by PhilBixby
Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:05 pm
...is what the current stuff is called in the building trade. It's really not good for riding bikes - there's been an entertaining thread on the Veloriders forum which has contained everything from "Only minus eight? HTFU!" through to reminders from ride organisers that five people fell off on the last one they organised. Basically getting out on the roads means choosing your days carefully, and then taking it steady out there - even zero degrees air can wreak havoc on your breathing kit, and in my experience can be a pretty reliable way of converting a cold into a rattling cough.
So, if you ticked the "road racing" box on your 2009 membership form but didn't, and are planning on starting in 2010, what can you usefully get up to at the moment?
All of what follows is in the spirit of sharing stuff that seems to work for me - I'm not a coach!
First off - get membership sorted out for BC/LVRC/TLI depending on what you intend riding. You can't send entries in until you've got a membership number, so get 'em sorted. With BC you'll need Silver membership and a race licence. For the other two, membership is your race licence. All the info you need is on the web; any queries, post them here.
Next, if you've got a turbo or rollers, make use of it. Pretending you're out on the road doing long steady distance can be very soul-destroying, so do shorter sessions but with a purpose. Work on some of the specifics you'll need for racing (leg speed work as an early stage of sprint training; big gear / low cadence work to build muscular endurance; threshold work - 2x20mins at TT pace) - you can get a lot of benefit from 60-90min sessions and you shouldn't go too gaga in the process. I've never used gyms but I'm guessing it must be possible to use static bikes there for the same purposes.
There's a whole heap of info out on the net (http://www.flammerouge.je/ being one of my fave sources) and in books by Joe Friel / Pete Read etc.
When we had our gathering in Brigantes a few weeks back we said we'd get together again in January once the various race calendars were firmed up. They're pretty much sorted now, certainly for the early part of the season, so how about another pub night soon? Does Sunday 10th Jan suit people?
So, if you ticked the "road racing" box on your 2009 membership form but didn't, and are planning on starting in 2010, what can you usefully get up to at the moment?
All of what follows is in the spirit of sharing stuff that seems to work for me - I'm not a coach!
First off - get membership sorted out for BC/LVRC/TLI depending on what you intend riding. You can't send entries in until you've got a membership number, so get 'em sorted. With BC you'll need Silver membership and a race licence. For the other two, membership is your race licence. All the info you need is on the web; any queries, post them here.
Next, if you've got a turbo or rollers, make use of it. Pretending you're out on the road doing long steady distance can be very soul-destroying, so do shorter sessions but with a purpose. Work on some of the specifics you'll need for racing (leg speed work as an early stage of sprint training; big gear / low cadence work to build muscular endurance; threshold work - 2x20mins at TT pace) - you can get a lot of benefit from 60-90min sessions and you shouldn't go too gaga in the process. I've never used gyms but I'm guessing it must be possible to use static bikes there for the same purposes.
There's a whole heap of info out on the net (http://www.flammerouge.je/ being one of my fave sources) and in books by Joe Friel / Pete Read etc.
When we had our gathering in Brigantes a few weeks back we said we'd get together again in January once the various race calendars were firmed up. They're pretty much sorted now, certainly for the early part of the season, so how about another pub night soon? Does Sunday 10th Jan suit people?
