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First Training Ride of the Year, originally uploaded by Martinator.
The weather was nice so I got a group of riders together for an early season training ride. The pace was casual. Even so, it was difficult to maintain a decent paceline. Most of the riders were younger and of various abilities. Overall though, it was good to get out even though we didn't rack up a lot of miles.
Ok, so this past weekend I threw my bike up on my Topeak PrepStand Pro Bicycle Repair Stand and armed with my trusty Topeak Hexus 16-Function Bicycle Tool, and an article about repairing my rear Derailleur form the latest issue of Bicycling Magazine, I went to work.
(Wow, that's a lot of product placement in one sentence ;-)
On Wednesday evenings I run into fellow cyclist/neighbor/friend Ed at our daughters Gymnastics class. I told him of my rear derailleur issues and he mentioned that maybe my rear derailleur hanger might be bent. I read the Bicycling Magazine article and I was reluctant to disconnect anything. It didn't look bent, but I know that even the slightest misalignment cold cause my gears to skip. So I kind of just used my hand to move the whole rear derailleur into what I thought might be the correct position. I really don't think I exerted a lot of force on it. I really don't even think I did anything. I cycled it through the gears and no more skipping. Hmmmm..., I guess I did the absolute minimum and fixed it.
This morning I got on the bike trainer and noticed that I didn't notice anything wrong with the way my gears were shifting back there.
I guess the true test will be when I get back on the road sometime in the spring.
Even though my back was still a little sore at the beginning of the week, I forced myself to get back on the trainer. I'm glad I did. My back feels 99% better now, though I am careful when lifting things (like my daughter). with any luck I may get down to my pre-Thanksgiving weight by the end of next week.
The bike on the trainer needs it rear derailleur adjusted. I think I bent something back there last fall when the bike was in the back of my car (unsecured). It is starting to really bother me now. That and the annoying noise the flywheels on the trainer makes when I'm not going fast enough (or slow enough). They might need either adjustments or some oil. Maybe this weekend I'll get to it.
After a 2 week hiatus, I got back on my bike trainer this morning. My back is still a little bit sore from it "going out on me" a week ago Sunday. However, I figured there was no sense in waiting anymore. I was going to spin after all, not lift anything. I still need to dig out my weight set and figure out a way to incorporate strength training into my routine.
I read an article in the latest issue of Bicycling Magazine called "Get Power Abs". It talks about how cyclists who work full time sitting in a cubicle and ride only on the weekends tend to have issues with their lower back, amongst other things. It was a pretty good article and I wish they had an online version I could link to. The article pretty much described me to a "T".
O.K., this week I will try to incorporate some Core Strength training into my routine.
Within and hour of reading that article, I went to lift up my youngest daughter and the muscles in my lower back gave out. I was lying flat on my back in the hallway for about an hour.
That sucked!
Like I said, it took about an hour before I was able to pull myself back up. Not an easy thing to do without using you lower back muscles. Luckily I was able to make creative use of my upper body and leg muscles and a door frame to pull myself up.
Needless to say, I did not get up early and get on my bike trainer this morning. However that doesn't mean I am giving up on training this winter. If anything, it is telling me I need to do more training and not just on my bike trainer.
Low back pain can affect the back anywhere below the ribs and above the legs. The lower back is the connection between the upper and lower body, and it bears most of the body’s weight. Because of these roles, it is easily injured when you lift, reach, or twist.
Low Back Pain - WebMD.com
On Monday, MLK Day, I had off so I didn't get up early. Early is the only time I can get on the my bike trainer with 2 attention demanding daughters.
My youngest decided she had had enough sleep at 2:00 AM last night. She went back to sleep after it was time for me to get ready for work. No trainer today.
Hopefully I'll hit my bike trainer at least once, maybe twice, before the week ends. I don't want this week to be a total loss.
I recently received the following article on one of the cycling email groups I belong to. I figured I would repost it here:
Quick Tip: Protect Your Trainer Bike. This tip comes from endurance cycling legend and PAC Tour poobah Lon Haldeman, who lives in cold, snowy Wisconsin. You know what that means in winter -- yep, plenty of sweaty trainer time.
"Give your trainer bike a good mist spray of Boeshield T-9 every week," Haldeman advises. "The wax base will keep salty sweat from rusting metal parts and blistering the paint. It's essential for a steel frame.
"Some places tend to rust quickly, like around the stem, fork crown, front brake, water bottle mounts, cable guides and under the bottom bracket. Even if you dry your bike with a towel after each workout it's tough to get into all the small places that sweat collects. The T-9 gets into those vulnerable spots and leaves a protective transparent coating.
"It's okay to leave this layer of T-9 on a trainer bike, but if it's also your regular road bike you can remove the coating in the spring. Use mineral spirits and a small paint brush. A rinse with soap and water using a soft brush will get your bike looking like new again -- rust free."
