MIVA's first clothing order for 2012 is being sent off next Friday (Dec. 16.). Many of those who have indicated they want new club clothing have not sent in their orders yet. You can appreciate that we need sizes and quantities to be able to service the MIVA membership properly so please get those orders in this week. Order form and pricing ( the quality and price of the club clothing has to be seen to be believed!) can be found under "Membership".

For most riders the winter season is a boring time with indoor training like spinning, home trainer or stationary bicycling, the MIVA home trainer sessions excepted. If you are looking for additional  specific, competition-oriented programmes, Jesper Bondo Medhus has invented a couple of training programs and an e-book, which have proved to be very effective and short in time.

Indoor Cycling Saves You Time

All of these programs can be done without a heart rate monitor. The programs have in common that they are time-saving and specific for either aerobic or anaerobic metabolism.

E.g. if you just do your home trainer-sessions to keep your VO2 max at an acceptable level, then choose one of the aerobic programs. These programs look very simple, but that does not mean they are not good.

In fact these intervals are based on a large amount of scientific research.

The short version is: To increase or maintain your VO2 max it is optimal to train at a level close to your VO2 max. The recommendations are that you spend as much time as possible at your VO2 max in intervals and with active recovery.

So now you can keep your training short in time and still reach your goals. All you need is a bottle of plain water. Have fun!

Indoor cycling training programs

Aerobic power 1 (50 minutes) 15 minutes – Warm up (increasing intensity) 5 x (4min high intensity + 2min low intensity) 5 minutes cool down

This program is designed to increase your maximum oxygen consumption. It gives you 20 minutes at a very high oxygen consumption, but it is not designed to be ridden to complete exhaustion.

Your VO2 max will gain improvements even at a more comfortable pace. It is, however, still important to push yourself very hard during the intervals. In the resting periods you should maintain an intensity at about 60% of VO2 max.

Aerobic power 2 (49 minutes) 15 minutes – warm up (increasing intensity) 5 x (40 sec. very high intensity – 20 sec. low intensity) 3 minutes recovery 5 x (40 sec. very high intensity – 20 sec. low intensity) 3 minutes recovery 5 x (40 sec. very high intensity – 20 sec. low intensity) 3 minutes recovery 5 x (40 sec. very high intensity – 20 sec. low intensity) 5 minutes cool down

This program is also designed to increase your maximum oxygen consumption. You work with a slightly higher intensity during the intervals than in the previous ‘Aerobic Power 1′ program. You will also gain increments in your anaerobic capacity.

You can expect results after only a couple of training sessions. This program really rocks.

Anaerobic power 1 (50 minutes) 15 minutes – warm up (increasing intensity) 5 x (60sec. maximum intensity + 6 min. recovery)

This program is designed to increase your anaerobic capacity. During the intervals the body is exposed to enormous amounts of anaerobic metabolits. After only a few of these sessions your body will be better to work at an anaerobic enviroment. This skill is primarily used in competitions, where jumps and sprints demand anaerobic efforts. This art of training is very exhausting and therefore it should primarily be used for competition preparation.

Although the MIVA sessions are not quite as specific, they DO contain most of the elements in Jesper's workouts and, with the video and music accompaniment, they are far more entertaining. If you are in the Nanaimo area, come along every Thursday evening at 7.30pm to Pleasant Valley Elementary School and sample our 20 foot screen and high volume music selection.

So, you think you are pretty good at bike handling. You can do a track stand at the traffic lights. You can ride on a set of rollers no hands, you can bunny hop those cyclo-cross barriers. Well, here is how the top BMX pro freestylers earn their money. Warning - don't try this at home!

While participating in last Thursday's MIVA bike trainer workshop, you editor was fascinated by the wide range of cadences observed.  Some riders mashed large gears at  50 - 60 rpm, some twiddled very small gears at up to 125+ rpm, and still others used their gears to maintain in-between cadences of 85 - 100rpm. Having a little experience in these matters, editor started to write an article on how to choose cadence but, while googling for some  wiser words on the subject, found the following excellent piece from "Beginning Triathlete Cycling Cadence The physics and physiology of high and low cadence cycling. Both low and high cadence work are useful for increasing your “cadence comfort,” or your comfort within a wide range of cadences.

Physics The work required to move a bike down the road is measured in watts. To define it very simply:

Watts = Torque x Cadence, where Torque = Force x Distance; or how hard you press on the pedals multiplied by the number of times per minute you apply this force.

