has long been the standard of measure most often used and cited. One reason that max heart rate is so strongly held is because of its expected relationship to VO2max and other measures of physiological strain. Since VO2max represents maximal aerobic capacity it provides a great reference point for what is happening to the athlete physiologically. Lactate blood profiles, cardiac output, and other measures track similarly.

Pick up any mainstream information source, and many educational ones to boot, and they will as likely as not reference the ubiquitous 220-Age calculation as a starting point for setting up those zones, but why is this?

A Short History:
Robergs and Landwehr, researchers out of the University of New Mexico, sought to find an answer via their 2002 article in the Journal of Exercise Physiology. Their paper did an exhaustive review of the literature seeking to find the roots of max heart rate calculations during exercise, especially 220-age, as well as best practices in applying the correct calculations and metrics. The eventually referenced the origin of the formula to Fox et al in 1971 and as they put it “...surprisingly, the origin of the formula is a superficial estimate, based on observation, of a linear best fit to a series of raw and mean data.”

The Fox article looked at research conducted on activity and heart disease. The original citation had a mere 35 data points and was not derived from original research. In fact Fox et al noted in their article that “…no single line will adequately represent the data on the apparent decline of maximal heart rate with age. The formula maximum heart rate=220–age in years defines a line not far from many of the data points.” So even the researchers in the original article that became the bedrock for decades worth of fitness musings, teachings and prescriptions didn’t feel that it was an absolute measure!

To try and parse out a ‘true’ Max Heart Rate (MHR) calculation, Robergs and Landwehr went back and attempted to replicate the research and cross reference with additional research that is often cited in relation to MHR estimation. They looked at over 30 different ways to calculate MHR, including the first known effort by Sid Robertson in 1938 (whose estimate was 212 – 0.77(age)). Their conclusion was that, indeed, even the original research cited by Fox had failed to support the 220-age calculation. Instead they built the following formula as the best overall starting point based on the research presented in the graph below (a reproduction of the Fox research):

HRmax=215.4 – 0.9147(age)

The Karvonen Version:
The prevalence of the 220-age calculation is reinforced by another commonly referenced training zone calculator – The Karvonen Formula. Karvonen is credited with the idea of Heart Rate Reserve (HRR), which is an effort to better understand the available capacity of the individual. The HRR Calculation looks like this:

(220) - (your age) = MaxHR

(MaxHR) - (resting heart rate) = HRR

(HRR) x (60% to 80%) = training range %

(training range %) + (resting heart rate) = (your target training zone)

Interestingly, Karvonen, when asked by Robergs and Landwehr, said he had never published original research of the formula and instead referred to the work of Astrand for the original calculation. Astrand, also deferred to other researchers when asked about his role by Robergs and Landwehr in September of 2000.

Whatever the derivation, the main takeaway message seems to be that using a univariate approach to estimating maximum heart rate is open to errors due to the variability within individuals, but they do provide a good starting point

Perceived Exertion:
Another common metric across time has been the estimation of effort based on the athletes perceived exertion. Perceived exertion has been shown time and again to correlate well with the actual work load in experienced athletes. The work of Gunnar Borg is the most often used baseline for rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and dates to 1970.

The original Borg scale used a range of efforts between 6 – 20 to delineate subtle differences and offer a highly refined value. Some feel that taking one’s base RPE multiplied 10 should closely correlate to exercising heart rate, offering yet another way to cross reference effort. More and more athletes and coaches are using a modified Borg scale that ranks effort from 1 – 10. This is partly to ease use and interpretation for the athlete as it requires less pre-workout education and is more intuitive for many athletes.

Summary
Training zones and intervals are as common in cycling parlance as wheels and tires. Nearly every athlete uses some metric to track their training and improvement. Yet, the most common measure used over the last three decades was not built on direct scientific research, and is prone to error. The standard 220-age calculation was derived from an interpretation of unpublished research but does provide a starting point for creating ones training zones. Similarly, the Karvonen formula is a derivation of 220-age, yet also offers a form of insight. Borg’s scale of perceived exertion has also been a long standing reference of well established validity

To be sure the science of performance has made strides over the last years, but do these measures provide a more accurate baseline for training? Next time we’ll delve into the efficacy and value of power and lactate based training zones by asking some of the sports most noted coaches and physiologists their opinion!

References
ROBERT A. ROBERGS AND ROBERTO LANDWEHR, THE SURPRISING HISTORY OF THE "HRmax=220-age" EQUATION. ISSN 1097-9751, Volume 5 Number 2 May 2002, Official Journal of The American Society of Exercise Physiologists (ASEP).

For racers, and many recreational riders, tracking ones training is a standard part of each days routine. We jump on the bike with our power meter, heart rate monitor, GPS and speedomet looking to document, and later interpret, what we’ve done. But what measures truly matter? This first of two articles looks at some of the more common methodologies and metrics.

Giro Stages 9 and 10

2011-05-16T22:10:00.001-07:00

Today the field rolls up the Eastern edge of the country on a terribly flat route that says - pack finish...so, let's talk about some other stuff...

Namely Wednesdays stage to Castelfidardo!

That is a stage! It just screams "fun" if you're a decent climber and a strong all arounder...what they call a rouler...a roller...someone who can charge full tilt on the flast, manage the climbs, and be tenacious and audacious enough to give it a go!

It may well shake out as a GC stage fight as well....lots of riders are hovering at the 1 - 2 minute gap and they'll be looking to advance, but I'm hoping for a bit of Panache in the break that leads to a memorable experience...and i've got a couple of ideas (prescient analysis if it proves correct!)...

Johnny Hoogerland (Vaconsoleil) - that guy is fun to watch!On stage 7 he rode across TO the break, then immediately THRU the break....guess he felt strong. He's a good bet to be assertive, as is stage 7 winner Bart De Clercq (Omega Pharma) and Oscar Gatto has shown some pop on an uphill finish - and tasted the sweet nectar of victory, which is terribly addictive.

Can't wait to see what shakes out on Wednesday...

Giro Peloton Errante

2011-05-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

We always talk about the front of the GC....but the real eye opener is to look at the bottom of the field. It will give you an additional insight into just what it is to be a pro. The last 20 after stage 9 included:

Mark Cavendish and his leadout man Mark Renshaw, Francesco Chicci - the 2002 U23 World Champion (and winner of at least 8 races last season), Robbie Hunter (Tour and Vuelta stage wins), Alexander Kristoff (3x Norwegian National Champion), Tom Peterson (white jersey at 2006 Tour of California), and sitting in the Lantern Rouge - Adam Blyte a 5x British National Champion, 2x European Games champion, and winner of the 2010 Circuit Franco Belge!

That's just a random sampling from the bottom 20 and every one of them has had success at levels most of us would surely resepct...and here they are at the tail end of a 3-week race with two weeks left to go!

Euro Pro IS Pro!

Giro Stage 7

2011-05-13T12:38:00.001-07:00

Blogger was down last night so this went up on Facebook instead:

It’s nice to see Alessandro Petacchi sprinting well in a variety of situations. Long known as the guy who put the exclamation point on the end of one of the most fearsome lead-out trains in cycling (Velo, Tossato, Baldato, Kirchen, Bossoni, Hauptman, and Aug among others) Petacchi has instead shown a true affinity for the nuance of the pack sprint this year. Exhibits 1 and 2: I mentioned the prowess shown by Petacchi and his leadout guy Danilo Hondo at the end of stage 2. Yesterday, however, he showed he has the high level fitness that took him deeper into the maglia ciclamina jersey prior to the first mountain finish. He didn’t win, but he did pounce and isolate any of the other sprinters buy quite a few points. I’m betting he can wear red into Milan.

Stage 7 offers up the first of 8 summit finishes. The Santuario di Montevergine climb averages “only” 5% - but it does so for 17 kilometers and is a lovely climb for the first summit finish, meandering and switchbacking it’s way up a regional park. Will the big dogs come out to play or leave it to the ambitious aspirants? My guess, based on the first couple of climbs thus far….the big guns will take a run at the finish just to see if they can shake out any of the pretenders, but the real action will be saved for another day as a small group or riders will leap from the attack and counter-punching of the GC contenders on the lower slopes. Then again, someone WILL be looking for a few seconds advantage. Someone like Le Mevel (only a few seconds out of Pink), or Di Luca (desperate to redeem himself). Here’s how it looked in 2007:

Giro Stage 5

2011-05-09T16:41:00.001-07:00

Today marks the start of the second Giro. This iteration perhaps more reflective of just what it means to race a Grand Tour and to be a professional cyclist.

Stage 5 may well be the perfect re-immersion for the peloton..it offers strade bianchi, the first glimpse of real climbing (two cat 3's) on a constantly undulating route that offers up a Poggio-esque finale that may well see a small group jump away to an inspiring victory.

The only real question is of the riders motivation. Certainly the past 36 hours have offered a lifetimes ride on a roller-coaster of emotion and it remains to be seen if they will plug into the task at hand. I think they will embrace the familiarity of the rolling peloton and the release offered by hard riding.

It favors the roulers like Dario Cioni, Popovich, DiLucca (which is a brilliant tactical play if he can take time and get, or at least get close, to the pink jersey) or perhaps Scarponi comes looking for early advantage....

Giro Stage 4 - The Legend of Pistoia

2011-05-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

As we don't know what the racing will be like for Stage 4 - I think it's fair to say that since this stage rolls into Livorna and represents another, mostly, flat route that will likely end in a group gallop if they race at all. My guess is they will ride a la Motorola for Casertelli:

So let's talk about something else...

Not Mr Weylandt...that is a tragedy that I cannot speak to, nor would I try since I don't know him. I will say that I am proud of the racing community - from the world over, large and small, pro and amateur that have taken the time to offer condolences and a prayer for Mr Weylandt and his family during what is surely a heartbreaking time.

Rather than try to understand or comprehend, let's talk about Pistoia.

Recall that in 2004 we had our wedding in Italy and as part of the honeymoon we planned to take in a stage or two of the Giro. After leaving the Amazing Amalfi Coast on May 11th, we headed North in our little rental car intent on seeing some bike racing! Without much in the way of planning - a nod to Starr's letting me run the show since that is NOT how she rolls - we stopped in the quaint sounding town of Pistoia, just over the pass from the next days start in Poretta Terme. Smooth...

Except that Pistoia just felt wrong from the moment we rolled into town. We found an adequate room that was, if memory serves, at the top of a series of medievel looking stairs and floors. There was a single light in the room that shone bright as day, yet when out the room was darker than any I'd ever seen...So dark we slept with the lights on!

I don't recall if it was before or after we got that 'weird' feeling that we learned a bit about the city's history..but it certainly made an impression on us whichever the timeline. Like much of Italy it was full of war and treachery, occupation and counter-occupation. Michelangelo famously referred to Pistoiesi as "enemies of heaven" and there are dark days in it's history. Maybe we learned before...

We headed out to dinner and found a nice place that radiated dour. The atmosphere and staff were reserved, uninviting. Watching the people walk by on a nice May evening you'd expect young lovers awash in romance, or families enjoying the fountains - but none of that was to be seen. Shadows and dark shapes plied the night as we hurried through our meal and back to the hotel. It was a restless night of sleep.

Thankfully the next morning dawned rainy, but full of promise. We were heading to the race, but first we took in a sight or two - including the famous black and white marbled octagonal baptistrey...

We left from there for the drive to Poretta Terme and the start - it was all pink and grandiose. Cipollini was still King and Simoni wore the Maglia Rosa. Damiano Cunego's days were coming and ultimately the 2004 Giro would prove mostly uninspiring except for Damiano Cunego, who's been mostly uninspiring since. On our way out of town we got WAY lost and ended up at the top of a dead end road miles above the small town the race started in. We were deep in rural Italy and it was awesome! It took a few hours to find our way to the highway that would take us to Finale Ligure...but the day we spent there was a highlight of the trip for both being a bit weird and beautiful. It was Italy after all.

Giro Stage 3 - Perspective

2011-05-06T21:31:00.001-07:00

Petacchi and his leadout man offered a crash course in riding a leadout. Recall that I said yesterday that if a rider gets the jump on Cavendish he's proven unable to overcome. Well Petacchi has the HUGE bendfit of having Danilo Hondo as his last rider in the run to the finish. Watch the video and you'll see over the last few kilometers that they hold and maintain a top 5 to 7 place (well, I haven't found more than the last few hundred meters yet), but don't take too many turns at the front. The trick was letting other teams come forward to drive the wind - by not pushing to the front unitl very very late it gave Petacchi the reserves of speed to launch. The second key was the jump...he hit it about a second before Cavendish and it was enough. He was wheels clear before he came acros Cav's line, so the relegation argument is moot in my opinion. Nice ride by a true professional Chapeau Alessandro...my apologies for not counting you amongst the favorites today. Won't happen again...

We are still a few days out from our first summit finish and any real climbing but I thought this was a very cool graphic:

It shows all of the stages longitudinally, with climbs noted. The Universal Sports guys were sayin that it was close to 100,000 feet of climbing! Anyway, I just thought it gave a nice perspective.

Speaking of perspective...most will predict that stage 3 ends in a bunch finish. It's just too early and the sprinters teams only have a few chances this year so they won't want much to get away. What that assessment lacks is perspective.

The Category 4 summit comes with just under 10kms of racing left..which is the perfect distance for a small group to successfull attack and stay away. So now the question becomes who is in the break? Let's get some perspective...

GC riders will sit this one out.
Sprinters and their teams won't be able to bring it back (says me)
That leaves opportunists and the lucky..you feeling lucky?

Androni Giacattoli is feeling lucky. Colnago CSF and BMC feel lucky too. Leopard Trek, Moviestar and Omega Pharma NEED to make some luck or this could be a long Giro. For me I think Vaconsoleil and Quickstep will be the luckiest...

1. Johnny Hoogerland - Vancansoleil
2. Dario Cataldo - Quickstep
3. Andrea Noe - Farnese Vini
4. Fabio Sabatini - Liquigas
5. Mauricio Ardilla - Geox

Giro Stage 2

2011-05-06T21:30:00.001-07:00

Forgot about those speedy HTC guys! Bob Stapleton's crew threw down a speedy gauntlet that the others couldn't match and put Pinotti in the pink jersey first...a harbinger of the final in Milan? I can say that it was a mistake to not count the HTC guys...but hey, I hit it pretty good on the rest of the podium! Radioshack and Liquigas flipped my prediction, while Garmin-Cervelo in fifth, and Vaconsoleil in 10th did me proud! Astana...whoops. Ok, off to Sunday's stage...

Ding, ding, ding! Calling fast finishers, calling fast finishers...

This stage will undoubtedly be nervous and twitchy as riders slowly try to settle into the rhythm of the race. Fortunately, the route is very straight forward without much in the way of twists and turns. Mark Cavendish has the reputation and the stage wins that brough it - so he's the number one, for now. Clearly Tyler Farrar is also near the top of the heap and has shown steady progression year over year. I think the sprinters are starting to figure out the way to beat Cavendish - hit it out early and make him counter-punch in the finale.

There have been a few suprises in the sprint finishes at other races this year and I'm looking forward to seeing who really steps up their game this month. Rafael Valls of Geox-TMC is due for a big win, and don't forget Radioshack's Manuel Cardoso, Mateo Tossato of Saxo Bank and Brice Feillu of Leopard-Trek in your considerations. The equalizer may well be the 244Km length....but with everyone still fresh and the flat route it should be a full on finish! Given that, and HTC's prowess in the TTT I think they put Cavendish into the perfect spot to win, but I think Farrar will simply be faster if he can jump Cav.
Stage Prediction
1. Farrar
2. Cavendish
3. Valls - Geox TMC
4. Borit Bozic - Vacansoleil
5. Petacchi

Giro Stage 1 - My Italian Roots

2011-05-06T19:36:00.000-07:00

The Giro D'Italia starts tomorrow and I'm gonna play blogger...trying to post something for every stage. Not all of 'em will be wordy and prolific, but perhaps a few will be worth the read...so here goes.

While most American fans have had a love affair since Andy Hampsten's '88 win, my personal Giro story starts in 2004. Of course I've always followed the race, but in 2004 I was lucky enough to get married in Italy and see my first ever Grand Tour live. Here's the route:

Given that memorable reference point, I thought it might make a nice back drop for this year's race. So...let's start off with a little comparison:

Total Length:
2004 - 3435 Kilometers
2010 - 3525 Kilometers

Individual Time Trial KM's
2004 - 59Kms
2010 - 45Kms

Mountain Top Finishes:
2004 - 3
2010 - 8

Total Climbing:
2004 - 18,500m (61,000+ feet!)
2010 - I can' nail it down precisely...but Stages 13, 14 and 15 have over 13,000m alone, adn there are 5 other mountain top finishes! Fortunately, we'll have plenty of time to discuss all of these in detail...

Top Contenders:
2004 - Gilberto Simoni (defending champion), Stefano Garzelli, Yaroslav Popovych, Andrea Noe, Franco Pelizotti, and Damiano Cunego (eventual winner).
2010 - Alberto Contador, Vincenzo Nibali, Denis Menchov, Michele Scarponi, Roman Kreuzinger, and Joaquin Rodriguez.

Ok, enough compare and contrast for now....let's get to Stage 1's Team Time Trial!

I haven't read all there is to read about it....I'm just going on two things. Roster and cohesion. While team Sky and Garmin carry big reputations in the time trial department I don't think they brought the squads to win this years TTT. Ironically (because I'm not a huge fan) Radioshack may pull out a suprise and I'm very curious to watch both Liquigas and Vaconsoleil race because they both have such great esprit d'corps. So my top five for stage 1

1. Liquigas
2. Radioshack
3. Astana
4. Garmin
5. Vaconsoleil

Ok, time to reset to Stage 2...

Vlaanderen's mooiste

2011-03-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

Over the past decade or so I've really grown to appreciate the Ronde. Though it's always been legendary, I'll admit that I was less than insane for it in my first few years. Respect, yes. Reverence, not quite. For sure, great champions like Merckx, the Planckaerts, and Museew made their careers into legends on the bergs, but Roubaix always held my attention because the battles were more visible to an impressionable young American. LeMond stoked my early racing fire and he was rarely (7th in '85) a factor in Flanders (but he still got this pic in his first Sports Illustrated article in 1984 - yea, you should read it!)

Then Van Petegem won. He wasn't even really on my list of 'favorite riders at the time, but he took the win from wonder-kid-come-never-ran Frank Vandenbrouke and super-hero Johan Museew. It stuck in my memory for some reason and a deeper appreciation was born. That he went on to pull the Flanders - Roubaix double in 2003 is just sweet! Here's a short summary of that '99 race...

Of course Boonen was impressive in his wins, but much like Museew they just did't enthrall me (I'll give him his props for the tenacity of last years race, and for a stirring sprint victory at Gent-Wevelgem last week though. Good on ya Tomeke!)

The sweet spot for me was Stijn Devolder...and really that's where the love of Flanders comes from for me. Forget winning back-to-back (as only 5 others have done, including Boonen), it was the WAY he won those races. Pure Panache! Yea, he took some heat for the win in 2008 when Tomeke was 'supposed' to win...but watch the video and listen. He was on the attack from 46k, and smartly launched a tactically astute counter just as the break was caught...perfect team tactic! In the Belgian Champions tri-color no less! Awesome, simply awesome...

Ok, enough nostalgia..let's get to this year. The runnup has been fun to watch. From the E3 to Gent Wevelgem and 3 Days of Depanne...there has been great racing that puts a variety of riders on the 'watch' list and will hopefully* make for a great and thrilling race. Let's work our way thru the destruction sure to be metted out...

It's only fair to give due credit to the incredible depth that is coming to the race. Many of the teams have multiple threats that just might create the tactical situation Fabian Cancellara can't overcome. While not quite favorites for Sunday Thomas DeGendt and Marco Marcato at Vaconsoleil, Nikki Terpstra, Gert Steegmans and Sylvain Chavanel at Quick-Step, Leif Hoste and Fillippo Pozato at Katusha, and quick rising Lars Boom at Rabobank may just add to the story line. And that's only a partial list. Among my top favorites:

Stijn Devolder - you knew he'd make my list right? I'd look for him to be active early in the hopes that he can sneak out to a worthwhile margin and force the others to come to him. He's not been seen in the mix much yet this season, but that may actually serve to his tactical advantage

Phillippe Gilbert - On good form, if not quite up to his traditional fall flurry of fitness, Philippe will play a roll in the race. I see him forcing a selection on one of the infamous middle climbs like the Oude Kwaremont, Paterberg or Koppenberg. It won't break the field, but it will seal a fate or two.

Juan Antonio Flecha - has suprisingly agressive race at the RVV. He's often an instigator and may well be in the break as they cross the Taaienberg and Valkenburg, but I think the Muur - Kapelmuur will again be the make or break point - and he's very good on that climb. Good enough to stay in touch with

Alessandro Ballan - he's ridden well in the spring. He's won before. He has Van Avermat to play the foil. Maybe, just maybe it'll go his way. To do so he needs a small group together over the Muur.

Thor Husovd - Tyler rode very well last year (5th), but I just think Thor is better suited to this race. Motivated and tough, he may be the guy to tag onto the super-duo

Tom Boonen - you can't forget his two wins. It simply means too much to Tom to win and he dearly wants another crack at redemption. He doesn't have to drop Fabian, he just has to take him to the line. then again...

*Cancellara may simply ride away...

Enjoy!

Ghent Wevelgem - Spring is Here!!

