Beginners' cycling questions answered
Mon, 20 Jun 2011 08:00:00 -0500
Puzzled by bike materials? Worried about getting wet? Daunted by traffic? Here are the answers to some of the most common questions asked by new cyclists...
Isn’t it dangerous?
It might surprise you to hear that cycling’s not especially dangerous. What about all those stories of cyclists getting killed that you see on the news? Thing is, news is about rare events. Cyclist deaths are rare, so they make the news. The far higher number of pedestrian and motor vehicle deaths don’t.
Cycling is statistically safe. “Per year, there are 10 to 15 fatalities due to people falling off bikes with no other vehicle involved,” says safety expert and co-author of Health on the Move, Malcolm Wardlaw. ‘Around 200 under-65s each year die in falls while walking. I don’t remember the last time I read a newspaper report of a pedestrian killed falling down steps, yet far rarer cases of cyclists killed in falls get a lot of media coverage – together with whether the cyclist was wearing a helmet or not.”
Even when you throw motor vehicles into the mix, cycling remains stubbornly safe. It’s a little more risky than driving in the UK, taken as an average, but not much. The vast number of very safe motorway miles covered by British drivers skews the stats in the car’s favour too. And it’s not like UK cycle commuters are constantly running the gauntlet compared with their counterparts in the Netherlands. “Minority status generates fear,” says Wardlaw.
John Franklin, cycling skills expert and author of Cyclecraft, agrees that the perception of cycling risk doesn’t match the reality. “There’s nothing in life that’s risk free,” he says. “It’s about the management of risk, not simply the fear of risk. As a cycle commuter, managing risk means being assertive, and behaving like traffic so that others will treat you as traffic.”
Don’t you get punctures?
Just like getting soaked, a puncture is a rare event that’s nevertheless very annoying. The best prevention is to use puncture-resistant tyres. These have layers under the tread that prevent bits of glass and the like from getting through to the inner tube. The best puncture-proof tyres, such as the highly-rated Schwalbe Marathon Plus practically eliminate punctures.
You can also protect yourself by simply looking where you’re going. Ride round patches of broken glass, not through them, and avoid sharp-edged potholes that can cause a puncture by pinching the tube between tyre and rim. Fair-weather riders will find they get hardly any punctures anyway.
Dry rubber is fairly tough stuff. It takes water on the road to act like a cutting lubricant and help a shard of glass get through the tyre. It’s not that punctures are more inconvenient and annoying when it’s raining, they’re also more likely!
Learning how to fix a 'flat' is an essential skill for all cyclists
How do all these gears work? And why are there so many?
Bikes have gears for the same reason cars do: to let the engine work at a comfortable and efficient speed. But a car’s engine works well at a wide range of speeds, while your bike’s human engine is best in a fairly narrow band of pedalling rates. Bikes therefore need a wide range of gears to cope with hills, and they need to be fairly close to each other.
Most bikes use external gear mechanisms, known as ‘derailleurs’, to move the chain around different sized toothed wheels, called ‘sprockets’ on the wheel and ‘chainwheels’ at the pedal end. The smaller the chainwheel or the larger the rear sprocket, the lower and easier the gear.
In theory, you can flip between sprockets and chainrings to move to the next easiest or hardest gear, but in practice, most people stay in one chainring till they run out of gears, then shift to make life easier or harder.
A less common type of gear system hides the mechanism inside the rear hub. Unsurprisingly called ‘hub gears’ these are eminently practical and tidy, but don’t have quite the wide range of ratios provided by derailleurs.
Many beginning riders find the gears the most daunting feature of their bikes. Get yourself to a flat, quiet place like a car park or bike path and shift up and down through the gears until you're completely confident with how they work and what they do.
What are the different types of brake all about?
You’ve got to be able to stop quickly and in control. Quickly is no problem. The brakes on modern bikes are powerful enough that your ability to brake is limited by the laws of physics; brake too hard and you’ll go over the bars. What you want is fine control over how hard you brake, and consistency is wet and dry conditions.
Brakes either act on the rim of the wheel or a special braking disc near the hub. Rim brakes are simple, but affected by water and damage to the rim, which disk brakes are more complex, but more consistent.
Drop-handlebar road bikes almost always have lightweight rim brakes, because bike for racing are designed to be as light as possible, while mountain bikes use disks for their better overall stopping power.
A typical rim brake, as found on most road bikes
A disc brake, designed to offer the more powerful stopping needed by off-road riders
Why do some bikes have drop bars and some flat?
Drop handlebars were developed for road racing, and work brilliantly if you want to get into a position on the bike that lets you cover a lot of ground quickly. In fact they offer at least three hand positions, so you can move around if you get tired of one stance. But many riders like the more upright position of a flat handlebar, especially for more leisurely riding – where you can sit up and admire the view – or in traffic.
Wider flat bars give better control on rough surfaces, which is why they're the universal choice of mountain bikers, but for riding on the road it’s worth trying both. Drop bars may look less comfortable, but for sportier riding the position can be more comfortable. After all, Tour de France cyclists spend five or six hours a day on drop-bar bikes. They couldn’t do that if the position were inherently uncomfortable, could they?
How high should my saddle be?
Many beginners want to be able to put a foot flat on the ground while sitting in the saddle. The problem is that puts your saddle too low for comfortable, efficient pedalling. With your saddle too low, you’ll get tired quicker. You should have your saddle high enough that your knee is at a 25- to 35-degree angle when your foot is at the bottom of the pedal’s rotation.
You can use a device called a goniometer to measure this, or eyeball it – it will look like the knee is not quite fully straight. On most bikes you’ll still be able to reach the ground from the saddle in this position; you may have to shuffle sideways a little.
What are clipless pedals?
Pedals come in three varieties: flat, clip-and-strap and clipless. Flat pedals are found on many bikes and are the simplest type. They have a flat area on either side where you place your feet. High-tech versions come with squared-off steel studs screwed into the body that help soft-soled shoes grip them.
Clip-and-strap pedals have a metal or plastic cage that wraps round the front of your foot to hold it in the right place on the pedal, combined with a leather or plastic strap to keep it in place. They’re now fairly uncommon, but were once the dominant way riders kept their feet on the pedals.
Clipless pedals have almost entirely replaced clip-and-strap pedals for serious cycling. They comprise a cleat on the shoe that fastens into a pedal that has a mechanism rather like a ski binding. Clipless pedals for mountain biking have small cleats that sit in a recess in the sole so the rider can still walk in the shoes. Road clipless systems have larger, external cleats and are inconvenient to walk in. Many recreational and commuter cyclists therefore use mountain bike shoes and pedals even though they never go off road.
In general, clipless pedals are used by performance-orientated riders who like the feeling of being connected to the bike and the greater pedalling efficiency of the stiff-soled cycling shoes that accompany them. Flats are favoured by riders who want to be able to ride in regular shoes, or who don’t want to risk being mechanically attached to the bike.
Clipless pedals are popular among road cyclists and mountain bikers for the secure attachment to the pedals they provide
Do I need suspension?
Only if you plan to ride off-road. Good suspension is a boon for proper mountain biking, but if your ambitions don’t involve zooming down Welsh hillsides, you’ll probably be fine with an unsuspended bike. Even if you are planning on heading off-road, many of the suspension forks found on mountain bikes under £500 are quite poor quality; a bike with a rigid fork and higher quality components will often be a better deal.
That saddle looks uncomfortable...
Bike saddles need to be fairly narrow so you can pedal easily. As a result, they undeniably take some getting used to. It’s a bit like getting used to a new pair of shoes; they might pinch in a couple of spots at first, but as long as they’re fairly good quality, you'll adapt.
The trick to getting used to a bike saddle is to build up gradually. Go for a ride one day, take a couple days off, then go for another ride. Take another day off, then ride again. Build up both frequency and distance gradually and if at all possible, wear padded bike shorts with no underwear (wash them after every ride).
Very wide and thickly padded saddles are counter-productive. Wide saddles get in the way of comfortable pedalling and thick padding tends to bunch and pinch.
Will I get fit?
In short, yes. Experts recommend at least 20 minutes of aerobic exercise (such as riding a bike hard enough that you get a little out of breath) at least three times per week to maintain basic fitness and health. How much fitter you get than that will depend on how much cycling you do. It’s surprisingly easy to build your fitness up gradually and realise that you’re suddenly capable of riding for miles and miles.
If you’ve been very sedentary and are perhaps a bit overweight, then it’s sensible to check with your doctor before you start riding. Assuming you get the okay – as you almost certainly will – then start with short, flat rides and build up gradually. And if you need inspiration, take a look at the amazing Gary Brennan, who's lost over 20 stone through cycling.
However, fitness is quite specific to activity. Being fit for riding a bike won’t help you run a marathon (and vice versa) but it’ll probably stop you getting out of breath running for a bus.
If I get fit, won’t my legs get huge?
Some female riders worry about this, but it’s very unlikely. Look at top British cyclist Victoria Pendleton. Even though she’s one of the fastest female riders in the world, Pendleton’s shapely legs have made her a favourite of Sunday supplements and men’s mags.
Cycling is far more likely to build lean, toned leg muscles than huge bulging thighs because most of the time the effort you put out is far less than the bulk-building efforts of bodybuilders. So, ladies, you needn’t worry.
British track star Victoria Pendleton proves that you don’t have to be muscly to be Olympic-standard quick on a bike
Won’t I get wet if I live in the UK?
Probably not. The Met Office says there was no significant rain in 2010 at commuting times for 95 percent of mornings and evenings in most major UK cities. If that doesn’t gel with your idea that we live in a rather soggy country, that’s because rain tends to leave things wet for a while. Barry Gromett of the Met Office points out that for many riders it may even be better than this. “October to November is one of the wetter times of the year and many people may elect to forego the bike during the winter months,” he says.
This article was originally published in On Your Bike: Your Complete Beginner's Guide to Cycling, available at all good newsagents. You can also order it online by following this link.
Health: Stay safe in the sun
Mon, 06 Jun 2011 16:00:00 -0500
The signature ‘cyclist’s tan’ may help you recognise fellow roadies, but long days cycling in the sun can have a more serious impact. A recent study from Cancer Research UK found the amount of men dying from skin cancer has doubled in the last three decades, suggesting that we fail to treat our skin with the respect it deserves when it comes to sun damage.
British Skin Foundation dermatologist and keen cyclist Dr Ian Coulson says cyclists are particularly at risk from sun damage. “Cyclists face cumulative sun damage from chronic exposure,” he says, “causing a higher prevalence of cancerous melanoma and premature ageing.”
Research backs this up. A study of six cyclists in 2000 found that during an eight-stage cycling event the level of exposure to harmful solar rays – ultraviolet (UV) radiation – was more than 30 times over the international recommended limits.
Apply yourself
Bevis Mann of the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) advises that we apply sunscreen before a ride and re-apply every other hour, as up to 80 per cent of sunscreen will come off through sweating.
Martyn Frank, soigneur for pro cycling team Rapha Condor Sharp (RCS), says the RCS team get through sunscreen faster than any other product. “It only takes one missed application to risk later skin health issues,” says Frank. “Routine is the key to not making a mistake; all pro riders have a routine and all of them include sunscreen.”
Use a sunscreen with a Sun Protection Factor (SPF) higher than you think you need, as sunscreen is tested with 2mg on every square centimetre of skin, which is far more than most people apply. “We advise using at least SPF 30, or SPF 50 if you have fair skin,” says Mann.
On application, don’t forget areas such as the neck, ears, tops of knees, and bald patches, which are vulnerable through helmet ventilation. You can even burn through clothing, so apply to your whole body and wear clothing with UV protection.
But for a darker skintone, is protection necessary? “Skin types are categorised into six types, from phototype one – fair skin that burns very easily and doesn’t tan – to phototype six, which is darker skin that won’t burn easily,” says Mann. “The processing of melanin, the skin’s pigment molecule that absorbs a proportion of UV radiation, is the key difference between the types. In darker skin, processing needs less UV damage to initiate tanning, leaving you less susceptible to sunburn and skin cancer. How much less isn’t easy to quantify and therefore we would still recommend applying SPF 30 or higher. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”
Be vigilant
Early detection of melanoma has a 95 per cent survival rate so checking moles is essential. The Sun Awareness Campaign advises looking for asymmetry of the mole, blurring of the edges, colour change and an increase in size, as most melanomas are over 6mm in diameter. If in doubt contact your GP straight away.
Coulson also recommends seeking advice if any rough, scaly patches appear on light, exposed sites like the cheeks, nose, tops of ears or hands that last for more than three months, as they may be precancers. Fair skinned cyclists are particularly prone, he says. For more information see: www.cancerresearchuk.org, www.bad.org.uk and www.britishskinfoundation.org.uk
Sunny Jim
Record-breaking round-the-world cyclist James Bowthorpe managed to beat the burn – here are his tips
Nutrition: Are you eating enough to fuel your cycling?
Mon, 23 May 2011 16:00:00 -0500
If you’ve just started training for a race or you’ve increased your riding lately, the chances are your body is craving more food than ever. It might come to you in the middle of the night, first thing in the morning, or a couple of hours after your supper, but one thing’s for sure – hunger will come knocking when you least expect it.
All that extra exercise leaves your body demanding more fuel, and it makes sure you know about it. Yet many cyclists struggle with knowing how much to eat. Should you give in to constant cravings, or stick with three square meals per day? Here we’ll tell you how to get your food intake spot-on, so you’re in no doubt when your tummy rumbles.
The goal is to eat enough to support training without picking up excess weight: matching what you eat to your riding and timing your food intake correctly. To achieve this, stick to these five simple rules.
1 Straight after training
Eat 10-20g of protein and 20-50g of carbohydrate as soon as possible after training.
This is the most effective and important nutrition process you need to follow. This will maximise recovery, refuel the tank and ultimately support the adaptation process. Research has shown that if you eat straight after training you're less likely to overeat later on in the day. If you're training twice a day or more this process is essential to make the most of the second session.
The range of nutrient intakes is large to take account of different training intensities; the harder the training the more you need. To put this in real food terms, one slice of bread contains around 12g of carbs, and an egg contains 6g of protein.
2 Before training
If you've had a meal within three hours of the start of a training session you don't need to eat any more. If it's been longer than three hours, have a simple carbohydrate snack within one hour of the start. For intense training sessions like intervals it's imperative you start fully fuelled. Following this rule will make sure that you start training in the best shape possible. This simple rule also makes sure you don't overeat before training, feel bloated and can’t train properly because you're too full.
3 The right proportions
A plate of food should be one-third energy foods, one-third health foods and one-third function foods. Get your plate of food right for breakfast, lunch and dinner and you'll get all the nutrients you need. Energy foods are slow-release carbohydrates like brown rice. Health foods are fruits, vegetables and salad, whereas function foods are proteins like meat, eggs and fish. Good fats are in all three groups, so make sure you include some oils, fish or nuts on your plate.
4 On your bike
On long bike rides aim for 60g per hour of carbohydrate. This is about starting the recovery process on the bike. Think of it as a rolling buffet, where carbohydrates are your friend. During training it doesn’t matter where you get it from – you can use drinks, gels or make a sandwich to take with you. Two or three energy gels will be the equivalent of 60g of carbohydrates, depending on their size.
5 The bigger picture
Your overall diet should contain 5-8g/kg body weight of carbohydrates, 1.5-2g/kg body weight of protein and 1-2g/kg body weight good fats. If you follow rules 1-4 you shouldn’t be too far off these targets. They're proven to support training, enhance recovery and help you get faster.
Conclusion
You should listen to your body – it's a clever thing. If you're hungry, there's probably a reason. Have a think what nutrients you might be missing. If you have a craving for a certain type of food, what might your body be telling you? Listen to it and you’ll find the answer.