Two cyclists, Bob and Bill, weigh the same, have identical bikes, identical aerodynamics and are riding next to each other at the same speed on a flat road. Because they are riding the same speed and we’ve controlled all the other variables, they are performing the same work, ie, riding at the same watts. However, Bob is mashing at 70rpm while Bill spins at 110 rpms. Bob’s pedaling style dictates that he press hard on the pedals with each stroke. But he does so less frequently than Bill, who is pushing lightly on the pedals but much more frequently.

Physiology Low cadence cycling requires us to push harder on the pedals, but what does this mean at the level of our leg muscles? To generate that higher force contraction, your leg muscles must recruit more fast-twitch muscle fibers vs slow-twitch fibers.

Slow-twitch fibers:

Primarily burn fat for fuel, an almost limitless supply of fuel for even the leanest athlete.

• Are very resistant to fatigue: they are built to go and go, all day.
• Recover quickly when allowed to rest.

Fast-twitch fibers:

• Burn glycogen for fuel. This glycogen is stored within the muscles and is in relative short supply, about 2000 calories for a well-trained, well-fueled athlete.
• Fatigue quickly, are NOT built to go all day.
• Take a long time to recover before they can be used again.

Matches

CyclingPeaksSoftware.com developed this analogy. I think it’s a good one, but I like to elaborate a bit. Imagine your legs are a book of slow and fast burning matches. The purpose of training is to increase the size, number and flavor (ratio of slow and fast) of your matches, depending on the demands of the race. Sports requiring short bursts of speed favor athletes with lots of fast matches. Endurance events favor slow matches. You can use either match to do the work of racing but the total number of matches in the book is finite. And once you burn a match, it’s gone - you can’t get it back.

Now, back to our discussion of cadence. You are riding on a flat road, approaching a hill that will take you about a minute to climb. You will likely do one of four things:

1. Shift to a gear that feels comfortable and/or powerful for you. You feel good when you climb at 60-70rpm so you do that, shifting to the middle of the cassette

2. Climb at 60rpm since you showed up to the ride with a 21-11 rear cassette

3. Say “The hill will only take me a minute to climb. I don’t want to lose any speed so I’ll hop out of the saddle, stand up and hammer up the hill. I’ll recover on the decent.”

4. Shift into your 25 cog and spin up the hill at 85-90rpm

Option #1: Low cadence = high force = high fast twitch recruitment = burning matches that you may need towards the end of the run. Forget “feels” powerful. Power is watts to the wheel, period. If you can climb a hill at the same speed (equal watts) at 60rpm or 90rpm, choose 90rpm. Conserve your fast twitch fibers so you can recruit them later in the run.

Option #2: See Option #1 and always bring enough gears to the race. In my experience, the only people who attach sexual competency issues to the gearing on their bike are folks who don’t climb. I have (no lie) six cassettes hanging in my garage that I swap on and off my bikes according to the terrain of the ride. I have everything from a 27-12 to a 19-11. You can flatten any hill if you have enough gears on your bike J.

Option #3: Standing = power spike = high fast twitch recruitment = you know the drill. From riding with a powermeter for many years I can tell you that if you don’t have a meter it is VERY difficult to stand in the saddle and not toss out huge watts for a brief amount of time. It might “feel” ok, but chances are very high that you just burned a few matches with your little burst.

Option #4: Bingo! Spin up the hill, burn slow, not fast matches so you can use those matches on the run, burning the last one as you cross the finish line.

What is the optimal cadence?

Ok, so I’ve sold you on the value of high cadence vs low cadence. But what is the optimal cadence? In my experience, most athletes should ride at a cadence of 88-95+ rpm.

A few notes here:Notice that this cadence is right in line with an optimal running cadence. I believe it is hard to run off the bike at 90+ rpm if you’ve been cycling for hours at 80rpm. You’re asking your legs to make a huge adjustment, in addition to the difficulty of transitioning from cycling to running.

• More experienced and stronger cyclists will be comfortable within a wide range of cadences. When I began cycling, anything under 88rpm felt like mashing, while 95+ felt too fast. I was always searching for that right gear. Now, after many, many miles, I can ride equally comfortably at 78-82 or 100-105. My tool kit is much larger (see below).