2011-03-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

Ghent Wevelgem is often considered a semi-classic, but in a true underdog run it is striving to raise it's profile. Previously held on the Wednesday between the Tour of Flanders and Paris Roubaix, G-W moved to the Sunday before RVV last year, presumably in an attempt to become more relevant. I like the mid-week slot better...it ties the week together and, frankly, the cycling world needs to embrace the mid-level race instead of always looking for bigger-better. I am curious to see how the lack of a mid-week race may impact the riders freshness and agressiveness though.

They call is a 'sprinters' classic - and a quick persusal of the results bears this out for the most part, but it is equally likely that an all-arounder will win as evidenced by the variety of winners since 2000...

Sprinters: Van Bondt, Cipollini, Hushovd, Freire, Eisel

Roulers: Boonen, Mattan, Boasson Hagen, Hincapie, Burghardt, Klier

Ok, enough history - who's gonna pull it this year? Well...the list of POTENTIAL winners is as long as any other spring race..perhaps longer given the sometime selective/sometimes not nature of the course - in which case weather is the likely decider. Belgian wind and rain can take the measure out of any favorite who isn't on the sharp end at the right time. Unforunatley it's looking sunny.

Among the interesting storylines that might develop would be Andre Greipel getting a huge helping hand from Philippe Gilbert after his selfless riding at M-S-R last weekend. I don't think Gilbert will want to put it all on the line for this race with RVV coming up, so it's a natural tactic...and I wouldn't be suprised to see him working. Similarly Hushovd may well be at the disposal of Farrar given the proximity of RVV and Roubaix, if Farrar can make the selection.

Being a fan of the underdog I have to give a shout out to a few other potential spoilers. Yoann Offredo and Dominuqe Rollin could be a really deadly combination if the weather is deep (wouldn't you love to see that?). Thomas Voeckler is another shadow player in previous classics who is on better form than he's ever known (even when in yellow!). My regard for the Frenchman has gone up quite a bit since his World Cup win in Canada last year. I'm just sorry Stijn Devolder won't be on the start line.

Ok, enough writing - I'm going somewhat against the grain here..it's just too tempting given the vast array of commentary that is picking Cancellara or Gilbert (both of whom would be very deserving winners) is my list of possible winners, not necessarily their finishing order (but hey, why not)...

1. Thos Husovd
2. Leif Hoste

3. Juan Antonio Flecha
4. Sergei Ivanov

5. Yoann Ofredo

Journalism-ish and Great Racing

2011-03-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

More and more I find myself getting my race information from ever-more-sublime sources. There was a time when Winning Bicycle Racing Illustrated was the only read to read honestly. You can check out some 30+ covers - and I read every one!
They also produced the Tour De France Special Issues - BIG oversize format and chock full of great images...I promptly cut up the first few just to get some pics of LeMond and Hinault in '86, but I digress.

After Winning, VeloNews held the top spot for a long time. Big format, lots of Euro coverage, and a host of local stuff. VeloNews WAS cycling journalism.

Then the internet came along and the original CyclingNews.com crossed my path about mid 1998 and I was hooked. HOOKED! You can look through the "way-back" time machine and relive those heady days. It was just so cool to get up to date content from far away Europe and Australia. Bill did us all a great service and I hope he made a good return when he sold it...

Unfortunately, he sold it..and therein lies the problem. All that is cool is absorbed and diluted. Winning was cool. VeloNews was cool. CyclingNews was cool....then they weren't. Now they are aggregators of information, publishers of press releases, passers-on. They have somewhat made the sport as dull as race radios are purported to do. I can read the same article word for word on at least a half dozen sites

I admit it for awhile I was bored with pro-cycling. It was all so pre-destined, even the racing to a degree. The love was still there, but the passion was waning a bit.

Fortunately, my salvation came in the form of blogs about cycling by informed, smart, and intelligent writers, by not-so-run-of-the-mill content on bigger sites, and by live streaming video of races! Just this past weekend I went out and bought a converter to watch live video streams from my computer on my television...it's awesome!

While most of these don't fall under the auspices of real journalism, I think it's fair to say that real journalism, at least in mainstream cycling media, is mostly a myth anyway, so I'll take my faux journo sites for now.

The other side of the equation is the racing. Watching Tierreno Adriatico and those incredible finishes pushed me back to full-throttle love for the sport! Forget the prognostications, the new technology (ok, not all of it), and the over-analysis and just watch the racing. It's been really good this year and we're just getting started. Now if only we had some great video coverage of smaller/local races we might be on our way...

Let's end with some racing:

Late Night Prognostications - Milan San Remo

2011-03-18T22:42:00.001-07:00

The spring racing has been tremendous this year. Thanks to cyclingfans I've been able to watch a variety of races that I wouldn't normally have seen, and we can't forget the often great coverage afforded by Universal and Versus (but please get some new commentators!). So we have a good idea of who's riding well and it's a long list:

- Thor Husovd demonstrated some power at Tierrno Adriatico
- Damiano Cunego looked good too
- Ballan was very good at Strade Bianche and Tierreno
- Phillippe Gilbert...come on, that guy is a threat all the time
- Cancellara seemed to be improving but does he have that extra gear?
- Farrar (but honestly, I think Husovd will have the power after 300k)
- Peter Sagan has shown some flair in the early season.
- Oscar Freire has to be on any short list that's made

and there were some disappointments:
- Cavendish...just ain't getting it done
- Boonen is close, but not quite there yet
- Petacchi seems to have lost more than a step this season (yea, maybe it's illness, maybe not).

But let's throw a wrench or two into the mix - The Longshots
- Vincenzo Nibali is a great foil to Peter Sagan
- Alessandro Ballan is another rider coming into 2011 with something to prove. Solid on the Strade, a great worker for Cadel at Tierreno...I think he makes the podium, perhpas.
- JJ Haedo has shown that he can win at this level and might just be a suprise podium finisher - hey, it's called the longshots section for a reason, right?
- Thomas DeGendt or Marco Marcato are my ultra-longshot...i love the way Vaconsoleil races and they've been solid top 20 riders in several races this season, including DeGendt's 3rd place from the break in Stage 4 of Paris Nice.

So, who's the final podium? Well, it's always a guessing game so my guesses are
1. Thor Husovd
2. Phillippe Gilbert
3. Oscar Freire
4. Peter Sagan
5. Thomas DeGendt

we'll know in a couple of hours!

Sterling Spring Schedule of Clinics

2011-02-15T06:36:00.001-08:00

Greetings Nor Cal Racers!

The season is in full swing, but the learning never ends. After a fun and successful Early Bird series we are pleased to bring forward our Spring Camps and Clinics. We don't do a lot of them, but the ones we do, we do very well and we'd love to have you join us at any of our Spring events, or contact us to schedule a custom program for your club or team. Additional info at www.sterlingwins.com or call 408.891.3462. Coming up this Spring:

Advanced Racing Clinic - March 20th
Larry Nolan dropped a note about this one last week...but it's worth a second look. We're putting you in the mouth of the fire hose, behind the moto, in the gutter and on camera working through the nuances of race speed tactics and skills. Look for Advanced Racing School page on Facebook to see pictures and video from our first camp - and we've brought the second one up to 11!
REGISTER!

Climbing & Descending Clinic Level 1 - March 26th
The basics are essential. Time and again the basics of safe and fast descending are mentioned as THE biggest limiter athlete’s face, with efficient climbing a close second. No problem...we've got a proven process that takes you from low speed skill competence to real world practice mastering the art and science of fast!
REGISTER

SuperCamp - May 17-22nd
The big show! We're doing a spectacular 6-day training camp that includes a 120 mile ride down Highway 1 from Monterey to Morro Bay, an estate house in Solvang repleat with staff chef, mechanic, and evening presentations from top physiologists Dr Stacy Sims and Dr Stephen Cheung, professional feedback from elite coaches Matt McNamara and Andres Angulo, and mile after mile of learning alongside 3x Olympian Eric Wolhberg. To up the ante even more….you can enter to WIN your trip to camp by simply registering for a FREE account on www.athleteforard.com/join. Want more info? Drop us a line - info@sterlingwins.com
REGISTER!

Panache Racing!

2011-01-25T13:01:00.000-08:00

The new racing schedule has just been published and you are riding a wave of excitement at the coming season. A race every weekend and each more intriguing than the previous, but how do you set your goals and expectations accordingly?

OK, it’s not exactly spring in most areas of the world, so the idea of a “Spring Schedule” may be a bit of a stretch, but there is likely a schedule of events set to commence sometime in the near future and you’d like to be ready right?

Winter Preparation Creates Spring Expectations
The first thing to recognize when you start to dream about that perfect season is that it is built on the back of a winter’s worth of work. Time and again racers can be heard talking about “racing their way into fitness.” This is an amusing approach that likely plateaus their development and stagnates their season in one fell swoop. This is because without the requisite aerobic development, but with heavy dosing of intensity early on, they are much more susceptible to burnout, injury, and lackluster motivation as the season starts to get up to speed.

Instead, commit yourself to being really and truly prepared for this season by starting (or hopefully continuing) the foundational work that will allow you to reach a peak of fitness. If you’ve read my other articles, you know that I am not advocating huge amounts of LSD training or weeks on end of small ring riding – instead I tend to focus my athletes on quality workouts that are sub-threshold and highly focused. If you have more than 12 or 14 hours per week to train, then by all means give yourself plenty of long, free form rides…they really do help, but for the 8-12 hour per week athlete a steady diet of tempo and circa-threshold level workouts will more than fit the bill

Those First Races
With a strong fitness foundation you can make race plans with more confidence. Don’t look at every race as being relatively the same, instead get to know the courses and events that suit your early season goals and plan accordingly. Early season races should include a healthy dose of practice. Work on moving around easily, cornering safely and getting back in the flow of the field. If you’ve recently upgraded, don’t be afraid to work your way around the group and get acquainted. Ideally you’ll have a few teammates to help you settle in and work with. If you’ve planned your training well you should be well prepared for any early season race you choose and that is, to my thinking, the larger picture of spring racing. Don’t sign up until you are ready to race and make a difference. Don’t race until you can show some panache!

Race With Panache!
Panache. I love the word. It sounds regal and visceral in the same breath. Panache is that certain way of racing personified by the likes of Jens Voigt and Bernard Hinault. Think Claudio “Il Diablo” Chiappucci’s awesome all-day solo breakaway to Sestriere in the 1992 Tour despite being one of the marked favorites. It is throwing caution to the wind at every opportunity, going for the insanely long breakaway or just hammering away at the front mile after mile because it feels good and delivers some pain to your rivals. Panache is the lost art of racing.

Too often amateur racing is about as thrilling as watching paint dry. The fields roll around and kill any attack, keep the pace modest and arrive at the finish with fresh legs and aggressive hearts – a sure recipe for field sprint disaster. As a coach I watch a lot of races at every level and I want to see riders testing their limits, and those of their competitors. I want to see that fourth and fifth attack by a guy until he gets away – even if he comes back in a lap and it was all for naught. It’s spring racing – be fearless, be the one to sell it all out in the pursuit of something other than a predictable sprint finish. That’s Panache!

Summary
The first races of the season are likely right around the corner and you are probably itching to get after it. Before you send in that registration, take a moment to consider just what it is that you are hoping to accomplish. Short of winning there are a number of other important goals that can be had at early season races. From learning the courses and competitors, to testing your fitness and race panache, make this the year that you take your racing to a new level. Challenge yourself to get dropped. Race without fear and see what happens. Be the racer who keeps drilling it. Race with PANACHE!

BASP #4 - November 28th

2010-11-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

41...not the George Bush kinda 41, the birthday kind. Figuring on ones birthday they should be able to do pretty much whatever they want I decided to spend my birthday at a bike race. Go figure. I fired out of the house at about 7:15 this morning, car loaded with team stuff and me. I got to Golden Gate park just before 8a and had to schlep my tent, etc about 150 yards to our set up spot. We were next to the Vanderkitten squad, run by good friend Jono Coulter. I had about as good a race as I could expect. Not excuses...but not much riding of late, so a bit lacking in the punch and sustainable power. 22nd. Meh.

170. Not lean, but not too bad. Trick is to see what i can do in the next year to lower that number, but toughen myself up. I'm soft I think....lacking in muscle strength and feneral fitness...OMG, I think I need to lift weights! Hmmm...interesting. I haven't lifted since college really - dabbled here and there...but it may be time to take that old man plunge and start lifting again. Oh yea and consistency - gotta have more consistency in this year than last.

This is more of a diary entry than a blog post btw...just wanted to make sure I had a reference point to go back to when I'm 42!

Shifting Paradigms In Athlete Development - Part 1

2010-11-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

Part 1: Athletes and coaches have a responsibility to consider development across time of a full spectrum of skills, tactics, and physiological systems. Istvan Balyi, one of the world’s pre-eminent voices in athlete development, offered his assessment of both long term athlete development and shifting paradigms in coaching at the recent USA Cycling Coaches Symposium.

The concept of athlete development is often minimized, or worse bypassed completely, by junior and adult athletes alike in their rush to win and get to the next level. That talented kid who rises quickly but ends up out of the sport within a few years, the gifted athlete who seemingly sprints through the lower categories only to arrive on the regional scene under-prepared for the skills and tactics of high level racing, or the long suffering category four racer who can’t seem to upgrade. These are all representative of a common trend in racing to look at the short term payoff rather than long term development.

What Is Long Term Athlete Development?
Long term athlete development (LTAD) is simply the process of optimizing training, recovery, and competition programming relative to the biological maturation and development of the athlete1. LTAD is most appropriately applied to athletes from pre- to post-pubescent. In this article, however, we’re going to apply some of the principles to an adult population as well. I want to do this because I think it is a valuable perspective for adult athletes to look beyond their day to day training to create a realistic plan for themselves.

Istvan Balyi explored the overall complexity of LTAD as applied to juvenile athletes and what a tangled web it can be when we consider differences between early, average and late developers, between aerobic and power based sports, and when trying to optimize training focus appropriately!

By the same token it can be viewed as eminently simple wherein the development cycle of the young athlete should follow a simple progression that is well researched to target specific areas based on easily measured biological markers like onset of puberty and peak height velocity (PHV, maximal rate of growth). For example, emphasizing coordination skills during a growth spurt is ill advised due to the general loss of coordination and consequent skill break down that often occurs in this phase. Similarly, aerobic development is an ideal focus for athletes at the early onset of PHV.

Fine, kids need appropriately focused and responsible training, so what does this have to do with adult athletes? Well, here’s where it get’s interesting. The other presentation he gave was on creating paradigm shifts in performance training, especially around the role of periodization and creating a meaningful plan. Bear with me as this next couple of sections may seem to meander…

Steps In Athlete Development
Balyi identifies seven steps in long term athlete development:

1. An Active Start
2. FUNdamentals
3. Learn to train
4. Train to Train
5. Train to Compete
6. Train to Win
7. Active For Life

Let’s cut this down to a slightly more manageable size for our stated target populations – teenagers and adults. To that end we can drop numbers 1 and 7 on the presumption that many of us had an active start and will remain active for life (that’s why they call it a lifestyle, right?). That leaves the crux of development focused on #2-6. Similarly the FUNdamentals stage is focused primarily on basic, rather than sport specific, movement skills and abilities, so let’s presume that each has completed this step. That leaves, essentially, training!

Most athletes think they know how to train, and they certainly know how to train to compete as well. Of course training to win is just a short skip from there, right? Don’t we all train to win, after all? Yes, but there are subtle differences between the types of training listed above when applied to all audiences. In addition, I think that the list below can be viewed from both long term (season over season) and short term (within a season) approaches and modified to suit each individual:

- Learning to Train: The first stage of training, learning to train is seemingly rudimentary, however, to work on the habit of training in a structured way, and to focus on the benefits offered is clearly worthwhile.

- Training to Train: In youth and adults simply training to improve one’s general fitness and base skills is a worthwhile goal, especially within the first few years of an activity. Balyi noted that the ‘training to train’ phase often includes less demanding competition and a continued emphasis on cross training and fun.

- Training to Compete: Consider this as the beginning of specialization. Competition demands increase as the athlete is able to further focus on the quality of training while addressing specific needs for competition.

- Training to Win: Often the end goal of all training is winning, but it is misplaced to put too much pressure on the athlete, no matter their age, to perform well until they have reached a high enough level of preparation.

Perhaps you’ve heard the adage that it takes 10,000 hours of training to achieve expertise? Think about that for a moment - five years of full time work to achieve true mastery of a skill or subject. Is it reasonable then for a beginning, even a regional, racer to argue that they don’t need to work on fundamentals, skills, and basal development?

While you may not have 10,000 hours invested yet, chances are you’re planning to continue riding and competing for the next five years, so let’s use that as our reference point moving forward. Given our new five year window, we should probably consider a plan that addresses each component of training each year to get where we want to go.
This is dramatically outside the comfort zone of most athletes. They would rather focus on next week’s workout than on the structure of training for this year, next year, and the year after. Stretch yourself (!) by shifting your reference point on where you are and what you want to do to match your developmental stage.

Summary
Long Term Athlete Development is a constantly evolving field that focuses on how to best prepare young athletes for a lifetime of sports participation. By identifying key points in maturation, and ascribing phase appropriate training and competition demands, the path to individual excellence is much smoother, and ultimately more efficacious, than not.

Similarly adult athletes can benefit from taking a more longitudinal approach to their own training and development. This is true across the spectrum of performance from skill acquisition to physiological development. Given the 10,000 hours rule for mastery of a skill, there is likely some room in your training plan to address the varied components of performance. Next time we’ll look at creating the plan that will get you where you want to be via a paradigm shift in periodization

References:

1. Balyi, Istvan – Long Term Athlete Development. USA Cycling Coaching Symposium Presentation. October 2010
2. Balyi, Istavn – Paradigm Shifts in Coaching. USA Cycling Coaching Symposium Presentation. October 2010

Just a reminder that cyclocross season has started!

2010-10-27T20:04:00.001-07:00

Rock on!

CX Webinar Update!

2010-07-28T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone -
just a couple of updates on our CX Webinar on August 13th:
- We've added a drawing for all registered participants. Many thanks to our sponsors: TRP Brakes, Fluid Recovery Drink and Challenge Tires for kicking down some FREE STUFF!
- Working on a few special guests for the event, details soon!
- The webinar is 60-minutes and starts at 11:00a. It will be available in an archived version afterwards, but without the free stuff!
-register at: www.performancewebinars.com - lower left corner of the page.
- questions/comments? Try me on facebook or by email: info@sterlingwins.com

New Freshness

2010-07-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been awhile.....

but here is some fresh new from the "Performance - it's the name of the game" guy:

happy Sunday!

Lactic Acid - Part 2

2010-06-16T10:28:00.001-07:00

It is a common misnomer that Lactic Acid is the cause of fatigue and cessation of high intensity exercise, yet training plans built around your individual Lactate Threshold are highly effective despite the debunking of the “Lactic Acidosis” rationale. Let’s learn why…

By Matt McNamara

Last month we looked at the intricacies of Lactic Acid/Lactate production and its role in limiting performance. The short summary of that article is to say that Lactic Acid production is NOT the limiter in high intensity exercise, and the science behind that belief was founded on an inferred cause and effect relationship between lactate production and cessation of exercise that, ultimately, proved to be untrue.

While lactate production may not be a limiter, it is clearly a marker of overload and does play a role in athletic development and performance. Lactate Threshold based training, when paired with use of a powermeter, is seen as the gold standard for endurance based performance improvement. So let’s explore the real meaning and value of Lactate Threshold based training.

What Does Lactate Threshold Really Mean?
First off, Lactate Threshold is commonly defined as “the exercise intensity at which lactate production exceeds lactate removal, and thus begins to accumulate in muscle and hence in the blood.” Unfortunately, the definition of what constitutes “Lactate Threshold” is highly variable.

Many researchers establish threshold as the point when lactate concentration rises 1 mmol above an exercise baseline. Others use a fixed value, for example 2.5 mmol per liter, as the threshold point. Still another approach is to use D-max which takes the mid-point between the baseline and maximal lactate concentrations. In the end the most important consideration isn’t the way threshold was determined, so much as the concept of Lactate Threshold (and associated terms) as illustrating the non-linear relationship between lactate concentration and exercise intensity.

It is also important to acknowledge that terms like Maximal Lactate Steady State (MLSS), Onset Blood Lactate Accumulation (OBLA), Ventilatory Threshold (VT), Individual Anaerobic Threshold, Critical Power, etc are talking about roughly the same range of intensity. Each of these, MLSS and OBLA in particular, correlate well with the power training concept of Functional Threshold Power (FTP), which is itself defined as your maximal sustained power output for approximately 60 minutes.

Now that we have a clearer idea of what is meant by Lactate Threshold, and we know that Lactic Acid is not the cause of fatigue, let’s look at other factors that might play a role.

Other Causes of Fatigue
In 2005 researchers from Edith Cowan University in Western Australia set out to do just that. Models to Explain Fatigue During Prolonged Endurance Cycling, Chris Abbiss and Paul Laursen’s comprehensive review of fatigue literature, looked at no fewer than ten different explanations of fatigue.

Abiss and Laursen point out that fatigue is usually defined by the type of research being done. For example, if one is looking into psychological causes then they will tend to classify fatigue as “a sensation of tiredness,” while a biomechanist might look more at changes in force output to qualify fatigue. Fatigue research is also driven by a reductionist approach; those doing the research tend to look for a single ‘answer’ to the question of fatigue.

Among the different paradigms and models explored were the anaerobic/cardiovascular model, the energy supply/depletion model, neuromuscular fatigue, biomechanical, thermoregulatory, and muscle trauma models. In addition the psychological/motivational model, central governor, and complex systems models were also reviewed. A quick summary of characteristics might demonstrate that:

Neuromuscular fatigue tends to be divided into a question of where along the neuromuscular pathway inhibition occurs, while the muscle trauma model seeks to explain fatigue as coming from damage to the muscle itself, or to alterations in the chemical homeostasis.

