Indoor Training

As the days continue to shorten and temperatures fall, it can be difficult for a working-stiff to get out on a bike during the weekdays. Luckily there are options for those souls who want to stay fit during the winter. This article will examine several of those options and weigh their pros and cons. Also, the indoor training can compliment a trip down to The Cycling House in Tucson, AZ.

Regardless of which equipment you decide to use there are a few universal items you are going to want to have. Cycling inside means there is a lack of wind to evaporate your sweat so you need to be prepared for the waterfall of sweat that is sure to ensue. You should have a fan setup to provide some of that evaporative effect and a towel or two to wipe off the sweat. You may want to consider an extra towel placed underneath your bike to catch the sweat that falls and a headband to keep it out of your eyes. You are also going to want a TV and a good movie to watch, or at least some good music to listen too.

With that essential equipment lined up you are ready to consider the best indoor cycling option for yourself:

Trainer

This simple device works by propping your rear wheel off the ground while also providing resistance. It is easy to install your bike and get to riding. In addition to a trainer you are going to need a block of wood (or you can buy a special block) to raise your front wheel off the ground to the same height as your rear wheel so it doesn’t feel like you are perpetually riding down Mt. Lemmon. You also want to switch out that race tire for a cheap one because you’ll wear the rubber down. Make sure you pump your tires up to the tire’s limit (generally 120 psi). Trainers can vary in price and efficiency Below are several of the different options available if a trainer is the route you choose for your indoor training:

Mag Trainer

Pros: Less expensive, easy to use

Cons: Linear resistance curve means you need to manually increase resistance

A magnetic trainer uses a strong magnetic to provide resistance to your wheel. This is a less expensive resistance unit but unfortunately the resistance it provides is linear. When you ride outside the resistance you generate comes from the wind which follows an exponential resistance curve. This simply means that if you want to ride harder you have to manual increase the resistance by either a switch on the resistance unit, or on slightly fancier ones, a switch you mount to your handlebar. It is simple enough to do and will provide more resistance than you could ever need. If you want a no-frills, cheap, easy-to-use indoor cycling option this is for you.

Wind Trainer

Pros: Less expensive, easy to use, simulates real-world resistance

Cons: Very noisy

Just like it sounds, a wind trainer uses a fan to generate wind resistance. This is great because the resistance increases exponentially so there is no need to change the level of resistance. Simply ride faster and the resistance will increase. Unfortunately all that wind you create comes with a lot of noise so don’t consider this option if you have neighbors below you or you want to be able to hear that movie you are watching.

Fluid Trainer

Pros: Very smooth feeling, quiet, simulates real-world resistance

Cons: Price

A fluid trainer has fluid in a chamber to provide resistance. Like the wind trainer, the resistance provided is exponential so the faster you ride the harder the resistance becomes. These trainers are quiet, smooth and provide the most real-world feel. You’ll pay a bit more for it but if you are going to be spending some time on a trainer it is worth the extra price. I’ve tried several different brands and have found that the “Kinetic Road Machine” is head and shoulders above the rest.

Rollers

Pros: Helps improve cadence, pedal stroke, and balance, more entertaining

Cons: Steep learning curve, hard to ride for long periods of time

So you think you know how to ride a bike? Well, hop on a set of rollers and you might reevaluate that statement. These things are hard to ride on and it takes some practice to become competent. You’ll probably want to start in a door frame so you can stick your hand out to stop you from falling over. Once you get the hang of it though they are really fun and will help you increase your cadence and make each of your pedal strokes smooth. You really have to concentrate though and standing up is pretty difficult so it is hard to ride these for longer than an hour. It is also hard to do efforts on rollers because it is easy to fall off of them and most don’t provide enough resistance.

