That's the way I roll

As a freshman rollerista, my feelings for this training machine have gone from terror to respect to indifference. After a month using rollers I can essentially ride the thing for as long as I want to—with a pause every twenty minutes to relieve pressure on my… tenders.

But, with three months of winter ahead, what will I do to stay motivated and keep improving? Here are some ideas, some of them borrowed from fellow cycling hamsters:

1. Increase your cadence. Strive for an average of 100rpm over the length of your workout. Then raise it to 105, 110 or even higher if you can.

2. Over-inflate your tires--the harder the tires, the bouncier your bike, and the more challenging it will be to ride smoothly. Extra golden star if your tire blows out.

3. Get your butt off the saddle. Try doing it for a few seconds at a time. It will improve your sprinting form—and your undersides will appreciate it.

4. Get some hot dogs (a.k.a. ultra-narrow rollers). The poor-man alternative might consist of marking the drums with tape, a few inches from the edges, and making it a goal to stay within the marks. Riding outside the marks will be penalized by eating a donut—while riding the rollers.

5. Jumpstart your acrobatics career. Ride with one hand, with no hands, then with one leg, then with one hand and one leg, finally with only one leg. (By the way, this is doable. See the video below.)

6. Put two rollers side to side. Ride on one set, and bunnyhop to the other in mid workout.

7. Same as #6, while eating a donut and reading The Wealth of Nations.

Techniques #5, 6 and 7 may not improve your pedal stroke, but they might get you a concussion—or a job with Cirque du Soleil.

I'll let you know how it goes.

News and links 11-24-08

• Triathletes in Chicagoland: Tati is starting a triathlon team. Learn all about it at the info meeting this Tuesday.
  
• And yet another ergonomic design for saddles, by Selle Royal (via Bike Rumor). (Read this New York Times article about the dangers for those who use inadequate bicycle seats, that is, the dangers for all of us.)
  
• "We are the cyclists: the intermediate stage between humans and pure energy."
  
• iPhoners out there: Mapmyride.com has launched an application that allows you to map your ride with your phone and sync it with your mapmyride account.

  The App is as simple as can be, though it does require the newer 3G iPhone with GPS. It records total time, distance, current speed, average speed and you can view your maps directly from the phone after the ride. One of the features they’re working on for a very, very near future update is to allow you to upload maps from your account directly to your phone.

  (Via Bike Rumor.)
  
• You'll get this only if you have played Guitar Hero (from cyclelicious):

Katy

Today I'm going out of town for a friend's wedding, so no riding this weekend :(

I'm secretly hoping that the ceremony turns out as in this video (5 minutes). Don't miss the part where Katy gets down to her Skivvies and hops on a pink bike. Later on, a pack of furious bridesmaids, also on pink bikes, join her in a mad hunt for the groom.



Don't you love Katy? I'm not sure which video I like best, the one above or this one.

CX 101 on video: Recap

Here's a compilation of aaaaaall the CX tutorials I've been posting over the weeks.

I know that they don't cover every aspect of the sport. And some of you CXperts out there may have cringed at the advice provided by Mickey Denoncourt. But if a few of you learned something by watching these videos, as I have, I feel that I have accomplished my mission.

Dismounting I

1) Dismounting I. Part I . Introduction to dismounting and remounting.

2) Dismounting I. Part II. How to dismount a cyclocross bike.

3) Dismounting I. Part III. Doing a step-through technique.

Dismounting II

1) Dismounting II. Part I. Dismounting a bike at speed in CX racing.

2) Dismounting II. Part II. How to dismount in sand from a CX bike.

3) How to dismount your 'cross bike. (Scroll down about two thirds down the list of videos.)

Remounting

1) How to remount your 'cross bike. (Click on the "how to" section and then scroll down to near the bottom of the list of videos.)

2) How to remount a cyclocross bike at a run

3) How to dismount and remount in cyclocross racing

Off-the-bike skills I

1) How to carry and shoulder your 'cross bike. (Again, click on the "how-to" tab and scroll down to the end of the list of videos.)

2) How to carry a cyclocross bike on a shallow run.

3) How to shoulder a cyclocross bike for a steep run.

Off-the-bike skills II

1) How to go through barriers in a CX race
(Velonews.tv has its own video on going through barriers, but as of the time of writing this post, I couldn't play it. Maybe you'll have better luck: How to get through barriers. Click on the "how-to" tab. You'll find this video near the end of the list.)

