Well I had previously mocked up a 22mm copper tube of aprox 40cm length, bend at 8cm to 50ish degrees, 22cm of pipe after the bend.
During a 45min recovery ride on the turbo, I swapped out the left hand bar and tried it out.
Thanks to a new bracket made by a friend (many thanks Tim), I can also get the pads on my Use Tula bars closer, within 4mm of each other.
Trying the bar I found I needed to push the pads as far back as possible and the bars were a little short.
10mins later the pads had been pushed back (picture to come of the bracket and pads) and I made up a second extension.
The same angle but with an increase of length before and after the bend. 14cm before the bend and 34cm after the bend.
Excessive to my needs but it allows me to pushg the bar back and forward as well as raising by hands up and down.
I found that pushing the bar forwards. The bend is 4cm in front of the entry point into the bars rather than as close as possible.
It does mean though that my pads need to be further forwards, i put two different pads i had to mount onto 22mm pushed together and angled forwards (like an egg cup).
The only problem being that my upper arms are now not perpendicular to the group so some stress on my shoulders, unless i go onto the noise of the sadle.
I think though this will work well.
My next session I am going to photo and document the options to aero test.
Anoyingly there is a lot of wind at the moment so i can't aero test!!!!!
Oh i've also noticed I need to put an extra set of holes in the bracket made by tim to make it more secure. i think its a design flaw with the use tula's really as the pads are secured by only one screw and do move around!
, my upper arms were not straight though slightly f
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Praying mantis
Well I've mad the decision to switch my position to the praying mantis hand position. I've done the following
1 - initial aero tests on Dolan tt bike that showed a 9.6% reduction in cDa
2 - intervals done on the Dolan tt bike in position. 12x 360-380w for 1 min. It looks like I can still hold power
3 - made some mock up aero bars for my cervelo p3 out of copper to do simple aero testing. Watch this space!
4 - as I can't get the pads close enough on the cervelo I've found someone to make a bracket for me . Again watch this space!
Next steps
1 - ensure I have my current tt position
2 - adjust the cervelo so that it will stay in a suitable gear for aero testing or that I can easily remove the shifters
3- wait for a decent day to test
Need to get this going ASAP!!
1 - initial aero tests on Dolan tt bike that showed a 9.6% reduction in cDa
2 - intervals done on the Dolan tt bike in position. 12x 360-380w for 1 min. It looks like I can still hold power
3 - made some mock up aero bars for my cervelo p3 out of copper to do simple aero testing. Watch this space!
4 - as I can't get the pads close enough on the cervelo I've found someone to make a bracket for me . Again watch this space!
Next steps
1 - ensure I have my current tt position
2 - adjust the cervelo so that it will stay in a suitable gear for aero testing or that I can easily remove the shifters
3- wait for a decent day to test
Need to get this going ASAP!!
Monday, 15 August 2011
Sunday, 14 August 2011
Winter imrpovements
Wind testing
Breathe thing
Powercranks
Weights in gym
Diet -start reading book now
time trial book - anything else?
slight aero tweaks
shorter cranks
way to stick number on (pin in middle)
Roundabout cornering
Maybe brake lever on extensions
Breathe thing
Powercranks
Weights in gym
Diet -start reading book now
time trial book - anything else?
slight aero tweaks
shorter cranks
way to stick number on (pin in middle)
Roundabout cornering
Maybe brake lever on extensions
Saturday, 3 April 2010
700c forks with disc brake mount
kinesis crosslight 3
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/27513/Kinesis_CrossLight_3_Disc_Forks
Kinesis CrossLight 3 Disc Forks
The same alloy steerer and eyeleted dropouts as the Crosslight 3, but with disc mount as well. Ideal for ‘cross bikes with discs, heavy tourers or hybrids.
Alloy Forks
Alloy 1 1/8” 300mm Steerer
Crown Height: 405mm
Rake: 45 Degrees
Wheel: 700c
Weight: 795g
Colour: Black
kona project 2 fork 700c
http://s233299868.e-shop.info/shop/article_400.FK20.1.102/Kona-Project-2-Forks.html?pse=coa
classic Kona design
4130 cromoly
available in 26" rim brake, 26" disc and rim brake, 700C rim brake, 700C disc and rim brake and 29er disc brake
Salsa La Cruz Forks
http://s233299868.e-shop.info/shop/article_1350/Salsa-La-Cruz-Forks.html?pse=coa
Salsa Classico CroMoly.
Disc only.
1-1/8” threadless steerer (300mm)
Clearance for 700c x 43mm tire
51mm I.S. disc brake mount
395mm axle to crown
45mm rake
Stainless steel, forward facing dropouts
Fender eyelets
Black
What else would I need:
1. Brake that works with STI
2. Rotar
3. Wheel that is disc hubbed
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/product/27513/Kinesis_CrossLight_3_Disc_Forks
Kinesis CrossLight 3 Disc Forks
The same alloy steerer and eyeleted dropouts as the Crosslight 3, but with disc mount as well. Ideal for ‘cross bikes with discs, heavy tourers or hybrids.
Alloy Forks
Alloy 1 1/8” 300mm Steerer
Crown Height: 405mm
Rake: 45 Degrees
Wheel: 700c
Weight: 795g
Colour: Black
kona project 2 fork 700c
http://s233299868.e-shop.info/shop/article_400.FK20.1.102/Kona-Project-2-Forks.html?pse=coa
classic Kona design
4130 cromoly
available in 26" rim brake, 26" disc and rim brake, 700C rim brake, 700C disc and rim brake and 29er disc brake
Salsa La Cruz Forks
http://s233299868.e-shop.info/shop/article_1350/Salsa-La-Cruz-Forks.html?pse=coa
Salsa Classico CroMoly.
Disc only.
1-1/8” threadless steerer (300mm)
Clearance for 700c x 43mm tire
51mm I.S. disc brake mount
395mm axle to crown
45mm rake
Stainless steel, forward facing dropouts
Fender eyelets
Black
What else would I need:
1. Brake that works with STI
2. Rotar
3. Wheel that is disc hubbed
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
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 = Force x Cadence, 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:
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.
Climb at 60rpm since you showed up to the ride with a 21-11 rear cassette.
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.”
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:
Beginner: useful tool early season for developing sport-specific strength and “cadence comfort” quickly in their cycling careers.
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.
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 line!
Physics
The work required to move a bike down the road is measured in watts. To define it very simply, Watts = Force x Cadence, 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:
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.
Climb at 60rpm since you showed up to the ride with a 21-11 rear cassette.
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.”
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:
Beginner: useful tool early season for developing sport-specific strength and “cadence comfort” quickly in their cycling careers.
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.
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 line!
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