My bike has a few layers of car wax on it so I think it is pretty safe.
It's Week 2 and I am still on my bike trainer. My goal is to get on the bike trainer every M-W-F. So far so good. My legs are getting a good work out. However it occurs to me that I am doing nothing for my upper body and core muscles. I may have to un-bury my weight set.
I almost didn't want to get on my bike trainer this morning. I was still tired and my calves were still sore form skiing with my daughter this past Saturday. I forced myself to do it and I'm glad I did.
Lats week while on the trainer, I though it would be cool to take the spreadsheet I had made and develop an online countdown timer based on it. After looking into how complicated it is to make an online timer, I decided to just use an online stopwatch that somebody else had already created. My bike trainer is next to my basement computer desk which has our old laptop on it. It is much easier to track time for the workout with the online stopwatch rather than watching the clock on the Cable Box.
Yup, I successfully got up on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning at 4:40 AM and did an hour long work-out on my bike trainer. Believe it or not, I never set the alarm for that time.
Here are some things I noticed while on the trainer:
So far I've been feeling pretty good at the end of each workout. I imagine I will be upping the resistance level on my bike trainer as I train more.
Now the true test will be whether I get up at 4:40 AM next Monday and get on the trainer. Certain people seem to think that I won't last past the first week ;-)
I go up early and got on my trainer for the second time this week. Now if I can repeat this on Friday, then maybe I'll have a good routine established :-)
Hopefully some of this holiday weight gain will start to melt away soon...
Every winter I say that I am going to commit to using my bike trainer, and every winter I use it a couple of times and that's it. This year I am going to try and stick to the plan.
It is January 5th and I have already been on my trainer twice this year. The first time on Friday, January 2nd and this morning. I've put on a lot of pounds this holiday season and I am desperate to get them off.
In addition to the basics...:
I also have a spreadsheet printed out of Chris Carmichael's Weight-Loss Workout that I read about in Bicycling Magazine. I have this clipped to the cables coming off my handlebars.
I set my alarm to wake up at 4:45 AM this past weekend so I could get on my bike trainer. Yesterday it went off, and I rolled over and turned it off and then went back to sleep.
This morning it went off again. I almost went back to sleep. I got up and got on the bathroom scale. Then I went down into the basement and got on the bike. Nothing like a discouraging number on a scale to encourage one to do some exercise.
I received a notification via email (from The Cycling Site) that the Phat Tuesday Rides are starting up again.
So that's one less excuse for not getting out there riding ;-)
My youngest daughter decided to start crying at 4:30 this morning. Notice I didn't say wake up. Elizabeth has the unique ability to cry while she is still asleep. Really! Anyway, I got up and rubbed her back and that settled her down. I wasn't really going to get back to sleep myself and I was planning on hitting the bike trainer today anyway so I really have to thank my daughter for getting me up so I can work out :-)
I got up early enough to get on my bike trainer at 5:01 AM. I was able to push through and complete the full hour of Chris Carmichael's Weight-Loss Workout that I had mentioned in the previous post. Man did I sweat a lot. It felt good. Maybe next time I'll set up a fan.
Normally after a decent bike ride I would wolf down a Clif Builder Bar. They are 270 Calories but have 20 grams of protein in them. They are great for post ride recovery and satisfying enough so that you don't undo all the hard work by pigging out. However, this morning, I decided to take a pass on it. I am trying to lose weight after all.
Side-note: Did you know that there are actual music videos on VH1 at 5:00 AM? Imagine that!
I got back on the bike trainer today. I was awake at 4:45 AM and I knew I wasn't going to go back to sleep just to wake up at 6:00 AM. What to do...
I ran out of excuses:
Also, I had broken down and printed out a spreadsheet of Chris Carmichael's Weight-Loss Workout that I read about in Bicycling Magazine.
Obviously, once a month on the trainer is not going to do me any good. Especially since I was only able to complete 34 minutes of this workout before I ran out of gas. However, I do feel real good this morning having done at least this much. Now I just have to keep it up. Spring is coming and I don't like feeling so slow at the beginning of the biking season.
My boss at my new job here at Monster Worldwide is an avid biker. He actually used to race and occasionally commutes to work via bike from his home nearby. He mentioned that when the weather gets better there is sometimes a group of riders that head out for a ride at lunchtime. I am looking forward to bringing my bike to work and getting in a few lunchtime rides.
I'll need to spend some more time on the trainer so I don't embarass myself with my early season legs.
This morning I got on the bike trainer for the first time in a long time. The road bike is too clean for winter riding and I know I will only get out sporadically at best on my mountain bike, so the road bike now sits in my basement on a trainer.
With my waist getting bigger and the excuses running thin, I decided it's now or never. I was on the trainer for a half hours this morning. It sounds like the flywheel needs some lubrication. I'll work my way up to a full hour of interval training eventually.