2) How to run in sand in CX racing

On-the-bike skills I

1) How to pedal when cyclocross racing

2) Tips for riding light

3) How to work with obstacles

4) How to descend a hill

5) Body positioning tips for hill descents

On-the-bike skills II

1) How to brake in a turn on CX bikes

2) How to make sharp turns on a CX bike

3) How to go through closed corners

4) How to go through open corners

On-the-bike skills III

1) Tips for riding steep climbs

2) Riding off-cambers

3) How to race in mud

4) How to race in sand

Training techniques

1) Sprinting drill

2) Doing double sets

3) How to practice starting

Racing tips I

1) Overall advice about racing

2) How to prepare for a cyclocross race (warm-up)

3) How to start a race

4) How to pace yourself

5) How to pace yourself on a run

6) How to pass people (better on straight sections)

7) How to use the pit

8) How to finish a race (raising your arms, right?)

Racing tips II

1) How to analyze the course

2) Pre-race strategies (eat, drink, warm-up. Mickey is a big fan of coffee too.)

3) Terrain considerations

4) Race tactics

CX bicycles

1) What kind of bike is used in CX?

2) Road bike vs CX bike

3) CX gearing

4) Chainrings and chain retention tips

5) CX handlebar width

6) Seat height

7) Handlebar controls

8) Setting up the brakes

9) Tweaking the brakes

10) Tweaking the cable routing

Tires

1) How to adjust cyclocross clincher tire pressure

2) How to adjust cyclocross tubular tire pressure

3) How to select a cyclocross bike tire tread

4) Why you should have a spare set of tires

Clothes

1) What head gear and shirt to wear in cyclocross biking

2) What to gear for the elements in cyclocross biking

News and links 10-13-08

• Sophia Lee is cool enough to share her blog with the rest of us mortals. (I'm just kidding: Sophia is waaaay cooler than most cyclists I know of.) She writes about racing, riding and what appears to be software for architects. Oh, and she doesn't eat donuts before racing. By the way, I keep finding blogs by cyclists from the Chicago/Illinois area. My most up-to-date blogroll is permanently posted on the right margin of Morning Roll. In particular, I would like to highlight two recent additions to the list: Joe Kallo, a Hyde Park resident, owner of a beautiful pink fixie, and recent addict to CX; and Radio Freddy, 50% of long-time favorite Belgium Knee Warmers, who apparently lives in the Chitown area. (Can anyone confirm this?)
• Chicago's "cycleway" project, on Oct. 5 and Oct. 26, got watered down, from Time Out Chicago. (Note to the TOC writer: it's "Bogotá", not "Bogatá"; and it´s "ciclovía", not "ciclovia"--accent marks exist for a reason: they alter pronunciation or distinguish between otherwise identical words.)
  
• Get married to cycling. Yes, I mean it. Padraig of BKW draws a parallel in several paragraphs of typically delicious prose.
  
• Jackie Chan fends off foes riding a celeste Bianchi. And apparently the Tati folks are not the only ones wearing knee-high argyle socks. (This video is only three-minutes long.) Hat tip to Cyclelicious.
  
• BikeRumor keeps flooding us with pictures and reviews from Interbike. DudeGirl clothing got my attention the other day. DudeGirl makes snazzy yet feminine cycling jerseys (which I like)...
  

...as well as skimpy outfits for runners (which I find horrendous):

CX 101 on video: clothes

-What head gear and shirt to wear in cyclocross biking

-What to gear for the elements in cyclocross biking

News and links 9-30-08

• One more venue to follow the pros: universalsports.com (via Belgium Knee Warmers).
• The Sears Tower new bike sharing program: "It's very easy, and it's often quicker," said Dempsey, who's not afraid to bike in a suit. "We find it to be a great convenience to our tenants." Read the article in the Sun Times. (Via CBF.)
• Factories are miracle places. Raw, ugly materials come in, get through complicated machines, and come out turned into elaborate objects. I still remember when I was a little kid and visited my dad's yarn factory. The giant, noisy machines torsioned and pulled the raw fibers at a maddening pace, and yet managed to produce the most delicate yarn. All amid the scent of cotton, wool or synthetic fibers, mixed with the intense odour of lubricating oil. The same characteristic smell that my dad would bring home on his clothes. All these memories were coming back as I was watching this 15-min movie about Brooks, the English maker of saddles. Plus, it has increased my appreciation for such a fine product. (Not that Brooks is my style at all, but still.) (Via Cyclelicious.):

  The company was started in 1866 as a leather trading company. In 1878, the company founder and president, J.B. Brooks, was riding his horse to work when the horse died. He couldn't afford a new horse, so he borrowed a friend's bicycle to get around and was immediately horrified at the uncomfortable saddle. He created the B-1, the B-2 and then finally the B-17 was introduced in the 1890s. The B-17 is now the oldest saddle design still in production.
  