Cadence and Training

Some coaches prescribe low cadence intervals as a method to train your body to push harder on the pedals. However, consider the importance of specificity: if you want to run longer, run longer; if you want to swim faster, swim faster; if you want to ride the bike farther, ride the bike farther. If you want to ride the bike faster at 92rpm, then ride the bike fast (high watts, ie greater work output) at 92rpm.

Having said that, both low and high cadence work are useful for increasing your “cadence comfort,” or your comfort within a wide range of cadences. By this I mean you have strong, resilient, well-adapted legs that can handle a broad range of cadences, including that high force/high wattage contraction that may happen if you run out gears, decide to climb out of the saddle, etc. You have a large tool kit to handle a broad range of conditions.

The most common tool is a period of low cadence intervals fitted into the early season. My guidance:

1. beginner: useful tool early season for developing sport-specific strength and “cadence comfort” quickly in their cycling careers.
2. Intermediate: useful early season, see above. However, after 4-6 weeks of low cadence intervals, transition to lactate threshold intervals at normal, time trial cadence. Reserve low cadence for fartlek-style training - grind up a hill at random to build or retain this cadence comfort.
3. Advanced: high watts at race specific cadence is more useful. These athletes have already developed cadence comfort and a period of low cadence intervals is, I believe, often an unnecessary step. I reserve low cadence work for:

• Fartlek, see above.The last hour of long rides, to force recruitment of fast twitch fibers when they are already on the edge.
• Athletes training with power: the ability to measure watts while cycling at very low cadences creates possible exceptions to this guidance. The power-training athlete can truly turn his bike into a piece of gym equipment and is, I believe, more justified in adding low cadence intervals to his training routine.

In summary:

• Focus your training to develop speed (wattage) at your race-specific cadence - the cadence you plan to race at. My suggestion is 88-92+ rpm, with weaker, less experienced cyclists targeting the high end of this range.
• Supplement this race-specific training with informal low cadence/out of the saddle work to build this resiliency above and expand your range of comfortable cadences. See my guidance above for how to build low cadence intervals into your particular training season.
• Bring the proper gearing to the race! And when in doubt, bring more gears! I think a compact crank is an excellent tool for all cyclists to consider.
• Bring these fast, strong, resilient legs to the race. Put them on a bike with the proper gearing. Exercise smart, disciplined pacing and climbing skills to limit the number of matches you burn on the bike course, burning that last match at the finish

".

Did You Know Who Invented the Bicycle?

from "Bicycle: The History" by David Herlihy

Kirkpatrick MacMillan was born in Coathill, near Dumfries, Scotland, in 1812. He was the son of a blacksmith and although as a young man he tried a variety of jobs, he finally went to work with his father. One day, he saw someone on a velocipede, a two wheeled frame pushed along by the rider's feet. He decided to build one for himself and when it was completed, he thought that it would be a huge improvement if he could propel it without putting his feet on the ground. He worked on his idea and finally, in 1838, he completed the world's first ever pedal bicycle.

Kirkpatrick MacMillan's prototype bicycle was propelled by a horizontal, reciprocating movement of the rider's feet, similar to children's toy cars . The movement was transmitted to cranks on the rear wheel by connecting rods and operated like the rods connecting the wheels on a steam locomotive. The machine was extremely heavy and the physical effort required to ride it must have been considerable.

MacMillan could eventually cover the 14 miles from his home to Dumfries in less than an hour. In June 1842, he made the 62-mile trip to Glasgow over the space of two days. He had a minor accident there when a child ran in front of him and he was fined five shillings. The judge subsequently asked him to complete a figure of eight on his bicycle for him and was so impressed, he gave him the money to pay his fine.

MacMillan never thought of patenting his invention or trying to make any money out of it - but others were not slow to realize its potential! Soon, copies began to appear for sale. Gavin Dalzell of Lesmahagow copied MacMillan's machine in 1846 and thereafter gave the details to so many people that for more than fifty years, he was generally regarded as the inventor of the bicycle.

MacMillan was, however, quite unconcerned with the fuss his invention had prompted, preferring to enjoy the quiet country life to which he was accustomed. He died on 26 January 1878.

Thomas McCall

Another who did not make the most of his opportunity.

Thomas McCall, who had seen MacMillan on his way to Glasgow, upgraded the bicycle with brakes and other improvements. In the mid 1880's he was the first to sell bicycles commercially from his workshop in Kilmarnock. He declined any recognition for his inventions and, like MacMillan, never took out any patents.

There are two of McCall's bicycles on public display. One at The London Science Museum and another in the Dumfries Observatory Museum.