The biomechanical paradigm seeks to define fatigue as the result of decreased efficiency of motion, where increasing efficiency lowers the production of metabolites (like lactate) and energy consumption, helping attenuate increases in core temperature. This segues nicely into the thermoregulatory model which looks at the role of core temperature and the increased demands on the physiological systems brought about as a result of increased core temperature towards critical points at which exercise capacity is reduced or terminated.

While psychologically no single variable appears to be responsible for motor output alteration due to afferent (outgoing) signals, it is thought that numerous mechanisms are responsible for the subconscious perception of fatigue and alterations in central activation and perceived exertion.

The central governor and complex systems theories seek to explain fatigue as a function of oversight by an as-yet-undefined central mechanism, or through the complex inter-relationship of multiple feedback loops seeking to maintain homeostasis, respectively.

Their net conclusion is that any number of systems may contribute to fatigue in a specific way for a specific situation, but in general the limitation of the system is derived from oxygen delivery to the muscles, especially at high intensity.

To further clarify in the Abiss and Laursen article fatigue was defined as “tiredness and associated decrements in muscular performance and function.” This is an important point as much research has looked at performance to exhaustion. The relevance comes when we look at how to best apply some of the factors above into the creation of a responsible training program. Many of the changes we seek are built around the optimization of oxygen delivery and increasing metabolic efficiency during the training year, so how does Lactate Threshold help?

Threshold As Proxy
An individual’s Lactate Threshold is the single most important physiological determinant of endurance exercise performance. It is trainable, reliable, and a sort of proxy for other important metabolic processes that underlie performance.

For example hormone production, like epinephrine/norepinephrine, shows a similar curvelinear relationship with increasing exercise intensity. Plasma potassium concentration, catecholamine concentration, plasma ammonia concentrations, growth hormone, cortisol and many other elements also demonstrate the same threshold type trends as lactate.

Power at Threshold
Now that we’ve established what Lactate Threshold is, how it is determined, and what processes it parallels, let’s spend a little bit of time on what advantages threshold level training can bring to your performance.

For untrained athletes the Lactate Threshold benefits of training can be seen at a wide range of intensities. Simply getting on the bike regularly will bring about many changes including increased mitochondrial density, blood lactate response, and reductions in lactate concentration at a given intensity.

For the trained athlete however, continuous training at intensities around Lactate Threshold has been shown to be beneficial since the time of the fabled East German sports machine in the twentieth century. The East Germans were famous for doing extended hours of training at OBLA!

In a similar vein, Gorostiaga et al in 1991 compared a continuous training group at circa-threshold intensity to one that did only structured high intensity VO2max type intervals (of the type that are all the rage today) and found some compelling differences. While the VO2max group did show a two fold increase in percentage change in VO2max (16% increase v 8% increase), the continuous training group had a ten fold increase in citrate synthase production compared to the VO2max group (25% increase v 2.5% increase). Citrate synthase is one of the main markers for muscle mitochondrial capacity, and is a good reference for total metabolic efficiency.

Both of these examples (the first decidedly anecdotal) serve to illustrate the value of continuous training at an intensity around Lactate Threshold. This has most recently been termed ‘sweet spot’ training, but the idea has been advocated by Lydiard, Coggan, and others in various forms or years. Typically “sweet spot” is defined as approximately 88-93% of your Lactate Threshold power, however the true measure of intensity should be determined by your ability to repeat them over multiple days in a training block.

These circa-threshold efforts should be at least twenty minutes in length, but can last up to two hours or more for advanced athletes. A key determinant of the duration and intensity is your ability to replicate the workout intensity/duration again the next day. A well prepared, motivated athlete doing 60 minutes at 88-93% of threshold power (FTP), should be able to replicate that workload again the second and third days. If you can’t then you probably went too hard, too long, or don’t have a good estimate of your FTP and need to adjust. My suggestion is to start doing some field testing to establish your FTP and then see what you can do. Have fun and let me know how it goes…

References:

1. Abbiss, Chris, Laursen, Paul – Models to Explain Fatigue During Prolonged Endurance Cycling. School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Australia. 2005
2. Coggan, Andy – Explaining Lactate Threshold. Webinar Presentation. 2010
3. Robergs, Robert A., Ghiasvand, Farzenah, Parker, Daryl – Biochemistry of exercise-induced metabolic acidosis. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 287: R502–R516, 2004

Lactic Acid Article

2010-05-06T10:59:00.000-07:00

Lactate and Lactic Acid production are routinely offered as the seemingly natural cause and effect parameters that lead to fatigue and a decrease in performance, but are they really the source of the problem?

By Matt McNamara

If you’ve read anything about training in the last ten years you’ve probably come across the idea of Lactate Threshold and a discussion of how lactic acid production limits performance. The argument often goes something like this:

“As exercise intensity increases lactic acid production rises at a rate that, eventually, overwhelms the bodies ability to buffer this build-up and a decrease in performance naturally follows.”

Heck, I’ve repeated the mantra myself time and again over the years, despite KNOWING that it was an incomplete explanation of what actually happens. The truth is it provides a simple, though not wholly inaccurate, way to explain the well-documented trends of decreasing performance with increasing lactate concentrations. The idea of cause and effect just sort of fit well. So rather than perpetuate mediocre understanding, let’s jump in and learn a bit more:

A Brief, Albeit Incomplete, History
Lactic Acid was first isolated by Swedish researcher Carl Wilhelm Scheel from a batch of sour milk in 1780 (hence the commonly used term “lactic” instead of the far sexier formal name of 2-hydroxypropanoic acid, but I digress). Otto Meyerhoff and Archibald Hill, Nobel Prize winners in 1922, demonstrated that Lactic Acid was actually produced as a side reaction of Glycolysis, a primary metabolic pathway that converts carbohydrate/glucose into pyruvate, in the process converting energy into ATP through a 10-step set of reactions. In the absence of oxygen this conversion is sustained with Lactic Acid. This anaerobic process releases a proton (H+).

This was a key finding as it seemed to offer a cause and effect relationship between lactate production (lactate is, essentially, the salt or base of Lactic Acid) and the extended concept of Lactic Acidosis, or a decrease in pH that results from the release of protons in the system (cell or bloodstream).

This cause and effect relationship was taken as fact by researchers throughout the 20th and into the 21st century. However, in reviewing past and current research, Robergs et al (2004) have shown that there was no actual empirical evidence to support the cause/effect relationship; rather it was largely based on statistical correlation and the reputation of the Nobel Laureates Meyerhoff and Hill (which was richly deserved, I might add).

So, if the cause and effect nature of lactate production and acidosis is not an accurate portrayal of the role of Lactate in the onset of acidosis, and therefore performance, what is?

Debunking Lactic Acidosis
In 2004 Roberg, et al wrote an extensive review of the literature that sought to debunk the long-standing cause and effect relationship between lactate production and metabolic acidosis. Their sixteen page review takes an exhaustive, and somewhat intimidating, look at the true biochemistry of metabolic acidosis.

For example they detail the role of the phosphagen, glycolytic and mitochondrial systems in producing ATP and the differences in how each manages any released protons. They also note the difference in the nature of the proton release in glycolysis depending on whether the carbohydrate was derived from blood glucose or muscle glycogen. Glycogen is less acidifying to muscle during intense exercise.

Roberg then goes on to detail the many benefits derived from lactate production including the alkalizing effect of LDH, Lactate Dehydrogenase, or that it then circulates away the lactate to other areas that need it including the kidney, liver, and heart, for use as a substrate.

Finally, they looked at the role of nonmitochondrial ATP production, via research by Gevers in 1977 and 1979. Gevers established that metabolic processes other than LDH might contribute to the removal of protons in the form of the turnover of ATP via glycolysis. In other words that non-mitochondrial ATP production was likely responsible for metabolic acidosis.

But here’s where lactate threshold based training comes in

Training Threshold
Lactate threshold based training is a great tool. More specifically using the combination of a powermeter and a threshold based training approach is a highly effective way to manage your training.

Andy Coggan recently hosted a webinar on Lactate Threshold via USA Cycling. In addition to a comprehensive look at the establishment, definitions, and relationships of training around one’s lactate threshold. Among the cool takeaways

The first is to see terminology like Lactate Threshold, Maximal Lactate Steady State, Onset Blood Lactate Accumulation, etc as talking about roughly the same range of intensity. It’s likely going to be between about 80-90% of your VO2max for sustained periods of time. This will raise your general metabolic fitness. Further specialization is ideal for targeting specific race preparation

Coggan also noted that it has been shown in a wide array of studies that many other factors and processes contribute to fatigue. Things like epinephrine/norepineprine (adrenaline/noradrenalin), plasma potassium, and cortisol level, etc. often show a similar threshold type profile to that of lactate.

Abiss and Laursen did a comprehensive look at fatigue in 2005. Models to Explain Fatigue During Prolonged Endurance Cycling looked at no fewer than 10 different models of fatigue including the cardiovascular/anaerobic model, neuromuscular biomechanical, thermoregulatory models, and several others. Their net conclusion is that any number of systems may contribute to fatigue in a specific way for a specific situation, but in general the limitation of the system is derived from oxygen delivery to the muscles. Since we established above that metabolic acidosis is not derived from lactic acid, but that lactate production is an important contributor to oxygen delivery, it time to embrace those burning quads and get to work improving that lactate tolerance.

Perhaps next time we’ll look at that – drop me a line if you’re interested in a part 2.

References:

1. Abbiss, Chris, Laursen, Paul – Models to Explain Fatigue During Prolonged Endurance Cycling. School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Australia. 2005
2. Coggan, Andy – Explaining Lactate Threshold. Webinar Presentation. 2010
3. Robergs, Robert A., Ghiasvand, Farzenah, Parker, Daryl – Biochemistry of exercise-induced metabolic acidosis. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 287: R502–R516, 2004

Central Governor Theory and the RAAM!

2010-04-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

I was driving to Sacto the other night and heard a discussion centered around the idea of a "Central Governor" theory for exercise physiology. It was a small part of pretty cool NPR piece about the Limits of human capacity on the show"Radiolab". Witout getting into the theory itself; During the show they referenced this movie too:

sort of a fun way to start the first weekend in May...

Spring Fling!

2010-04-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

A quick update before I put my head back in the computer...

The past 6 weeks has been a foggy haze of coughing and allergies that hit a crescendo last week when my doctor prescribed Advair and Singulair to try and stem the tide of sickness that saw approximately 7 HOURS of training in March! I'm not wild about taking prescription drugs - espeically those with a 30-day run time mandatory - but I do want to get healthy and able to ride sometime this season, so I did it.

On the plus side I feel much better and just got back from a SOLID trip to Sea Otter working for TRP Brakes. It was a very enjoyable trip because we got to meet and greet hundred of cyclists and dozens of industry folks who all had nice things to say about TRP Brakes. We even made a few connections for the upcoming Cyclocross season. I'll have our 2010 program information our shortly - it's gonna be a good one.

On another topic: CyclingNewsAsia - is a fledgling site that serves the growing asian market including China, Taiwan, Malaysia and all points on that side of the ring of fire. I like the arc of their approach - user friendly and slightly entry level. The goal is to ably educate newer riders on all that cycling is. They are also smart (or not) enough to let me write some content too! My first article just went up last week and another will follow shortly. If you want to learn what's happening in the production hot-bed of Asia, check them out.

More soon...

Matt

Hypocrisy Writ Large

2010-03-01T14:47:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here enjoying a ham & cheese sandwhich before I finish my monthly training programs and get after making a sweet skillet pot pit dinner. So I click over to cyclingnews to catch up on the latest....and stumble upon this article about one of my 'favorite' riders - Dirtbag Ricco.

I'll save you the time - he's convinced that the Tifosi will welcome him with open arms back to the pro field because they are simply "not interested in doping." Even more precious is his assertion that he's, basically, in the same boat as Valentino Rossi, who apparently dodged some taxes in the old country. "D"R, referring to himself in the third person (here is a simple explanation of THAT psychologically)says "I don’t think real tifosi are interested in doping. If someone is a fan of Ricco, they still are now, even if he's made a mistake or not."

Uh, well, I guess...except that Ricco was an major dick before the CERA positive (time and time again) and has always been a bit too arrogant for my taste.

Anyway, this post is about Hypocrisy....

The hypocrisy is that he expects exoneration from the tifosi for his actions and 'youth' - yet he dumps his girlfriend and disparages her publicly for the same crime. The kicker - they have a kid together. A kid who will someday get to read his fathers comments and wonder why his dad didn't stand beside his mom in this most crushing of times (I'm not excusing her actions - stupid is the word that comes to mind). Dirtbag - first class!!

Training Update #2 - The Athletes

2010-01-29T16:38:00.000-08:00

We are lucky here in Nor Cal - despite a 10-day block of rain last week'ish, we generally enjoy easy and frequent riding conditions that most would envy. So, what does that have to do with a training update? Simple..good weather = more stuff for the coach to look at. Rather than ramble on haphazard about a group of athletes you've never met, I thought I might profile five of my current athletes and provide some insight into their training and development this year. Sort of a small, written reality show. So here we go....

#1 AC - my pro, my proxy in the peloton(except I never trained quite as hard as he does), my learning curve. Five hour ride - check. Hill repeats at 350-375W - check. Pro contract, check. Now we've begun the 'real' work - mostly because he's finally on a power system - yay me, er him!

#2 FK - I've worked with him for over 3 years now and each one we get better at the process of improvement. He's one of my most consistent workout achievers - hits 'em on the head nearly all the time. Best part - he really put it toether for CX Nationals and had a GREAT ride.

#3 CE - Recently back under a program I have high expectations for CE this year. She's a long time talent returning to top level racing and I can't wait to see what happens when the hard stuff starts. Lots of focus brings lot of speed we hope!

#4 JK - Every coach needs an ultra-distance guy. Those who do 200 miles as a start to the day. I've never been one of those guys, but I'm glad I've got one. It certainly helps that JK is quickly establishing himself as a real force in the discipline. We'll have some fun with this one

#5 KMH - Well, if you need an ultra guy, you probably need a duathlete too right? How about a potential top finisher at Masters Worlds? Ok, it's a new realm - what with the whole 'running' thing..but we've done well so far. First race of 2010 is coming up in a couple of weeks..we'll see how it's going now.

This is a sampling of my current athletes - they each represent a different challenge and a different demand. It's one of the great things about coaching, the chance to assist athletes and tap into all the elements (physiology, psychology, power theory, workout creation, researhc, etc) to try and bring it together at the right time. We'll see. Come on along...

2010 Training Update #1 - The Coach

2010-01-28T14:45:00.000-08:00

In typical fashion I've started to be able to focus on my training a bit later than I'd planned. I don't know why it is a suprise to me when it happens...it's been this way more often than not. Case in point:

January Hours/Miles By Year:
2002: 20hr / 253mi
2003: 56hr / 921mi - that was awesome!
2004: ?? / ??
2005: 43hr / 670mi
2006: 29hr / 505mi
2007: 23hr / 390mi
2008: 27hr / 424mi
2009: 19hr / 365mi
2010: 19hr / 313mi so far

So, overall January has not been a growth month for me. This year started off with a small, very small actually, flurry of rides in the first 10 days. I was 7 for 10 I think. Then the month got busy, time slipped by and here we are at the end and I'll be topping out at about 25hours and 400 miles yet again. So, what are your 'best' and 'worst' training months? Take a moment to look back and see what you've done for volume over the past several years if you can. It's a very enlightening process. I know that fitness will come back pretty quickly, so I try not to let it stress me out too much - but it's tough knowing that friends and competitors are racking up big miles while I am not. This week has been decent so far... 3 rides of Tempo/Threhsold intensity. Tue/Wed I did 3x10minutes at 90% of FTP within a 60min ride and today I knocked off another hour at the same - 270Watts - with a series of 7 loops of 6-7minute circuit completed at 100-110% of FTP (short enough that 110% was sustainable). My legs are a little tired - which is nice. Tomorrow I'll try to do another ride, and this weekend I'm mentoring on Sunday so i should end up with my target of 500TSS for the week. A good 'kickoff' to Februarry, which is usually a pretty good month for me - guilt I guess...

2010-01-21T14:05:00.001-08:00

rain rides make you tough

Archive #3 - Race Tactics 101

2010-01-17T21:22:00.000-08:00

There have been some great racing articles in Toolbox recently with Bruce Hendler setting up a race routine and Josh Horowitz taking you inside the overall dynamics of a race. While we wait to read the second installment from Josh, let’s take a few minutes to talk about your racing. Specifically how you develop and execute race tactics.

Most of us can recite some standard tactical acumen like putting your team on the front and driving to the finish for a big sprint victory, or getting in the break and then attacking out of it for a prestigious solo victory. What if you don’t have a team? What if you are new to racing and still figuring out how to apex a corner? Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Do Your Homework
The first step in creating a realistic race plan is to understand just what it is that you are facing. Don’t roll up to your next event blind. Race reconnaissance can be broken into a couple of categories: strategic knowledge and tactical knowledge. Strategic knowledge includes things like your start time, race distance, and course layout.

With the internet and a variety of cool software and hardware options, there is no reason not to know the important details of the course. Strategic knowledge requires some work before the event, but can really pay off once you are at the race site. Ask teammates for information in the weeks ahead of your event. Take their advice with a grain of salt, however; a hill that may be a monster and absolutely needing a 34x25 for them may be OK for you with a 39x23, or vice versa! Search the internet for race reports or GPS files of the race course.

The next step in your strategic pre-race recon is to know the competition. Who won the race last year? Who is riding well in the other races so far this season? Are there any particular teams to watch or follow? Do breaks stay away or always get caught? Try to imagine different scenarios that might come up and have a plan for each. Have you raced the event before? If so, how did it go? What did you do right?

Once you get an idea of the competition, the course profile and the demands of each it’s time to take a deeper look at the course.

Pre Riding!
Pre Ride the course! This simple baseline is all too often ignored by stressed-out racers rushing to get ready in time. One of the easiest ways to derail your race is to miss the pre-ride. Ideally you can do a ride or two on the course before the main event. This is especially true for “A” level events where you have higher goals and expectations. Though this is tough to do for road races, it is well worth the effort if you have never done the race before. Where is the climb? How fast or technical is the descent? Are there areas where you can take advantage?

For criteriums pre-riding is a necessity. Get on the course between categories if possible and give the course a good once over. This is often banned by the organizers, but at the very least walk the course along the sidelines. Look for obstacles or potential hazards. Is there a seam down one side? Bumpy pavement or holes to avoid? Look for the fastest line into or out of corners. If you have the time, watch other categories. Is it faster to ride an inside or outside line into the final corner? During the pre-ride take a few moments to steel yourself to the task at hand. It’s a race, a fight. Be a warrior. Put yourself in the mindset to do well.

The Race
The first race is the one to the line. In most events being on the start line is not THE make or break for the race, but it is the first chance you have to establish yourself in the field and observe. It is very important to feel a part of the race. Your adrenaline will be pumping anyway so you might as well expend a little at the front rather than fighting from the back through all the corners. Normally I like to set up on the outside line for the first few corners. It’s a bit easier to keep your speed up and you can move around a bit easier.

Riding outside through the first corners may force you to ride farther, but it can help to avoid the squirrels on the inside and avoid the start/stop sprints that sap energy. After the first few laps and the pack thins out and maintains a steadier rhythm, it’s usually much easier and more efficient hitting the inside of the pack through corners

Once you’ve established at the front it’s time to do some work to help keep the pace high. This will drop the weaker riders and also force strong riders stuck at the back to expend a lot of energy to get back to the front. A few weekends ago I mentored the Category 5’s at the Menlo Park GP. It was a fast course with a couple of tricky corners, but I was pleasantly surprised that the racers continued to rotate through and keep the speed high all the way to the finish. Rotating through in the pace-line is one of the most fundamental skills, but one which requires many hours to master. How hard you pull through and the transitions off the pull are subtle arts. You’ve likely seen a derivative of this before, but in the interest of awareness, here is the rotation:

The on/off paceline featuring constant rotation as soon as the lead rider’s (upper left) bottom bracket clears the front wheel of the “off” rider (upper right) is tremendously hard in effort but the fastest in speed. Especially in big fields, make sure you get back into the “on” or left line again before falling too far back, or else you’ll get trapped.

Tactically you can use the rotation to your advantage. If you are a solo rider don’t feel obligated to take monster pulls trying to keep the pace high. Instead start floating just off the paceline and watch the other riders. Who looks strong, who looks squirrely? Of course the caveat is that you gotta do your work! Don’t get a reputation as someone who won’t work at the front. Considering the fact that most criteriums are less than 45 – 60 minutes long, If you’ve done the training then you will have the fitness to contribute and still finish well.

Riding Corners
Without a doubt corners represent the biggest challenge to racers, all racers. Even if you’ve done hundreds of races every corner is its own experience. There are a myriad of lines in any corner and, unfortunately, the fastest line is sometimes elusive so you have to be flexible every time. That said let’s look at a couple of stereotypes – the inside and outside lines.

Inside lines are coveted. They are fast and seem to allow you to maintain position easily. Simply set your wheels inside the rider in front of you and stay smooth. Unfortunately, the ugly cousin to the inside line is diving the corner.

