How to Ride the Tour de France

I’m sure you’re at least keeping one eye on this year’s tour. Much of the excitement is gone for me with no American’s in play and under the doping shadow. Not much interested in racing in general, but you might be so here is a former professional racer talking about his life as a racer.–corrie

Google product manager Dylan Casey raced professionally for five years for the U.S. Postal Service Team. In this one hour “Google Tech Talk,” he talks about the life of a professional cyclist racing in Europe. The video is an hour long so set some time aside to watch this.

Training for the long ride.

While I’m not impressed with the 4,000 mile goal Gene’s set for this year, I am pleased that he has set a goal. As Gene points out, enjoying a long ride is a matter of being prepared for it. I rode STP in two days in 2000 and was in better shape than those guys lying by the roadside at 90 miles. Those were the ones who tried to do STP on low or even no mileage. Scott might like that challenge but not me.–Corrie

An upcoming big bike ride motivates; June stats

by Gene Bisbee at 05:00AM (PDT) on July 3, 2008  |  Permanent Link |  Cosmos

In January last year I announced my intention to ride 4,000 miles in 2007. I can blame some medical problems in the late summer and fall for keeping me off the bike for about two months, but honestly, at this time last year I was seriously off pace.

I announced the same goal for 2008, and now I’m actually slightly ahead of the game.

What’s the difference? I’m motivated this year by training for the Seattle-to-Portland Bicycle Classic that rolls out of the University of Washington parking lot in just nine days. My son, pictured carbo-loading above, is joining me.

Read More

The Urge to Race Uphill

This one is dedicated to Bill McPherson. You may know Bill as that leathery old guy that beats us all up White Bird regularly. I know him as the guy who mows Helen’s lawn. Kind of puts it all in perspective doesn’t it?

Bill’s fast. Says he’s got other things to do with his day so he likes to ride shorter miles but hard. When I’m on the bike, he says, I’m going fast. Still he tells me he has 900 miles in May. Not too shabby. So I post this article on how to climb faster for Bill.

Vaughters begins by asking Why? and finishes with a list of tips on how which boil down to hurt. I still don’t get the urge to race uphill.–Corrie

Expert Advice From Jonathan Vaughters

By Jonathan Vaughters

30 Days to L’Étape. Today’s training: practice spinning up hills while pedaling at high cadences.

Guest blogging today on The Climb is an expert on the subject, the former rider Jonathan Vaughters, who counts among his accomplishments a record-setting ride up the side of the fearsome Mont Ventoux. Vaughters rode in the Tour de France for Lance Armstrong’s United States Postal Service team and for the French squad Crédit Agricole. He is now the sporting director of a new American team he founded, Slipstream/Chipotle, which will compete in this year’s Tour after a rousing, burrito-fueled send-off from midtown Manhattan this morning.

Last year, Juliet Macur wrote about Slipstream’s anti-doping mission. Vaughters, who was recently profiled on French television, also blogs regularly on Slipstream’s Web site.

Over to you, Jonathan…

Read Jonathan’s Advice

Cramps

You fair weather cyclists have a problem you may not know about. If you haven’t been training much and the temps climb suddenly as they are doing this weekend, you may find your muscles not ready for this double whammy. Be sure to carry and drink lots of water on the Sage Bakery Ride today. It’s also a good idea to use electrolyte replacement drinks such as Gatorade since water tends to wash out the minerals you need. –Corrie

Cramp!

Why? And now what?

Fred Matheny has suffered from leg cramps throughout his cycling career. Whenever he mentioned that in the RoadBikeRider.com Newsletter — as he did after his crampfest on one epic Colorado ride — RBR would receive a rash of remedies from subscribers.

In fact, Fred reckons he’s now heard about every cramp cure known to science — and some that should be placed more properly in the realms of folklore, voodoo or the occult.

But as Carol Torgan points out here, cramps are multifactorial. No single cause seems to exist.

Read More including lots of suggested treatments.

Race Across America: No foolin’!

The Annual Race Across America is not far away. Gene’s posted a nice introduction to some teams tackling this monster as well as a video that says weekend cyclists could do this as a team event. Don’t tell Steve.–Corrie

Bicycling the Race Across America for a cause

by Gene Bisbee at 10:02AM (PDT) on March 30, 2008 | Permanent Link | Cosmos

Most racers do it as a team

RAAM team tactics

In 10 weeks, that great sleep-deprivation bicycling event known as the Race Across America gets underway as the 3,008-mile endurance race begins in Oceanside, California, setting off for the first time to Annapolis, Maryland.

In addition to the men and women who pedal and suffer in solitude, there are two-, four-, and eight-person teams that complete the race relay style. Most of these are raising money for charity, and quite few are comprised of older bicyclists, possibility inspired by images of Lon Haldeman and Pete Penseyres from more than 20 years ago.

Read the rest of the story.

Special Ops Fitness Test

So its not cycling but you are as fit as an army ranger, right? Maybe Eric.