Training: Ride hard after work
Mon, 09 May 2011 16:00:00 -0500
At last the evenings are getting longer and with the clocks going forward it’s a great opportunity for some quality training after work. Early spring is when you should get more specific with your sessions. You will be getting a little stale with long steady miles and the turbo trainer, so now is the time to speed up your riding.
Introducing some faster pace work into your training now will make the transition to racing later on a whole lot easier. The lighter and hopefully warmer evenings are perfect for short, snappy training sessions that will boost your fitness levels and won’t leave you too fatigued. Most of us don’t have much free time after work, maybe an hour at most, but that’s still plenty.
British Cycling's lead coach, Chris Furber, thinks an hour is a perfect window of time. “The human body is designed to walk and run, so is neurologically and physiologically set up for those movement patterns," he says. "You can condition your body to follow a cycling movement pattern just by getting out on your bike regularly. If you stop cycling for too many days your body will quickly return to its normal walking state.”
Bearing this in mind, here are three one-hour sessions to do in your working week between Monday and Friday:
BikeRadar's guide to Silly Commuting Racing
Sun, 01 May 2011 08:00:00 -0500
30 June 2008 was a momentous day in cycling history. That was the day the ‘Silly Commuting Racing’ thread on the BikeRadar forum was started. And nearly 1,300 pages later, it’s still going strong. Why? Because Silly Commuting Racing (SCR) makes every day a race day, every commute a challenge, and every other rider a potential competitor.
Catching up with some SCR regulars at the Morpeth Arms in Pimlico on one of their irregular Friday evening meets, it’s clear that there’s camaraderie as well as competitiveness. And, as they point out, we’ve probably all played the game ourselves. “This puts a name to that silly voice in the back of your head,” says Mark, aka ‘Clever Pun’. “You’re on a high, someone tries to overtake you and it’s ‘no, no, no!’”
During its early days the SCR’s rules were formalised, with a strict scoring system taking into account the type of cyclist you’re overtaking – or ‘scalping’ as forum parlance has it. The cycling food chain has scooters at the top of the 14 bikes listed; ‘roadies with shaved legs – like girls’ are second, with ‘proper rapid singlespeed (real men, messengers, tarty shiny fixies)’ third; electric bikes are at the bottom.
It may sound like a complicated system, but forum user ‘Fury21’ simplified it very early on: “If you get confused on the road, think of it this way – if you drop anyone who looks faster than you: +1. If you get dropped by anyone that looks slower than you: -1. Couldn’t be simpler!”
But they’re a responsible lot, and there’s no jumping red lights for the SCR rouleurs. “It’s all about doing it safely,” says ‘Clever Pun’. “There’s no point causing danger. On my 15-mile commute if I jumped every red light I might get to work five minutes earlier. And it gives us a bad name.” All the rules of the road have to be obeyed at all times, even if – as one forum user recounts – a policeman on a bike tries to beckon you through a red light.
Many of those who came to SCR found it by accident. Self-described commuter racing newbie ‘Sketchley’ got involved on his return from the World Cup in France; finding himself out of shape, he went to BikeRadar looking for bike-buying advice. Olivia, aka ‘Lost_in_Thought’, asked a question about fixed-gear bikes – she was met with a chorus of “girls don’t ride fixed-gear bikes, are you sure you’re a girl?” – but after that she caught the SCR bug. She’s aware that it’s still a predominantly male pastime. “I do try to recruit other women to commuter racing, but it is quite a blokey thing... and boys don’t like being overtaken by girls!”
We expected tales of car-related carnage, but the SCR regulars were sanguine in their assessment of other road users. Apart from ‘IT Boffin’, who’d had three run-ins with taxis in the previous week, there was a pleasingly low incident count, with the most serious injury the result of a fall on the train home after a post-Friday pub session. Do watch out when it rains, though, says ‘IT Boffin’: “When it’s dark and raining everybody switches off their brains.”
SCR membership can lean towards the obsessive. Last year’s commuter racer of the year, ‘Clever Pun’ Mark, clocked up over 8,000 miles – and there are tales of riders stretching their usual 10-mile commute to 70 miles. Mark even got a little trophy for his efforts, which he achieved on a Brompton, a road bike, a fixie and even a Boris bike!
But the main thing is the racing, and especially collecting scalps of riders higher up the cycling food chain. ‘Wrath Rob’ is typical: “I have my flat-barred mountain bike [number 8 on the cycling food chain] – I like being able to scalp on that thing. I’m never caught by anything!” But we’ll leave the last word to Mark: “If someone goes past you and it looks like they’re not trying, you go ‘Aaarrggghhhh!’ If you can beat someone on a hill it’s a lot more fun. Inside you’re saying ‘Please let this hill end’.”
For more about the world of Silly Commuter Racing, go to www.itsnotarace.org. This site has links to the BikeRadar thread, SCR Facebook page and Twitter. Itsnotarace also has a Food Chain Calculator, so you can work out your own cycling food number, or CFN.
*Pedal Adjustment:
Flats: +1. Toe Clips: 0. Clipless/SPDs: -1
The new look Cycling Plus is available now, and this month’s issue features a free 36 page commuting guide full of features like this. To subscribe to the magazine, visit www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/cycling/cycling-plus-magazine-subscription
Technique: How to stay safe on your ride to work
Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:00:00 -0500
“You must be brave!” Cycle to work and someone will say that, or at least imply it, because cycling on today’s roads is ever so dangerous. Except, actually, it isn’t.
Per mile, more people get killed walking than cycling according to the UK's National Travel Survey and you’re more likely to suffer an injury requiring medical care while gardening than on your bike. Cycling is statistically safe. “Per year, there are 10-15 fatalities due to people falling off bikes with no other vehicle involved,” says safety expert and co-author of Health on the Move, Malcolm Wardlaw.
‘Around 200 under-65s each year die in falls while walking. I don’t remember the last time I read a newspaper report of a pedestrian killed falling down steps, yet far rarer cases of cyclists killed in falls get a lot of media coverage – together with whether the cyclist was wearing a helmet or not.”
Even when you throw motor vehicles into the mix, cycling remains stubbornly safe. It’s a little more risky than driving in the UK, taken as an average, but not much. And it’s not like UK cycle commuters are constantly running the gauntlet compared with their counterparts in the Netherlands. Malcolm Wardlaw says: “The difference in risk between UK cyclists and Dutch cyclists is less than the difference between French drivers and UK drivers. French drivers face higher long-term risks than British cyclists.”
So why are UK cyclists and would be cyclists so paranoid about safety? “Minority status generates fear,” he says. John Franklin, cycling skills expert and author of Cyclecraft, agrees that the perception of cycling risk doesn’t match the reality. “There’s nothing in life that’s risk free,” he says. “It’s about the management of risk, not simply the fear of risk.” As a cycle commuter, managing risk means being assertive, and behaving like traffic so that others will treat you as traffic.
“Cyclists need to learn how to influence others on the road,” says Franklin. “That’s largely determined by how and where you ride on the road. What you try to do is ride in a way that deters other people from starting to put you at risk. If you’re coming up to a side road where quite a lot of traffic turns left and there’s someone driving harshly behind you, there’s a good chance he’ll try to overtake and cut across you to turn left. So you ride in a way and place that if he does do that, he's forced to make a much wider movement to give you more space. And it makes the manoeuvre more difficult for him, so he’s less likely to do it.
“Good positioning is key. Position yourself as a driver with the rest of the traffic, not hugging the kerb. The ‘primary position’ is in the centre of the moving traffic lane. You’re obliging others to acknowledge you as another user of the road and not someone they can ignore. You’re causing them to think." Franklin recommends taking a skills training course. "When people take cycle training, fear is addressed in a rational way," he says. "It’s like removing chains from them.”
1 Learn the skills
Cycling training today isn’t aimed solely at kids. National Standards training is a three-tier programme covering everything from basic bike control to complicated urban journeys. To find out more or locate an instructor, see www.ctc.org.uk/cycletraining. The bible for safe, skilled cycling is John Franklin’s Cyclecraft (£13, www.tso.co.uk).
2 Get out of the gutter
You should always be at least 50cm from the kerb, and sometimes further. Positioning yourself in the middle of the lane is called ‘the primary position’ or ‘taking the lane’. It makes you more visible and forces cars to overtake properly or wait until it is safe to do so.
3 Eyeball drivers
Eye contact with a driver lets you know they have seen you. Look purposefully right at them. Have they clocked you? Good. There’ll be no “sorry, mate, I didn’t see you” moment. It’s useful for almost any manoeuvre, whether you’re turning right or approaching a junction.
4 Signal like you mean it
Signalling broadcasts your intentions to other road users. You’re not asking their permission; you are telling them unambiguously where you’re going. Check over your shoulder early so you can change position smoothly and predictably. If there’s following traffic, eyeball the lead driver, signal clearly and begin your manoeuvre.
5 Magic roundabouts
Highway Code rule 62 says “you may feel safer keeping to the left”. Rubbish, you won’t. You’re less visible to traffic on or entering the roundabout. Take your lane as you approach. Take it on the roundabout too, even if you’re going left. Check, signal, then peel off the roundabout at your exit.
6 Traffic light tactics
Don’t jump red lights. It infuriates drivers and you may get T-boned by someone accelerating for an amber. Wait, behind the advance stop line if there is one, and not in the gutter. Take your lane. That way nothing can squeeze dangerously past or left hook you.
7 Filter tips
Overtaking on the right is best for visibility. Only filter up the inside if the traffic is stationary – watch for doors opening and pedestrians crossing – or moving at walking pace. Never go up the inside of a long vehicle: you could die. Once you’re past, get back in your lane.
8 Safer slip roads
Where the slip road joins your road: cross carefully over to the slip road at the hatch markings before the slip road joins the main road, stopping if necessary, then follow the slip road onto the main road. At an exit slip road: take the slip road until you can carefully rejoin the main road at the hatch markings.
While good cycling technique is a vital part of staying safe on the roads, it isn't the only answer. We asked three cycling advocates what they felt should be done to improve cyclist safety.
Phillip Darnton, former chairman of Cycling England
"Most people, when asked why they don't cycle, will say, 'it’s too dangerous'. The perception or the fear of danger on the road is the major deterrent to getting more people cycling. There's no one measure which can overcome this and CE has consistently explained that behavior change requires a whole range of interventions.
"It needs proper cycle training like Bikeability; it needs secure cycle parking both at home and at the end of the journey; it needs more consideration by motorists giving space to cyclists as vulnerable road users. It would also benefit considerably from a default speed of 20mph in urban areas – speed and volume of traffic are the biggest single deterrent to people taking up cycling, particularly women."
Jorren Knibbe, barrister and blogger, UK Cycle Rules
"For me there’s absolutely no question about this – cycling will only be safe enough when it's a normal mode of transport for everybody, and it'll only ever get there with a comprehensive network of fully segregated cycle lanes. When I lived in Germany I had no hesitation at all in cycling, didn’t even think of wearing a helmet, and I remember being outraged that the segregated cycle path I took to university cast me out onto the road at a junction for about 20 metres before starting up again. We need to create that kind of atmosphere – an expectation of excellent, continuous, segregated facilities and the safety they provide. I don’t believe a proper cycling revolution can happen in this country without that kind of investment."
Andreas Kambanis, blogger, London Cyclist
"We need to step things up when it comes to cycle training. This needs to be far more widespread and freely available. It drastically alters your riding style on busy roads – for example, taking a primary position and not riding on the inside of lorries. I truly believe this would help to lower the number of cyclist deaths and injuries. Other than that I believe more effort needs to be put into creating on-road segregated cycling infrastructure.
"The [London] cycle superhighways, for example, could easily be segregated along much of the route. Finally, training also needs to be stepped up when teaching new drivers. This way the next generation of drivers on our roads will be more aware of cyclists. This could be phased into the driving test and potentially require a new motorist to spend part of their lesson on a bike to get a different perspective of the road and how you do feel vulnerable."
The new look Cycling Plus is available now, and this month’s issue features a free 36 page commuting guide full of features like this. To subscribe to the magazine, visit www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/cycling/cycling-plus-magazine-subscription.
Five reasons to cycle to work
Mon, 25 Apr 2011 08:00:00 -0500
Longer life, improved health, more energy, lower costs and extra fun… It’s official – cycling makes you a better person in many ways. Here are just a few reasons, along with some compelling stats, to cycle to work
Apart from the increased self-esteem and confidence that getting fitter and leaner will give you, simply spending more time outside will cheer you up. This is thanks to the ability of sunlight to boost your levels of the feel-good hormone serotonin.
So if you want to beat the depressing effect of sitting in an artificially lit office, you should get outside to expose yourself to more daylight. The recommended office lighting is only about 300lux, whereas the strength of the sun measures over 1000lux even on overcast days. Full daylight (not directly in the sun) is 10,000-25,000lux. So go on, get out there!
The other major benefit of getting more daylight in your life is that you’ll sleep better and longer. Stanford University School of Medicine researchers asked sedentary insomnia sufferers to cycle for 20-30 minutes every other day. The result? The amount of time the insomniacs took to fall asleep was reduced by half, and the time they spent asleep increased by almost an hour a night.
“Exercising outside exposes you to daylight,” explains Professor Jim Horne from Loughborough University’s Sleep Research Centre. “This helps get your circadian rhythm back in sync and rids your body of cortisol, the stress hormone that can prevent deep, regenerative sleep.”
"Our research found that those who exercise regularly are at significantly lower risk of cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, all types of cancer, high blood pressure and obesity,” says Dr Lynn Cherkas of King’s College London.
The research compared over 2400 identical twins and found that those who did the equivalent of three 45-minute rides every week were ‘biologically younger’ by nine years, even after discounting other influences such as body mass index (BMI) and smoking.
According to the British Heart Foundation, around 10,000 fatal heart attacks could be avoided each year if people kept themselves fitter. Studies from Purdue University in the US have shown that regular cycling – even as little as 20 miles a week – can cut your risk of heart disease by up to 50 percent.
Cycling can even protect you from the big C, according to Harley Street gastroenterologist Dr Ana Raimundo. “Physical activity helps decrease the time it takes food to move through the large intestine, limiting the amount of water absorbed back into your body and leaving you with softer stools, which are easier to pass,” she says.
Doing aerobic exercise such as cycling also accelerates your breathing and heart rate, which helps to stimulate the contraction of intestinal muscles and keep you more regular. “As well as preventing you from feeling bloated this helps protect against bowel cancer,” explains Dr Raimundo.
According to the RAC, the yearly cost of car ownership in the UK is about £5,869, the lion’s share of which is down to fuel. Today, petrol costs roughly £1.29 per litre and diesel £1.34 per litre, with both figures rising to record highs, says the AA. So should we be letting the buses and trains take the strain? If only.
Public transport costs have gone skyward too and the solution hundreds of thousands are turning to for daily travel, just as in the ’70s, is the bicycle. With cycling, the only inflationary factors are the rising cost of food and the payouts for your bike and kit. But you have to eat anyway, and the cost and depreciation on a new bike is at worst measured in hundreds of pounds, compared to the thousands lost on a car.
Transport for London estimates that the number of cycling journeys in the capital is up 117 percent since 2000. But this is just a drop in the ocean when you consider there are about 7 million people in the UK who make work-based journeys of under five miles by car or bus every day. Cycling England – the soon to be defunct Department for Transport quango tasked with promoting cycling – reckons they could each save upwards of £500 a year if they rode instead.
We could even make headway to reducing the national debt by cycling. Modelling for Cycling England shows that upping cycling levels by 20 percent in the 10 years up to 2015 could save £107 million in reducing premature deaths, £52m in NHS costs and £87m in fewer sick days.
Sports psychologists have found that the body’s metabolic rate – the efficiency with which it burns calories and fat – is not only raised during a ride but for several hours after. “Even after cycling for 30 minutes you could be burning a higher amount of total calories for a few hours after you stop,” says Mark Simpson of Loughborough University.
