Join us live for Episode 217 of the Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast! We’ll cover how heat training is proven to make you faster, but it can come at the cost of valuable training adaptations, why cramping actually happens and why it is so hard to avoid, how quickly you lose different types of fitness.
Pretty astonished with all that talk of special race day sealant and fancy co2 inflation tools you didn’t state the obvious - take a goddamn pump!!! Why trust your investment in a race to a couple of co2s then the kindness of strangers? Time was when you wouldn’t be allowed to use a track pump from someone standing on the side of the course… People need to be more self reliant…
Yep. One lives on everyone of my bikes along with a basic repair kit and tube. if you’re using a pump in most races, your race might be over but you still have a long walk ahead of you. CO2 and tire plugs for race day in addition to the pump. regular rides I just bring the old school tube/pump/multi…
My last ride resulted in 2 faulty CO2 cartridges…and I had my pump in my hand just before I left the house but said to myself…“I wont need that”. lol. Lesson Learned!
Ref the dry mouth thing that @Jonathan mentions regarding the short race fluid strategy thing… I’ve been doing this for a while - force yourself to wait at least 10-15 minutes at the start of a ride before you take a drink, I find it makes a massive difference to perceived need of fluids during the rest of a ride. I used to be the guy who always runs out of water in a group ride, but with this changed approach I never do now.
I started doing this following a half heard comment that suggested that intake of fluids in the first 10 minutes changes how your body processes fluids. However I have no science to back this up. I did submit a question for the podcast on this a little while ago but sure it got swamped by better content. Would be amazing if there was a real physiological reason for this to work, but I guess the psychological side could be just as beneficial if it works.
I was happy to hear the road rash discussion because I just had a nasty one the day before the episode aired. I grabbed a number of the products suggested but haven’t had good luck in using them. The smaller wounds are no problem. But I’ve got a strawberry the size of a lemon on my hip and once it’s lathered up with neosporin the area that needs to be covered by a bandage is even bigger. The Tegaderm only came in 2 3/8 x 2 3/4 inches and is not nearly big enough to cover the wound. Maybe it comes in sheets and I can cut to size. The skin moves quite a bit in that area and the Tegaderm was scrunched up off the wound within 30 minutes. Also, being on the hip, which is a very common area for road rash, you can’t use a nylon or the tubular stretch bandage to keep everything in place. Any other tips for this size and type of road rash?
I’m curious about the discussion on outdoor intervals. It makes total sense to me that it’s more important to spend as much time as possible in the desired range than it is to hit a specific target. It happens all the time to me that in the middle of a 5 minute interval there’s a downhill with a sharp turn, a stop sign, or something that means I’m going to be at zero for 10-15 seconds, and I’m not going get the average for the interval right without spending the rest of it way over range.
The screen that loads on my garmin when I do a TR workout has a text instruction, an average interval power display and a multicolored bar to show the range the power should be. I think that’s a TR specific screen, because I’ve only ever seen it when loading a TR workout. Can I modify that myself? I want to see current power in order to just make sure I’m currently in range.
I made my next training screen one that shows average power for the interval and current power, thinking that would work. The problem is if I’m not in range it becomes useless because every time I glance down at it the entire screen just says “power too high” or “power too low.” For example yesterday I did Pioneer, which was 41 minutes between (I think) 235 and 255 watts. But I had a few minutes long climb at the start, so it was something like 285 average to start. And as I leveled out I didn’t want to coast to bring it into range, I just wanted to ride in range, but I couldn’t figure out whether I was or not because I was either on the TR screen that didn’t tell me or I was on the second screen that was continually overridden with the “power too high” message.
So, I apologize, but I don’t know if this is a tech question (i.e., how can I modify my settings?) or maybe a feature request (can we have that info on the screen?). I am thrilled to have the option to push it to my device, genuinely. But that issue has been frustrating me, and since the topic was addressed on this episode, I thought I’d ask here.
There is a thread on here about the outdoor workouts where most of this is explained. In ahort, the screen you’re seeing is a Garmin specific screen, and Trainerroad actually recommend to make a different, custom workout screen. Its in the outdoor workout instructions.
The power too high/low warnings you can turn off.
(Apologies for not linking to it, its hard on the phone)
@chad. So, no high heels on the bike if we want to avoid sore calf muscles? (1:43).
My better half would agree whole heartedly.
Boom, tish! Dad joke out of the way.
Another great podcast. I’m stuffed if I know how you lot keep it up.
There are several women in my life that are close friends and are always very interested in my training. The level of fitness varies greatly, but they are all trying to better themselves through training.
Every single one of them that I’ve thrown on the trainer has complained of massive discomfort. So much so that they will not touch the bike again.
Please help me find a way to make things better for them.
For the tubeless part, I’ve had a great experience with Milkit valves for both fatbike and road bike.
With the sometimes PITA or setting a tubeless tire, super tight tires (looking @ you Schwalbe pro1), etc, these are nice to not lose sealant or unseat the tire when checking levels. The valve is one-way and you can suck out the liquid with the syringe without fully deflating the tire, you can leave 20-ish PSI in them and it holds with the valve. I’ve used them with regular and race stans, and finish line sealant with them. The Race stans would sometimes need a blast of air to clear out the valve to be able to let air out, but no major issues otherwise.
Buy large square gauze pads. Rub a thin layer of Vaseline on one. Place that on the wound, then use athletic tape to hold it in place. Use a lot; let it run several inches past the pad and all the way around a limb if possible. If the skin around the wound is hairy, shave that so the tape will stick better. Since it’s on your hip, try wearing briefs over the bandage to help hold it in place. Sometimes this will last a whole day but more often it needs to be redone at midday. Good luck!
Hi thesupermarket try using a product called Opsite. I fell off my bike and had several road rash about 6’ x 4’ on my hip/but area. Clean the wound as best you can the place the Opsite plaster over wound be careful to follow the instructions no other dressing required. Opsite is thin like a skin and is very flexible it also sticks like crazy. Leave the Opsite dressing on for as long as possible, the longer the better, you can even shower/bath with it on. I found three days the the fluid starts escaping from the dressing and it was time to change. My wounds were healed in 5 days and I had no need for another dressing. Opsite is a smith & nephew product and you can get it in various sizes pre-cut or what I do is buy a 1m roll and cut off what ever size i need. good luck.
Intrigued by Chad’s “reading rides” — anyone have recommendations on how to mount my kindle so I can read while I do these less intense workouts? @mcneese.chad ?
interesting to hear the talk about not coming forward while standing. i would tend to cramp after repeated standing efforts in a race. is this influenced by the stressing the smaller muscles which extend the knee, rather than the hips, because ive been forward and tall?
(1:43).