Diving the corner is usually a result of the field slowing and riders surging to get a better position. Said ‘Diver’ will run up the inside line and try to slot back into the field in the nick of time. Sounds easy, except that most riders simply charge to the corner, grab a handful of brakes, and then have to re-accelerate to maintain the hard fought positions. First, this will almost surely require more energy expenditure to maintain than simply staying smooth. Second, and perhaps more importantly, you will endanger and probably impede the riders around you with that technique.

Instead work on only taking the positions that are safe and open to you. You shouldn’t have to slow down much at all, and a big handful of brake lever is a clear indication that you’ve mis-judged the line.

Once you have taken that inside line you have to do something with it. Lots of times the inside line will open up on the exit and give you a straight shot at advancing or sprinting for the finish. Try different approaches to each corner on the course. Instead of trying to pass ten racers in a single corner take a more measured approach and pick off a rider or two each corner. Lay back, let some space open and accelerate into and through the corner. This will give you a nice head of steam coming out of the corner. The graphic below illustrates how to gain tactical advantage from the inside.

If done properly (and safely!), taking the inside line through a corner is the shortest distance and can let you keep the most momentum. Also, riders tend to naturally drift outside, adding to the gap you can create.

Then again, the outside line is also a place to make time. Outside lines usually close down if the course runs back to the outside curb, but not before you can pick up a place or two. Again, just lay back a little and carry more speed into and out of the corner. You have to set these things up throughout the race. Each time is a trial run for the last lap craziness that will surely come.

Racing is fun because there’s never only one template for success. Here a well-timed attack on the outside can be ideal, especially if the rider in front of you (white body with blue sleeves) can be used as a drafting slingshot.

Finishing It Off
Now that you’ve learned how to get and maintain position in the corners it’s time to put together your finishing push. As a solo rider you have ultimate responsibility for how you approach the finish. You have to be ‘in’ the race and willing to push yourself. You have to be willing to take the chances necessary to win, be that a late break of positioning for the field sprint. You have to be, pardon the phrase, master of your own domain. The rush is coming, you know the rush is coming. Instead of waiting and hoping to take charge someday, take the extra pull that keeps the pace high and the hounds at bay. Ride the outsides. Don’t get caught in the middle. Keep rotating forward. Look for riders going to the front and get a free ride. It’s easy. If you’ve been practicing moving around during the race it’s even easier! The great thing about racing is that there is always another one, another chance to perfect the art, another course that suits, another chance to grab the right wheel, or be the right wheel.

Mentoring

2010-01-17T20:47:00.001-08:00

Today was the third installment of the Early Bird series. If you're from NorCal you know the series, and hopefully you know how lucky you are to to have such a great 'starter' series each year. The first couple of weeks there were over 400 'new' racers in attendance, so it's certainly got a following.

This weeks race was under 'threat' of rain - which cut the numbers, but not the enthusiasm. This week we were working on moving in the field, and I was very proud of my group. They listened and learned during our drills, and I hope brought that same attention to their races. Of course, I was less impressed with my own attack of ego-centrism...

While working with my group I took the 'initiative' to insert myself in another group that looked to be struggling at the skill - which of course they weren't - and then to take all the 'foundational' elements of the mentoring process (positive approach, empathy, deference to the lead mentor, etc etc etc) throw them out the window and act like a mildly crazed drill sargeant. Rightly so this irritated a couple of the gals in the group. I heard about it - felt defensive for a couple of minutes - and then made my apologies from a place of sincerity. In looking back I would've been annoyed by me! I really enjoy the mentoring gig..it's fun and I don't want to be anything but professional and deferential to those who put so much into the Early Birds - Laurel Green, Laurie Fenech, Alan Altha, and Larry Nolan. So, my apologies for not representing....

Ok, back at it....

Road Team - Inaugural Ride This Weekend

2010-01-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

This season I've got a small group of Masters Cat 4's that are racing under the Sterling banner. I'm jazzed about this project because it puts me out on the road with the athletes working on those crux skills that win races. This weekend is our first group ride and I'm really looking forward to it. I'll take my camera/helmet cam and see if I can put together a small introduction next week. The team roster is:

Mark Davis (actually W Mark Davis, or just WMD to me)
Jim Werle - owner of Bay Area Mobile Bike Repair
Shane Greenwood - claims he won't race much, but we'll see
Matt Payne - he's a Matt and into pain, what else needs to be said?
Paul Calandrella - wonder if he'll be our climber?

New Years Resolutions

2010-01-12T19:50:00.001-08:00

Yea, it took me an extra 12 days to get around to posting what was originally set out to be a nearly-daily update, but here I am at long last. This year I vow to post more often and to keep relevant things like clinics, camps, webinars, team information, etc current. Why, well...honestly it's part of a global domination strategy of sorts. I'm curious to see if I can develop a 'loyal following' over the course of the year. From what I read the way to do that is to add lots of content that appeals. Since this is a cycling blog, and there are lots of cycling blogs, the challenge is to post stuff that is both appealing and somewhat central to the core of what this space is - a communication tool for my company. As to the intended scope of this 'loyal following' well....is it fair to aim for a 100 fold increase in weekly site traffic? Last week, my busiest since adding the tracking code in November, I had 47 visitors. 4700 may be a stretch - but what the heck....let's see what we can do TOGETHER!

That is the key you know - a team effort. I can write all the content I want, but if those twenty of you who visit the site regularly will both come back, and suggest the site to a friend or two then we'll be on our way. Of course that presumes that you find something of interest here. So tell me what interests you.

For the twenty five of you who visited the site for the first time this week - I hope you'll drop back by again. Yea, you can't read this, but I figure good karma is good karma - so come on back....ohhhmmmm, ooohhhmmmm, ok...off to the races we go!

Great (Cycling) Video

2009-12-06T22:35:00.000-08:00

This is making the rounds - and is really nicely shot. I've done a few video projects, but nothing close to this...nice job guys:

PUSH PULL from Landis Fields on Vimeo.

Archive #2 - Cutting Edge Hydration Strategies

2009-11-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

The Tour De France is a unique crucible. Weeks long, extreme temperature variations, exhaustive exercise day after day, and otherworldly nutritional demands; Is there a better place to learn and maximize performance for the athlete? One of the areas of deep interest over the last several years is the relationship of hydration, thermoregulation, and performance.

Awhile back I went to a presentation by Dr. Stacy Sims, a post doctoral research fellow, and exercise physiologist at Stanford University. Dr. Sims was part of an exciting project with Dr. Allen Lim, chief physiologist for Garmin-Slipstream. Their goal was to help the team optimally prepare for the Tour De France, and to create effective thermoregulation and hydration fueling strategies for the race.

They project focused on a few critical components, namely a pre-race preparation/acclimation phase, the daily nutrition and recovery of the athletes, and the pre, during, and post event hydration needs. Through the course of the presentation Dr Sims touched on some rather interesting approaches and outcomes.

Hydration and Thermoregulation
First some background on water, hydration and thermoregulation. The human body is 55-65% water. Water is an essential aid in biochemical and metabolic reactions, it cools the body, and helps maintain the acid base balance.

Hydration is the equilibration of total body water (TBW) carried in the intracellular (66% of TBW) and extracellular (33% of TBW) spaces. Dehydration, medically speaking, is when the body contains insufficient water volume to maintain normal body function.

One of the foundational responsibilities of water is thermoregulation. Thermoregulation is “the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different.” For you and I, that means maintaining homeostasis between 37 – 40C (92-100F). Thermoregulation is vital to the maintenance of exercise intensity. Find yourself much on either side of that range and you are in for some trouble.

The Problem(s)
Dehydration, and its role in thermoregulation and performance is broad and complex.
It has been shown that a state of dehydration of as little as one percent (1%) leads to decreased aerobic endurance. At three percent (3%) there is a decrease in muscular endurance, while at four percent (4%) there is decreased muscle strength, fine motor skill, and heat cramps. In addition the maintenance of blood volume is essential for maintaining stroke volume and plasma volume.

Different athletes have different sweat rates, but most will sweat at between 1.5 – 3.0 Liters per hour. That means a 150 pound cyclist can reach 3% dehydration in as little as 45 – 60 minutes with no fluid intake (1 Liter = 1 Kilogram = 2.2 pounds). Unfortunately, gastric emptying is typically in the range of 0.8 – 1.3 Liters per hour, so you are on the defensive immediately. The more so if you start your race or training session hypohydrated (0.5-1% dehydrated) as most of us do by some estimates. You simply can’t drink enough fluid to offset the loss from sweating.

All of this sweating leads to thirst. There are two kinds of thirst. Hypovolemic thirst is the result of sweating, respiration, and/or bleeding. It is a decrease in the extracellular fluid and blood volume. Osmotic thirst is the result of a decrease in the intracellular fluid (e.g. too many solutes). Both depletions must be addressed prior to the onset of thirst.

While there are many products on the market that purport to help with your hydration and electrolyte balance, the truth is that most of them also contain a significant carbohydrate (CHO) load in order to also be seen as a viable fuel source (yet not quite enough to actually be a viable fuel source) and to be palatable. There are a couple of downsides to this. First, the CHO actually serves to increase core temperature (gotta process that food!), secondly it impedes gastric emptying. Often these sports-drinks contain too little sodium to effectively replace sweat salt losses as well. Sodium loss through sweating ranges between 0.8 – 4.0g/hr

The Solution
Dr Sims came up with a comprehensive set of solutions to the problems presented above. First, the team undertook a preparation/acclimation phase that included 30 minute bouts in the Sauna at 100 degrees immediately after their regular training rides. This was to both increase tolerance of warm temperatures and to systematically dehydrate the athletes to create a natural increase in Red Blood Cell (RBC) volume; a natural ergogenic aid.

The next step was to create a specific “Pre Event” drink in order to attenuate dehydration and to provide an ergogenic buffering effect. This pre-event drink was used primarily in the time trials and contained sodium bicarbonate and sodium citrate mix in a proprietary ratio (sorry, can’t give away ALL the secrets!), and a 1.5% sucrose concentration. The team used approximately 100 Liters of this mixture during the race.

The goal of the ‘During” drink was to attenuate dehydration. Carbohydrate was generally supplied via food stuffs. The “During” drink was a proprietary ratio of sucrose:glucose, with sodium citrate, magnesium, b-vitamins, and potassium. It contained no Sodium Choloride (NaCL), instead they used Sodium Citrate due to its decreased gastrointestinal stress and higher water retention rate, and inherent buffering effect. The team used approximately 10,000 Liters during the race

The “Post” drink was intended to stop the stress response, rehydrate, promote muscle repair and glycogen regeneration. It contained, among the list, a 1.5% solution of maltodextrim, potassium, amino acids, antioxidants, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins. They mixed over 8,000 Liters during the race.

Each of these drinks was formulated to be slightly hypotonic to increase absorption rates since water goes into the higher solute compartment in simple osmosis. The drinks were <270mmol/L solution compared to the blood plasma which is ~285-290 mmol/L. The ideal composition included roughly 100 mmol/L of Sodium, 6 mmol/L of Potassium, and 1.5 – 2% CHO solution (most sports beverage drinks are in the 6-8% CHO range).

Carbohydrate was also optimized. A sucrose/glucose solution was used during the races as it provided the best balance between increased water and sodium absorption and the highest possible CHO load without negatively affecting the osmolality (an indicator of fluid balance and ease of transport across cell membranes). The recovery drink used a 1.5% solution of maltodextrins, which are absorbed almost as rapidly as glucose with less gastric distress and impact on osmolality.

The Results
The validity of the project can be seen in a number of ways.

The preparation and acclimation component, especially the dehydration protocol, saw the athletes’ red blood cell concentration rise by up to 4%, and total plasma volume to increase by ~7%. This is a natural ergogenic aid akin to erythropoietin supplementation. There was also a decrease in exercising heart rate, an increase in work capacity and less total sweat loss during the race.

The “Pre” event drink was shown, anecdotally (n = 1), to increase power by ~7-8% on a 40Km time trial from 365W to 385-390W (time equivalent of 57 seconds!).

During the race the athletes routinely ingested two times the normal volume of liquid, yet suffered no GI distress. For the balance of the Tour the team used NO IV Drips! That is virtually unheard of in grand tours. At several points the athletes’ urine was ruled ‘too dilute to test’ a testament to the effectiveness of the hydration strategy.

On the results sheet the team placed two riders in the top 10, finished second overall in the team competition and team time trial. During the Stage 18 individual time trial the team had three riders in the top 10, all within a minute of the stage winner.

Summary
Each year a variety of new technologies and methodologies are rolled out in the search for speed and consistency. Technicians buzz around checking details, tightening torque wrenches and generally pondering the speed to be gained. Similarly, the athletes and soigneurs engage in their own daily performance dance. Legs are embrocated, stretched and massaged. Food is constantly ingested and chased by fluids, prodigious amounts of fluids. All in the quest to take the athlete right to the edge of performance

One of the most demanding elements of the race is the quest to maintain hydration, electrolyte balance, and thermoregulation. This year Garmin-Slipstream brought in a leading researcher to help create the perfect plan for the team. By combining a rigorous pre event acclimation camp with the creation of some truly high tech mixtures for each phase of the race the team was able to succeed in the battle for results and the battle for the long term health of their riders. With notable increases in work capacity, fluid retention, and red blood cell volume; and with notable decreases in gastrointestinal distress, exercise heart rate and overall heat stress it can be argued that this type of cutting edge research and implementation was a key element in the team’s success. You can expect this project to make it into your list of hydration and fluid options within the next 12 months or so

References

- Maughan, R. J., and T. D. Noakes; Fluid replacement and exercise stress: a brief review of studies on fluid replacement and some guidelines for the athlete. Sports Med. 12:16-31, 1991.

- Takamara, A., Y. Tetsuya, N. Nishida, and T. Morimoto; Relationship of osmotic inhibition in thermoregulatory responses and sweat sodium concentration in humans. Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 280: R623–R629, 2001.

- Gillen, C. M., T. Nishiyasu, G. Langhans, C. Weseman, G. W. Mack, and E. R. Nadel; Cardiovascular and renal function during exercise-induced blood volume expansion in men. J Appl Physiol, 76: 2602 – 2610, 1994.
Hargreaves, M., and M. Febbraio; Limits to exercise performance in the heat. J Sports Med., 19: S115-S116, 1998.

- Montain S. J., and E. F. Coyle; Influence of graded dehydration on hyperthermia and cardiovascular drift during exercise. J Appl Physiol, 73(4):1340-1350, 1992.

- Sanders, B., T. D. Noakes, and S. C. Dennis; Sodium replacement and fluid shifts during prolonged exercise in humans. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol., 84:419-425, 2001.

- Sims ST, Rehrer NJ, Bell ML, Cotter JD. Preexercise sodium loading aids fluid balance and endurance for women exercising in the heat. J Appl Physiol 103: 534–541, 2007.

- Sims, ST, L vanVliet, JD Cotter, and NJ Rehrer. “Sodium loading aids fluid balance and reduces physiological strain of trained men exercising in the heat.” Medicine and Sciences in Sports and Exercise, 39 (1), 123-130, 2007

Archive #1 - The Training Week

2009-11-09T08:34:00.000-08:00

Nearly all of us have limits on our available training time, yet all of us are looking to improve our cycling abilities and performance. This often creates a paradox where we try to cram as much “stuff” as we can into our rides, but end up with sporadic fitness gains and performance. To this end let’s look at some ways to organize your training to accomplish all of the above and more.

The Training Week – Classical View
Cycling, like many other sports, is built on the history of what came before. It has been, for example, a long standing tradition to take a rest day on Monday after a weekends racing. The rest of the training week has followed a similar pattern: Tuesday is for sprint work, Wednesday is for threshold training, Thursday is long endurance day, while Friday is a tune up for the Saturday and Sunday races. This plan, as the story goes, puts the most intense workouts early in the week, when the body is most prepared for them.

This pattern has been drilled into athletes, and coaches, for a long time, and is often considered to be merely the micro-cycle component of a periodized training plan. Tudor Bompa, long credited as the father of periodization, first introduced macro, meso, and micro cycles in the 1950’s. Indeed, the original concept of periodization was built on Hans Selye’s General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), which looks at the stress placed upon a system, and the adaptation that occurs as a result.

When he came to the United States in the 1980’s Eddie Borysewicz brought a similar structure to the training program at the United States Cycling Federation (USCF, precursor to USA Cycling). His plan, espoused in the seminal (for US riders!) “Bicycle Road Racing – Complete Program For Training and Competition,” included Monday rest, and sprints on Tuesday and intervals Thursday. Wednesday was endurance, while Friday was recovery/tune up. Saturday was high intensity/race simulation and Sunday was the longest and hardest day.

Recently I was cleaning out some of the vast clutter that is my filing system and came across the 1994 U.S. National Team training plan for Senior Men. The plan was written by then National Team Coach Chris Carmichael. In thumbing through the pages a familiar pattern began to emerge. In the forty weeks of training listed there was not one week where the “Monday rest” pattern was broken. Fortunately, there was substantive variation in the day to day program design of the rest of the program, a testament to Carmichael's embrace of modernization of training even then. Interestingly, there is no mention made of lactate threshold based training. It is either Aerobic, Anaerobic, or VO2max!

The Training Week - Updated
The previous examples are not offered as a “what not to do” but more as back drop when looking at your own training. To be sure the foundations of periodization are sound and should form the basis of your plan design. Rather than preach a “perfect” model for organizing your week, let’s look at some of the factors that may play a role in how you might schedule your week and optimize your workouts.

Optimize Your Training Time
If you are on a limited training schedule you have to learn to optimize the time you have available. That means cutting out the ‘junk’ hours and focusing on the task at hand. While it sounds logical and doable, you’d be surprised how easy it is to squander training time. Take that extra 20 minutes to warm up and you’ve cost yourself both the 20 minutes, and the positive training effect of having stepped up the intensity, even if it’s only to a tempo pace. Multiply that over 3 training days and your 10 hour training week only has 9 hours to accomplish the goals you set.

One of my current favorite workouts is what I call a “Sweet Spot – Level 2.” A traditional “sweet spot interval” is doing 88-93% of your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) for 60 minutes. If you do a 15-minute warm up and cool down then you’ve got a very good training ride in an hour and a half. A level 2 effort takes the warm up and cool down and moves them up to tempo efforts (ok, maybe a five minute warm up). Instead of rolling around for 20 minutes at 50% of FTP, you are on the gas immediately and holding 70-75% of FTP for the warm up cool down (ok, maybe five minutes warm down too). In the end you have the same 1.5 hour workout, but you have a higher total training stress score and more aerobic development.

Another favorite workout is the 3peat Threshold Workout (or 2peat, 4peat, etc). Find a climb that is at least 10 minutes long, the minimum needed for a true threshold level workout. Time yourself up and down holding a steady threshold effort on the way up and a brisk recovery pace on the way down. Now that you have a baseline see how many up/down cycles you can do in an hour.

Around my house that is a 3peat climb on Montebello Road; a 2-mile climb that averages around 10%. It usually takes me about 15:30 to climb at 300W (which is about my FTP) and about 4:15 to descend, so if I do 3 up/down in an hour it gives me about 45:00 minutes of threshold work, a nice recovery between intervals, and a serious dose of climbing. As fitness goes up I can push harder to try and get as far below an hour as possible. My current best is 55:55 with individual intervals of 13:35 at 350 Watts, 14:44 at 319 Watts and 13:54 at 343 Watts, for a total TSS of 100.7 and an Intensity Factor of 1.07 at 258 Watts average/322 Watts normalized (My FTP was set at 310 at that time, but was probably closer to 330). Since it’s about 15 minutes each way to the climb this is a pefect workout on those days I don’t have long to ride.

Recognize Stress
Hans Selye referred to the effects of either “eustress” (positive/beneficial) or “distress” (negative/detrimental) on the system. Eustress resulted in feelings of improvement, increased muscle strength, and other markers of a positive impact on your training. Distress, on the other hand, leads to tissue damage, fatigue, and ultimately can lead to overtraining. The challenge is to recognize the difference.

Let’s look at the Monday rest, Tuesday sprints model for example. You race on Sunday and do pretty well, although you are tired. Monday comes and you are feeling pretty good, but it’s a rest day so you chill. You don’t sleep well on Monday night, work stress is piling on, you ate a double death burger for lunch and now you “have” to go do your sprints or else you’ll lose fitness and never upgrade! The workout is a mess. You don’t even come close to your top speed or max power, your heart rate is stagnant and you feel so slow you think about giving up the sport. Clearly you’ve experienced more ‘distress’ than “eustress.”

While that is an extreme example of how life, for us working stiffs, can interfere with your ideal training plan, it does offer a little insight into possible modifications to your training that won’t cause you to lose fitness or motivation.

Ride Hard Fresh
Time and again coaches advocate recovery over additional intensity, volume, or both. Improvements in Chronic Training Load (CTL) are most effective long term when the ramp rate (or gain) is approximately 6 – 8 TSS points per week. If the athlete is gaining CTL at a faster rate it is generally unsustainable long term.

Let me take a step back here and define what is meant by Chronic Training Load. CTL is a measure of accumulated training stress across a long period of time, typically at least 30 days. It is expressed as a rolling average of Training Stress Score (TSS) points per day. For example a CTL score of 100 means you have averaged 100 TSS points per day over the length of your ‘snapshot’ (eg 30 days). By tracking your training across time in this manner you are able to get a good overall picture of both your training trends and fitness improvements.

Time and time again athletes forego that advice in the pursuit of fitness gains. Unfortunately that tends to create randomization of training. That is to say that week to week the athletes total training load shows wider variation than that which is recommended for a ‘responsible’ progression. Are you one of these athletes?