And as you get fitter the benefits are more profound. One recent study showed that cyclists who incorporated fast intervals into their training burned three-and-a-half times more body fat than those who cycled constantly but at a slower pace.
Loads of people who want to lose weight think going out for a jog is the best way to start. But while running does burn fat well, it’s not kind to your body if you’re a little larger than you’d like to be. Think about it: two to three times your weight crashes through your body when your foot strikes the ground. If you weigh 16 stone, that’s a lot of force!
Instead, start on a bike – most of your weight is taken by the saddle so your skeleton and joints don’t take a battering. One of the most attractive advantages of cycling for fitness is that you can combine it with commuting, getting to work earlier and fresher after an invigorating ride. You’ll also be becoming fitter by the day without really trying, and feeling and looking younger. According to the National Forum for Coronary Heart Disease Foundation in the US, regular cyclists enjoy a fitness level equal to that of a person 10 years younger.
It takes around five percent of the materials and energy used to make a car to manufacture a bike, and cycling produces zero pollution. Bikes are efficient machines too – you travel around three times as fast as walking for the same amount of energy and, taking into account the ‘fuel’ that you put in your ‘engine’, you can do the equivalent of 2,924 miles to the gallon. You have your weight ratio to thank for that: you’re about six times heavier than your bike but a car is roughly 20 times heavier than you.
With nearly a quarter of the UK’s CO2 emissions now coming from road transport, it’s no surprise that leaving your car at home is going to help pollution both locally and globally. Transport is on its way to overtaking industry as the major contributor to CO2 emissions in the UK. Vehicles give out about 70 per cent of air pollution in UK towns and cities, and 22 percent of the UK’s total CO2 emissions. Going by bike contributes nothing, and either walking or cycling much more for local journeys would reduce our dependence on oil.
If all commutes in England under five miles were completed by bike instead of car they would save a collective 44,000 tonnes of CO2 every week, the equivalent of heating 17,000 houses. Given that the average speed of rush hour traffic in London is 7mph and a reasonable average cycling speed is 13mph, that makes commuting by bike almost twice as fast as taking the car. Oh, and 10 bikes can be parked in one car space.
You don't need us to tell you that getting on your bike is a good idea, you can do the maths for yourself. With the physical, financial and environmental benefits, you'll soon find out cycling really does add up! The following figures relate to cycling in the UK:
Technique: Banish the pre-ride faff
Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:00:00 -0500
Don’t waste time looking for your cycling socks when you could be out riding – follow Rapha Condor Sharp rider Ben Greenwood’s tips on getting from bed to shed at speed.
As soon as your alarm goes off, get up. Once your feet hit the floor, that’s it, no turning back. The best trick is to put your alarm too far away for you to reach it from the bed. That way you either have to get up or listen to an annoying noise until you do. And don’t give yourself too short a time to get ready. Being awake 10 minutes earlier won’t change the way you feel in the slightest but it might prevent you being 10 minutes late for a ride.
Make sure all the clothes you need are ready before you go to bed. Given that the UK climate can be somewhat unpredictable, have a few options laid out. That way, if it’s raining you won’t spend ages looking through your drawers for your waterproof cape or wet weather gloves. The best plan is to look out of the window as soon as you get up and then put your kit on immediately. Once that’s done you’re committed to going and backing out isn’t an option.
If you’re going to eat breakfast, have everything set out the night before. And if you want milk or bread then don’t wait until the morning to find that you’ve run out, because going to the shop will take too long and the thought of not eating might put you off training. If you like toast, pop bread in the toaster as soon as you’re in the kitchen. Likewise, put the kettle on straight away. Waiting means wasted minutes. Caffeine will help you wake up but a glass of water will also make you feel more alive.
Put your energy drink powder in the bottles the night before, but it’s best to wait until you’re just about to leave for a ride to add the water, so that they taste fresh. Everything else can be prepared in advance so place all the food, including your bars and gels, in your helmet. That way you won’t be able to forget them. Put your shoes and helmet near the front door; you’ll know exactly where to find them. And remember to put any emergency extras with them too.
Your bike should be washed and prepared the day before; you won’t have time come the morning. And make sure you check your tyres before you go to sleep. There’s nothing worse than being halfway out the door and finding you have a puncture. The ideal scenario is for the bike to be gleaming and oiled, with a set of fully inflated tyres, so all that you have to do is get on it and start pedalling.
Bike shops aren’t normally open early in the morning so this isn’t a good time to deal with any mechanical issues. And don’t even think about making position changes to your bike at this late stage. Rushed measurements can often result in discomfort or, even worse, injury.
Arranging to meet someone to go riding with, ideally a cyclist who’s always on time and will give you some grief if you aren’t, is an efficient way of staying motivated in the early hours. If you don’t have a time schedule to keep to, looking at Twitter or watching some breakfast TV suddenly becomes an option. It’s all going to be there when you get back, so just ignore any time-wasting activities. The simple rule is, if something won’t help you get out on the road, leave it until later
Technique: How to get a good night's sleep
Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:00:00 -0500
You know that getting eight hours sleep a night is good for you. But factor in a working day, a bit of training or riding, an hour or two travelling, an hour eating and changing, dashing around as the kids’ taxi service, and a couple of hours of just being and – well, you do the maths. Struggling to make it add up?
The obvious way to cram more into your day is to snip off bits of the night. Earlier mornings, pushing lights-out til later, and bingo, you’re squashing everything in. But this might not be quite the ‘brilliant’ solution you think it is.
Your mind is racing so you’re tossing and turning half the night. Your legs feel like lead. You’re drinking double espressos to get through the afternoon. And that big fat sugary doughnut looks like the best breakfast on earth. That’ll be the fatigue setting in...
The latest research shows getting enough sleep is essential for optimum performance – and that sleep deprivation plays with your mind as well as your body. So here’s why hitting the hay is so important for hitting your race targets – and what you can do to make sure you get enough vitamin Zzz.
Your nightly MOT
“Regular, good-quality sleep is essential for your body’s physical repair process, but also for your mental health and agility,” says Dr Guy Meadows, sleep and sports scientist, and cross-Channel swimmer.
Scientists divide sleep into five stages: “The deep sleep of stages three and four is when your body releases human growth hormone (HGH) to repair muscles and bones,” says Meadows. “Stage five is rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. It’s when you dream, when you lay down memories and boost cognitive performance, enhancing skills and techniques you’ve learned during training.”
The latest research from Trent University in Ontario, Canada, showed complex learning tasks such as getting the hang of a new song on Guitar Hero become easier if you sleep well – so the same goes for learning swim technique or mastering fast transitions.
Good sleep, good performance
The boffins who make it their business to find out what boosts athletic performance have revealed that good quantities of sleep increase sprint time, energy levels and shooting accuracy in basketball players; and improve athletic vigour and alertness for footballers.
A study using Stanford University men’s and women’s swimming teams also revealed that athletes who extended their sleep to 10 hours per day for six to seven weeks swam a 15-metre sprint 0.51 seconds faster, reacted 0.15 seconds quicker off the blocks, improved turn time by 0.10 seconds and increased kick strokes by five kicks, as well as setting personal bests.
Bad sleep? You guessed it...
Just as filling up your Z-tank helps you reach optimum performance levels, skimping on sleep can put unwanted obstacles in the path to your next personal best. “There are basic things your body needs to function properly – temperature regulation, energy recovery, and heart function are all affected by sleep as well as things like concentration and focus.”
Studies have shown various detrimental effects of chronic sleep deprivation – from reducing the performance of the heart, to increasing blood pressure, anxiety and depression, and interference with blood sugar metabolism. “Lack of sleep over several weeks results in persistent fatigue and ultimately overtraining syndrome,” says endurance coach and sports scientist Scott Murray (email: triathlon.coach@btopenworld.com).
One night only
But what about short-term sleep loss – the pre-race jitters, the teething baby or work stress worries that keep you up all night before a key training session? (“I’ve even seen athletes hydrate so well during the day that they’re up at night peeing,” says Murray.)
One night’s disrupted sleep negatively affects motivation and increases anxiety, the number of lapses in concentration and delays in reaction time,” says Murray. “Two nights of broken sleep does have an effect on anxiety and anaerobic performance. And three nights of severely restricted sleep may not affect your gross motor functions (such as muscle strength, lung power and endurance running on a treadmill), but it'll reduce your exercise duration and motivation levels.”
A University of Colorado team recently discovered the metabolic cost of an adult missing one night of sleep is the equivalent of walking slightly less than two miles – the findings showed eight hours of sleep saved roughly 135 calories over eight hours of wakefulness. And research from the Leiden University Medical Center in The Netherlands showed that healthy subjects can become insulin-resistant after a shortened night of sleep (four hours in this case). Insulin resistance is the precursor state to diabetes, affecting your body’s ability to manage sugar, and therefore your energy levels.
Just do it
The good news? “When an event or crucial training session is on the horizon, adrenaline kicks in, and it helps us perform,” says Meadows. “And the way we view our sleepless night is also key – buying into the idea that we will perform badly starts a downward spiral of doubt that affects performance, whereas chalking it down to experience, and believing in the hours and weeks of previous training helps you to perform.”
In a study showing that one night of sleep deprivation decreased endurance performance only slightly, Dr Sam Oliver, from the School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences at Bangor University in Wales, concluded that: “Altered perception of effort may account for decreased endurance performance after a night without sleep.” Get your mind in gear, and your body will follow.
No need for hang-ups
“One night of decent sleep helps you recuperate incredibly quickly after a sleepless night,” says Murray. “The key thing is not to start stressing about a less than decent night, or you add another pressure into the mix.” A US study from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research also showed that if you’ve been getting good sleep for just a week, you’ll handle a disturbed night or two much better, as protective benefits from the previous week keep you going.
Research has also shown that genetics may play a part in how much sleep you need in order to function well, so don’t get tied up thinking that eight hours is the essential figure, and get anxious if you’re not hitting that. “Everyone is individual,” says Meadows. “There’s no point trying to force yourself to sleep for nine hours if you can manage really well on seven.”
Listen to your body
It seems that out of the lab, and in the real world, lack of sleep becomes an issue if it happens over an extended period of time, rather than as a single night blip. “If your mind and body are both tired then you must listen,” says Catriona Morrison. “Dropping a training session, modifying your plans, getting an early night, having a long lie-in or taking a nap during the day will help to refresh you.
“If you push yourself when you're tired, you're at risk of overtraining, long-term fatigue and psychological staleness. Dropping a session and starting the next day fresh will mean the next day’s session is of far better quality. Don’t develop a guilt complex. If you need rest, take it.”
If sleep eludes you long-term, here are the expert solutions to try:
Cover the basics
Evening training
“Exercising hard three hours before bedtime can lead to a disturbed sleep, but a moderate session can help sleep,” says Scott Murray. “You know your own body, so consider the training level.”
Food and drink
Light therapy
Energy lights can improve mood and energy levels after just 20 minutes. Try a Philips Energy Light (£149, shop.philips.co.uk) or Lumie Brightspark (£115, lumie.com).
Power naps
“You don’t actually have to fall asleep to get benefits from a daily power nap,” says Dr Meadows. Close your eyes, be still, take time out and it will restore you. Even 10 minutes in the toilet at work can help, or on the train or tube journey home. Make it 15-20 minutes if you can, but no longer than 30 or you might feel fuzzy-headed.
Meditation
“Our research using Kriya yoga meditation has shown teaching deep relaxation techniques during the daytime can help improve sleep,” says Dr Ramadevi Gourineni, director of the insomnia programme at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Evanston, Illinois, US.
Mindfulness
“An ancient tradition of meditation, mindfulness means focusing on the present moment fully, rather than worrying about what’s happened in the past or being anxious about what might happen in the future,” says Meadows, who treats chronic insomnia using Mindful Sleep Therapy.
“If you’re lying awake worrying about being awake, try focusing on your senses – the feel of the pillow against your cheek, the sound of your breathing. When annoying or stressful thoughts come into your head, tell them now is not the time, and come back to your senses,” he says.
Stress-busting chemicals
Japanese scientists have proven that a chemical in lemon and lavender essential oils – called linalool – alters blood chemistry to reduce stress. Put a couple of drops on a tissue, fold it into your pocket, and inhale when you feel stressed.
Time management
“Think of sleep in 90-minute cycles, not hours (so four cycles is six hours, five cycles is seven-and-a-half hours). The shorter four-cycle routine is commonly used to free up time and control sleep without losing quality,” says Nick Hales, sport sleep and recovery coach. “In 24 hours we have two natural sleep periods, nocturnal and mid-afternoon. So you can adopt a shorter period at night and combine that with an afternoon 20- or 40-minute nap or total downtime period.”
If your health is suffering due to sleep problems, see your GP to discuss your individual case,” says Dr Pixie McKenna from Channel 4’s Embarrassing Bodies. “Doctors are very cautious about prescribing sleeping pills, but drugs called Zolpidem and Zaleplon don’t carry the same hangover side-effects or addiction dangers as Bonzodiazepines (such as Diazepam and Temazepam).
"You can use these for two to five days for a transient bout of insomnia, and not more than four weeks for short-term insomnia. Melatonin pills – the hormone that regulates the sleep pattern – can regulate short-term insomnia, but are only available on prescription in the UK to over-55s. Ask your doctor to recommend an over-the-counter brand.”
This article originally appeared in Triathlon Plus magazine
Training: 10 simple steps to your ideal cycling weight
Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:00:00 -0500
Reaching your target weight is one of the best ways to get more from training. Henry Furniss, personal trainer and co-founder of Wyndymilla Bespoke Cycling, uses diet and nutrition alongside his limited exercise time to keep in peak physical condition. We spoke to him for his top tips for losing weight and getting lean.
1 Do the maths
“Most people have a clearly defined weight at which they can perform without compromise,” says Furniss. Eliminate guesswork: find a health professional who can measure body fat using callipers. “The right target can then be set, accounting for lean gains as well as fat loss.”
2 Prepare well
“Plan the date you’re going to start your new regime,” says Furniss. “Give yourself at least a week to psych up and think through the logistics of the changes you’ll make.”
3 Eat well
“Don’t think of your quest as a diet,” Furniss continues. “The right foods will usually have higher nutrient values but a lower calorie density.” It’s simply a case of eating the right types of food, such as fruit, vegetables, lean meats and fish.
4 Structure meals
“Many people eat very little for breakfast or just skip it completely,” says Furniss. “We’d be a much leaner nation if breakfast was king and the evening meal light. As much as 40 per cent of your calorie intake should be consumed in the morning.” Avoid starchy foods like bread, rice and pasta in the evening.
5 Drink more
“Stay hydrated. This is key if your body is going to react with greatest effect to all your efforts,” says Furniss. He suggests drinking herbal liquids to stave off hunger as your body adjusts to smaller evening meals: “Teas like peppermint or ginger top up your hydration and also aid digestion.”
6 Be realistic
Set out the right training targets. “Less is more, especially for us busy folk,” says Furniss. “Go for three solid sessions rather than aiming for five and feeling bad if you miss one. I maintain my elite licence on three hours of training a week, give or take.”
7 Self-motivate
“Get goal driven,” says Furniss. “It’s a cliché, but consistency is key.” Whatever your aim is, put it in a diary. It'll give you the drive you need to avoid the muffins.
8 Add wisely
“Don’t shy away from supplementation,” says Furniss. Getting what you need from a natural balanced diet can be hard with a job, family and training. Essential fats and recovery drinks can boost weight loss and keep immune responses up.
9 Hit the sack
“Overtraining is normally just a case of under resting,” Furniss explains. “Without enough sleep our ability to remain disciplined and focused is severely compromised. Seven to nine hours is ideal.”
10 Get support
“Social pressures can put strain on your health kick,” says Furniss. “The last thing you need is breakfast-skipping vultures circling you with pizzas and beer late at night. Get them on board.”