By Adam Campbell
Men’s Health

Even if you’re not ready to sign up, it helps to be fighting fit. Test yourself against Ranger standards, using their recommended scores in pushups, situps, chinups, and a 2-mile run. Fall below the curve? Follow the accompanying training techniques from Michael Mejia, C.S.C.S., author of the Special Ops Workout. Do each 2 or 3 days a week, resting at least a day between sessions.

Read the standards 

Bike Nazi takes on Boise Air Quality

Don’t know how Lewiston compares, but the Bike Nazi brings his irascible tone to Boise Valley air quality. I’m worried about your health, Steve. –Corrie

Air Trouble!

Our local air deteriorated in a meaningful way last year.

Specifically, we had 120 “yellow-alert” days, 10 “orange-alert” days, and 1 “red-alert” day. A total of 131 bad-air days (36% of the total).

That compares with 77 in 2006, 58 in 2005, and 48 in 2004. Far as I know, that “red-alert” day, which occurred in July, is the first on record.

Cause of fracture revealed!

I thought I had posted this a week ago, but I guess not. So here’s Soctt’s take on the cause of my avulsion fracture. Update: I get x-rays on Monday, see the doctor on Tuesday, hope to be riding, slow, flat easy from Swallows Nest to Asotin and back by the end of the next week. Could be too optimistic, though. Foot’s still swollen. Can’t put a shoe on it yet.–Corrie

Cause of fracture revealed!

I stood on my right foot, left foot bare, poised to step. In my left hand a DVD, in my right, the remote. The DVD player’s only six feet away. A rocking chair is only two steps, yet I cannot put that left foot down. It just won’t budge.

A week after the avulsion fracture on my left foot, though I feel improvement each day, its still slow.

Scott revealed his theory on why my fracture occured. I asked for permission to share it, but in the absence of permission I’m going ahead. Its just too good a story. Not as good as Scott’s pants story, but a good story anyway.

One of the first things Doug told me as we left Lewiston in the RV was that I should beware of the Trost Curse of Three. I had ridden with Scott once last summer and twice before this trip. I was due for the curse to hit.

Doug reported the wives of Scott’s coworkers wouldn’t allow their husbands to come out to play with Scott. And he recited a litany of evidence which I promptly forgot as I also did the curse. Part of the working of the curse must be this fogging of the memory.

Here’s Scott’s explanation . .

Corrie,lol… Before you inflate your chest too far with the idea of the strength of your legs… (yes fracturing your foot with that kind of power is impressive). I think perhaps I should float another theory as to the ultimate cause of your injury… There are some among us (myself not included) who would claim that you have just fallen victim to the Trost rule of three’s….. I personally put no stake in this theory and consider it to be pure hogwash… but there are those who would chalk up your injury to it being the third event type of outing with me this year… If my count is correct… We had 1: The reverse lapwai loop 2: The death valley ride.. and than 3: the standard lapwai loop where you suffered your fracturing event… On the bright side…. the Trost curse only seems to strike an individual once a year…. So once you heal up from this curse event… you should be immune to the curse…. at least per the current theory on this curse… more research might be needed….

Now, I’m a hard-headed rationalist when it comes to this sort of superstition. Oh, I admit to being a little nervous when I hear creaks in the night and I would never go down those dark stairs into the basement like the girl in the horror movies always stupidly does–but then I did go out with dangerous folk. Maybe . . .

In the mean time, I sat back down and put the boot back on. The DVD, Jodie Foster’s Brave One is pretty violent but really gets to that “we’d all be safer if everyone was packing heat” debate.

For whatever reason, my ride’s still the Lazy Boy.

Corrie

Become a League Certified Cycling Instructor

Well, it’s not as easy as it sounds. First you’ve got to take the Road I course. I’ve been interested in this since I saw a course offered in Spokane a couple of years ago. I expected one would be offered the following year but if it was, I missed it.

The League of American Cyclists present a number of courses around the nation as well as League Certification Seminars. Taking Road I won’t certify me and I might like to take other courses if I can find them within reasonable distance before taking the certification Seminar. This Road I course will focus on Commuter skills in conjunction with Bike to Work Month activities in Spokane.

Road I takes place in Spokane on Tuesday, May 6, from 4?30 to 8 in the evening and again on Saturday, the 10th from 10 to 4pm.

This program is highly thought of. I’d hesitate to speak authoritatively without this training.

Let’s consider sending several of us up for the course. Information is available at Road I cours.

Excel log book.

Just when I thought it was safe to use MapmyRide to keep track of my mileage, Cyclist Nexus sent me an update so I’ve got to go play with their gps import. MapMyRide doesn’t always get my Garmin mileage corrrect. Now this guy makes me take another look at Excel. Remember Steve has his 2008 Excel spreadsheet all prepped and ready for your new cycling season. See my reviews and down load Steve’s spreadsheet over at the Journal page. Follow the tips below to make it give you nice glitzy charts too. –Corrie

I am guilty of being a dork concerning a great many things. Bikes are at the forefront of my dorkiness but my obsession with Microsoft Excel is at the top of the list as well. So why not combine the two? If you are a hardcore Excel user, skip all the text and just look at the pictures and you’ll get the point. If you only have cursory knowledge of Excel, this entry should give you the basics to get started.

Read more about using Excel to track your mileage