Spin Class

Pros: No need for equipment, extra motivation to go hard

Cons: Need a gym membership, don’t get to ride your personal bike, on a set schedule

Maybe riding alone in your basement isn’t for you. Maybe you need the motivation of an instructor barking at you to get you to go hard. If that is the case consider spin classes. Spin classes generally have a higher intensity than what you would typically do in winter but recent scientific studies have indicated that if you have limited time to devote to cycling you can build fitness quicker by doing short, high-intensity intervals, like you’d find in a spin class, than doing a more traditional long slow ride.

We all have a tendency to give ourselves every opportunity to feel good while exercising. As a result, many over consume.  How much you successfully consume and how intensely you exercise are related. As the effort’s intensity increases, the stomach emptying rate drops.

We can ingest less and less the harder we go without having some gastric distress. Here’s the way around this problem of not being able to fuel our efforts with what we consume while exercising.  Since we burn many more calories than we can process during exercise, the only way to keep it rolling is to use fatty acids to provide a good portion of the calories we consume. Since aerobic respiration occurs at a slower rate, we need to develop our abilities to burn fatty acids by going slowly enough. The long slow distance is our opportunity to gain the desired adaptation. Don’t worry about pace. If you ride at 14 to 17 miles per hour average during these long sessions, fine. What will happen is you won’t inhibit aerobic respiration by becoming acidotic from relying heavily on sugars for fuel. Your aerobic pathways will be running at max capacity. The adaptations will make you more proficient at burning fatty acids, and after 6 weeks of this, your pace at low intensity will improve to something you can race at.

Then you’re ready for high intensity and will able to more quickly recover from it. After all, the work we do to recover from exercise is powered by fatty acid oxidation. Get good at it and you’ll make way for a faster top end. For now, be patient, keep your caloric consumption such that you do not exceed 200 cal per hour.

Article By Jim Bruskewitz MS, Coach, Triathlete and Cycling House Contributor

Exciting news! Ben Hoffman will be teaming up with The Cycling House to host an awesome “kick off the new year” Tri camp!

The Cycling House is inviting you to train with 2x Ironman National Champion triathlete Ben Hoffman. Ben has been tearing up the race course of late: Ironman Champion Lake Placid 2010, Ironman Boise 70.3 Champion 2011, Ironman Muncie 70.3 Champion 2011 Ben will be a top podium contender this year at Worlds Championships in Kona. Check out www.benhoffmanracing.com for more. Cycling will be the focus of the camp, and we’ll have several great trail runs lined up and a few swim sessions on tap. Ben will answer questions like– how to fuel for an ironman or what’s the best training plan for someone racing more than once in a month? Of course, all of this knowledge and hard work adds up to make you faster and more competitive come race day. Finally, you’ll get the litany of TCH services as well- great food, fully supported rides, bike assembly, airport shuttles, and lots of fun! Come join TCH and Ben in Tucson and see what makes a pro. Check out the Hoffman camp flyer.

5 Nights/6 Days
All Great TCH Services Included
$1795

Contact us for more information or to book your spot today.

 

 

Our first TCH camp of 2011 was a huge success. We had nine riders from Alaska, Pennslvania, Washington, Illinios, Wyoming, and Montana.

Highlights for the week- roughly 230 miles, 14,000 feet, 20 massages, a pork shoulder, some ceviche, a hike in Catalina State Park, and small group out on the mountain bikes at 50-year trail.

We had some strong female riders this camp.

Great things are happening here at TCH. 2011 is going to be a season we won’t soon forget.  Here’s a quick update on what’s going on. Happy New Year!

Thanks for reading! More to come soon…

Well, spring is almost here (in Tucson that is). We had our 8 days of cold weather a couple weeks ago, so 70s and sunshine should be the trend until July brings the summer monsoons. Okay, that may be a bit optimistic, but planting some winter vegetables and a herb garden in late December is not.

On the agenda for tomorrow are the root vegetables, lettuces, swiss chard, onions, broccolli and a few other surprises. We’ve also started some tomatoes and peppers inside and with any luck we’ll have sweet red tomatoes ready to pluck by Valentine’s Day.