Let's be honest, as well as improving our power-to-weight ratio and cycling performance, losing weight and toning up has the added benefit of making us easier on the eye. Henry Furniss gives us his body fat percentage guide to looking good naked…
18% or more: With your clothes on, you look overweight.
16-18%: You look like you hold no excess weight when fully clothed.
15%: Starting to look good naked.
13%: You won’t be compromising performance due to excess body fat.
10%: Somebody’s resembling the Michelangelo statue…
5-8%: Ripped to bits; the optimal level at which all top level, in-form male endurance athletes perform.
BikeRadar website of the week: BikePortland.org
Sat, 09 Apr 2011 09:00:00 -0500
If you’ve ever stumbled upon BikePortland.org you’ll have found interesting insights into Portland, Oregon — one of the most famous and most joked about bike cities in the US — and are likely to have assumed that it's a bike advocacy organization or news site.
Despite the level of journalistic integrity, volume of unique stories and simple professionalism with which the pages are presented, BikePortland.org is, basically, the work of one man, Jonathan Maus — yeah, he had us fooled too. “It’s a common confusion and interesting part of how the site has worked over time,” said Maus. “In a lot of ways it does act like an advocacy organization. Advocacy has been a big part of the site since day one.”
It’s a blog — that doesn’t look like a blog — and is respected in and outside of Portland as a true news source. From its beginning the blog had an air of professionalism, presenting tough subjects punctuated by access issues, auto-bike conflict and the sometimes tragic consequences associated. Portland’s city council pays attention and the site is a voice for the city’s bicyclists.
But it’s more than just advocacy, it’s a clearing house for all things bike in Portland, and for a time it was a unique window into a different cycling subculture defined by commuters, fixie bikes, Critical Mass rides and Portland’s path to becoming one of the League of American Bicyclists’ Platinum cities for bike friendliness.
It was a time when Portland was leading the way in terms of bike access and advocacy, explained Maus, and his site was there to document it. “I wanted people to respect it as a news source, not as some guy’s blog,” he said. “We basically created our own news source to cover biking in our city. The central theme was making one place where all the different parts of this really diverse community could come together under a shared love of bicycling.”
The website stands today as the premier source for bicycle news in Portland, but the issues faced and stories published offer context to anyone interested in bikes, bike access or bike advocacy.
Maus working the bike beat in Portland, Oregon
Whimsical beginning and meteoric rise
BikePortland.org started as many bike blogs do — as an outlet for someone inspired by what was going on within their local cycling scene. Maus moved from California to Portland in 2004 and found himself floored by the healthy and eccentric cycling community in the city. He'd never seen double decker bikes, and maybe only heard of themed Critical Mass rides — including one where participants dressed as bunnies — through the heart of the town.
“I was naturally interested in seeing what was going on in the local bike scene,” he said. “I was just blown away with what was going on up here. Really the creativity and the street culture part of it first grabbed my attention.” Inspired, Maus volunteered some and started to integrate into Portland’s bike scene.
Although he was new to the city, he wasn’t new to the bicycle industry. He owned his own public relations firm that represented small bike brands, helping get their stories out into both endemic and mainstream media. Once in Portland, he went about searching for new local clients, “I was looking for a non-profit to work for, pro bono, or as an account,” said Maus.
Then in 2005 he responded to an ad by a local news publication called The Oregonian, which was looking for someone to write a bike-based blog on their website. “It was 2005, blogging wasn’t quite [as prevalent]; everyone wasn’t doing it,” he said. “It was still kind of a novel thing, and they wanted someone to write about biking and I got back to them right away. It was called the ‘Bike Fun Blog’ and I'd email them the text and they'd magically make it appear on this thing called a blog.”
Maus became enthralled with blogs and his own blogging as it related to his own PR business. He started an industry bike blog called Just Riding Along. “I basically just got super into blogging and saw it as amazing from the publishing perspective of how anyone can do it,” he said. “The blog on the Oregonian site was going well, it was a lot of fun and people were starting to tell me that they were reading it.”
Three months later Maus was ready to become a voice within the Portland bike scene and started BikePortland.org. “The best thing about blogging is that you’re independent and you can do anything you want,” he said, in regards to his decision to leave The Oregonian, where he felt limited, mostly, by the interface they offered him. “One night I bought the domain BikePortland.org, turned on a WordPress theme and there you go... It grew every month, from a few stories to [posting] every day, and then got to where it was breaking news and stories that nobody else had.
BikePortland.org mixes all things bike, from eccentric to advocacy, from Portland, Oregon
“Back in 2005/2006 all this stuff about bike culture that's everywhere now wasn’t really documented,” he said. “Mine was the only site where you were seeing pictures of tall bikes and bike jousting, and that was mixed in with all of the amazing bike stuff that we were doing as a city in terms of policy and projects.” In 2007 the blog evolved to a point where Maus quit his PR endeavors to focus solely on the site.
“I just said, ‘this is really awesome, I love doing it, it’s a lot of fun and lots of people are reading it — I’m sure I can make money eventually'. One of the neatest stories of the site is that I learned [how to do it; be a journalist] by doing it everyday,” said Maus. “I was a true sort of citizen journalist. I had no idea; I never carried a notebook around, never carried a camera around, but I really liked it and I had this platform to do it and people read it and I just kept going for it.”
He brought on advertisers and continued to grow, and for a time he employed a managing editor who also contributed to the site. BikePortland.org’s advertisers buy into the site as an advocacy outlet and news source. Buying an ad on the site won’t come with an impression report or a loud flashy animated ad; rather, it’s about supporting what the site does for the local bike community. “People have a spot on the site, and they own it,” he said. Those who advertize understand and support the concept.
Maus is looking for some help with BikePortland.org, so he can put his feet up here and there
Now with BikePortland.org steaming confidently into its sixth year and a new baby in his household, Maus is looking to simultaneously further expand the site, while taking a step back personally from its day-to-day running. “What I’m trying to do now is to step away from it,” he said. “I’m trying to get someone else to replace me and build a news organization around the site… I’ve been so close to the site for so long, having a major change in my role and relationship with the site is going to be challenging and interesting.”
We can only hope that Maus’s transition away from BikePortland.org’s day-to-day reporting doesn’t hamper the site’s professional coverage of bikes, Portland bike culture and the riders who love both.
BikeRadar readers: If you visit – or own – a cycling website that you feel is worthy of mention in BikeRadar’s website of the week, email a link to bikeradar@bikeradar.com or post it in the comments section below and we'll follow up with them for a possible profile in our latest column.
Technique: How to tackle mountain bike trail centres, part 1
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 13:00:00 -0500
Unlike riding in the wild, where you have to pick lines carefully and deal with the trail surface changing regularly, trail centres and bikeparks give an element of predictability to mountain biking. The trouble is that trails are so well-built that they can make you lazy – the flowing line has been worn in by so many riders that it ribbons off in to the distance, allowing absent-minded, auto-pilot riding.
In order to ride at your best, you need to ride hard – when you’re on it you have to scan the trail for the best lines and take chances that could have you sailing or stacking. You have to come to life as the trail unfolds in front of you. Don’t fall in to the trap of having a leisurely ride round a trail centre without getting a rush. Hammer the trail like it’s a race track, and give your bike the pasting it’s designed for…
1 Bike setup
Seatpost: You’ll need your saddle at an efficient riding height for the climbs, but lowering it makes the descents more fun. Try running it slightly lower than usual for your whole ride, or try a height-dropper seatpost.
Tyres: In summer semi-slicks will fly round a trail centre, but something more substantial fares better all year round. Running your tyres firmer will help with rolling-resistance, and help minimise the chance of pinch punctures.
Pedals: If you want to tear up – and down – a trail centre, clipless pedals really are an advantage. They let you pull up and push down while pedalling, are great for fast direction changes and enable you to float through rough sections.
Front mudguard: A trail centre’s hard surface is designed to withstand the elements, but there is always a lot of gritty spray thrown up. A front mudguard will catch the spray and keep it out of your eyes.
Suspension: Trail centres have a firm surface and a lot of buzz when you’re riding fast. A slightly firmer ride will feel faster and more responsive. Try setting a quarter of the available travel as sag, rather than the normally optimum third.
2 What to wear
Jersey: You’ll need a baselayer and a wicking jersey. A fitted but loose cut will be most comfy.
Shorts: Wear padded undershorts for comfort and tough overshorts for protection. Vented shorts keep you cool, while waterproof shorts and 3/4-length shorts make riding on even the foulest days far more enjoyable.
Kneepads: Not a necessity, but riding in pads is no longer an uncomfortable slog. There are plenty of great options out there.
Shoes: Look for shoes that give good support, protection around the toes and ankles, and will keep the elements out.
Helmet: Always get the best helmet you can afford. Look for the best fit, good ventilation and a removable peak.
Glasses: Make sure your eyes are protected against grit, mud, insects or branches in the face when you’re riding.
Gloves: Gloves protect your hands if you fall, keep them warm and improve your grip on the bars.
Waterproof jacket: Get a quality jacket that fits well and look after it. Never wash it with fabric softener or too much detergent, and reproof it every year.
3. What's in your pack
First aid kit: Make sure you at least have the basics so you can patch yourself or a friend up.
Tools: At the least, take a decent multi-tool with a Torx T25 driver and a chaintool on it. It’s also worth taking a plier-type multi-tool with you, a puncture repair kit and some spare parts and useful items such as cable ties, insulating tape and a few M4 and M5 bolts.
Rubber gloves: We hate getting our gloves soaked and covered in grease, so taking rubber gloves is a great idea.
Pump: Do we even need to tell you why?!
Inner tube: Don’t faff around with glue and patches to fix a fl at, just take a spare inner tube with you. Make sure your spare is a Presta because it'll fit Presta and Schrader drillings.
Spare layer and hat: Always carry a spare layer and a hat with you in case you get stuck out in the cold – you never know what might happen.
Energy gel/banana: When you get tired, you’ll be grateful for these. Both provide an energy boost.
Phone: Take a charged phone with you, and keep it safe and dry.
1 Woodwork
Eyes: Just like reading a trail, keep your eyes on your exit point. By the time you hit the wood, you should have already scanned the line.
Brake control: Do any major speed control before you hit the wood as even with chicken wire, wood can be slippy. Keep braking to a minimum, and don’t grab – just feather.
Clearance: Thanks to the slots between wood, and wire for grip, the are lots of pedal-grabbing places. Keeping your pedals horizonal will help reduce the chance of catching them.
Pump: Some woodwork can be ridden along normally, but often the builders will incorporate rises and banked turns. Pump them for every ounce of speed.
Turning circle: Get to know the length of your bike – when negotiating turns on woodwork your wheels will come close to the edge. If you lose the rear end it could damage your disc rotor or rear mech. Practise hopping the rear end about to pull it back in line.
2 Line choice & looking ahead
Low safe line: The safer line will always be the worn-in option, but won’t necessarily be the easiest or best option. Expect to weave around a little and do some brake checking.
High risky line: The risky line will almost certainly be more fun, although often intimidating. Sometimes, this line will be easier to ride and will flow better than the obvious line, but will have greater consequences if you mess it up.
Hazards: In rocky sections like this, the safe lines will usually weave around rocks – leaving sharp rock edges at a convenient height for causing damage. Look for scarring on rock edges and you’ll see where others have got it wrong.
Commitment: Once you’ve looked at the options, commit to one. If you come into the section half-heartedly, you’ll be setting yourself up for an accident. Pick your line, stick to it and hit it with confidence.
Dab, don’t grab: When riding sections like this, control your speed by literally dabbing the brakes, rather than grabbing them. Fine tuning like this keeps you in control – locked wheels are out of control.
3 Technical climbs
Line: Spot your line early – be it the tougher line over obstacles, or the easier around option – and commit. If it’s a short sharp section, be prepared to put the power down.
Cadence: Gear choice is crucial – you need to be spinning a gear to keep momentum. If you stumble on an obstacle in a bigger gear, you’ll struggle to keep moving forward.
Body weight: When it’s rough, out-of-the-saddle bursts can lead to wheel spinning, but seated attempts can end up in wheelies. Hover over the nose of the saddle to keep the front end down, but weight on the rear wheel. Try and stay low over the bars to help you balance.
Pinch puncture risk: With most trail bikes, you can roll over most rubble and rock slabs but do risk puncturing. If you’re confident you can avoid it, up your cadence and straight-line the section as hard as possible.
Recovery: Once over the obstacle, get back into a rhythm as quickly as possible and control your breathing. Attacking the section will have you out of breath, but use it to propel yourself forward and ease up slightly afterwards to recover.
4 Rock steps
Eyes: Steps like this can have your eyes darting all over the place, but stay focused. Check your line, note any hazards and look down the trail at your exit point.
Brake control: It’s important to approach slowly – it’s easy to build up speed on steps, but tricky and dangerous to scrub it off. Start slower, and you can always build up your speed.
Seat height: If you’ve got a height dropper seatpost, now’s the time to use it. If not, lower your saddle to attack the steps. If your saddle is raised, one hard hit could pitch you over the bars, so be careful.
Pedals: Keep your best foot forwards and be careful not to strike your pedals on the steps or rocks. Some rock steps are high enough to catch a chainring at low-speed. When riding faster, you don’t run this risk because your front end will travel further from the step before impact.
Position: As the front end drops over the edge allow the bike to fall away from you. Relax your arms and allow the saddle to come up towards your chest. Stay loose and allow the bike to move around. Don’t stiffen up or you’ll be grabbing the brakes.
Gear selection: If you don’t have a chainguide, you could drop your chain on sections like this. Put your bike in a gear that will tension the chain to help stop this– using the big ring will help, or middle with a low gear option on the rear. Rock steps often have tight turns that follow, so have a low gear ready to enable you to make a fast getaway.
Next month, in part two of 'How to tackle mountain bike trail centres', we'll be looking at berms, rock drops, jumps and switchbacks.
Health: Insoles can be crucial for comfort and performance
Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:00:00 -0500
Walking and running come naturally to us but pedalling isn’t a normal state of affairs. “Our feet work by our arches collapsing and energy being stored like a leaf-spring,” says Sean Madsen, a biomechanist at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine in Colorado and an expert in Specialized’s Body Geometry (BG).
“That energy is returned during the push-off, when we propel forward. None of that happens with cycling. Riding is a forefoot oriented activity, meaning the arch collapses and stores energy precisely at the point when we want to deliver it.”
This is what makes an insole a useful tool for providing support to your arches. “It provides stability to the foot and allows the best possible power transfer,” says Madsen. “BG insoles have three levels of arch support. This is to accommodate the variety of arches out in the general population.” Red insoles are the lowest, blue are mid-height and green are the highest.
“Blues are the most common arch height,” says Madsen. This doesn’t come as a surprise; most of the population have Rectus arches, somewhere between flat (Planus) and high ones (Cavus). “The insoles have a metatarsal button for spreading the metatarsal heads, which are the ends of the bones that connect to the toes. This helps to reduce the incidences of hot foot and numbness.”
As well as the insoles, you can also get a varus wedge to correct forefoot varus, which Madsen says affects up to 90 percent of the population. “Forefoot varus is a condition in which the big toe is elevated over the little toe when the foot is unweighted, meaning the front half of the foot rotates outwards,” explains Madsen.
“In cycling we need the front half of the foot to rotate inwards to make contact with the insole and apply power to the pedal. Therefore, forefoot varus can cause a loss of power, and injuries to the knee due to excessive internal rotation of the tibia.” A varus wedge can counterbalance this by angling the foot, bringing it into contact with the pedal and stopping rotational movement of the knee.
A study published in 2003 takes the claim for insoles even further, stating that they don’t just prevent injury and make you more efficient through positioning but can also cause a reduction of blood lactate levels and an increase in time to exhaustion. “The goals of insoles are capturing the arch, improved stability at the foot and increased power transfer,” says Madsen. “Find out your foot shape and arch height by drawing around your feet or, more accurately, going to see a specialist, and see the difference proper insoles can make to your ride.”