If so, try something different. Schedule your weeks training around a more gradual gain and then play with the daily specifics to try and address physiological needs. If you are focused on developing FTP, spend lots of training time at FTP. If your focus lies in VO2max development, spend your training time on that. The caveat is that you have to scale back the volume, and possibly the frequency, of training you do, but that doesn’t matter. If you’re target is 600 TSS points for the week and you can get it done in 9 hours instead of 12 you’ll have three more hours to spend on another part of your life while still making steady and substantive gains in your total fitness.

Summary
It is far too easy to fall into a predictable pattern of training. Coaches and other athletes will readily offer you the ‘perfect’ training week as described across time. However, with the demands of work and family often taking priority it is common for one’s training to stagnate on a traditional plan. Rather than continuing to follow the same patterns to the same conclusions try to vary your training around a few core principles.

Freshness: Training should be a positive stress in your life. If you start a training ride and are carrying residual fatigue from the weekend races give yourself an extra day to recover.

Focus: Look at your current training. Are you optimizing your training time or just riding around on your bike? Find or purchase some high quality, highly focused workouts that will help you get the most out of your limited training time. If you use a power meter, look at the files. Did you ride for two hours and average 50% of your threshold power even WITH the 2x20 minute intervals? Perhaps it’ time to try some focused tempo efforts!

Consistency: Try to create a realistic training plan that allows you to progressively improve your fitness over time. Sure, you can ‘get fast’ in a few weeks of heavy overload, but you’ll ultimately pay the price in reduced motivation and time off from training later when the cost of those hard miles comes due.

Putting these elements into your weekly training schedule will help you realize consistent gains, have more fun, and chew up the competition at the next race (which is the fun part!)

Housing At CX Nationals

2009-11-05T11:41:00.001-08:00

This is for all those headed to Bend for Nationals....

I rented a sweet house with some available beds/rooms for the week of the races (wed - sun). The house is located about 2 miles from the race venue, is over 2500 square feet and includes: Outdoor rock gas fireplace in private patio area, large kitchen for entertaining and cooking at your leisure, large eating bar and formal dining room, wine chiller, comfortable beds and linens, plush towels, Jacuzzi tub in master, full DVD library of movies, and more!
We have the following available at way better than hotel rates -

Master Bedroom: 1 King Bed - reserved
Guest room #1: 1 Queen Bed - reserved
Guest Room #2: 2 Twin Beds - $75 night ea w/2night minimum. Book your for all 4 nights for only $250
Bonus Room: 2 Twin Beds - $75 night ea w/2night minimum. Book your for all 4 nights for only $250
Plus: 2 full sized Fold out Beds - $65 night ea w/2night minimum. Book yours for all 4 nights for only $230
The garage will be set up as bike heaven. In addition to tools and workstands (and possibly a mechanic on site), we'll have two computrainers as well....ready and loaded with various workouts and options to be sure your training is optimized in the runnnup to your race no matter the weather. We'll also be leading a few outside rides, weather permitting.

We will plan to co-op purchase and preparation of food to help keep costs down and quality up. I'm working on a meal plan (well, ok my wife the super-chef is making the plan) and will forward it to those attending. If you have a specialty, and want it included let us know and we'll add it to the mix...

Need more information? Drop me a line - info@sterlingwins.com -
Full information will be sent upon receipt of your non-refundable, but transferrable, deposit of $100 via paypal to the same address

This is gonna be fun!

Matt

Articles Archive

2009-11-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

I've written quite a few online articles over the past year and a half. Some of them were even pretty good. Yet time and again I forget to post them on my own blog - that seems sorta silly. So, I'll be posting a variety of old articles and labeling them over the next couple of weeks. It'll give me something to do and who knows may even provide you with something worth reading!

Among The Upcoming Topics:

- Cutting Edge Hydration Strategies
- Cutting Edge Nutrition Strategies
- Optimal Tapering Strategies
- Managing Your Training Week

and more...

2010 Team Program Announced

2009-10-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

STERLING SPORTS REGIONAL RACE TEAM
Team Debuts Inaugural Road Program For 2010

SUNNYVALE, CA (October 15, 2009) – Sterling Sports Group is pleased to announce the addition of a regional road program for the 2010 season. Built on the foundation of our successful Cyclocross Team, the road team is focused on developing a core group of riders and offering a comprehensive team racing experience. We are looking for up to five (5) riders in the following categories for membership on this Northern California based team (Selected riders must be committed to a focused training and racing program for the 2010 season):

•Category 3 Men
•Category 4 Men
•Junior 17/18 Men
•Masters 35+ 4/5 Men

The Sterling Regional Road Team will support a core group of riders with a road/criterium specific coaching program, regular team based training/tactics rides, a team race mechanic at marquee events, access to substantial pro-deals from sponsors, and great prices on the best looking kits in the peloton. Team training programs start in January, and are led by USAC Elite Coach Matt McNamara. Training includes regular group rides on weekends and a weekly training schedule delivered via your own online training log. Potential team riders should be committed to attending the twice monthly team rides in the winter/spring, and as many of our weekly rides as possible during the spring/summer.

Maybe you’d like to ride with us? Interested riders should submit a team application by November 15th , better yet come to our INFORMATIONAL MEETING at The Bicycle Outfitter on November 11th at 7:00pm (Dave Prion at TBO has even offered a “team discount” of 10% off to attendees that night). Preference will be given to those athletes who most ably demonstrate the balance between competition, camaraderie, and fun in their approach and attitude. Applications and program descriptions are available on the company website www.sterlingwins.com. The final team roster will be announced December 15th , and training programs start January 1st. Please drop me a note to reserve your spot at the meeting, or to answer any questions – info@sterlingwins.com !!

Cost for the program is $250 ($100 for Juniors) and includes:
•1 year membership on the team.
•Road/Criterium Specific Training Program, including an online training log: January - August
•Optional Personal Coaching program for $99/mo ($175 membership fee)
•Team Training Camp in January including performance testing & bike fit, and long rides each day
•Race Mechanic/Support from Bay Area Mobile Bike Repair, at 5-10 designated team events
•Regular Training Rides on weekends (2x/month) and weekly training with the return of Summer
•Category Specific Race Plans – we’ll work with each category to generate results and upgrades for all
•Access to Pro Deals on team bikes and equipment thanks to our sponsors.

ABOUT STERLING SPORTS GROUP
Sterling Sports Group (www.sterlingwins.com) is the result of over 20 years of passion for the sport of cycling. Sterling Sports is a growing company focused on creating a seamless interface between athlete and coach, technology and personal attention. They can be reached at 408.891.3462 or info@sterlingwins.com
###

Race Report - CCCX #2 - Justin K

2009-09-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

This was a very strange race in so many ways. I was a bit late getting to the venue which impeded my warm up and my pre-race bike prep. I rode a few practice warm up laps and I found myself to be very challenged by the course from both a physical and technical perspective. I changed the wheel/tire brake setup on my by bike a few days earlier and only tested with a light practice ride the previous day. I was not sure how the setup would perform in race conditions.
I could also see from my pre-ride that there were likely to be a lot of wipeouts/pile-ups on the descents and in sandy sections that may to need to be avoided during the race. I got to the start line and was pretty much in the middle of the group. Since my main goal was fitness and my secondary goal was assessing the equipment changes, I was not fighting it out for a front line start.
The start was pretty quick and I held my position through the first climb and started passing before the beginning of the descent portion. As my suspicions played out, the downhill sections and the sand took its toll on riders. Many people were remounting which improved my overall position. I took a corner too fast and suffered a wipeout-front end slide. On remounting I noticed I had bent up my derailleur and jammed my chain-I guess I should limit any wipeouts to the left side, not the right, haha. Several riders passed me. Straighten the derailleur and fix the chain...rolling again...repass on the hill right after the tarmac straightaway. Rear shifting erratic, spontaneous and no front derailleur action - not a desirable situation. On the downhill bumpy sections I kept on bottoming out my front rim (oops, forgot to check my tire pressure during my pre race bike setup.) I continued around the course and it seemed odd to me that there were so many riders practicing....at least thats what I thought they were doing. On to the barrier and run-up to start another lap - I hate running-heart rate went through the roof, totally sucking wind.
Did all that several more times including another slide out or two (or more) with the old catch it at the last second before a total yard sale... I felt like my fitness sucked, could have used an 02 tank strapped to the rig. Having very little control of my gears and a front end that was constantly bottoming out and wanting to slide out in the corners made things very challenging. Crossed the finish line. I was thankful the race was over. I was so disheartened about my poor fitness/lack of energy, the poor performance of my rig (no controlled shifting and front end wash out) that I left right after the race to go home and drown my sorrows. Since I was sure I was last, there was no point in checking my placement. At the car I did check my tire pressure. A whopping 19psi up front and 25psi in the rear-made a mental note - check the tire pressure BEFORE the race next time idiot. I assumed I was in last place because I didn't really see riders on the course, other than those that were practicing.
I gathered up my courage to check my finish this morning. A DFL isn never the end of the world-maybe better than a DNF. To my amazement I got 4th. I guess the people I thought were practicing were actually racing, never really noticed their numbers...they were all so nice and gave me plenty of room to pass. I bet this never happens again.

Training Theory Applied - Part 3

2009-08-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

Specificity

Racing is not training. The argument is that you can't create a 'true' race intensity effort during training. Ok, maybe not but that's no reason not to try and make the efforts you do put in as effective as possible.

Yes, I'm speaking of specificity!

In the hierarchy of training theory specificty ranks near the top (so it's no coincidence that it's my third topic I guess!). If you are not addressing specificity on most of your rides then you are either - just riding around, or wasting your time. A bold statement though that may be, I think I can demonstrate that it has merit.

The short explanation of what I mean by specificity is to DO WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO on any given day/ride. For many riders there are degress of specificity on any given workout, which although defensible, is not the point. The point is to do what you're supposed to do. "What you are supposed to do" will be answered in the next Training Theory Applied topic, but for now let's give it some metrics.

If your Functional Threshold Power is 300 Watts then your Threhsold level workouts should be very near the neighborhood of 300W. If your VO2max Power is 425W, then it's a fair guess that VO2 specific workouts should be right around 425W (*I chose FTP/MAP intensitites specifically due to their race level relevance). This begs the question "how near" should they be - good question. It's fair to say that for Threhsold level workouts you should probably be in the ball park of 90 -105% of FTP. For VO2max efforts you have an effective range of 85 - 110% of MAP (Maximal Aerobic Power).

Which leads to the next question - how long? Since the goal of workouts at FTP and MAP is to hit the needed workload, and maximize the effectiveness and total volume of time spent there you have two considerations - length of interval and length of recovery. Let's start with FTP efforts.

Several studies have looked at the minimum and maximum duration of workouts in order to determine the optimal range. For the most part it is well established that 10 - 12 minutes is the minimum interval duration for a worthwhile threshold level workout. The maximum is likely in the neighborhood of 60 minutes of focused FTP work. Certainly you can do much more than 60 minutes of threhsold work when intensity drops to 90%, especially when factored as Normalized power (which I believe has great relevance, but isn't the be all/end all of rating an effort), but the key word is focused.

On the recent Santa Cruz Mountain Challenge I spent the first 2h41m at 90% FTP Normalized! That was a hard day but if we look at the variability index of that ride we see it was 1.19, so it wasn't a very focused interval and therefore lacked the requisiste Specificity! In fact the longest quasi steady state interval (VI < 1.05) of that ride was a 30min block at 286Wavg and 303Wnorm, and I'm not sure I could have done that a 2nd time that day!

Which takes me back to the 60 minutes of accumulated threshold intensity on a given interval workout. It is a good target.

Recovery - another key component. On focused, SPECIFIC threshold efforts you shouldn't require too much recovery. Figuring that you "should" be able to do a 60 minute block of this intensity, then a five minute recovery from the standard 20min interval should be plenty.

VO2max Effort Length and Recovery: Since MAP is so much harder and more wicked than FTP you should look to maximize total time spent at VO2max! Which is to say at between 85-110% of VO2 Power. This range is cited in one of my favorite research papers by Thibault when he lays out his graded MAP interval protocol. Accumulated time at/around MAP is an important consideration because even a motivated athlete has a hard time doing MAP efforts of longer than five minutes for more than 2 or 3 intervals (eg 15minutes of accumulated VO2 time). I think it is an elegant representation of specificity! He even covers the rest intervals necessary at these varying intensities. Without reading the whole paper it is a fair estimate to say recovery time should be at a 1:1 or 1:1.5 interval/recovery ratio. As you gain fitness you can play with these recovery times.

Which brings us to our last point on Specificity for today. How do you know when to stop? A classic rule of thumb is to stop the interval when you can no longer hold at least 90% of the intended workload. This rule of thumb is fraught with problems however - for example if you hold 90% of 90% FTP - you're really only doing ~81% FTP. Not quite the intended effort level! So a modification is when you cannot hold the intended % of FTP or MAP workload you are likely done for the day. For example if you start a 20min block at 90% FTP and cannot hold it after 10 minutes...rest, recover and try again - if you still can't hold it then go home and rest.

Too often athletes squander their rides on easy pedaling and unfocused efforts. By addressing your specific workout needs you will see quicker progression and more overall satisfaction with your fitness gains. It will also translate into stronger race performances and more confidence that you can put the hammer down when necessary!

Patterson Pass Road Race

2009-08-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't raced a road race all year - and have only pinned a number on four times in all (3 crits and a track race), so why am I doing a hilly road race? No, I'm not a climber, not even a pretend one, but this course just seems like it might be a good training ride. Climbing, wind, wind, climbing...what could be better at fostering some fitness? Here is the course map:

patterson pass road race (Aug 2008)
Find more Bike Rides in Tracy, California

Looks like about 1500 feet of gain in ~3miles. Sounds like Old La Honda, but we'll see. Strategy? Go early and make 'em chase me (geeze, I hope they aren't all reading this). I figure the Normalized power will be roughly the same overall, so I might as well make it a big time trial. 3 laps of the course should be enough I think. I'll let ya know...

Cyclocross Programs Annoucement

2009-07-17T09:58:00.000-07:00

STERLING SPORTS GROUP CYCLOCROSS PROGRAMS
Company Deepens Committment To The Cyclo-Cross Community For 2009

SUNNYVALE, CA (July 17, 2009) – Sterling Sports Group is going ‘All In” for cyclocross in 2009 by offering a full complement of ‘cross related programs and activities. Company President Matt McNamara noted that adding elements like a cross specific webinar, weekly training series, online training programs and performance testing & fit packages specifically for the CX community was a logical step for the company: “We are a performance coaching company committed to the culture of cyclocross. We couldn’t think of a better way to demonstrate that commitment than to broaden our reach to the cyclocross community through these innovative programs.” Among the program elements:

- CX Training Camp – All ‘crossers are invited to sign up for our 2 day training camp September 18 – 20th. The camp includes baseline performance testing, group rides, position assessment, and training program orientations. Camp costs between $150-$375 depending on affiliation

- Training Series – Starting September 8th we’ll have a 6-week training series on Tuesday nights. Each week we’ll tackle a different element of ‘cross competence including: starts, mounts/dismounts, hills, intervals and a practice race. Training Rides are $30/each or $120 for the whole series.

- ‘Cross Webinar – We will be hosting a Cyclocross Training Webinar on August 27th. It will cover ‘cross specific training and racing requirements including program design, equipment selection, interval formats for racing, and more. Webinar is $15.

- Online Programs – We have developed several cyclocross specific online training programs available through our website. These programs are geared to different levels of racer and those training with power or heart rate. Online programs start at $50.

-‘Cross Specific Testing & Fit Package – Get an idea of where your fitness is, what to train to be faster, and get a complete Pro-Fit in one easy session. A $225 value, only $150 for Cyclocross! Valid til October 1st.

To register for any of these exciting programs simply visit us online at www.sterlingwins.com, drop us an e-mail at info@sterlingwins.com, or call us at 408.891.3462

ABOUT STERLING SPORTS GROUP
Sterling Sports Group (www.sterlingwins.com) is the result of over 20 years of passion for the sport of cycling. Launched in late 2003, Sterling Sports is a growing company focused on creating a seamless interface between athlete and coach, technology and personal attention. They can be reached at 408.891.3462 or info@sterlingwins.com
###

Training Theory Applied - Part 2

2009-06-10T09:54:00.001-07:00

Consistency:

In the first post of this series(is it a series?) I wrote about The Athletic Mindset, and the triangulations that form it: Zen Buddhism, The Flow State, and Expertise. Now the trick is to employ these elements in a manner that helps drive development. For the most part that can be summed up in one word - Consistency.

If we take the precepts of the Athletic Mindset to be worth striving for, then bringing consistency to your workouts is an elemental first step. Yet, it is often difficult to master. There are too many distractions, too much work, too few hours in the day. Whatever the rationale it really boils down to a question of committment. Instead of striving for consistency, many athletes follow the 'too much, too little' paradigm. They'll have a world class ride, better still a world class week or two and then, because the training was so focused, too focused, they over cook themselves and training plummets for a day, a week, or a month. Or perhaps training is steady and work/life/family/stress gets in the way and training plummets. Whatever the reason it's these 'ON/OFF' patterns that result in sporadic fitnes gains. The challenge is to establish a new pattern...

Consistency

Consistency is really just making the committment to steady progress with your training. My recent ToolBox article on Pez Cycling News covered some of the traditional approaches to organizing your training week, including how some of those traditions may contribute to sporadic fitness. As noted in the article it is often a good idea to take a larger view of your training. One way to do that is to look at your goals for a particular block (threshold development for example) AND how that fits into the big picture of training towards that marquee goal you've set vis-a-vis training load. Another way is to look at the individual rides and better manage their efficiency. First let's look at Training Load.

Thanks to people like Andy Coggan, Hunter Allen, Eric Bannister, Phil Skiba etc. we have any number of ways to track training load for both individual workouts and over time. Personally, I like the Coggan model because it is built from a solid platform of research and it's pretty intuitive to understand (you can brush up on it here). I also like it because it's part of the WKO+ software that I use, so I don't have to do much to keep track of the numbers.

There have been several good threads about training load on the Wattage forum. They have dealt with the imposition of training over time - usually reflected in one's Chronic Training Load (CTL). The consensus seems to be that a gradual ramp rate of 5-8 TSS points per week (20-35 points per month) is sustainable long term up to an athletes as-yet-unknown optimal training volume. Of course the duration of this 'gradual build' is set by ones current CTL and, therefore, may not be the best tracking method for those alread close to an optimal training load (then again do YOU know YOUR optimal training load?). One thing is certain, by approaching your training load in a more longitudinal fashion you will likely build fitness at a rate you can maintain, and still see improvements throughout.

Let's say you have 10 hours a week to train. Theorhetically you have a maximum training load of 1000 TSS points (1 Hour at FTP = 100 points) per week. It is much more realistic to expect between 500 and 800 points in a given week for the same 10 hours (really, how many hours per week can you do at FTP!). You can then make an educated guess as to your individual capacity and set your training load accordingly. You may find it quite liberating to know that you only have to hit 550 TSS points this week and 555 TSS points next week to meet your long term training goals (hint - have long term training goals!). This awareness provides a great starting point for another element of consistency - the individual ride.

While variations in weekly training volume are easy for most athletes to see in the real world, they have a much harder time with the idea of moving training specificity from theory to application. By this I mean simply that they waste valuable training time goofing off. You know exactly what I mean...you start out on a two hour training ride and spend the first 30 minutes just riding along "warming up" then you knock off your 2x20minute intervals and roll back home at 'cool down' pace and call it a good day. While that is a 'specific' workout, it is not an efficient one. Consider that if you only have 10 hours to train in a week, you've just wasted 10% of your training time in an endurance or recovery zone that wasn't necessarily needed. Instead maximize the time you have by remaining cognizant of the goals for that workout and adjusting your efforts accordingly. Often I'll advocate starting a ride at the top end of Endurance, or even Tempo, to try and kickstart the workout while maintaining a higher average power. This is especially true on longer aerobic and tempo interval rides where the variability index would be lower than a higher intensity VO2 or Anaerobic intervals workout.

Matt's Training Update

2009-06-09T23:20:00.001-07:00

Awhile back, well late April actually, I posted a short summary of my training year so far. Of note was the vast scarcity of miles and consistency. It wasn't that impressive, but it was motivating!

Since then I've been more focused, yet more relaxed as well. This goes to my embrace of consistency over haphazardness. I started to look at my training in the long view - eg where I want to be when Cyclocross season hits. I know that I want my Chronic Training Load (CTL) to be at or above 100 points/day. I also know that getting there in 12-16 weeks is a much more responsible approach than doing it in 8 weeks (recall that my starting point was a CTL of about 30). This realization brought with it a certain tranquility. I've repeatedly stressed a gradual build in fitness to my athletes and now here I am living my own advice. There is a certain comfort that comes from knowing I need to do about 500-600 TSS points per week in May and early June. Frankly, it's pretty easy - I can do that volume on about 8 or 9 hours a week of mostly structured training. Those totals step up a bit for the next 6 weeks to between 600-700 points, and therefore a few more hours, but it's still a very stable, steady, and do-able progression. Here is the CTL Progression:

and the Performance Manager Chart since December:

STERLING SPORTS GROUP CYCLOCROSS 2.0

2009-06-03T08:50:00.001-07:00

Cyclocross Team Returns With Enhanced Program For 2009

SUNNYVALE, CA (June 2, 2009) – Sterling Sports Group is pleased to announce the kickoff to our 2009 Cyclocross Race Program. Built on the foundation of our successful 2008 race team, version 2.0 offers prospective team members a comprehensive racing experience. We are looking for select riders in Northern California, Colorado, New England, and the Pacific Northwest who are committed to a focused training and racing program

The Sterling Cyclocross Team will support a core group of approximately 20 local riders with a cyclocross specific coaching program, a team race mechanic at marquee events, access to substantial pro-deals from sponsors, and great prices on the best looking kits in the peloton. Team training programs start in July and we will have a team house at Cyclocross Nationals in Bend, OR this December. This year the team will include up to five riders on each of our Regional teams: Colorado, New England, and Washington/Oregon.