And the view from The Cycling House kitchen…. Not too shabby.

TCH will be supporting the AZT Jamboree Fundraiser Ride on January 15, 2011. The Jamboree is a 35-mile ride, followed by BBQ, beer, and camaraderie- all in the name of singletrack.

The Arizona Trail is an 800+ mile recreational trail connecting mountains, canyons, deserts, forests, and historic sites throughout Arizona as it stretches from Utah to Mexico. It’s sweet singletrack and almost all of it is open to bikes. Genius!

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The Cycling House is helping promote and organize this event for the second year in a row. Make it out if you can for a great day of trail riding for a the sake of trails!

We’re going to add a new ride this season- Sonoita to Parker Canyon Lake.

The ride begins in Sonoita on highway 83, which seems like little more than a paved farm road, with a divided center line and good pavement. The road has a very mild uphill grade as it heads east through open plains and scattered housing and a few local vineyards. The road jaunts back and forth, taking right angle turns to the south and east several times in succession, trading cholla cactus for pinon-juniper woodlands. The road begins to narrow at this point and traffic is very limited. The center line disappears and roadway turns into a snaking country road with roller after roller.

The road dips into a floodplain area with large cottonwoods and running water- there may even be cattle on the road at this point- a large ranch is nearby. As you ride out of the canyon you pass “Cowboy Church” an old dilapidated and tiny place or worship perched on a hillside. The road continues to rise until you are upon a ridge. This ridge continues for approximately 8 miles and from the roadway that tops the ridge you can see deep into the valley below. Farm houses, cottonwoods, and steep canyon walls are in view. Finally, you skirt back off the ridge and into large ponderosa pine trees as you pass a stone ranch house and livestock pens built with old mesquite posts.

The pavement is bumpy and the road narrow as you begin your final ascent to Parker Canyon Lake. After a few switchbacks, the road dives down briefly into an open meadow with a log farm house to the left before heading back up via switchbacks and cresting a ridge with a view of the lake below and a few boats in the marina. There are numerous bathrooms here, a small store open Friday through Sunday, and water is available to fill bottles if needed. A couple picnic tables sit at the water’s edge and one can walk out on the dock. The lake is small, but in dry Arizona it is a virtual oasis and the water is a unique sight to behold. The ride back is beautiful and downhill almost the entire way- dropping just over 1,000 feet.

The Cycling House will be supporting El Grupo with help from TCH campers (that’s you) this year. El Grupo is a non-profit youth cycling team in Tucson that affords the opportunities of cycling to local teens who otherwise would not get the chance. Their mission is to empower youth through bicycles.

Over the years we’ve noticed that as committed cyclists fortunate enough to have a few resources at our disposal we end up with usefel items we just can’t use or don’t necessarily need. These items often include jerseys, old derailleurs, bars that are too narrow, etc. Well, rather than pack them away in our garage for the next five years, we’ve arranged to donate these items to El Grupo and extend their useful life and make someone very happy. We’re hoping you’ll want to do the same. So, if you have any useful bike items or apparrel in good condition you’d like to donate for a cause, bring them along this winter to The Cycling House and we’ll  make sure they’ll be put to good use.

The Cycling House just finished our first couple day tour trips. The first fall clients of the season were Jessica and Michael from Colorado who had phenomenal 80 degree weather for three days. We rode Gates Pass, Saguaro East, and climbed Mount Lemmon to Summerhaven on the last day. The next client to land in Tucson rode with us for four days in the midst of a “cold” spell….it was 73 one day. Dr. Sam was a fairly new triathlete looking to step up her game before her first Olympic distance race. We rode Lago del Oro in Oracle, Saguaro East, and finished on Mount Lemmon. We also did trail runs after the rides to balance the cycling training and get her used to running the longer distance after being on the bike. It was a great couple weeks!