Training: Get in shape for sportive season, part 2
Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:00:00 -0500
You’ve started your training regime and paid the entry fee for that big event, now it’s time to step up the momentum, says coach Chris Ford, of CycleActive.
As spring starts to roll across the country it’s time to step up your sportive training. Last month we looked at how to kickstart your training. This time we’ll be looking at the next phase of your training plan – the early season. This is when the effort and commitment required really start to increase as you prepare for the duration and intensity of the big ride ahead.
The four-week plans further down this page focus on three different groups of riders – novices, enthusiasts and minimalists – and follow on from those in part 1. If you haven’t started preparing for your sportive yet but want to get going then don’t panic: you still have time. Just select a regime that best suits your level and ease into it, using the lower intensity rides only for the first two weeks.
1 Manage intensity: With last month’s four-week training period completed you’re probably feeling fitter, faster and better already. It’s at this point that overtraining can often begin. As you feel the drive to improve there’s a temptation to think every bit of extra exercise is going to help. Don’t go beyond the plan, however good you feel, and ensure you still take rest days and sleep well.
2 Refine targets: Last time, we talked about creating targets, but with some miles under your belt it’s time to set more specific short term goals to keep motivated. Target setting is all about ensuring that you stay on track both mentally and physically, so if you can create them to fit with your eventual aim or event, do. Try hitting bigger distances on weekend rides, joining a higher level club ride or shaving time off a favourite hillclimb.
3 Spin to win: Getting fitter will have a greater impact on performance if you become more efficient. As you cover more distance on your training rides, the impact of good pedalling technique will increase. You need to apply power on every part of the stroke, so work on this during turbo trainer warm ups and warm downs, then focus on getting it right on the road. As fitness and strength increase it’s easy to start ‘pushing the pedals’, so focus on spinning in circles, pushing the foot forwards, dipping the heel as you sweep down and back, then flexing again at the ankle as you pull up.
4 Bike setup: This links in to the last point about pedalling, but also affects your comfort and control as rides get bigger. If the saddle is too high you’ll be pedalling on your toes, which reduces power output (you can only push and pull) and tightens calf muscles and hamstrings. Also consider fore and aft adjustments on the rails – a plumb line from the front of the kneecap should line up with the centre spindle of the front pedal with the cranks level, or fall slightly behind it. At the cockpit you might want to tweak bar height, stem length, grip thickness or brake position – anything uncomfortable needs to be fixed now, while you have time to experiment and then get used to the final settings.
5 Develop stretches: Greater workout intensity will increase the risk of injury if you fail to keep your muscles in good condition. Do at least 10 minutes of maintenance stretching after any session. Also make time for a period of developmental stretching, lasting 30 minutes or more, following a gentle warm up with long duration stretches. For each stretch, reach the point where you can feel it without discomfort and hold for 30-40 seconds until the muscle relaxes. Increase gently until you can feel it again without pain, and hold for a further 30-40 seconds. Do this for calves, hamstrings, quads, glutes, adductors and hip flexors.
6 Heart rate: Last issue we talked about varying levels of training intensity. If you want to take this a step further then get a heart rate monitor and work out your target heart rate for each level of activity. This can really help your training but getting the setup right is important. There’s a great article on BikeRadar about finding your maximum and resting heart rates (tinyurl.com/66uwe8w). Everything else stems from these numbers.
7 Weight: Increasing levels of exercise (especially long, steady rides) boosts fat burning. This increases appetite significantly. It’s worth getting scientific about your ideal cycling weight; your GP can help identify your Body Mass Index but it might not give you a clear or accurate target weight. Take advice from a sports nutritionist or count calories, cutting out unhealthy snacks and reducing fats. One habit some riders develop is eating too much on long, steady rides because they feel hungry. In fact, good hydration from sports drinks is all they need.
8 Event logistics: Your main event is two months away and you need to be sure things run smoothly. If you’re travelling far then think about how rested and ready you want to be on the morning of the ride. For big events you might be on a campsite, or need to book accommodation soon. Even check out restaurants so you can book your table for the night before the ride. Everything that can be done now should be, so you can focus exclusively on the cycling as the event draws near.
9 Descending and cornering: A big ride isn’t just about fitness, it’s about technique and safety as you fly down the mountains. Whether it’s the endless descents of the Etape or the steep, twisty roads of the Fred Whitton in the Lake District, you need to be able to handle yourself downhill. On the straights, stand just off the saddle with flexible, relaxed legs to absorb the road, cranks level for even weight distribution, and vision well ahead to plan your line. In the corners, stay off the saddle, drop the outside foot and put most of your weight on it. Steer a smooth line, lean the bike under you, look for the exit of the turn and keep weight equal front and back for maximum grip.
10 Training diary: All this information is too much to hold in your head, so keep a diary and use it to monitor your development. You should log resting heart rate, weight, sleeping patterns, training times against targets, how you feel and any other details you might want to refer back to. Diaries can help you spot when things aren’t working, often before they go too far, and motivate you when you can see clear progress.
1) Novice
The last four weeks of training will have paved the way for a step-up in effort and intensity. Coming into cycling events as a moderately fit novice, it’s still important not to push too hard too soon. The aim is to get your first sportive completed, and for you to enjoy it.
Weeks five to eight of training will continue to develop your endurance using low intensity workouts. The change here is that we also want to develop your ability to sustain a higher speed of riding for longer periods. This means making some changes to elements of your weekly plan.
Week 2 (build): Up the long interval turbo and Sunday ride by 15 minutes.
Week 3 (push): Increase again by 15 minutes each.
Week 4 (recover): Return to level of week 1. If tired, miss the cross session.
2) Enthusiast
The early season training needs to push your ability to hold speed through progressively longer rides. This is also the time to start working harder on your burst speed for sprints and short, snappy climbs, without losing focus on the endurance needed for sustained rides of 100 miles or more. At this point a heart rate monitor is extremely useful, so percentages of maximum heart rate (MHR) are covered in the plan.
Week 2 (build): Increase the interval lengths by a minute in the Monday turbo session and add 30 minutes to the Saturday ride.
Week 3 (push): Decrease the recovery period in the intervals by a minute.
Week 4 (recover): Return to the level of week 1. Miss Thursday turbo session.
3) Mnimalist
You’re a keen but time-strapped cyclist, so the need to step up training will require some creative time management. The long, steady workouts are still needed if endurance is going to hold out for a big event, but you need to do more work on sustained speed and start looking at burst times for sprints and short hillclimbs. These aren’t a perfect substitute for endurance but they’re an important part of the programme.
Week 2 (build): Increase the interval lengths by a minute in the Monday turbo session and add 30 minutes to the Saturday ride, if you can.
Week 4 (recover): Return to level of week 1. Miss Monday turbo session.
Our training plans are built around a 12-week run-up to a major event. This is split into four-week phases: Pre, Early and Peak seasons. The increase in activity level happens like a wave, with the level going up over three weeks then dropping back for a recovery week, before moving to the next phase.
Intensity: The intensity level of training is defined as ‘low’, ‘medium’ and ‘high’. In pre-season the focus is still on low intensity work to continue building endurance and in particular increase your aerobic fitness. This is the bedrock of sportive riding – developing heart and lungs so they can efficiently deliver oxygen to your working muscles. At this stage we also introduce some mid intensity work to start developing speed and the ability to sustain that speed.
At mid intensity you're operating just below your anaerobic threshold – the point at which your heart and lungs can no longer keep up with the oxygen your muscles need to function properly. This can be tested scientifically, or you can aim to be working hard enough that conversations are possible but in short sentences only, and you are never getting ‘puffed out’ (start to breathe/blow more rapidly to expel CO2) which is a sign of excessive CO2 production due to anaerobic activity.
Cross training: Cross training is any non-bike exercise and it's useful to ensure that this covers a wide range of muscle groups to keep you in overall good shape. One round-the-world cyclist said that all of his pre-ride training was on core strength, including arms and most of the upper body, because he wanted to avoid strain or injury from so many miles in the saddle. He said he got bike fit once the ride began!
Turbo trainer: Turbo sessions can serve a range of purposes – a standard session is a good low intensity steady ride when the weather is too bad or nights are too dark to go outdoors. Long interval sessions should be about 6-8 minutes at medium intensity followed by an easy spin at low intensity for 4 minutes to recover. With all sessions, aim to maintain a good cadence of 80-100rpm and a smooth, steady cycling rhythm.
Low intensity flexible training: If you have limited time then developing your aerobic system through long workouts is not an option. Instead you need to find one hour a day that you can use effectively to raise your heart rate – it could be a solid hour of rapid walking at lunchtime, a Sunday dog walk, or an extension of your cycle ride home from work. It’s about stealing snippets of time that add up to a real training benefit.
Nutrition: How antioxidants can help your training
Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:00:00 -0500
Antioxidants seem to be everywhere these days. They're the ‘in’ thing in nutrition and if you believe the hype they can cure every disease, help you go faster and even live forever. Let’s take a look at the science behind the hype and see if there's any evidence that as a cyclist you should be including these in your diet.
Antioxidants act by counteracting something called oxidative stress, which causes damage to the body. During day-to-day living your body produces things called reactive oxygen species that attack the body. Think of it as oxygen on a rampage around your body. You naturally produce antioxidants to protect your body from this attack, so think of this as your body’s police force. However, you need to get extra antioxidants from your diet to support this police force – think of these as the riot police.
There's a huge body of research looking into the effect of antioxidant intake on health. With the advent of processed food a lot of the antioxidant capacity of our foods has been removed. It's quite clear from the research that antioxidants can help prevent diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer and help you live a long life.
The health benefits of a diet high in antioxidants is clear, but the performance benefits are less so. We know that exercise, particularly hard training, increases oxidative stress, but we also know that the body responds to this by increasing the size of its police force. However, when you train hard, the body can’t increase its natural antioxidants enough, so you need to make sure the riot police are ready to go.
Stress reduction
A recent study from the University of Newcastle in Australia looked at restricting fruit and vegetable intake on exercise performance and how the body responded to the training. Fruit and vegetables are probably the most important source of antioxidants in the body. The study showed decreasing your weekly fruit and veg intake from five a day to one a day caused performance to be impaired by two percent and the stress of the exercise was greatly increased. So there is a performance benefit to a diet high in antioxidants.
As we’ve seen, fruit and vegetables are the most common food source of antioxidants. They contain nutrients such as vitamin C and E as well as other antioxidant compounds. Nuts and seeds as well as wholegrains (as opposed to refined grains like white bread and pasta) also contain high amounts of antioxidants.
There are also many supplements on the market that may help improve your antioxidant capacity, although these aren't proven by science. The antioxidant system is very complicated and food is always going to be more effective, as nutrients work in interaction. A good example is a recent study showing high doses of vitamin C actually inhibited the adaptation from training.
So how can you increase your antioxidant capacity? Sources of antioxidants can be found in all kinds of common foods, so make sure you get enough:
The good
You know these foods are good for you, so make sure you:
The bad
You might try to avoid these, but in moderation they help provide powerful antioxidants:
The ugly
You might think these things wouldn’t make much difference, but they do:
Technique: Perfect mountain bike fit
Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:00:00 -0500
Getting a bike to fit you perfectly is something you need to work at. We know riders who’ve ridden for years on what they thought was their perfect bike, with perfect reach, perfect saddle height, perfect handlebar shape, a perfectly set up fork and perfectly inflated tyres.
Then circumstances put a fly in the ointment and they discover that a basic change, perhaps even a few basic changes, to that setup seems to make them ride better. It'll often be something as simple as a different handlebar sweep, different tyre pressures or more suspension fork sag. It’s often minor details of bike setup that change the way you ride, and feel about, your bike.
Tweak your ride setup from time to time, then give yourself a few rides to decide whether you like it or not. There are some things that feel wrong when you first change them, but feel right after a few rides. In the following article we’ll lay down the basic guidelines of bike fit, together with variations to consider and the reasoning behind them. Don’t think of bike fit and setup as something that’s carved in stone. Use our guidelines as a starting point, then go out and experiment...
Sitting comfortably?
This images below show the key areas that should be adjusted for you to achieve optimum bike fit. The first image shows the incorrect position, while the second image shows how the bike components should be positioned. Good bike position results in relaxed shoulders and slightly bent elbows
Although everyone is different – some folks may have longer legs but a shorter torso, while others may have long arms but short legs – starting with the correct-sized frame allows you to further tune the position using stem, bar, seatpost and saddle tweaks.
Frame sizing
Manufacturers’ listed frame sizes can be confusing. The traditional method is to list the seat tube length, but even that varies because some are measured to the top of the seat tube and some to the middle of where the top tube joins the seat tube. Many manufacturers simply list their bikes as S, M and L, perhaps with XS or XL at either end.
Either way, the measurement that matters more is top tube length. Together with seat position, stem length and handlebar position, top tube length dictates the comfort and efficiency of your body on the bike. To confuse matters further, the aspect of top tube length that matters is not the top tube itself, which often slopes, but a horizontal line from the middle top of the head tube to the middle of the seatpost.
So, where do you start to find out what size frame you need? Like so many other things on a mountain bike, there's no one perfect solution, as within sensible limits you can adjust your saddle, stem and handlebar to help a slightly imperfect fit feel fine. Bear in mind that road, cyclo-cross and hybrid bike sizes tend to be 3-4in bigger for the same rider height. We mention this because a lot of riders are confused by it when flicking through bike listings.
Here are some guidelines:
What really matters is how the bike feels when you sit on it and ride. The first thing you need to do, in the shop or on a demo ride, is set the saddle at the right height.
Saddle height
A rough approximation of saddle height for efficient pedalling is your trouser leg measurement plus 5in from the centre top of the saddle to the centre top of the pedal. To work it out more accurately, with comfort and efficiency in mind, sit squarely on your saddle with the cranks in a straight up/straight down position. The saddle is at the right height when your heel just touches the top of the lower pedal with your leg straight; your crank should be right at the bottom of its stroke.
If you have to tilt to one side on the saddle to achieve this position then the saddle is too high. Place your foot on the pedal in the ready-to-pedal position. If your leg was straight with your heel on the pedal it should be slightly bent at the knee in a pedalling position. You should never feel as if you’re being forced to rock your hips from side to side on the saddle while pedalling.
You may need to make adjustments to this position according to confidence and comfort preferences, and depending on what shoes you wear. And keep in mind that this is all based on efficient pedalling for cross-country trail riding. Many riders will choose to set their saddles lower for difficult descents, hence the growing popularity of dropper seatposts for big terrain riding.
Saddle position
As a rule, start with your saddle as level as possible on the top. This is an efficient cross-country position but some riders will prefer a slightly tipped back saddle for tricks, stunts and/or steep downhill work, and a few who prefer the nose of the saddle slightly tipped down for climbing or a more forward-biased ride posture. But dead flat is right for most riders.
Saddle rails have a lot of fore/aft slide adjustment, and not all seatposts are created equal. Some have set-back clamps, others have clamps in line with the top of the post. This has a bearing on the position you’re trying to achieve with your saddle. A saddle set too far back can make the bike feel back-heavy, possibly even too light at the front to achieve proper suspension fork compression. A saddle set too far forward can cramp your ride position and make you feel as though you’re putting too much body weight on the front of the bike.
In theory, if a bike has exactly the right reach for you and the fork is set up properly, you’ll probably end up with the saddle set dead centre on its rails. If you’ve got long arms for your height you may end up with the saddle set well back: short arms and you’ll be looking at inline seatposts and your saddle forward. You can use stem length and handlebar position to fine-tune the way you sit over the bike too.