Sterling Sports Group President Matt McNamara noted that “the team was a such a blast last year that we just had to continue and expand it. As a performance coaching company I cannot think of a better way to support the racing community, and build awareness of our services than through the team. I was proud to see our jersey appear on podiums throughout the season and have our program attract great racers like Mike Sayers and Liza Rachetto, and sponsors like Leopard Bikes, SRAM, Ritchey, and Northwave. I’m really excited that we are able to expand in 2009.”

Maybe you’d like to ride with us? Interested riders should submit a team application between June 2nd and June 28th . Preference will be given to those athletes who most ably demonstrate the balance between competition, camaraderie, and fun in their approach and attitude. Applications and program descriptions are available on the company website www.sterlingwins.com. The final team roster will be announced June 30th, and training programs start July 1st. Team clothing orders will be submitted July 15th and racing starts in September!

Cost for the program is $350 ($175 for Juniors) and includes:
• A team kit (Jersey/Short)
• Cyclocross Specific Training Program, including an online training log: July – December
• Optional Personalized coaching program for $99/mo ($175 membership)
• Team Training Camp in August including – performance testing & bike fit,
• Race Mechanic/Support from Bay Area Mobile Bike Repair, at top tier events like Bay Area Super Prestige, NCNCA Cup and Districts.
• Regular Team Training Rides
• Access to Pro Deals on team bikes and equipment thanks to our sponsors.

ABOUT STERLING SPORTS GROUP
Sterling Sports Group (www.sterlingwins.com) is the result of over 20 years of passion for the sport of cycling. Launched in late 2003, Sterling Sports is a growing company focused on creating a seamless interface between athlete and coach, technology and personal attention. They can be reached at 408.891.3462 or info@sterlingwins.com
###

Not Cycling, But Impressive

2009-05-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

Thanks to those in uniform for all they do:

Those Arduous First Miles

2009-04-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

I've finally crossed the mythical 1000 miles threshold for 2009. Yep, 1140 as of yesterday. I'm 'happy' about it - honestly I thought I had about 50 hours, but it turns out its more like 66! Hold that praise a second, here are the numbers from the first four months of the year:

Month Duration Distance TSS kJ 1'w 5'w 20'w 60'w
Apr-2009 14:36:31 276.14 931 9914 454 310 265 237
Mar-2009 18:53:17 324.13 1242 12153 446 330 306 228
Feb-2009 15:24:12 257.49 789 10187 374 301 232 210
Jan-2009 17:34:07 284.32 866 10998 406 316 271 219

Not exactly tearing it up, but maintaining I guess. This past week was my best training since December - all 9 hours and ~178 miles of it. Rather than look at the time/miles as unrewarding I'm choosing to see it as a foundation upon which to continue my transition back to some fitness.

Saturday I jumped on the local 'race-ride' aka The Spectrum Ride. It starts near my house and is a good test-piece to see where you're at. There are a couple of 'ouch' sections - Arastradero, Alpine, and a couple of spots on Canada - but generally the ride is easy enough that getting dropped isn't a worry. Despite that fact, this was still the hardest sustained ride I've done this year. My peak 60min effort was 273Watts normalized and we averaged 23.5mph for the 40'ish mile ride. A solid Level 3 workout. Friday I'd done the 'noon ride' and knocked off a 20min effort at 293Wnorm - so the combination made for a nice couple of rides. One thing I did notice was that I just didn't have the leg strength to close a gap on a small, hard, rise one time. It's never fun to have the guys on your wheel give you a push to close the gap, it's embarassing, but I deserved it and was really trying (sorry guys). I've got a ways to go, but I can start to see some progress in my ability to push a bigger gear and sustain the effort. I'm optimistic enough to consider racing Cats Hill in two weeks in the M35+ 1/2/3's...though I should just continue training instead!

Training Theory Applied - Part 1

2009-04-15T22:04:00.000-07:00

The Athletic Mindset:

One of the first tenants of my approach to training is the cultivation of what I call "The Athletic Mindset". Though I've used the term for years - even going back to my first coaching clients in the mid 90's, I thought it wise to see if I was unique in using this term. The only other relevant references from a simple Google search are for a speaker series by Don Thomas, a former college professor and coach in Dalton, Pennsylvania, who offers an 8-hour course on Athletic Mindset Training($119 for adults) to help athletes learn to discipline their minds for athletic success; and a book by Christopher Bergland called "The Athlete's Way". I haven't read the book, nor seen the presentation so I think I'm safe in ascribing my perspective on the athletic mindset to my own experiences, research, and opinions, lots of opinions.

While trying to keep this post short and to the point let me say that the Athletic Mindset is merely a way to approach your training that encompasses both a sense of awe and a sense of purpose. There have been innumerable passages dedicated to the creation of a positive mindset, learning to discipline the mind and body, or improving your mental attitude. Rather than rehash what you MUST do to achieve optimal performance I'd rather encourage the athlete to look at their sport as a vessel for expression of their best self. We are often at our best when we relinquish control and expectation of an outcome and simply do.

For me there are several points that triangulate the Athletic Mindset. One eloquent expression of is the Japanese Zen Buddhist Philosophy. When you have a moment click the link. The mere reading of the passage will calm you.

Another point is attached to the concept of the flow state as described by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in his seminal book "Optimal Experience: Psychological Studies of Flow in Consciousness. Many, if not most, of us can identify with the feeling of being in the flow, the trick is to make it part of each workout or competition.

The third triangulation is the concept of expertise. The term "expert" is tossed about in the daily vernacular of our culture without regard to the true nature of the idea, nor the strident efforts necessary to cultivate an expertise. Malcom Gladwell, among others, has written about "This idea - that excellence at a complex task requires a critical, minimum level of practice - surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is a magic number for true expertise: 10,000 hours."

Taken together these three ideas can form a foundation for ones approach to sport and the practice of sport. My philosophy is that when you can attach these precepts to your sporting life, and perhaps your life in general, you are opening the door to your potential.

Training Theory Applied - A Preamble

2009-04-09T22:48:00.000-07:00

To me, one of the points of coaching is to develop and elucidate a performance vision. The background for that vision must be based on science and an ability to understand the complex series of relationships that coalesce in cycling. From aerodynamics, biomechanics, tactics, psychology, and nutrition, to the deep intracacies of exercise physiology and it's relationship to performance, a coach has to Know, Live and Love all the elements. Certainly every coach has particular strenghths, and good ones tap outside resources as often as possible when they reach an impasse or need assistance (let's hear it for message boards and google groups!), but the essence of the vision must be your own. My own...

This year I am in the fortunate position of getting to put my vision to the test - on myself. I've been lucky enough over time to be reasonably fit and reasonably competitive on a mostly unstructured program. If I ride quite a bit, say 10-12 hours a week, I get in a modicum of shape and feel competitive in races and strong on rides. Don't get me wrong, I know what I've done and can do. I'm very diligent with my powermeter, I download most every ride and have 3+ years of good data to review. I can easily tell you my Mean Maximal Power values or recite my tactical or psychological strengths and weaknesses. Still, I don't think I've done more than a handful of structured VO2/MAP workouts over the past three years, haven't worked on my sprint much, motorpaced, improved my climbing or even been that focused on my nutrition. I've just kinda gotten by on a modest amount of ability and a lot of years on the bike. Which begs the question (or questions) what can I do on a structured program and don't I owe it to myself and my athletes to try that which I've prescribed? This must be the year to find out...

What Out of Shape Looks Like

2009-04-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

I have been doing about nothing on the personal cycilng front. As a point of validation let's look at my Performance Management chart over the past few years. It is both inspiring and depressing! Anyway, here it is (explanations below the image):

So let's review some data...
1. Trends - clearly I'm all over the place on consistency! From a low of 24.3 TSS/CTL points at the end of January 2007, to a maximum of 83.3 in Mid May of 2008. There have been 4 or 5 serious interuptions in training since January of 2007.
Typically they are periods of low activity lasting approximately 10 days to 3 weeks. Most training is between 55 - 80 TSS/day. The December 2007 Training block is the most substantial break from regular cycling I've takn in the last 5 or so years. It was a legitimate 4-weeks off the bike. It really set me up for a good 2008...but I had some hills to climb in the fitness arena.

2. Racing During This Period - despite my lack of sustained fitness, I did do some quality racing. Among the results I'm happy about:
- 3rd State Championships Masters Track Sprints, July 2007
- 3rd Masters Miss-n-Out American Velodrome Challenge, June 2008
- 4th State Championships Masters Points Race, July 2007
- 4th Single Speed CX NCNCA Cup, September 2008
- 5th State Championships Masters Kilo, July 2007
- 5th Masters Keirin American Velodrome Challenge, June 2008
- 5th Masters Scratch Race American Velodrom Challenge, June 2008
- Completed Elkhorn SR Pro/1/2 - 4 stages, ~230miles, June 2007
- Hit a personal best FTP of 340 Watts in November of 2008

3. So Now What? Well, I guess it's time to get back on the bike and start building some fitness. Currently my CTL is at a world class 30 TSS/Day - which I think is the equivalent of getting up and walking to the refrigerator. My body weight is at 170.6, body fat at a hair over 12.5% according to my Tanita (but really I think it's probably closer to 15%!). I'll do some testing this week and get a 'true' baseline of my fitness. If I were to guess, I'd say my:
- FTP ~280W
- 5s Power - ~1200W (best of 1380W)
- 1m Power - ~500W (best of 600W)
- 5m Power - ~350W (best of 420W)
My lack of riding is most visible to me in my 5min efforts - I just can't go very hard for very long! That and my pedal stroke is just crap rigth now! Well, all this lack of fitness does allow me to test some theories for training load and specificity over the next few months. Stay tuned, we'll see what we can come up with...

Milan - San Remo

2009-03-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

Not quite as dramatic as last year..but it's still La Primavera:

We were married in Italy and spent the first part of our honeymoon in Finale Ligure, right on course about, I dunno, 30-40 miles from the finish. It is a beautiful area and the roads are spectacular. Every where I went I imagined the field coursing through in full flight. Yay spring!!

Twitter This!

2009-03-03T19:43:00.000-08:00

Guilty as associated!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Twitter Frenzy

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

So Much More Out There

2009-02-25T23:27:00.001-08:00

I read

Sometimes I run across stuff that is fun, funny, classic, and imperative.
If you haven't seen this you should:

Some people have some free time so they do stuff Such as this. It includes a whole lotta things like this (yea, you've probably seen 'em, but have you seen all of them?):

The Landlord from Will Ferrell

Another:

or this:

But This one may be best:

Webinar Series

2009-02-25T18:37:00.000-08:00

Based on the success of our first couple of webinars we've swallowed the Kool-Aid and worked up a webinar series for aspiring athletes.
Here is our preliminary schedule of webinars:
Feb 25th - Interval Training
March 11th - Individual Race Tactics
March 25th - Team Race Tactics
April 8th - Tapering Strategies

more to follow!!

Pure Power Exposed!

2009-02-12T09:14:00.001-08:00

Certainly you all know Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin fame. Well he's not content to have a wicked fast starts on the mountain bike (01 World Cup in Napa Mens Start)..Ryder thought it would be a good idea to try and break Jonathan Vaughters record for the climb up Haleakala, the 10,000 foot volcano in Hawaii (yep, 0 - 10,000 in about 57Km!). Here is the video:

Ryder Hesjedal :: Haleakala Attempt from Media One Multimedia on Vimeo.

A little data from the effort:
Time: 2:32:45 (old record 2:38)
Average Watts: 349 (4.81W/Kg)
Work Done: 3201 Kj - that's about 1280Kj's an hour, for 2.5 hours..impressive!

USA Cycling Develoment Camp - Webinar

2009-02-12T08:53:00.000-08:00

USA Cycling presented a very informative webinar on their Development Camp program. It's a great opportunity for young riders to experience a true 'racing' camp experience and get their names and faces in front of some of the USAC Coaches (helps with selection hint hint). You can download the webinar HERE - but be warned..it's a big file (71MB) so it may take awhile!

Annnndddd ACTION!

2009-02-11T22:07:00.000-08:00

This weekend I'll be sitting in the directors chair, well assistant directors chair, for the Los Gatos Women's Elite Team as they tackle the San Jose Criterium on Saturday and the fabled, albeit reduced, Amgen Tour Of California Women's Race. I'm excited to work with the likes of these ladies. They are all fast, smart, and just good fun. We don't have our strategy dialed quite yet, and I wouldn't tell ya if we did, but suffice it to say that we think we can pull a podium, er rabbit, out of our collective hats. I mean let's look at the crew....
JVM - Jenny is tenacious and fit....
LVG - Super Pro Laura Van Gilder is flying the colors this weekend and will surely be an asset when it comes to keeping the ladies on the sharp end of the field. All that and she'll still finish in the money!
MEA - Shelly Olds gets a lot of, deserved, press and praise on the Nor Cal circuit, but don't think Mary Ellen doesn't know how to dial it up to top tier on command. I've watched her completely SMOKE some talented womens fields. This would be the proverbial feather in her cap....and ME likes a challenge!!
KF - yea, though she be but small, she be fierce! Prime hunter? Set Up gal? Kim Fong will certainly be put to the whip this weekend, and she'll respond glowingly
Karla - she may not be a one name wonder in Nor Cal quite yet..but she very well could be after this race.
Starla - really, we need some sort of Karla/Starla pnemonic here. Don't worry you'll see her smiling face at the front.
Lindsay - she could be the next 'thing' in women's racing 'round here. We tested her last week and her VO2power was AWESOME! Like over 5W/kg awesome..and it's only January.
Erin Dunn - another slayer for the cause...Erin has good fitness right now, lucky Erin.

There are some heavy hitters coming to town for sure. Columbia, Webcor,Proman, Tibco, etc...pretty much all the speedsters. But don't think for a minute that the end result is pre-determined...that's why they call it a RACE!! And anything can happen in a RACE! See you out there

Webinar Coming Jan 28th

2009-01-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

Sterling Sports Group is pleased to announce the first in a series of Training and Racing Webinars designed to facilitate your development in cycling. Matt McNamara, a USAC Level 1 Coach, will be hosting an informative and useful webinar on Developing Your Annual Training Plan on Wednesday February 28th from 4 - 5:30pm. This is much more than a simple rehash of the 3-weeks ON/1-week OFF methodology. Instead it is designed as a comprehensive look at your training and racing plans for the 2009 season. Have you set your goals? Do you know your strengths and weaknesses? What workouts work best for you? What workouts do you need the most? January is a great time to sit down and answer, or better yet refine your answer to, these questions. We'll cover some sound principals including the value of base training, creating a responsible High Intensity Training (HIT) plan, and tracking your progress throughout the year. The webinar includes several DIY-Worksheets and planning tools that we'll walk through together. The emphasis will be on power based training, but we will address heart rate and perceived exertion as valuable metrics too.

The clinic is $20 and registration is exclusively through PayPal. You can sign-up on our website - www.sterlingwins.com - or by sending your registration fee to info at sterlingwins dot com. Once registration is confirmed we will send you the webinar packet, including worksheets, sign-on information and link. Future webinars will be scheduled bi-weekly, check the website for upcoming events.

See you online!

2009 Fired Up!

2009-01-15T19:19:00.001-08:00

Every year, for the past 20 or so, I get increasingly jazzed for the start of the cycling season. Some years it's because of my own aspirations, most years it's the return of european pro's to competition. In the 80's it was events like the Ruta del Sol and Tirreno Adriatico that kicked off the seaon for me. Of course in '88 we had to wait for Winning to come out, but the pictures of the field riding along some warm coastline always enticed. La Primavera, Paris-Nice, Vuelta Andalucia (Ruta's new name), Tirreno, these are Spring. By the late 90's the season started moving earlier with the arrival of the Tour de Langkawi and Tour Down Under. With the rise of the internet it became easy to get immediate results for a road season that now lasts the better part of 10 months. Add cyclocross or track racing and there is great racing somewhere year round. Still, the return of pro road racing is it's own special beast. New teams, new colors, the chance to see how your favorites are doing. Sweet!

So, we're quickly coming up on the start of the 09 season and the excitement is building for the Tour Down Under. Say whatever you want about Lance - he may be a jerk, an ego-maniac, a doper, but he's certainly compelling! I've never been a big 'fan', but i'll give the dude his due....Lance is a bad-ass when he wants to be. Of course there are plenty of other story lines to follow besides that, thank goodness. I'm curious about Columbia and Garmin of course, but also interested to see which new Belgian rises in April, how the 100th Giro will play out, and what team will be a revelation. BMC in europe? Katusha? Liquigas or Silence-Loto? We'll know soon.

I'm not more psyched for this year than others...just about the same I guess. But it builds slowly and next thing I know I'm sitting in front of a computer screen trying to discern the action at Tour of California via video-feed! Last year I sat and watched nearly every stage in real time (it helps to have a job where you work real early). Throw in the local racing scene...Snelling, Cherry Pie, Merced, and it tends to keep me busy.

Typically I'm 'preparing' for one of them, trying to squeeze in miles and intensity to be ready for Merco, or riding old la honda looking for better numbers before Pilarcitos. Not this year. Instead I'm trying to enjoy a slow build towards a different kind of season. Different means less worry about continually chasing race fitness or some abstract idea of what being an active racer means. Different means putting in some fun races on the track and aiming for top 20 finishes in the big crits like San Rafael, SF Twilight, Cats Hill and maybe a few others. Different means putting the time and effort into a full cyclocross season. That sounds fun to me.

2009 Clinic Schedule

2009-01-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

We just released our 2009 Camp & Clinic schedule for Sacramento and the Bay Area. In addition to our traditional favorites like climbing and descending we've added some level 2 clinics targeted at racers and advanced riders. The schedule is complete through mid-July and we'll have the Fall schedule up by the 1st of April.

Upcoming Events:

2009 Full Events Calendar Available Here
Bike Fit Clinic January 17th 8:30a - 12:00p
Climb & Descend Level l 1 Jan 31st, May 9th Feb 7th 8:30a - 12:00p
Climb & Descend Level 2 April 4th June 7th 8:30a - 12:00p
Speed Camp Level 1 March 21st, July 18th March 22nd 8:30a - 12:00p
Speed Camp Level 2 April 18th April 11th, June 14th 8:30a - 12:00p
Time Trial Camp May 10th 8:30a - 12:00p
Mini Camp Weekend March 6 - 8th May 23 - 24th Fri - Sun

BASP Finals - Coyote Point!!

2008-12-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

First off a big - tough guy shout out - to Ed M....brother took a chain ring in the calf in his race and let me tell you it looked just about serious when I walked up on him! Oh, ouch..oh my gosh....damn. We got him into the car and off to the hospital for care. I was worried it was one of those 'couple of weeks' kind of injuries....d'oh! Then a couple of hours later I get a text from Mike V saying that Ed is coming back to the venue!! what??? Wow...he's tough. Turns out it wasn't as bad as initially thought. He was even walking.

I had never been to Coyote Point for a race so the venue was a pleasant suprise. ton of technical single-track combined with road race worthy straights and fast sections on the back side. Good fun. Got off to a good start and was ~8th onto the first singletrack. Mike Sayers did a barnstorm on the first hill to come past just before the dirt and was cooking! I actually followed him into the fun singletrack downhill...but i'd been working a little different line and used that to pass him before the tree barrier. The sand ate me up 1st lap...but from there it wasn't that bad - run the first 30yards, mount, ride the rest - and don't eat the bacon! smelled good, tasted good for 3 seconds - then remember the nature of mostly warm bacon grease. Bleeeeach! No water forced me to spit and suffer for the whole of the straightaway trying to clear the taste. I rode the back side barriers the first 4 or so laps...then decided it was a lot more work for not much gain. Was riding pretty consistently with a Scott/Alteeza guy and a Family Cycling Center guy had come up to us going pretty well. We rode the better part of a lap or so together at a pace I was happy with; Somewhere 10-12th with 2 or 3 guys within about 30s. At the start of 3 to go I flatted entering the single track and RAN the entire fun single-track section!! It probably took 5 minutes or so to get to the wheel pit. Bummer...right at that 40min mark again....s'up? Anyway, got a wheel after watching everyone pass me, jumped in and was quickly lapped by Josh and the other top 4 on the last lap....I was ok with not having to do another lap, but was ok not doing another lap too. Overall a pretty good race personally. Quick power details - "Race - 40min" ~325Wnorm/308Wavg...better than last week, but down from the BASP #3 Night Race.

Team wise we had a good day, save Ed's suture safari. The super-juniors..Anthony and Matt V were again on fire with Anthony pulling a 3rd in the race and a 2nd overall in the series - wow, good job Anthony! Matt V also lit up the race finals and the series overall placing 6th today and 9th overall. A really impressive start by these first year 'cross riders....big fun next year!

Anthony D - 3rd Junior U18
Matt V - 6th Junior U13
Mike Sayers - 20th Elite A's -
Bill S - 22nd in 35+B's....and a quick convert to the idea of a Leopard CX rig.
Matt M - 22nd in Elite A's....drat!

Elecrtric Drag Car

2008-12-07T20:30:00.001-08:00

Ok...this is pretty cool. I was never a gear head...but knew enough to know that a sub 12sec in the quarter for a street car is pretty darn quick...add to that that it's both a DATSUN! and ELECTRIC...and wahoo....sweet!!