  Brooks uses only British cows (yes, they really said that in the video) to ensure the highest quality, consistent thickness and the "finish we require." The saddles are assembled by hand in their ancient factory in England; they even drive the copper rivets in with hand held hammers and polish the finished saddles by hand.

  
  
• Check out the preview of the sexy "Ladies of Team Pegasus 2009 Calendar." I think I really want one of those (calendars, I mean).

Take that, Mr. Annoying Spectator!!

(The cyclist is Juan Antonio Flecha. Hat tip to June Upshaw.)

CX 101 on video: tires

From watching cyclists prepare their bikes at Jackson Park, I can tell that tire pressure is more important in cyclocross than it is in road racing. Let's hear what Mickey Denoncourt has to say:

-How to adjust cyclocross clincher tire pressure

-How to adjust cyclocross tubular tire pressure

Aside from tire pressure, bike tread may play an important role under extreme conditions:

-How to select a cyclocross bike tire tread

A few words on why you should keep a spare set of tires:

-Why you should have a spare set of tires

CX 101 on video: CX bicycles

1) What kind of bike is used in CX?

2) Road bike vs CX bike

3) CX gearing

4) Chainrings and chain retention tips

5) CX handlebar width

6) Seat height

7) Handlebar controls

8) Setting up the brakes

9) Tweaking the brakes

10) Tweaking the cable routing

CX 101 on video: Racing tips II

1) How to analyze the course

2) Pre-race strategies (eat, drink, warm-up. Mickey is a big fan of coffee too.)

3) Terrain considerations

4) Race tactics

Less than two weeks now...

If this doesn't get you fired up, nothing will... (Via Beverly Bike-Vee Pak.)
(The image of the guy slapping himself around 0:57 is priceless.)

CX 101 on video: Racing tips I

1) Overall advice about racing

2) How to prepare for a cyclocross race (warm-up)

3) How to start a race

4) How to pace yourself

5) How to pace yourself on a run

6) How to pass people (better on straight sections)

7) How to use the pit

8) How to finish a race (raising your arms, right?)

Vuelta online

Live and free (in Spanish): http://www.justin.tv/mundodeporteonline1

Comments by Carlos de Andrés (mostly) and Perico Delgado (some).

Weekend CX fun

I don't know how important this race is, but the camerawork is professional and the guys look very fast. Plus, it seems to be in Belgium, so it's gotta be good.


And for the sake of gender parity... (This looks insane, I promise.)

CX 101 on video: Training techniques

Dismounting, running up a hill, remounting: This sounds like something you would do over and over during a CX race, and it's a skill you can practice even if you don't have a hill nearby.

1) Sprinting drill

Doing double sets is necessary, since you will often find sets of two or three or more consecutive barriers in CX races:

2) Doing double sets

From what I've seen in videos, a good start is a huge advantage in CX races. Practice:

3) How to practice starting

Over Drive, episode 2

Shinozaki's riding skills improve dramatically: He goes from being unable to ride a bike to bunnyhopping a motorcycle. He also wins his first "prime," a headband, which he promises to keep till the end of his days. Shinozaki asks his sweetheart Yuki to go on a ride with him, on the same bike, once he becomes the best rider in the world. Yuki doesn't mind... until Shinozaki explains that he'd like her to wear a bikini for the occasion.

1/3


2/3


3/3

CX 101 on video: On-the-bike skills III

1) Tips for riding steep climbs

2) Riding off-cambers

3) How to race in mud

4) How to race in sand

Polo game

First episode of Over Drive

The show right now seems to be as much about Shinozaki's love life as it is about cycling, but the cycling part will surely pick up in future episodes. Notice the beautiful coincidence: boy meets girl and cycling on the same day. I foresee a lot of suffering here...

Sorry I couldn't find a version with subtitles in English, but you won't have any problem following the plot--the languages of cycling and love are both universal... No, seriously, the episodes with English subtitles have all been taken off the Wild Wild Web. So if you wanna follow every twist and turn of the plot, you'll have to learn Japanese or Spanish. More episodes next Thursday.

Episode 1, 1/3


Episode 1, 2/3


Episode 1, 3/3