We’ve ridden a lot of bikes and discovered a few unusual aspects of bike setup that can help explain why a bike feels wrong for no obvious reason. One relates to saddle position. With your saddle at ‘perfect’ height, drop a plumb line from the centre of your saddle clamp to your frame’s chainstays. With everything set up for general trail riding, the plumb line should intercept the chainstays almost exactly halfway between the bottom bracket axle centre and wheel axle centre. If it’s further back you’re probably sat too far back. Put your saddle further forward for better balance, and to get the best out of your suspension forks.
Handlebar reach
If you have access to different stem lengths and different shaped handlebars, experiment with different ride positions, adjusting your saddle accordingly. Arm, leg and torso length will vary between riders of the same height and body weight distribution can have a major bearing on setup. A rider with a big belly will demand a different bike setup to a rider with a well distributed muscle mass or a heavy head – strange but true.
A guideline for saddle to handlebar reach is to put the tip of your elbow on the nose of the saddle and see how far your longest finger reaches along the stem; forearm length is generally a good indicator of full arm and torso length. Most riders looking for a fast and efficient trail riding posture will discover that their longest finger reaches to almost exactly halfway between the steerer top and the handlebar centre.
You can fine-tune ride feel from that point by adjusting your seat position, stem length and height, and handlebar type. Some handlebars have a more generous backsweep than others, and you can turn bars in the stem to tune your hold position/wrist angle. We know riders who like their bars straight and others who find a 25-degree backsweep their ideal solution. Keep that elbow tip to finger tip measurement in mind when working out whether a test bike is the right size for you.
Handlebar height
How high you have your bars is a function of steerer height (and the amount of adjustment washers on it), stem height and rise, and handlebar rise. Some riders feel relaxed with their bars at roughly saddle height, others (particularly cross-country racers) have them way below saddle height to achieve a flat backed streamline posture on the bike.
Relative beginners might feel at ease with the bars set higher than the saddle. Bear in mind that you need enough body heft tipped towards the front of the bike to compress your suspension fork when you’re riding rough terrain. This becomes harder to achieve if your saddle is too low or your bars too high.
Control positions
Brake levers and gear shifters can be put in different positions on the bar. On most brakes you can adjust lever reach too, and on some you can adjust the point of contact where the brakes compress the pads. We know riders who put up with their thumbs rubbing on their gear shifters for years before realising that setting them half an inch further inboard on the bars solves the problem without making them harder to use.
Bar width can be trimmed too: cutting an inch off either end of a 27in handlebar might make a difference to your ride comfort. Swivelling bars a few degrees back or forth in the stem can also make a difference. Don’t be afraid to try something different, but try it for a few rides in order to find the pros and cons of a new setup.
Material benefits
The materials that your bike’s components are made from can have some bearing on setup and comfort. Materials, and the way they’re used, have the most effect at the major contact points (with the rider and the ground). We’re talking about your tyres, your grips, your saddle and your pedals.
Tyres: Tyre compounds, as well as pressures, will affect the way a bike feels on the trail. Cleverly treaded dual compound tyres with a high tpi (threads per inch) carcass construction will generally deform more over rough terrain, and so grip better, without any increase in rolling resistance. Cheaply made tyres tend to grip less and are more prone to losing traction when under pressure, especially in wet conditions.
Grips: Dual compound handlebar grips, or grips made from soft foam, might not be as hardwearing as others but they’re far more comfy, absorbing vibration and making you feel more at ease on the bike on rough terrain.
Saddle: The right sort of surface material and the right sort of padding on a saddle is obviously going to make a huge difference to the way you feel about your bike. As a rule, you should be able to move easily on the surface of a saddle; fancy embroidered graphics aren’t always conducive to this. And don’t assume that more padding is always better. Slimline saddles with minimal padding in just the right places are often more comfy than big bouncy affairs, which will often chafe after a while.
Pedals: The efficiency of your pedal/shoe interface has an impact on how you ride. Stiff soled shoes with inset cleats fixed to clipless pedals will make you a more efficient ‘full circles’ pedaller. But read instructions carefully when it comes to cleat position because poorly positioned cleats can cause problems, especially with knees. Most riders start with their cleats set dead centre in the shoe recess, but that doesn’t feel right for everyone, and some cleats/pedals offer more free float movement than others.
Comfort and control variations
Your tyres, suspension fork and rear shock effectively provide an adjustable cushion between your bike and the ground. Setting them up properly is crucial to your overall control and comfort. Big volume tyres can be run at lower pressures than small volume ones, and big volume tyres with a low knob profile will often roll just as fast as, and offer more comfort and control than, skinny tyres.
A good tyre pressure starting point for average weight riders on typical 2.1in tyres is about 35psi. Careful or lighter riders will often run under 30psi, especially on tubeless tyres where there’s no tube to pinch puncture. Heavier, clumsier or harder-hitting riders might prefer 40psi+.
Fork and shock pressures will vary according to make and model, but aim for between a third and a quarter of the available travel as initial sag when you sit on the bike. Also, take some time to learn about your compression and rebound damping controls.
Wrong fit ailments
Aches and pains can be caused by aspects of bike setup, but also by other things, so don’t take this list as gospel; it’s a rough guide. See your doctor if something is really hurting, especially if it continues to hurt after riding and it’s not solved by the adjustments mentioned here. Be aware that a lot of your aches and pains on a bike are simply caused by insufficient muscle support. In other words, you may just need to ride more and do some core muscle training to work things out.
Here are some common ailments and their causes:
Knees: Knee pain when riding can be caused by your saddle being too high or too low, or your shoe cleats being poorly adjusted. Some riders find that a pedal/cleat system with more free float gets rid of knee pain.
Back: Back pain during/after riding will often be related to poor core muscle support so there may not be a quick and easy setup fix. But try changing the position of your handlebars and/or your reach from the saddle to the bars. We know a lot of riders who’ve solved lower back pain simply by putting the stem up or down by half an inch, or getting a handlebar with more backsweep.
Shoulders/arms/neck: We're putting these three together because it’s often similar aspects of set-up that cause aches and pains in these areas, namely too much stress being placed on these bits of your body. This may be caused by being sat too far forward on the bike but it can also be down to sitting too far back, making you curl your shoulders and preventing you holding the bar properly. Experiment with stem height and saddle-to-bar reach. Try different bar shapes: a lot of riders find that more backsweep or upsweep on a bar will make them feel far more comfortable. Also, try anatomically shaped grips, which support your hands better.
Hips: A lot of hip problems among cyclists are caused by the saddle being either too high, too low, tipped too far back or forward or not offering the right sort of padded support.
Nutrition: Do cycling and vegetarianism mix?
Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:00:00 -0500
Whether you’re a vegetarian or you just want to cut back on your meat intake, knowing how to get the right balance of nutrients from a meat-free diet can keep you at peak cycling performance.
Nigel Mitchell, head nutritionist for British Cycling, says that going meat-free should cause no detriment to your cycling as long as you make sensible food choices. “The only time I’ve ever worked with vegetarian athletes who've struggled to gain adequate food for fuelling their sport is when they've made bad decisions about what to eat," he says.
Mitchell says that getting enough iron and protein without eating meat is easy: “If you cut meat from your diet the best source of protein is still animal based, so dairy products and eggs, which are also high in iron. Include enough of these into your meals and you won’t suffer from protein deficiency.”
However, you can also get high quantities of quality protein from several plant based vegetarian foods too. “Soya protein and Quorn are particularly good,” says Mitchell. “Quorn contains mycoprotein, which is very high quality and is also a good source of dietary fibre.” Mycoprotein is also free from cholesterol, unlike meat proteins, and too much cholesterol can cause clogging of the arteries, putting you at risk of a heart attack.
“Quinoa, which is a sort of seed-grain, is another great option for any diet,” he says. “It’s regarded by many as a superfood, because it’s high in protein with a low GI and a good combination of essential fats.” This means the energy it provides will be released slowly over the course of your ride, sustaining you for longer.
“One potential drawback of cutting meat from your diet is that it'll have less creatine, an organic acid that occurs naturally in meat but not plants, and helps to transport energy to your cells,” says Mitchell. “However this is also produced inside the body so although levels might not be as high, not eating it shouldn’t have a detrimental effect.” And creatine supplements are available that can boost your levels if you’re worried they’re too low.
Christine Vardaros, professional cyclist with Baboco Cycling Team, has been vegetarian for the past 20 years and vegan for 10. She feels that a meat-free diet has in many ways helped her cycling performance. “Considering there’s complete protein in all plant foods,” she says, “I get more than enough protein from my meat-free diet to build and repair muscles.”
She also says that getting meat-free fuelling mid-ride isn’t a problem: “While my team-mates have sandwiches of meat and cheese offered up to them mid-race, my team make me special ones with jam.” In fact, Vardaros feels that vegetarianism has actually given her an advantage over her carnivorous team-mates. “On a meat-free diet I’m rarely sick, which gives me more days for training over my competitors," she says. "I also recover more quickly from hard rides and races, and feel more energetic on my bike rides.”
Vardaros puts this down to the fact that digestion of high protein animal flesh can be taxing on the body. “Complex animal proteins fight for the body’s energy and resources needed for recovery and optimal immune system,” she says, adding that because of its perceived benefits, “vegetarianism is catching on quickly in the pro peloton. Now it’s commonplace to see soya milk on the breakfast tables, even among the ProTour teams.”
So what meat-free fuelling tips does she have before a big event? “On race day, I eat mainly carbohydrates,” says Vardaros. “A big bowl of pasta or rice with a splash of olive oil and salt is a typical pre-race meal for the pros. Some of them add grated cheese for flavour, while I eat mine plain.”
Veggie winners
These pro cyclists have all been veggie at some point in their career: Sean Yates, Shane Sutton, Levi Leipheimer, Robert Millar, Maarten Tjallingii, Dave Zabriskie and Mark Cavendish.
Veggie superfoods
Recipe for success
Registered dietitian Renee McGregor, who is a veggie herself, suggests a tasty meat-free recipe for fuelling before a big event. “This is one of my favourite pre-race meals,” says Renee. “It’s pasta with roasted vegetables and toasted sunflower seeds – providing plenty of complex carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals including iron.”
Ingredients (serves 2):
Instructions:
Technique: Aerodynamics on a budget
Fri, 11 Mar 2011 13:00:00 -0600
If you want to go faster on your road bike, spend some time getting aero, says Jeff Jones, editor of BikeRadar and 2009 British Masters time trial champion. By that we mean adjusting your position, clothing and equipment to reduce your drag so that you get the most out of the power you’re putting in.
If you’re not convinced about going aero then consider the current world hour records: 49.7km on a ‘standard’ road bicycle, 56.375km on a time trial bike in the extreme ‘Superman position’ and – wait for it – 90.598km on a fully faired recumbent bicycle. That’s getting on for double the speed of a standard road bike, and it’s all down to aerodynamics, not extra power.
Now for some physics: the power you need to overcome aerodynamic drag on a bike is related to your drag coefficient (determined by shape and surface), frontal area, air density and speed. You want to lower your drag coefficient and frontal area while making sure you can still ride your bike. You’ll have to use your judgement on this as there’s no point in having an extreme position if you can’t pedal. But changes in position take some time to adapt to, so give them a chance.
Measuring it
The fastest and most accurate way of knowing how aero you are is to get yourself to a wind tunnel and get your drag measured in different positions. This costs at least £500 and goes up from there. A company called Drag2Zero offers this in two places in the UK, while in the US, the A2 wind tunnel is one of several that do this for cyclists.
If you don’t want to shell out the cash for tunnel time, do some field testing. This can be as simple as roll-down tests (find a hill with an uphill at the end, start from a standstill, don't pedal and see how far up the other side you get using different positions/equipment).
Or, if you have a power meter then the Aerolab function in the (free) Golden Cheetah software is an accurate way of comparing different positions by riding laps of a circuit. Finally, there’s the most basic measure: if you’re faster than you’ve ever been before, you’re probably doing something right!
If you don’t want to measure your drag, don’t worry – the four steps below will help reduce it, no matter what.
1 Clothing
Anything that's loose or flappy will catch the wind and slow you down big time. Air is a fluid, and obeys the same physical laws as water. You wouldn’t dream of going swimming with all your clothes on because they'd drag. so ditch the T-shirt and rain jacket in favour of a close-fitting jersey (£20 and up) or even a skinsuit (£50 and up) and be prepared to see your times drop.
2 Aero bars
If you ride a drop or flat handlebar bike, then you should seriously consider buying a set of clip-on aerobars. These start from around £30 for a basic aluminium pair. If you're considering buying some, check they'll fit the diameter of your handlebar. Once you’ve fitted them and are happy with the position, do the clamps up tight enough, otherwise you’ll find your arms pointing downwards after you hit the first bump.
If you’ve got a drop-barred bike, you may want to lower your stem when you install the clip-ons. otherwise your racing position will probably be too high. Aerobars work by narrowing your upper body and effectively reducing your frontal area. this lowers your drag and hey presto! You go faster. We’d say up to a minute faster in 10 miles if you can average 25mph, and if you’re slower than that, you may save even more time.
3 Aero helmet
Aero helmets may look funny, but they're a cost-effective way of improving your aerodynamics, with prices for a decent one starting from £100. They’re teardrop shaped with few vents, so if you’re susceptible to overheating then they may not be a good option. They work not by reducing your frontal area, but by changing the shape of your head profile and smoothing the surface so that your drag coefficient is reduced. In the drag equation this is just as important as frontal area.
In practice, we’ve found switching from a road helmet to an aero helmet saved around 20 seconds in a 10-mile time trial at 25mph (see How Aero is Aero). Again, the saving will be greater the slower you are. Fit is important so find one that fits snugly over the ears without being too uncomfortable. Don’t go for an extra large helmet unless you really need it. Secondly, spend some time adjusting the straps so that the tail sits flat to your back. Having the tail pointing up into the wind isn't doing you any favours aerodynamically.
4 Body position
We’ve left body position until last, not because it’s the least important, but because it’s the most time-consuming to sort out. You yourself account for 70-80 percent of the drag in the bike-plus-rider equation. The bigger you are, the greater this percentage, and vice versa. Outside of radical surgery, there’s only so much you can do to reduce your size and shape. but if you have weight to lose, then you’ll not only gain speed on the hills but also on the flat by being thinner.
On the bike itself, the general rule is the flatter you make your torso, the better. Going lower - up to a point - will bring your head down so it shelters your upper torso, and reduce drag further by shrugging your shoulders and tucking your head in. If you have adjustable aero bars then there are a few more rule-of-thumb tweaks you can perform.
Firstly, set your elbow pad width according to your size. If you’re of a smaller build (under 5ft 8ins), then go narrow to divert the air around your body. If you’re taller than 6ft , set your pads wider so that your arms are shadowing your thighs and the air flows through your chest cavity rather than around it. If you’re in between then experiment with what’s most comfortable.
Secondly, adjust the tilt of the bar extensions so that they’re flat or point slightly upward. A downward tilt can work aerodynamically (we’ve seen some riders come out of a wind tunnel with down-sloping bars) but at the expense of handling.
Hopefully we’ve convinced you of the importance of being aero on the bike and that you don’t need a big budget to do so. Clothing, aerobars, helmets and body position form the bulk of the aero equation, and by making some smart adjustments to these areas you can really save minutes. If you’re prepared to put in this time and effort, we guarantee it'll pay off with faster cycling.
This article was originally published on TriRadar.com.
BikeRadar website of the week: Cycling Tips
Sat, 05 Mar 2011 09:00:00 -0600
When a quiet day in the office in 2008 led Melbourne resident Wade Wallace to start his website, Cycling Tips, he had little idea of where it would take him. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine some of the opportunities that would come my way,” Wade told BikeRadar.
“Going to the Tour de France and riding in teams cars, interviewing and riding with some of the best cyclists in the world... I need to pinch myself on a daily basis. I’ve never been involved in something so satisfying and fulfilling.”