More on todays CX race at Coyote Point in a bit....

Putting On The Coaching hat

2008-11-22T23:31:00.000-08:00

I've been reading a bunch of stuff lately (see the previous post), but not all if it has been pure candy. I try to read some relevant stuff too. Physiology, biomechanics, stuff that is important to both my day to day job and the performance of my athletes (which is my day to day job - a potential infinite loop of hilarity).

Anyway, there is some good stuff out there from coaches across the spectrum of spots (gotta read it all). I just read some very interesting stuff on the influence of the brain on fatigue and There is also some junk out there as well. A few coaches are pushing ideas and their own theories that are based more on ego than real science. I won't throw them out now, but may later...guess it depends on the quality of my coffee tomorrow. A couple of observations

1. Lots of coaches claim to have the next silver bullet of performance. This year it seems to be Tabata Intervals. Roughly, its a set of 6-8 intervals of 20 seconds ON, 10 seconds OFF performed at about 170% of VO2max (power i presume as the study had them on a cycling ergometer - though they are usually described as 'all out' by those referencing). I've been using them for about a year now intermittently (yep, one of the sheep) and can say that they are both effective and too easy. I haven't done them in the run up to a competition, but my athletes seem to like them. They are hard, but they aren't as hard as some other workouts I do. The argument is that those doing Tabatas had a 14% improvement in VO2 and a 28% improvement in anaerobic capacity over the course of a 6-week study doing these 2 or 3 times a week, while those exercising at 70% of VO2 only showed improvement in their VO2 (53 to 58 ml/kg). It just seems to me that doing a block of these 2 or 3 times a week isn't sufficient to make performance gain - think about it this way...6 sets of 20s is only 2minutes of workload - so although intensity factor is very high, total training stress is very low. Then again, as an interval model they are a valid approach. Then again so is Peak Power. Think of Peak Power as VO2 power. The strategem is to do your peak power for 60% of your T-max (maximum sustained duration at peak power). While a solid approach to High Intensity Training (HIT) I think that the Thibault approach is much more elegant. Dr Thibault has built a model for improving your VO2 power by working across a range of intensities (85-110% of VO2power) and durations (45s - 6:30m). I like it because it offers both a standardized approach and a wide variety of workout options to keep athletes motivated.

2. The next big 'revelation' is the move away from periodization in training. Carl Foster of ACSM asserts that no reliable studies validate the periodized training plan approach. While I haven't read the reference material he drew from, I did look around a bit and found an interesting look at the relative volume of training done at Lactate Threshold at an ACSM Annual conference, chaired by Carl Foster, that could certainly be a backstop to the idea of eliminating periodization if for no other reason than to minimize training time spent at higher intensities. That study, lead by Stephen Seiler, looked at polarizing training (increasing volume of low intensity and essentially decreasing threshold level work) and the positive results that came as a result. My worry is that athletes will simply hear that periodization is out and use it to justify an increase in volume of intensity (defined by me as Level 4/LT and above) that will ultimately lead to stagnation or perhaps overtraining.

Anyway, this idea of ego-centric coaching was all brought home recently on a series of threads authored by a coach with a great list of acronyms and accomplishments behind his name (which is a HUGE pet peeve of mine!!!!) but a complete lack both perspective and couth (sp?). He went on and on about how doctors are, basically, inept and dangerous, how chiropractic will be the wave of the future, and what a jerk another coach is for posting an educational link that happened to also be revenue generating for the other coach. It was distasteful and tacky. That he followed it up by telling this group (that includes many accomplished coaches, PhD's, etc) that the next big thing ("you heard it here first") was having trainers partner with doctors to help both gain credability. What? My first job out of college in 1995 was working as a trainer/exercise therapist in a clinical setting with chronically ill patients - yea...almost 15 years ago!

I guess my point is that each of you should really try and see the big picture with your training. Don't look at the next 'new' thing as the path to greatness. Don't presume that because someone has a lot of letters behind their name that they know what they are talking about. Challenge your sources. Ask questions. Don't settle...

Too Much Time....

2008-11-20T22:39:00.000-08:00

I am a confirmed bike-holic (b/c bike-a-holic sounds like a problem). Bike-addict? Anyway, I think it may preclude my ability to succeed in other areas. It's like a constant pre-occupation or gnaw. I think I should have taken my riding more seriously. I kinda squadered those foundational years with girls and college...ok, not exactly a waste of time since I can form a sanguine thought, or so I think. Anyway, the point is that I spend a bit of time reading blogs and am constantly amazed at the talent that is writing about cycling, the creativity of their posts ( a quiz where the winner gets to watch the Family Ties when Alex P Keaton gets addicted to speed - come on!), and the seemingly endless amount of free time people have to do this stuff. Nevermind the time spent trying to read it all! I normally read the same one or two but have tried to challenge myself to go beyond of late. I've been pretty far. Glad I did. The myriad of perspectives and opinions that grace the web is daunting, disturbing, and fun.The good ones have made it to the left hand column. I'm gonna try to make my posts have a bit more panache to them from now on.

CX Magazine Photo Stream

2008-11-17T16:21:00.000-08:00

Find more photos like this on Cyclocross Magazine

BASP #3 - Night 'Cross Comes Calling...

2008-11-17T13:58:00.000-08:00

Tom and Alec Simpson throw a pretty good party for the Super Prestige, but Saturday night was a new ceiling! Their crew and the folks at Roaring Mouse put together a fun new twist on 'cross....Night Racing. I've done some night races, they are fun because everything is more surreal, feels so much BIGGER. This was no exception. Rolling out to pre-ride one wondered if there would be enough light thrown on the course. The bumps were there. The short, crisp climbs. Rocks and dust - all the CX mainstays.
Would the darkness mask an errant bump and take me out? Strangely the visibility on the course was akin to a daylight race, I think because the haze of race level intensity is the same so a lack of light isn't really a distraction. I'd certainly say that the crowds helped....a super shout out to Liza and her crew - you were sooooo loud every lap!! It was inspiring to come up that hill and hear the cheers...thanks! Anyway - the race...

I haven't raced an Elite A CX race since 2002 or 2003. With a call up for the top 20 I was a little nervous about the start, the all important start. So I lined up way early, shot the breeze with some other guys and slotted into the 2nd row right behind Josh Snead and his flashing red bar ends (well, at least i'll know how far ahead he is - eg if I can see those lights I'm probably ok!). Off the line and up to speed - not too hard, but enough to take a wide line into the first turn/curb - hot onto single track and i'm in 4th. A couple of hard chargers, including Buckethead, slip past in the corners before the barriers, but I'm feeling pretty good and trying to recover a bit as we head into lap two. Held my own through the lap, but bobbled the barriers and got passed by one other guy, drat. Kept it up the next couple of laps, started to get some recovery and felt pretty good - time to go looking for places. 20 minutes done - wow, 40 to go...pace yourself, but go! A little hot into the slippery transition onto the homestretch pavement and, down! Not super fast...but don't those always hurt more!? I got up quickly but my shoulder and thumb hurt. Back on the bike - out of sorts and in pain. I rode the next lap or so in a daze, lost some positions and kept hearing the internal voice saying - 'you're hurt, probably should stop" - but I didn't want too..i wanted to do this race, wanted to finish in the top 15 darn it. The next few laps were painful. It actually hurt less to grab the bars hard on the bumpy stuff...for awhile anyway. Aaron Kereluk passed me and we played chase for the next 3 or 4 laps. He was faster in the technical stuff, but I had him cold on pure power. Honestly, without the injury I never would have seen Aaron - I was just faster, and Aarons fast! That felt pretty good. Unfortunately the pain kept getting worse and I spent two of our three laps braking almost exclusively with my front brake/left hand. Managed to scare myself a few times, but didn't crash. I dropped out at 36 minutes. 36 hours later I am hopeful that my thumb will be ok for districts and I think I can run with the top 5 in 35A's, we'll see.

Ok - now the fun part....the power data! I'll post the screen shot in a few minutes. I've taken some grief for putting a power tap on my cx bike. Extra weight, unreliable, blah blah blah - I'm just curious what it looks like. About like you'd expect - tons of spikes in the 600-700 range alternating with 0 watts on the barriers, downhills, turns, etc. i averaged 79rpm for the race - which is actually a good cadence for that course - slightly larger gear saves the legs a bit. i didn't have heart rate, but i'm guessing it was high!
Race Time: 36minutes
Watts: 323W
Watts normalized: 346W
Details - the race started with a 1238W punch - that averaged out to ~750W for the first 10s and 550W for the first minute. The first 20 minutes Normalized out to 356W, which if we use the Coggan formula would put my LT Power at ~340 (95% of 20min value) - which is quite a bit higher than I expected. I really wanted to get the full hour of data, but that slippery pavement didn't feel I should. I can't wait to see the next one...

What Do You All Think?

2008-10-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

I know there are only maybe five people that regularly read this space...well that's slightly disingenous...I can tell you for a fact that we've had 291 unique visitors stopping by 592 times since July 1st. Which works out to almost 3 people a day! Way more impressive.

anyway, back to my point...

Simple question for ya.....should we do a team for 2009? I've been kicking it around for a few months now and i don't have a definitive answer. Inclinations & Leanings, sure. The point is to try and introduce a different dynamic to the classical 'club-team' format; to bring some team level coaching to the members and expect some team level cohesion in events. We'll aim to develop riders in each category, kick down some good deals, have fun, and of course to . But hey, don't all teams try to do that...

I don't have a perfect model spec'd out in my head yet....but it would certainly be a racing team, would probably be pretty small (despite my world domination tendencies), and would look f'ing sweet! We may even land some sponsors...but it's my team so that's probably enough right?

Anyway - we'll probably do it, but I'd love to hear some opinions, suggestions, offers?

Slash to Rip Up Surf City Sunday!

2008-10-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

In a flash of brilliance Sterling has hired G-n-R guitar hero Slash to fill in for oft-injured team manager Matt Mc at this weekends Surf City Spooktacular! Slash has a particular affinity for the single-speed class and will be working to de-rail Matt's current 4th place overall in the NCNCA Cup Standings. So, bring your friends, yourself, and your best rock & roll attitude out to Soquel high tomorrow!!!

BASP #1 Race Report - Bill Strachan

2008-10-22T14:38:00.001-07:00

This was the first race of the year in the BASP series, my primary
goal for the year so I was motivated for a good race. I was hopeful
that there would be less climbing than the last couple of years on
this course since I heard that we would be taking an extra lap on the
football field adjacent to the start finish area but I was
disappointed. There may have been less actual climbing than in years
past but we still made it all the way up to the top of the tree
covered hill and back. The climbing was mostly in one sustained
section that took something like a minute and a half to negotiate.

I was able to get a couple of laps on the course in the time between
the first and second heats for a warm up, I did not warm up on the
trainer as planned since I stopped to say hello to my kids, wife and
sister so instead of warming up on the trainer just rolled around on
the infield. I was nervous about trying to get a good start position
so I ended up standing by the course entrance for 5 minutes or so
getting cold anyway.

I got off the line well, getting my foot in the pedal on the first
stab, and made it into just about 5 place for the first time up the
steep run up. I had a clean bike pick up and a pretty good climb up
the hill. Right after the hill one guy crashed, got up and crashed
again right in front of me right but made it past him and through the
rough sections that followed. I lost a couple of places on the first
long climb but was trying to cool it and not dig too deep on this
first lap. Good plan because I was able to give away only a second or
two but get it all back on the rolling, downhill and flat sections
that followed. Felt good and strong in the flat, loose and sandy
section, and was able to pass a guy or two there on the first couple
of laps.

After the first lap and a half or so it was pretty clear how the race
would sort out. There was one guy who was smoking the field and a
group of four guys close together chasing. I was leading another small
group of guys behind who could not quite close the gap. I would
occasionally lose a place to one of two guys but then gain it back,
usually on the approach to the football field or on the football
field. For the first half of the race, the second group was close,
only 10 seconds or so but we gradually lost sight of them. With just
under one lap to go, one of the guys I was trading place with put in a
hard effort just after the run up and gapped me pretty good. I lost a
little more time on the climb, made up a little on the football field
and held off the guys behind for a good result, 7th place. I managed
to have a clean race, no crashes, no dropped chains and clean over the
barriers every time.

Next one in two weeks for me at Candlestick.

Thanks for reading.

Central Coast / NCNCA Cup #1

2008-10-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

The best description of the races so far is off the ncnca website - race reports link. Dusty does a great job of painting the picture.
Given that i'll just mention some of the SterlingWins.com p/b Leopard highlights...

We put Matt V, Ed M, Liza R, and Matt M on the line to race. Aaron was there but not racing - injury, lucky! Anyway, the highlight of the race was the stupendously steep uphill grind to the top of the corkscrew. I'm gonna guess the steep part was probably 150m or so...but the fun part was that it kept getting steeper! Then after the steepest barge section you got another climb to the barriers. Nice. Matt V rode a smart and steady race to pull 2nd - medals rule! Matt also scored a huge tray of Strawberries, which Mia was kind enough to eat most of the rest of the afternoon! Thanks for sharing Matt! Ed M looked good on the bike. He's really learning fast. Smooth in transition, he looked composed on the loose stuff too! Liza learned a new level of technical skill riding! That course is a tough debut to the scene...good job Liza! The speed will come and then your fitness will carry the day! Keep practicing those loose sand skills though..they are a nor-cal staple! As to my race, well it went pretty well. It was only about 3 laps too long. I rode kinda easy out of the gate just waiting to see what would happen on the climb. I didn't know any of the real players so I just followed wheels and settled into about 4th the first time up the climb. It went well and my bike choice, single speed MTB with a 42x21 was a great one for the top section - Super Technical! Loose and switchback prone it was easy to loose the front end. I squeaked away at the start of the 2nd lap and took the lead. Charged the next 3 laps and came through to hear 5 to go!! Ouch. The rest of the race was about pacing and energy management. When passed by the eventual winner, it was obvious right away that I couldn't hold his wheel, so I tried to sit back and tempo off him. A couple of laps later here come the two buy-cell guys looking like straight killers!!! Stomp, stomp right by me and now I'm in 4th. Fortunately I could hold their gap to about 15 seconds for the rest of the race. I made a run at 3rd on the 2nd to last climb, but he was able to gas again at the top and move right back to 15-20s. After that I rolled tempo to the finish. I think I was about 19th overall when combined with the A's who started 1 minute in front of us. Wow, that was pretty fast! Update: It was actually 17th in A's and 37th overall by average lap time (old guys are flippin fast!!)

Looking Back....

2008-10-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but as I was cruising around the inter-web-net I read Mike Hernandez' post on the BAWC dinner thing coming up....and it mentioned Sarah Bamberger as being in attendance..which got me thinking about old teammates. Specifically it got me thinking about the team we had at Sycip in 2000 - 2003.

Sycip is a frame builder of National repute - making nice stuff out of steel (& Aluminum & Carbon too). Jay & Jeremy not only make sweet bikes, they are genuinely cool, nice, down to earth and just a little bit crazy! They also managed to cobble together one of the best teams I've ever ridden on - but probably didn't realize it at the time. Let's do a quick recap on who was on the team and just how bad-ass they were....

Leading the charge - John Funke...come on if you know nor-cal CX history you know how fast Funke is. Always, I mean ALWAYS in the mix with the big dogs, John would come out of nowhere each August or September to do a few road races (crits mostly) in the run up to the start of 'cross. Then when the season started John would be rippin' at the front in full-charge mode against Justin R, Damon K, Jackson S, Dave W, Andy J-M, Josh S - I mean really, really good riders! Top 3 in the '03 Surf City Series, 3rd in '02.

Next Up - speedster Sarah Bamberger. She was just getting fired up in cycling when she rode for Sycip. I've been pleasantly amazed at her growth in the sport. She is proof positive of what a slice of talent and a ton of dedication will do. She's really become one of the best riders in the country.

Don't Forget - Lauren Costantini. She'd just moved to the Bay area and was only a couple of years into her riding..but what a talent! Lauren progressed so fast and had such visible talent that it was a pleasure to watch her ride. She rode pretty much anything. I know she podiumed at CX Nationals in 2004, and I'm pretty sure she has a National Championship in MTB as well. Oh yea, and she's a PhD....Fast and smart!

Steve Paleaz - He of World Cup track competence. Steven always looks sweet on a bike! That he's developed world class leg speed and talent to match over the past few years is way cool!

Rachel Lloyd - she was really only on the team the first year I was, but she did win some serious races, including National Championships I think. Rachel is a true rennisance woman of the peloton. She raced pro XC and DH in the same season - wow!

Jon Brown - Jon came to the team from Colorado with a developing reputation as an adventure racer. Little did we all know that Jon was seriously good! I only raced with him at Tour of the Gila (well, he was in a different category so it was mostly hagn out time at the hotel...but he proved to be a good racer and a great guy. He's gone on to stardom on the Salomon/Crested Butte Professional Adventure racing team. He can do it all - run, climb, ride, raft, swim - pretty much anything athletic and endurance based. Awesome

There were many other great riders on that team - Hans Kellner, Santiago Bolon, Scott Francis, Kelsey Aldrich...just a very good team all around. As I look through cycling I continue to see how small our community is. The old adage 6 degrees of separation is probably only 1 or 2 in cycling, for everyone. That's kinda cool....

Start of a small flurry....

2008-10-10T19:03:00.000-07:00

Here is a bit of inside info on the CX1's from Leopard. Joachim Parabo has been racing in the U.S. for the early season and has this to say about the bike:

The bike draws attention !!!
I left it outside a diner in Queen Anne part of Seattle - during 45 min. 5 guys stopped and stared for 2-4min. Their girlfriends looked like - oh... there goes my new kitchen!
I random biker pointed at the bike and stopped me on a cycling patch - I let him ride it. He was thrilled by the acceleration.
Guys were drooling at the Wednesday practice with a 200 pers. turnout at the Marymoor Velodrome (StarCrossed venue).

Handling and quality
The bike handles well. The accelerations are crisp and not wobbly, like the new BH cross carbon for instance ... For a bike weighing 1180g in 58cm painted - that is QUALITY.

Support Mountain Biking and Veto A.B 2923

2008-09-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

Tell the Governor to Support Mountain Biking by Vetoing Dangerous Bill  !

The California Legislature has sent Assembly Bill 2923 to Governor  Schwarzenegger's desk, with potentially disastrous results for popular  mountain biking destinations. The bill is the first step in possible  Wilderness designations that would eliminate classic mountain biking  trails at Henry Coe State Park, Robert Lewis Stevenson State Park and  Austin Creek State Recreation Area. State Wilderness may be  appropriate in some areas, but not these parks  . You must act now!

STERLING SPORTS GROUP ANNOUNCES ROSTER

2008-09-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Small Cyclocross Program Fires Off Surprisingly Strong Roster

SUNNYVALE, CA (September 22, 2008) – Sterling Sports Group is pleased to announce their 2008 Cyclocross Team roster. Built around a core group of 14 riders, the team is composed of an exciting combination of talent, experience, youth, enthusiasm, and attitude. The team scored a bit of a coup by landing Mike Sayers as it’s lead rider. Sayers is a long time stalwart of the US Professional road scene, and is eagerly embracing his first foray into the world of cyclocross. “I’m honored to have Mike on the team. His leadership and approachability will be great assets to our young team,” says team manager Matt McNamara. In addition to Mr. Sayers, the team boasts several top tier athletes including multiple State Champion Liza Rachetto, promising juniors Matt Valencia and Anthony Delivannis, several speedy Masters and a quartet of Elite B riders looking to move up.

Mike Sayers puts it all in perspective when he says “It’s going to be really nice to be a part of this program. I’m sure having fun is the name of the game.” That aura of fun is certainly be enhanced by the other members of the team. From Masters to Juniors this is a truly unique program. Chris Carroll is perhaps the most inspiring member of the team. Chris had a heart transplant in 2002 and is super motivated to race to his hearts content, to turn a phrase. Add to the mix experienced riders like Aaron Hunter, Matt Idler, Jason Sage and Bill Strachan, rookies like the junior terrors Matt Valencia and Anthony Delivannis; and masters like Ed Miszkiewicz and Justin Kromelow and you just know we’re in for a fun season!

The team is focused on rider development through an innovative program that provides each rider with a personalized coaching program, weekly training rides, event and equipment support, and camraderie. Events wise the team will focus on the Northern California calendar including the Bay Area Super Prestige Series, Central Coast and Sacramento Series’, with a couple of National level events likely. The team, officially known as SterlingWins.com presented by Leopard Bikes, will ride the brand new, 1100 gram, Carbon Fiber Leopard CX1 bike adorned with Ritchey WCS components, and SRAM drivetrains.

Riders:
Mike Sayers – UCI Pro / Elite A’s – 12 year professional for BMC, Health Net, Mercury
Liza Rachetto – Womens Elite A – 2008 Idaho State Criterium Champion
Matt McNamara – Elite A’s – Team Manager and USAC Level 1 Coach
Matt Valencia – Junior – multiple top 10’s at 2008 Junior Nationals
Anthony Delivannis – Junior
Aaron Hunter – Master 35+A
Bill Strachan – Masters 45+A
Jason Sage – Elite B’s
Matt Idler – Elite B’s, Team Coach
Justin Kromelow – Masters B35+
Chris Carroll – Elite C’s
Ed Miszkiewicz - Master 50+ C

Equipment:
Frames: Leopard CX1 1100g Carbon Fiber
Components: Ritchey WCS
Drivetrain: SRAM

ABOUT STERLING SPORTS GROUP
Sterling Sports Group (www.sterlingwins.com) is the result of over 20 years of passion for the sport of cycling. Launched in late 2003, Sterling Sports is a growing company focused on creating a seamless interface between athlete and coach, technology and personal attention.
###

Finally I'm A Category 1*

2008-09-16T19:18:00.001-07:00

*Ok, so really I'm still an Expert off-road, but with USAC changing the categories for mountian biking in 2009, I'll be a legit Cat 1! Truth be told I haven't done a MTB race since probably 2000 or 2001, but the license still says EXPERT, err CAT 1 come January 1st!