A long-time amateur racer, with a full-time job away from cycling as an engineer, Wallace had a passion for road racing that couldn’t be satisfied by cycling alone. Years of riding helped him build up a wealth of knowledge of the road scene, and he saw a website as an ideal way to pass this experience onto fellow cyclists.
He naturally started off small – race tactics, simple nutrition and training tips were among his initial posts – but he gradually widened his scope. Three years, hundreds of posts and over 50,000 reader comments later, he’s showing no signs of letting up.
“I still get a buzz out of posting something every day,” he said. “My ideas usually stem from conversations I have on morning rides and I can't wait to write about it by the time I get home. Nothing has really changed since I started, except that I’m continuously expanding on the topics I write about, depending on what I'm into at that point in time. I'm also learning a lot by doing this every day, so the more I learn, the more I write.”
Cycling Tips creator Wade Wallace in action
Wallaces says interaction with his readers is one of the most rewarding aspects of running the website, and their comments help to keep him on his toes. “They have much more power than I do and I need to stay 100 percent transparent with them. I can't feed them garbage,” he said. “They're also much more intelligent and they'll call me on anything if I try to slip something that's inaccurate or dishonest by them!”
But Cycling Tips is much more than one guy simply passing his opinions and views onto his readership. In-depth interviews with industry professionals and pro riders, plus regular posts by guest contributors, make it a cut above many other blogs. Three recent posts demonstrate the variety and detail it offers.
The Geometry Of Bike Handling sees Wallace interview an industry expert on bike design, while regular contributor Jamie Jowett’s interview with ex-pro Jay Sweet – as part of his ‘Where Are They Now?’' column – sees him find out what former riders have been up to since retiring, and To Shave Or Not To Shave looks at the debate over leg waxing.
His favourite series on the site – What You Missed This Morning – started two years ago as his way of documenting morning rides in pictures. He’s held an annual competition running alongside the series, with readers sending in their own images of their mornings from around the world. Last year he introduced a ‘camera phone only’ rule, which minimized the technical aspect and opened up the competition to a wider audience.
Last year Wallace found himself reporting from the Tour de France following an invite from BMC. But he still sees himself as a cycling fan rather than a journalist; something that’s reflected in his work. “I always try to cover the race as a fan would see it,” he said. “I love photography and always try to capture the ambiance of the event rather than shots of the cyclists.”
As the website has continued to expand, he’s been fortunate to get support from advertisers, who've helped to offset the costs of production. He still ultimately sees it as his hobby though, and he’s aiming to keep it that way. “I’m very proud of the readership I’ve earned. It's fun the way it is and I'm very content,” he said.
Wallace is always keen for others to contribute to the site too. Apart from giving him occasional days off, he takes satisfaction in seeing them develop. “Some very talented photographers have been generous with their contributions and I wouldn't have the readership I do without their help,” he said. “It's great to see them grow in their craft and I'm always excited for them when cool opportunities come their way because of their involvement.”
On his plans for its future, he’s happy to see the site progress in its own way. “I may change the aesthetics of the front page layout and I’ll keep progressing with good ideas as they come up," he said. "But I think it'll be something that evolves rather than trying to stick to a masterplan."
We’ll certainly be keeping our eye on developments from one of favourite websites out there, and encourage anyone who hasn’t checked out his unique take on cycling to head over to www.cyclingtipsblog.com.
Health: Is Echinacea the wonder herb it's claimed to be?
Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:00:00 -0600
According to a new study, a daily dose of the herb echinacea can help your body increase levels of the red blood cell boosting hormone Erythropoietin (EPO), significantly increasing your endurance capacity.
Because red blood cells transport oxygen to the muscles, increasing your EPO levels can be an ergogenic aid, upping performance and keeping you going harder for longer. The hormone is produced naturally in the kidneys, but the use of synthetic EPO and blood doping is a big problem in pro cycling. This is both illegal and dangerous.
According to Dr Malcolm T Whitehead of the Department of Physical Therapy, Arkansas State University, USA: “Abuse of synthetic EPO can result in an increase in the viscosity of the blood, and if red blood cells increase beyond a certain point the blood becomes thickened. This means it won’t flow well through vessels, increasing blood pressure, and could possibly lead to states such as strokes.”
As it’s a naturally occurring hormone, though, boosting your levels of EPO safely and naturally is achievable. A recent study from the Department of Health and Human Performance at Northwestern State University, USA, found that echinacea could create a legal way to increase your levels of the hormone.
Whitehead led the study, giving participants either a placebo or 8g per day of echinacea for 28 days. “The intake of oral echinacea resulted in an increase in the naturally occurring EPO levels similar to the results obtained from altitude training,” says Whitehead. “There was a significant increase in the per cent change of measured maximal oxygen uptake in the experimental as compared to the control group.”
He stressed that more research is needed for highly trained athletes, but for recreational riders, there could be noticeable positive effects.
Echinacea, the wonder herb
There are many other claims for the virtues of echinacea. Here are just some of them…
Treatment and prevention of the common cold: Some studies have found that taking echinacea as soon as you feel the first signs of a cold (or other upper respiratory tract infections) can significantly reduce the severity of symptoms. Others advise that taking echinacea prior to being exposed to the cold virus may prevent you from getting ill.
Snake bite cure: Traditionally echinacea was used for the treatment of snake bites and reportedly to reduce the spread of venom.
Anti-inflammatory: In inflammation caused by a viral or a bacterial infection, echinacea has been shown to reduce the swelling in some cases.
Anti-cancer: Yes, this is a big claim, but in one study 15 participants with far-advanced cancers were given echinacea and the average survival time of all patients was four months – which was longer than expected. A bit vague… but maybe it really is the wonder drug?
Other suggested uses for echinacea include to treat wounds, herpes, burns, ulcers, acne, eczema, blood poisoning, and allergies.
Training: Get in shape for sportive season, part 1
Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:00:00 -0600
Summer is coming, and with it the promise of epic rides and big events. If 2011 is going to be ‘your year’, the time to start making things happen, says cycling coach Chris Ford, of CycleActive, is now.
It’s easy to delay when the days are short and the nights still freezing, but don’t. Training is just as much about thought and preparation as it is about physical effort. Anyone with a ‘brawn over brains’ approach is likely to overtrain, overstrain and end the year disappointed.
This first feature looks at how to kickstart your training, with a focus on three different groups with three different needs. The goals may be similar but we’ve looked at how you can flex your programme to fit with your lifestyle, your current fitness and your target event. For each group we’ve designed a 12-week training plan, to give you a framework for your event preparation. In this issue we’re looking at weeks 1-4, the pre-season training period. Good luck!
1 Choose a goal
Training needs a goal, something to focus the mind and motivate the soul. Like all objectives the final goal ought to be realistic and specific – for novices this may be a distance event you want to complete in mid-summer, for enthusiasts it may be a time you want to achieve on an event you’ve tackled before, or a first attempt at the Etape du Tour. If you’re new to events you could aim for a 50-mile ride, a charity challenge or audax events from 50km to 400km.
2 Set targets
Nobody scales Everest without considering the camps they need to reach, and when they need to reach them. Once your goal is set, consider some targets to aim for along the way – an interim event, a big ride you’ve always wanted to conquer or some personal hurdle you need to overcome as part of the whole process. The aim of these is to show you how you are improving. It’s all about showing yourself that you’re getting fitter.
3 Ride energy
If you’re aiming for a big ride in hot conditions you need to be able to refuel and rehydrate effectively. This almost certainly means using some form of sports drink, bars or gels. Now is the time to start experimenting with them, on rides, on an empty stomach. Don’t rely too much on reviews or recommendations – if it upsets your system, it won’t work for you.
The science of fuel and hydration is complex but if you consider two key facts – 1) your body only stores enough glycogen in the muscles for about 40 minutes of sustained workout, and 2) your performance drops by about 20 percent for a two percent drop in body hydration levels – you can see why staying fuelled and hydrated is critical to big ride success.
4 Think diet
Scientists used to believe that every cell in your body replaced itself every seven years, but more recent studies suggest it’s actually every year. All you’re made of is the food you eat, the water you drink and a bit of sunshine. If your diet is unhealthy when you are training you will not get the benefit of the hard work you put in – you need to have the right nutrients in your system to allow your body to sustain itself, to develop new capabilities, and to resist illness.
5 Stretch
Get to grips with post-ride stretching to maintain your muscles and reduce the risk of injury. Be sure to include good stretching of the glutes after every training session to help avoid IT band problems, which often result in severe knee pain that can throw your training off for weeks. Also stretch your pecs to balance out the constant shortening effect of being curved over your bike, as well as a full range of leg and hip stretches. Use a good book or find a pilates class and learn from an expert.
6 Bike prep
Bike setup is critical if you’re riding for hours, so if you have a new bike, or some discomfort on your existing bike after an hour or more, get it sorted. Your saddle height needs to be such that your knee remains slightly flexed at the bottom of the pedal A good local bike shop will advise you and provide the right parts to change your fit.
7 Sleep
Much of your training will actually take place at night. You may put your body under strain during a big training ride, but it’s at night that the post-ride fuel is used to develop your muscles. If you’re a late night TV junkie, buy a recorder and get to bed. Some people say that if you cannot sleep for thinking about things, write a list to get it out of your mind and onto paper. Others say allow yourself 30 minutes and if you’re not asleep, get up, have a little walk about, then go back to bed and try again. Hopefully just being on the bike so much will make you tired enough to want more sleep!
8 Plan around obstacles
Life is full of commitments that can take you away from your bike, gym and training for a week or more. Try to spot these now, think about how to cross-train through them, and then they won’t become the cause of stress later.
9 Mental conditioning
The four Cs of psychological coaching are Confidence, Commitment, Control and Concentration. Critically think about how you hold up mentally during a big event, and in the training time before it – there are simple techniques to improve each of these. Good target setting can help build confidence as you can see clear improvements on the path to your event; a way to build mental control when you're in a challenging situation is by using positive self talk.
Focus on the things you can control (keep spinning, look forwards, don’t rush, keep spinning…) rather than things you can't (this hill is going on forever, I’ll never be fit enough at this rate, maybe I’ve done enough for today…). This positive mantra that focuses your mind and body on the criteria for success in a task can have a huge impact on your mental control and concentration.
10 Team cohesion
If you’re training with friends then getting the group working together now will help you all to help each other. As well as the riders, you need to get the buy-in now from family, friends and maybe even work colleagues, since you’re about to become less sociable and flexible. If you can do some of the training together, maybe the cross sessions or the long steady rides, it can help morale and add more enjoyment to the whole process.
You’ve been riding a bike for a while and stay in reasonable shape, but have never thought about doing an event until now. Normal rides are a commute or a gentle spin for an hour or two on a good weekend. For 2011 you want to get your first sportive completed and enjoy it.
The first four weeks of training are aimed at building your endurance through low intensity workouts. Cross training should be low to moderate intensity if it’s a new activity. This step up from your normal activity levels will require a change in your food, water and sleep. If you start to feel muscle aches two to three days after a workout it's likely that the intensity level was too high.
Week 2 (build): Increase the turbo session and Sunday ride by 15 minutes.
Week 4 (recover): Return to the level of week 1. If tired, miss the cross session.
You’re a keen and committed road cyclist with some good events to your name. This year you want to step it up – maybe do the Etape or Marmot, or improve a domestic sportive time. You should have maintained base conditioning with some long, steady rides this winter. Now it’s time to increase session frequency and up the intensity to build speed. Turbo and cross sessions can do this with short, sharp cardiovascular intervals.
Week 2 (build): Increase the interval lengths by 1 minute in the turbo session and add 30 minutes to the Saturday ride.
Week 3 (push): Decrease the recovery period in the intervals by a minute and add a further 30 minutes to the Saturday ride.
Week 4 (recover): Return to the level of week 1. Miss the Monday turbo session.
3) Minimalist
You’re fit, enthusiastic and would fit neatly into the enthusiast category if you had the time. But you don’t. Whether it’s work, family or other activities, you simply can't commit to significant hours of training, but you want to do enough targeted work to let you enjoy a good event.
The winter rides may have suffered due to other commitments but it’s time to check the foundations and start to build up aerobic fitness again. At the same time you need to increase the intensity to build your speed, and find creative ways of stealing short sessions of low intensity training time every day.
Week 2 (build):Increase the interval lengths by 1 minute in the turbo session and add 30 minutes to the Saturday ride, if you can.
Low intensity flexible training: If you have limited time then developing your aerobic system through long workouts is not an option. Instead you need to find one hour a day that you can use effectively to raise your heart rate – it could be a solid hour of rapid walking at lunchtime, a Sunday dog walk, or an extension of your cycle ride home from work. It’s about stealing snippets of time that add up to a real training benefit
Nutrition: Store cupboard sports fuel
Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:00:00 -0600
Walk into any bike shop and you’ll be hit by the vast number of different sports foods and supplements that are available to you. Leaf through a cycling magazine and the adverts for nutrition products are plentiful. These sports foods provide good quality nutrients in a convenient and, most importantly for cyclists, speedy way.
Ultimately though, many are made from everyday ingredients, of the type that you’ll no doubt find lurking in your fridge or cupboard. The main difference is that the sports foods you’ll find in a shop have been slightly modified to make them as effective as possible at what they're intended to do.
A sports drink is really only sugar, salt and water put together in ratios to enhance sugar and water absorption, and a shop-bought product will get those ratios spot-on. But with a little imagination you can use real food alternatives. You just need to know how to do it.
Homemade alternatives
You can divide up the sports foods on the market into two groups – those which are for energy and those for recovery. Energy products tend to consist of food and drinks which provide simple sugars for your body to use as energy and maintain blood glucose levels during training and racing. Examples would be carbohydrate-electrolyte drinks, gels, jelly beans and energy bars.
Recovery products generally have protein as their main ingredient, and from there the manufacturers add other nutrients such as carbohydrate, fat, vitamins and minerals depending on the product and what it is to be used for. Examples would be carbohydrate and protein recovery drinks and protein bars.
With the advice here you can make your own energy and recovery fuels. It doesn’t mean you should stop using shop-bought products, because the key to good sports nutrition is timing, and the convenience of shop-bought products means you can refuel when your body needs it most. But there’s nothing wrong with supplementing them with a few store cupboard alternatives.
Milk: Milk could be the closest thing we have to a sporting superfood. Research shows that milk replaces lost energy, is a fantastic source of protein and is as effective at helping you rehydrate as a sports drink. It's the perfect recovery drink. To get the most out of the milk in your fridge drink a pint immediately after your ride to optimise recovery. Price: 45p per pint.
Fig rolls: Fig rolls are a fantastic source of quick and easy energy. You could take these on the bike to help you get some easy carbohydrate without having to use gels and sports bars. They're easy to eat, fit perfectly in the back pocket and taste delicious. You could also try Jaffa Cakes and malt loaf, but they’re less robust in a pocket. Price: Approx £1 per packet of 12.
Flapjacks: Sports bars are excellent ways of getting quick, easy energy during a long bike ride. However, so is a flapjack, and if you make it yourself you can make sure you get the taste and consistency exactly how you like it. Make sure you have a good carbohydrate source by using jumbo oats and add dried fruit and honey for extra carbohydrates. If you want some protein add some chopped nuts into the mix. See the recipe below if you fancy giving this a go. Price: 79p per flapjack.
Cola: A sports drink is just sugar, salt and water. Well, some sports drinks now contain caffeine to help boost your performance even further. A fantastic piece of research around 10 years ago found that drinking cola drinks late in exercise improved performance over a sports drink with the same amount of sugar in it. This was due to the caffeine content of cola. To use cola as a caffeinated sports drink allow the cola to go flat first before adding it into your drinks bottle. If you like, you can water it down to make it less concentrated. Price: £1 per drinks bottle.
Fruit juice: If you think of a sports drink it's basically sugar, with a pinch of salt, some flavouring and water. Without a doubt the most important component of a sports drink is the sugar as it delays fatigue and supports the immune system during exercise. Fruit juice is a perfect alternative, plus you might get some additional vitamins along the way. To make your own sports drink using fruit juices just take your water bottle and fill half of it with fruit juice, and the other half with water. If it’s a hot day, add a pinch of salt to the mix. Price: 60p per drink bottle.
Dried fruit: Over the past couple of years the sports nutrition market has been flooded by things like sports-specific jelly beans and blocks or other sugary sweets. These are great, but, if you just want to graze while you’re training then dried fruit will do the trick. If you’ve ever looked at the nutrition value of dried fruit you’ll know it's high in natural sugars. These will be effective at delaying fatigue and you’ll also get other nutrients such as vitamins while you ride. Price: 10p per handful.
Nuts: There are many low carbohydrate, high protein snack bars on the market. These are promoted as being an excellent way of helping increase your protein intake or as snacks. Well, a handful of mixed nuts will be just as effective and won’t have been processed. In fact, almonds are high in the amino acid leucine, which is key for muscle recovery, so using almonds or other nuts as snacks could be a very effective way of maximising your recovery. Have some mixed nuts along with your glass of milk after a hard ride to maximise recovery. Price: 20p per handful.
Homemade electrolyte drink: So, you've trained hard and lost quite a lot of sweat. You need to replace this and make sure you replace it with a drink containing electrolytes, particularly sodium. There are plenty of drinks on the market to help you with this, but you could make your own. Simply get some ‘no added sugar’ lemon-flavoured squash, get half a teaspoon of sea salt and add to a sports drink bottle. Fill the rest with water and you have a rehydration drink. The lemon- flavoured squash helps to mask the taste of the salt well. Price: 10p per bottle..
Technique: 50 ways to be a better mountain biker
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:00:00 -0600
With dark days, darker nights and weather that’s verging on the criminal side of foul, it’s little wonder that mountain bikers sometimes have a hard time keeping their spirits up when the winter months draw in.
Still, with all that spare time on your hands it seems somewhat foolish to spend it polishing your top tube. We think winter is the perfect time to take a close look at everything in your life to do with bikes and find out just how well it works.
From maintenance tips for bike and body, to skills advice and valid excuses to spend your cash on bike-related stuff, we hope our list of ideas to boost your riding will encourage you not to hang up the wheels until summer but instead keep you out on the trails whatever the weather, making the most of what can be a very beautiful (and productive) time of year.
1 Own goal
Pick a target and give yourself something to aim at. There are now enough events of all sorts on the race calendar to keep you amused every weekend of the year. Cross-country, enduro, endurance, downhill, cyclo-cross… the list is endless and once you’ve picked your poison you’ll have plenty of motivation to get fitter and faster.
2 Ride, don’t race
Some people just don’t like closed-circuit mountain bike racing. If you’re convinced it’s not for you, then look elsewhere for a goal to keep you going over the winter. Check out adventure races, which mix running and riding with navigation and often require plenty of brainpower and hill skills as well as fitness and riding ability. You could also have a crack at a long-distance cycle route; while they’re not usually technically challenging, the point-to-point nature hits the spot for many people, and they traverse some beautiful parts of the world.
3 Mini adventure
Escape the humdrum and tackle something a little more adventurous. Bivvying is still the method of the moment but we’re fans of bothying and credit card touring, too. Simply fill a small pack with overnight gear, then take the scenic route to a bothy or bike-friendly B&B/guesthouse/hotel. Repeat for as many days as you can manage.
4 Foreign climes
A week of winter sunshine can’t be beaten for lifting your mood. Bike tester and photographer Seb Rogers says: “Spend the money you saved for a new fork/wheelset/whatever on a holiday with your bike instead.” Make sure your chosen location isn’t going to be under 10ft of snow, though...
5 Feeding stations
Whether you’re whippet thin or could lose a few pounds, take a look at your eating habits. There’s usually room for improvement and always room for more fruit and veg. Fuel the engine consistently and healthily and you’ll notice a big improvement in your riding.
6 Hydration, hydration
When the temperature drops it’s easy to forget to drink enough liquid when you’re riding, but dehydration is just as damaging in the cooler months. Keep sipping through the chilliest rides and drink plenty of water throughout the day.
7 Yoga
Tack a weekly yoga practice onto your riding schedule and you’ll feel the benefits almost immediately. It boosts strength and flexibility, aids breath control and helps you to focus. Look for a local class with help and guidance if you’re a first timer, then check out a DVD in the comfort of your own front room.
8 Bend and stretch
Regular stretching is an overlooked part of any rider’s arsenal. The jury is out over whether it’s best to do it before, after or even during rides, but we prefer to do it in front of the TV while the post-ride tea is brewing. Target any existing problems but don’t neglect the rest of your muscles. View it as preventative maintenance rather than emergency treatment.
9 Catch some Zs
It doesn’t matter how hard you ride, if you don’t make time for your body to recover, you won’t reap the benefits. Sleep is massively important for muscle repair and regeneration so make sure that you get plenty.
10 Learn to love being out of breath
“Far from just being the domain of racers, embracing exertion means you’ll go further, faster and become fitter. Plus, it always helps justify the extra slice of cake at the end of the ride!” Oli Pepper, directeur sportif, Morvelo.
11 Push yourself
“When you think you can’t pedal that hard for a second longer, keep going for a count of 10. You’ll be amazed how much faster/further you’ll soon be going.” Guy Kesteven, BikeRadar tester in chief
12 Cross training
Indulge in a little cross training – a weekly run or swim will boost your all-round fitness markedly. If you’re an adrenaline fiend consider hitting the local climbing wall as an alternative; it’ll increase your flexibility as well as strength and give you the buzz that keeps you absorbed.
13 Spin the night away
It’s a last resort in many people’s eyes but if you’re seriously time crunched then get the turbo out and indulge in some interval sessions. Keep them hard, fast and, most important of all, short to avoid the mind-numbing boredom that comes from pedalling your legs off while going absolutely nowhere.
14 Pins & needles
Take advantage of some fettling time to get your riding position sorted out. Niggly aches and pains are often caused by something as simple as incorrect saddle height or handlebar rotation or poorly set up SPDs. Pay attention to what your bike looks like, and what you look like on it, to try to work out what’s going wrong.
15 Eat strong
Use the winter downtime to figure out what you can and can’t eat when riding hard. At its most basic this could just mean training yourself to take on adequate amounts of carbohydrate while exercising; move it on a notch and you’ll be looking at testing different sorts of energy drinks, bars and gels to find out which combinations work for you.
16 Back to school
If you want to make the most of your training then it makes sense to brush up on the theory so you really understand how your body works. Pick up a dedicated training book and immerse yourself in the principals of periodisation, lactate thresholds and power output – your friends and family might not welcome a full reprise but you’ll be able to put the knowledge to good use once spring rolls around again.
17 Trials on tarmac
Break out of the knobbly-tyred mould and hit the blacktop for a slightly cleaner mid-winter experience. If you don’t want to splash out on another bike then stick slicks on your mountain bike: you’ll miss out on the rolling benefits of 700c wheels but you’ll still find the speed and apparent ease of road riding utterly refreshing.
18 Experiment with bike setup
“Alter your bike setup. Try different riding positions, play with tyre and suspension pressures, experiment with component choice and so on. Work out what works best for you in different situations and don’t just bow to fashion.” John Ross, racer extraordinaire.
19 Lose weight, not cash
Throwing money at poor performance is a quick fix, but shedding excess flab is a more cost-effective, and healthy, way to speed things up. As an incentive, only buy new kit once you’ve earned it by dropping those pounds.
20 Go minimal
“Don’t be afraid to take just the bare essentials out with you: if you're only blasting around local trails of an afternoon a pump, puncture repair kit, spare tube, tyre levers, multitool and some snacks should be all you really need. Make things easier and ditch the pack: get a saddle pack or strap your spare tube to your saddle rails, get a bottle boss mount for your pump, and stick the other kit in your rear jersey pocket. And, last but not least, use a water bottle rather than a hydration pack.” Matt Skinner, What Mountain Bike editor.
21 Audit your backpack
Dig out your usual riding pack. Open all the pockets, turn it upside down and give it a good shake (preferably not over your best white carpet). You’ll be amazed at what you find...
22 Reduce, reuse, recycle
Do you chuck your punctured tubes away? Get the patches out and fix them instead. It’s a purposeful non-riding bike task to do when the weather is vile and is far better for the environment (and your pocket) than sending them to the landfill.
23 Lending library
If you’re mechanically minded and in need of costly specialist tools, consider starting up a tool library. Rope in some friends, work out what you need and then split the cost; you’ll have access to expensive items like thread taps and headset presses but without having to bear the financial burden alone. It does mean that someone will have to take the role of library co-ordinator though.
24 Charitable acts
Clear out your boxes of bike bits and take everything you haven’t touched for a year to your local bike recycling project or cycle jumble. The parts will go to a great home and you’ll have space to start accumulating those worn chains, gripless grips and split tyres again.
25 Spring cleaning
If you’re a novice, learning how to properly clean your bike and relubricate its drivechain is one of the most useful skills you can learn to keep your ride running smoothly. If you think that’s below you, then take a close look at your bike – we bet you’ll find parts that could use a little attention, because ours are exactly the same.
26 Cable magic
Shifting performance is one of the first things to go when the trails get sloppy. Whip out old inners, flush outers with dispersant and fit new inners; it’s one of the quickest ways to get a lacklustre ride feeling neat again, and costs peanuts.
27 Shop local
If you’re lucky enough to have an LBS (local bike shop) nearby, then make the effort to use it. They might not be able to match online/mail order prices but it’s likely that you’ll gain more from their experience and advice than you would save shopping online. If there’s something you’d like to be able to buy from them that they don’t stock, then give them some constructive feedback. Taking the time to develop a good relationship will make buying bike bits even more pleasurable – you might just be glad of it when you need an urgent job doing at 5pm the night before a big ride.
28 Tool school
Learn how to fix your own bike. From the most basic trail skill of replacing punctured tubes to tackling a strip, clean and rebuild of a full-suspension frame, there’s little that can’t be done once you have the knowledge. Start with the small things and work up – there are plenty of resources available to help you learn and you can even go on a training course if you want to take things further.
29 Feel the love
“Be in love with cycling. To be a better cyclist you need to feel the passion. True love will drive you out of bed on windy Sundays, remove the temptation to take the car to work and blind you to the trudge of constant bike cleaning. Love comes from squirrelling away beautiful cycling experiences. Ride more, love more, ride more.” Fi Spotswood, adventure racer.
30 Catch up on your reading
Long dark winter evenings confined to barracks make the perfect opportunity to seek out motivation. No, we’re not talking about the latest YouTube hit; there’s a huge amount of inspirational writing available in a variety of formats from regular riders’ blogs on the internet to more involving reading material published in good ol’ paperback format.
31 Break out the popcorn
Bigger bucks, better kit and innovative techniques have boosted the bike film industry in recent years. The latest crop of visual stunners includes eagerly awaited Life Cycles and Brit flick Find. Fire up the DVD player and prepare to be amazed.
32 Get connected
Love it or hate it, the growth of social media makes organising days out and finding riding buddies significantly less arduous. With Twitter lists and ‘tweet ups’, Facebook groups and forum rides popping up all over the place, it’s a great way to get involved with like-minded fools. Just beware of the difference between some people’s online persona and their real life personality.
33 Take out a newbie...
As anyone who’s experienced the joy of basking in the glow of a new convert to the cause will tell you, nothing quite beats taking out a novice for their first ever mountain bike ride. Make sure they’re properly equipped, be prepared to weather a few sticky moments and have a stash of sweets on hand ready to ease progress, and you'll find the experience thoroughly rewarding.
34 …but not your partner
We’d recommend that you don’t press-gang your partner onto the trails. Sending him/her out to learn the basics with an impartial third party if – and only if – they express an interest, is usually far safer and more diplomatic for all involved.
35 Time crunched
Make the time to ride with your friends. It’s easy to blame work and domestic arrangements for keeping you away from regular rides, but the company and laughter will keep you riding happily through the worst of the winter weather. We all have the same number of hours in the day; it’s how you use them that matters. As Debbie Burton, full-time mum and keeper of the Minx Girl cycle clothing website, says: “Just ride your bike whenever you can. Nipping to the shops, half an hour free? Get out on your bike.”
36 Go exploring
“Escape trail centres. Do it now. Maps aren’t scary and there’s a big world out there.” Seb Rogers, tester and photographer.
37 Skills school
Brush up on your trail skills. Take an outdoor-specific first aid course, learn the basics of get-you-home bike repair, make sure you know how to read a map and use a compass. You’ll probably have need to call upon one or more of these skills in the coming year and they could even save your life one day.
38 Map magic
Expand your horizons by researching new places to ride. Use the web to find out about places that interest you, then buy an OS map and get plotting. Guidebooks are a big help to the adventurous rider, but nothing beats finding your very own secret singletrack out there in the back of beyond.
39 Local knowledge
To get the very best out of an area you’re visiting, consider employing a professional guide. Many people don’t see why they should do this in the UK, but you’ll benefit from their legwork and knowledge of the local trail network, the local economy will get a boost and they'll be able to tailor the riding to suit the kinds of trails you’re looking for. Check out trail centres, tourist information centres and local bike shops for prospective candidates.
40 Dig day afternoons
The trails don’t fix themselves and a great way to give something back is to participate in a maintenance day. Alternatively, adopt a local trail as ‘yours’ and make a habit of stopping every once in a while to trim back encroaching undergrowth and stop up chicken runs or widening puddles. You’ll get a warm glow and the trail will love you back.
41 Eyes open
Be nosey – ride with your eyes open. Investigate the patches of woodland, scrub and wasteland tucked between the houses; it’s likely there’s a trail or two right under your nose.
42 Improve your riding
“If you want to ride like a big bowl of awesome, just get your chin up and look well ahead. While you’re at it, let’s have elbows out, move your hips, open your legs, open your mind and relax harder.” Ed Oxley, trail guide and skills guru.
43 Top technique
We all have our mantras to ride by. Mike Davis, test team rider, says: “Bend your elbows – the tip to end all tips.”
44 Vision power
What Mountain Bike editor Matt Skinner has these words of wisdom: “Looking up and further ahead will allow you to see things in good time so as not to get caught unawares. As a result, you’ll pick better lines, and ride better/more smoothly.”
45 Harden up
We’re big hardtail advocates here at BikeRadar. Resident snapper Seb explains why: “Ride a rigid hardtail through the winter, or at least a hardtail. You’ll go much faster when you get back on a susser.” Super-smooth trail surfer Steve Worland goes one step further and recommends that you own at least one off-road bike without suspension (big tyres excepted) and ride it regularly.
46 Skill up
Many riders who wouldn’t think twice about splashing hundreds of pounds on hardware baulk at spending a fraction of that on some skills training, yet booking yourself in with a guide for the day is one of the most fruitful ways to boost your skill level and enable you to make the most of your equipment.
47 Positive spin
Boost your efficiency and you’ll be able to ride harder for longer while expending less energy. Develop a smooth pedalling rhythm and learn how to select the right gear for a given section of trail; you’ll climb better and have more energy left for the downhills.
48 Vroom vroom
Make motorbike noises just for the hell of it. Mountain biking is all about fun after all, and who knows, it might even make you go faster!
49 Stop blaming your kit
It’s easy to make excuses for riding badly. What Mountain Bike editor Matt Skinner advises: “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. We all do it and sometimes alarmingly frequent. It’s often the best way to learn, and it keeps other riders entertained.” Just try not to make them too painfully! Check Matt’s knees next time you see him – messy!
50 Get out and ride!
Turn off your computer and go out for a ride. When you get back plan the next one – it’s habit forming, this mountain biking lark. What are you waiting for?