Of course this brings me to another point - Crits. Love 'em! Went up to the city and snookered my way into the SF Twilight race on Saturday so I could ride around with some fast guys, feel cool, and try to look competent. Race started and I was pretty far back...far enough that I couldn't see, much less get to, the front for the first 15minutes or so (I actually almost threw up - which has NEVER happened in a race..gotta be the coffee 30minutes before the start). Anyway, after those first arduous minutes I kinda settled in and started picking off guys on my way to the front. 3 or 4 each lap, maybe 10 on a good one (there were 118 at the start) and slowly but surely I was into the top 20 with about 30minutes left. It was fun! It also pointed out something that seems both odd and strangely euphoric - cornering. You'd think that Pro/1/2 riders would be very adept at handling high speed corners in tight quarters - and they are for the most part. The interesting thing on Saturday was the willingness to simply follow the wheel in front, even if it meant slowing down precipitously, then having to jump hard out of the corner - every time. Now, I'm not very fit so I can't afford to be surging too much - I gotta keep as much momentum into corners as I can! Don't think I 'dive' corners - I'm old and have a family so that sort of reckless riding is in my past. But, and here's where the strange euphoria came in, it seemed that every time I came into a corner a natural lane would open up. Didn't matter if I was outside, inside, or stuck in the middle - a couple of inches (or feet) would suddenly appear between the riders in front of me and I'd have room to maneuver. It was great! Especially the uphill-into-turn-4...I rolled through in an easy gear (53x19 or 21) with lots of momentum and a lane to exploit - that's where and how I picked up those 3-10 spots each lap. For whatever reason it just seemed that everyone else was over-geared and riding slow. As evidence I'll point to Fred Rodriguez - for the last five laps or so I followed him around. Time and again he'd shoot up the outside of the road into turn 4 and it was wide open each time...easy path forward. Which is the point late in fast crits - defending your position and rotating forward!! Anyway, I finished 27th....but was happy with that considering my relative lack of riding, fitness, or muscle endurance. A few numbers for those that care - 1h15min, 26.4mph avg (yea, slow eh?!), but my Normalized Power was 313 for the whole race - pretty high considering the speed. Interestingly the race was more 'surgy' than normal - I was either at 0 watts or over 400....like each lap.

Masters Track Nationals

2008-09-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

This past week Hellyer Park hosted the 2008 Masters National Track Championships. Run over the better part of the week (tuesday - sunday) it was a veritable cornucopia of speed. Events ranged from 200m to 30Km, and ages ranged from 30 to over 70! There were over 900 event registrations, and something like 450 athletes present...wow. i don't know if that's a record, but it certainly made for some busy lanes on the cement during warm-ups. Nor Cal really made a good show with hometown athletes taking over 25 golds, and better than 50 podiums for the week. As for me...well, let's use my race performance as an affirmation that one should really train for an event of this stature! You can look at my 'performance mgmt chart' below to see that the last couple of months have not been very productive on the training side. Being ever optimistic i still set goals for the events that I thought would put me in the mix for a top 5 result. My goals: 1:10 kilo, 3:40 3k, sub 12s 200m, and 25 points in the points race. My performances...1:14.9 kilo, 3:56 3k, 12.4s 200m, and a DNP in the points race (with 2 points). Overall fairly mediocre (best place 11th in 3k pursuit). On the plus side i really enjoyed the atmosphere, saw a few friends from long ago, and got to play 'bike racer' for the week. It also affirmed that I need to focus my training a bit more and get out of my 'pack fill' slump. So, as i look to cyclocross and 2009's race season, i feel a renewed sense of desire and purpose to train hard, race smart and get some flipping results! ok, enough speech'n

Why I Hate Cycling

2008-08-26T22:46:00.000-07:00

I Hate Cycling

Yea, weird huh....me being a coach and all....

so, why do I hate cycling....

it's too damn expensive, too hard, too dangerous, too sweaty, too many posers, too many slackers...

Expensive - ok, I COULD just race crits, or track, or 'cross, or mountain bikes, but nooooooo...i gotta try it all - D'oh!

Hard - I was pacing Peter Bohl today at the track. he was dong points race practice with JA Mendonca so I sat about 10m behind them and rode tempo at ~30. It wasn't hard. Taking that pace up about 2 or 3 mph without any draft after firing a ballistic start..then holding it for about 3minutes and 40 seconds - hoping it's enough to get top 5 in MASTERS pursuit.....danngit that's hard! 1:13 kilo's at Hellyer, 3 of them....that's hard

Danger - ok, that's just a place holder. I'm pretty safe, don't take stupid chances, and don't like to fall off my bike.

Sweaty - this is an article in itself...think about how much of your life is spent sweating if you ride. How many showers do you take each day? How many times a week are you sitting in your house with sweat in every crevice - waiting to go to sleep and do it again!

Posers - ok, another place holder...most everyone I know in cycling is ok. Most posers...not all, but most...are just newbies looking for some help or feedback..so get off your 'i'm a real cyclist' kick and say hi to each other out there...I've met more people just riding easily along foothill and saying hi at the lights....it's not all about rushing around everywhere...

Slackers - I go to races and continually see guys that don't do anything in races...I mean they don't ever see the front, the don't attack, they don't chase...they just ride around. Slackers. Same for those guys that go out to 'train' and end up just doing half assed efforts for no real purpose. By the way - i felt like a slacker today at the track...

So, I hate cycling....but it's still pretty fun, so i'll keep doing it...

2008-08-26T17:35:00.001-07:00

Here is the link to the Livermore Cyclocross Series Race #2 Course Map. We'll try to add more courses as we get the info...

Game On - where in the world is Sterling?

2008-08-25T22:50:00.000-07:00

Our first entry in the 'where in the world is Sterling' contest - Steven on top of Mt Wilson!! - Send your entry to me and we'll get it up pronto...do I hear Canada in our future? Italy?

Team Bike Update

2008-08-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

We've been working with Leopard to refine and finalize the look of our team bike - so, here it is. Classic black carbon weave, silver logo's mixed with the burnished red of the Sterling Logo. Pro!

'Cross Calendar Coming Along

2008-08-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

The clock is ticking - only a month or so til the first CX race in nor-cal...
if you haven't seen the schedule check it out - online!.

There are great events from Pilarcitos, including a NIGHT RACE!! I love those....

The venerable Central Coast Series is back this year with a FULL schedule...I mean events til January '09!!!!

Who can forget the Sacramento CX Series....certainly not our Sacto contingent...

The Velo Bellas are throwing down an event or two - specifically the Surf City Halloween Spectacular (yea, yea spooktacular...whatever)...just check their site/blog to get the details.

There are several other series that are yet to be webinized...but we'll keep looking - Lion of Fairfax, Livermore Series, and more..

so check back for updates and more....

The Valley Ride

2008-08-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

those of you living in the Palo Alto, peninsula area are certainly aware of the Wednesday night Valley Ride. Wednesday worlds, good training ride, or waste of time - this ride is a staple of many a riders week. Like most group rides you get out what you put in - sorta. This past week I thought I'd try a little experiment on the valley ride and see how LITTLE work I could do on the ride...as measured by average watts, normalized watts, and maximum watts. So to make it somewhat reasonable I had the following criteria - I had to ride the whole time at/near the top 10% of the field, I had to finish in the top 20 up the Huddert Park climb, and I had to at least position well for each of the three sprints on the ride. So off I went...

The ride started easily enough - I averaged 160'ish watts til the turn onto Arastradero, for point of clarity my LT Power is about 315W so this wasn't too tough. I admit being a bit worried about the climb over Arastradero and up Alpine to Portola Valley. It seems, however, that my ability to not work very hard was pretty good! I hit the turn to Portola at approximately 170W (now this is average, not normalized, but we'll get to that), so it wasn't going too badly. True to my 'rules' i'd stayed in the front 10% most of the ride - although to be truthful I was probably a bit farther back on the Arastradero climb. Into the first sprint and I rolled to the front, but let the hard chargers go ahead...still I was not more than maybe 5-10 riders from the winner. Over Mountain Home and I found myself feeling pretty good, riding at the front and even taking a couple of hard pulls. From there I took it easy to the base of Huddert - quite a different feeling to hit the base of the climb feeling somewhat fresh. Knowing peak watts was a criteria of my ride, just like average watts - I started the climb slowly but managed to hit the top in about 7th - averaging just over 300W for the 6 minutes of the climb. On the return to Los Altos I took a couple of pulls, including over the two small bumps that preceed the third sprint. Anyway - the long and short is that I averaged 202 Watts and 267W normalized for the ride. My Max Wattage was just over 1000W (My 5 Peak is about 1300W). I'll post the power file shortly with a few more details...but in the end...the ride was pretty easy for about 90% - and kinda tough for 10%.

More 'Cross? Are You Serious?

2008-08-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

Yep...I don't know what's wrong with my mind...probably just can't remember how much cyclocross hurts, but it just keeps ramping up in my brain!! Then I come across this from cxmagazine.com's website - kid outta Boulder who put together a CX movie that is pretty darn good. Take a minute to watch it, then drop some coins in his coffer so he can pursue the next project...

Little Belgium - The 2007 New England Cyclocross Season from Andy Frothingham on Vimeo.

Not Quite Cycling

2008-07-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, this isn't about cycling, but it is pretty funny none the less...

On The Road

2008-07-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

This week I'm in Colorado checking out the local scene - ok, ok - it's really my 20yr HS reunion, but the Colorado State Track Championships are ALSO this weekend, so I may get to do some racing as well. I grew up in Colorado and have to say that it's still quite a hot bed for cycling. No, they don't have Hernando, but they do have Garmin-Chipotle, National CX ChampBrandon Dwight, and the fine folks at Velonews to help keep them in the game. Honestly, it's great to be here, so i'll try to get some good dish for everyone over the next few days.

Track Day Update - New Date August 11th

2008-07-20T20:43:00.001-07:00

We've moved the Intro To Track Day to August 11th - 5:30 - 8:00pm. See post below for more details....

The Real Ricco

2008-07-18T14:08:00.001-07:00

Here's your chance to meet the REAL revelation of the Tour De France - Riccardo Ricco Suave....as soon as I heard his name a couple of years ago - touted as the protege of Gilberto Simoni, this song came to mind. I especially like the first few lines and thought this was absolutely the PERFECT anthem...

"him, I never liked him...I never trust him" - if you dont' know the quote you ain't 80's!

Snap - Squadra Clothing Is Almost Here!

2008-07-16T23:59:00.001-07:00

Got the word from the fine folks down at Squadra - our Sterling kits have been shipped!!! They should be here by this weekend and ready to disperse by Monday! We may have some extras for those not-quite enough to pre-order...

Sterling 'Cross Team Deadline Approaching

2008-07-16T23:54:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone -

Just a quick reminder that there are only two weeks left to submit an application to join our 2008 cyclocross program. We have some cool benefits like an AWESOME price on the new Leopard Carbon CX frame, a custom coaching program built just for you, weekly training rides, a team camp in September and more! Full details and application are available at www.sterlingwins.com, or by emailing me - coachmatt at sterlingwins.com. Deadline for applications is August 1st.

All The Best,

TRACK ATTACK!

2008-07-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

I've been riding a lot of track this season, well alot for having ridden NONE for about 15 years. It's been really fun and a great refresher on my tight quarters handling skills and race tactics. Now, I want to share the fun with you! Sterling will host an introduction to track day on Monday August 11th. The clinic will run from 5:30 - 8:00pm and rental bikes are available for $5. The clinic will include segments on how to ride a fixed gear, group skills on track, and a couple of flying time trials - 200m and standing 2 lap. Come out and join the fun - just drop me a line to let me know you're interested.

STERLING SPORTS GROUP FORMS CYCLOCROSS TEAM

2008-06-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

New Team To Focus On Athlete Development and Camaraderie

SUNNYVALE, CA (June 25, 2008) – Sterling Sports Group announced it’s intention to join the Northern California race team community with the formation of a 2008 Cyclocross Team. The team will support three to five riders in both Bay Area and Sacramento chapters in each of the following categories: Men’s, Women’s B and C, Masters A and B’s, and juniors. Interested riders should submit a team application between June 25th and August 1st. Preference will be given to those athletes who most ably demonstrate the balance between competition, camaraderie, and fun in their approach and attitude. Applications and program descriptions are available on the company website www.sterlingwins.com. Final rosters and clothing orders will be set by August 15th and racing will commence in early October. If there is sufficient interest and sponsorship the team will also support Men’s and Women’s Elite A teams.

A longstanding supporter of local cycling teams through it’s Team Coaching Programs, Sterling Sports Group President Matt McNamara noted that forming a Sterling branded team was the next logical step in the evolution of the company. “We are a performance coaching company, so we couldn’t think of a better way to showcase our programs and athletes than by racing the ultra-competitive, ultra-fun Northern California ‘cross circuit as a team.” To that end all members receive a personalized coaching program built to their schedule and goals (a $600 value). In addition team members will enjoy great support, regular training rides, and substantive pro-deals including:

- Team Training Camp – All team riders are invited to our 2 day training camp in mid-September. The camp includes baseline performance testing, group rides, position assessment, and training program orientations.
- Weekly Training Rides – starting in September we’ll be hosting weekly training and technique rides for the team in both Sunnyvale and Sacramento. Rides will be primarily held in and around Fremont-Older Park and Stevens Canyon in Cupertino on Tuesday or Wednesday evenings. Sacramento rides will be hosted by regional Sterling Sports Group coach Matt Idler.
- Leopard Bikes – Team members will have preferred pricing on the new Leopard Cyclocross Bike, a full carbon race bike that sets a new standard in both performance and weight.
- Ritchey Components – As a Northern California team Ritchey was a natural choice. Team bikes will have Ritchey spec bar, stem, cranks, and seat posts.
- Additional sponsors pending.

Cost for the program is $300, including a team jersey, coaching program, baseline testing & bike fit, training camps/rides, race support, and access to pro deals on team bikes and equipment.

ABOUT STERLING SPORTS GROUP
Sterling Sports Group (www.sterlingwins.com) is the result of over 20 years of passion for the sport of cycling. Launched in late 2003, Sterling Sports is a growing company focused on creating a seamless interface between athlete and coach, technology and personal attention. They can be reached at 408.891.3462 or info@sterlingwins.com
###

Track Racing Is Fun

2008-06-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

The American Velodrome Challenge fired off this past weekend at Hellyer Park. It was my first 'big time' track race since, probably, 1990! There were Olympicans, future Olympians, Pro Roadies, and a slew of just plain 'ol fast guys & gals. I raced a couple of 'Elite' events - keirin (well 2 rounds of it anyway) and the 60 lap points race (if you call desperately hanging on racing), but I was mostly there to do the masters events. There were five of them - miss-n-out, scratch race, keirin, sprints, and points race. My goal going in was to make the podium in all the events. A lofty goal perhaps given my lack of both track racing in the past 18 years and my lack of racing at all this season, but my goal still the same. Fortunately, on friday, the elite keirin served as a good warm up for the two masters races that night - miss-n-out and scratch race. The elite keirin was a lesson....big, aggressive, fast guys, that do this often are way faster than me! Wow, they really can jump and just plain haul it for the lap and a half...

Luckily redemption lay in the miss-n-out. Thirty one riders were in the field, making for a 28 lap race. The first laps were a bit sketchy - riders pushing and shoving to get into a better position mid-pack. Why all the pushing for a safe mid-pack position I can't say...but you could feel the inevitable was coming - and sure enough about 10 laps in some guys tangled and went down - I heard the noise on my lower left and just turned right, aiming for the top of the track and hoped for safety. I got through ok, others didn't. After a 10minute rolling wait we re-started and the real fun began. I found it pretty easy to duck, dodge and weave to stay out of trouble and before I knew it we were down to 6 riders. I was sitting in the sprinters lane with a rider above and just ahead - I was last wheel. No place to go but backwards and over the top - so I did. Hard punch to the line and over the top and off the front a bit...safe. The next two laps were easy and I was in the final three. Neutral lap and then BOOM - Larry Nolan fires off a solid attack, matched by Dirk Copeland, while I just watched them ride away - a bit too tired from the push to make the top five.

Scratch race - safer and still fast it's a blur til the last lap....following wheels, riding hard, and watching the top 7 start to sprint. Feel pretty good, then I spot a hole..shoot forward between two riders and nab a 5th! Nice - two masters events, two podiums!

Sprints - why do i fancy myself a track sprinter? Turning a 12. 6 isn't fast (11.69 - that's fast, and was the top masters time). I pretty much sucked - didn't win a race at all...but somehow managed to get 6th. Not a podium, but 'dern close! i turned a 12.33 in the elite qualifier for just a small bit of redemption.

Masters Keirin - another chance to learn how to do this race...learned a lot too! My group had fast guys, including Larry Nolan. I got a great start and settled into the 2nd position behind Larry - it was like a free ride to the finals...just stay on his wheel and try to follow when he hit the gas. We were probably 15m clear of the next rider, and I was through to the final. Of course the lessons continued in the final..I didn't get Larry's wheel and took too much air on my way to a somewhat ok 5th. 4 races, 3 podiums.

Points Race - Here is a piece of advice for aspiring trackies - when a National Champion attacks and is followed by a former World Champion - go with them! That group went away and stayed away for the majority of the points...blasted! No points, no podium, no cash. "luckily" the elite points race was immediately after the masters points race...so I got to do 100 laps of points racing in one stop! Unluckily the elites were MUCH faster than the masters...like 3 or 4 mph average (which means something at 31 - 38mph). Just to stay on the lead lap was an accomplishment and I was pretty happy to survive. I rode a 50x14 (94inches) which was too big for masters, but ok for elite. With better prep, more rest between events, and a stronger mental game I know I can run with those guys - great motivation for Masters Nats in September!

keep an eye out for the upcoming Sterling Track Day - we'll take ya'll down and show you the ropes at Hellyer...because
Track racing is fun!

Coastal Classic - Day 3

2008-06-18T20:20:00.000-07:00

The third day of the "classic" was, perhaps, the easiest 110+ mile days I've done. It's not that it was 'easy' - it's just that it was beautiful and the hardest day was behind us. After a 'meat-fest' at the local chop house in Grover Beach on Saturday night we started off early and rested (sleep was not a problem!). The route was gloriously flat for the first 35-40 miles or so and then we hit this awesome little climb. I felt good, so John and I sped away and just had a good time climbing. From there we rolled into LomPoc (Lom Poke for those that don't know) and had a leisurely recovery stop. Then off to Solvang via a sweet little road that was almost dead to traffic, but full of twists and turns and climbs. Once in Solvang we stopped for a simple, yet delicious, turkey sandwhich and pastry. While eating it was observed that the next part of the ride was 'an oven!' Certainly and understatment as we rode single file on a speed-crazed highway - totally sketchy! Fortunately we pulled off onto our last climb of the day - a very sweet little jaunt that climbed up to a harley-watering hole. From the top of the pass it was a sweet shot down to Santa Barbara and the beach at Goleta! Margaritas, appetizers, and stories filled the afternoon before our sprint drive back home - with requisite stop at In-N-Out Burger, a first for John! Great ride, great group - can't wait to do it again!
Coastal Classic - Day 3
Find more Bike Rides in Grover Beach, California

HOORAY!

2008-06-18T18:31:00.001-07:00

Finally, after nearly four weeks of finger crossing, pleas for help, repeated formal requests with blogger, and a couple of voodoo ceremonies - the BLOG has returned!!! How long we stay up is a real question for debate, but for now I'll try to get back on track with postings and updates. Feel free to drop me a line if you've got a question, suggestion, or comment for Sterling Sports Group

Matt

Central Coast Classic - Day 2: Lunch on high

2008-05-21T00:03:00.001-07:00

This was the view from our lunch roost at about mile 50 on the day. By this point we'd climbed almost 4000' feet and had about 100 miles left to go! Everyone said to eat whatever, and as much as you could, so I powered down a full cheeseburger and macaroni salad, jumped back on the bike and felt just fine. Of course this is in direct contrast to my feelings on Friday evening...during dinner my hamstrings locked up and the 2nd beer caught up with me AT THE SAME TIME! I felt pretty bad for about 15 mintues, but recovered, worried, and spent a large portion of Friday night's sleep time stressing about my hydration level and wether or not my legs were gonna be cramping all day on Saturday. It was not to be however - I rode cautiously for most of the day and focused on a nice pedal stroke and consistent efforts. Of course I threw caution to the wind a few times - like when the slacker 'supported riders' tagged onto the back of our fast moving group (there were 9 of us) and took the easy ride right to the base of the days biggest climb - then promptly sprinted by carrying only their superiority complexes and little else. AAARRRGGHHHH - I hate that...take a pull or at the very least say thanks for the free ride! Alan, Bill and I were so mad we chased them for probably 20 minutes up and down the hills of Hwy 1. We finally caught them, and their slacker sag-wagon at a rest-aurant...they looked 'tired' from the big effort, but we had miles to go and jumped right back onto the road and fired off a solid hour at 22-28mph+. Whatever, fully supported! Lame. Coastal Classic - Day 2
Find more Bike Rides in Monterey, California