2005 Tour de France rider stats
In the 2005 Tour de France with 189 starters, here’s the profile of the average rider:
Height — 1.79 meters (5 feet, 10.4 inches)
Weight — 71 kilograms (156.2 pounds)
Resting heart rate — 50 bpm
Lung capacity — 5.69 liters (1.48 gallons)
Going the extra mile has got to be down to self-motivation
If you want to achieve your cycling goal, then it is vital to leave
no stone unturned in your quest for success.
Organising yourself, your preparation and training in line with
what you want to achieve is obvious and is probably what the
majority of riders try to do.
But what about all the other things you can do – all those little
things that may appear less important and somewhat trivial? Tasks
such as maintaining your bike properly and regularly, researching
the web for training information and tips, and making sure you have
the correct gear: all these things matter.
In fact, putting in the hours doing all these small tasks that may
appear unimportant could be the real difference between ultimate
success and failure.
You may consider some of these things as the “dirtier” jobs but if
you tackle all these minor challenges and spend extra time on
researching these issues, then you are much more likely to succeed
in your overall goal.
But going the extra mile has got to be down to self-motivation. You
are unlikely to have a full-time coach so it’s down to YOU. If you
want to make progress, you’ve got to take the bull by the horns and
make things happen.
The more action you take to improve your cycling performance and
the more positive habits and attitudes you develop, then the easier
it will become for you to commit to a strong and ambitious training
program.
You need to give your training the attention it deserves. When you
give your daily training session the highest priority, it’s much
more likely to be successful.
Plyometrics: gain power
Based on explosive exercise, plyometric training helps increase ability for powerful movement over a very short period. The muscles used gain force and endurance. For this reason, bikers should try this kind of training.
Be stronger for longer periods! Plyometrics exaggerate athletic gesture in the most fundamental ways; the faster the stretch, the stronger the contraction (eccentric phase and concentric phase). By stimulating the stretch sensory receptors, one increases speed, elastic force, and strength of the muscles.
Plyometric training is usually done without weights or equipment. One dynamic weekly session with a series of programmed exercises is sufficient (stop plyometric training at least 15 days before a competition, because it can traumatize muscle fiber and generate muscle soreness). Bikers and runners who wish to work their lower body with this 100% natural technique will repeat horizontal or vertical jumping exercises with their feet touching one another or doing jumping steps. Jump ropes, benches, and obstacles may be used as accessories.
The Fat-Burning Myth
The traditional methodof fat loss is by doing lots of long, slow miles. The slower you go, the better, according to this age-old way of exercising to reduce body weight. Zone 1 is perfect, right? But is that the most effective way? In a classic study (Tremblay 1994) on this topic researchers at Laval University in Quebec, Canada had one group of subjects exercise at a low intensity (low heart rate zone 1) for 20 weeks. Another group did high-intensity intervals (15-90-second sprints at 60-70% of max power) for 15 weeks. The low-intensity group burned 28,757 Calories while the high-intensity group burned 13,829.
Guess what happened. The high-intensity group had much greater reductions in skin-fold measurements when expressed in relation to energy expended. This was the result of increased fat metabolism during periods of rest between training sessions. The high-intensity group also had significant increases in the enzymes that burn fat for fuel. The low-intensity group had no changes in these enzymes.
Note that the intensity of these two groups was extremely different. Low heart rate zone 1 is so easy you’d wonder if you were doing anything of value for your fitness. The high intensity was very high. Typically any extra weight athletes have gained over the holidays gradually come off in the following weeks as training intensity increases gradually without going to extremes in training.
Does Stretching Prevent Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness?
There has recently been a comprehensive Cochrane review that concluded that there is no evidence that stretching reduce muscle soreness. (reference: Wikipedia).
A little experiment: Try stretching your left leg and NOT the right leg after next hard training session. Did you notice any difference?
Dolmen Club Spin, Sunday December 11th, 2011
While all the November Sunday club spins saw dry and mild weather, the first club spin of December (previous week was training with Padraig Marrey) was very wet and quite cold with temperatures hovering around 5-6C. In spite of this, 10 enthuasiastic souls turned up at the Templegate at 9.30am.
As has been usual these past few weeks, the group headed out the Tulla road, turning off to Broadford shortly after Tulla itself (via o’callaghans mills). Then it was over Broadford hill and a few km’s after that the group took a right turn and continued over hilly ground on small roads to Sixmilebridge. From there directly to Newmarket and back to Ennis:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/134118213
As all were wet and cold there was little interest in a coffee stop. Thankfully there were no punctures either with the only technical difficulties being a cleet problem. The group started and finished together with the leading cyclists either holding up or doing U’ies after hills to allow regrouping occur. As with recent club spins the pace was reasonable with an emphasis on keeping the group together. So if you’re reading this, were thinking of joining a Dolmen cycle and can average 27-28KM on your own over flattish territory for about 60KM, now is the time to come along !
paulh
Saturday 3rd Dec training with Padraig
Saturday 3rd December saw 21 enthusiastic cyclists set off on a training spin with Padraig & Michael. After a couple of KM’s the group was split into A & B.
Group A headed out to Ballyvaughan via the Burren under Padraig’s instruction. The 85km spin consisted of climbing in your largest gear (53T x 11T), group cycling techniques, 15 second interval sprints up the Cork Screw, cycling at a high pace in close proximity, cycling at various cadences, a 3km time trail as well as on the road advice on bike set up.
Following a hot shower & hot lunch Padraig spoke to us in a class room setting about recovery methods. After a quick cup of coffee it was outside into the car park for some bike skills – which were very competitive with competitors getting plenty of support 
. Back into the class room for Core Strength & stretching where some people decide to go top less & others saw their feet for the first time since the Sky Ride!
Dolmen Club Spin, Sunday Nov 27th 2011
Great weather (4th good Sunday in a row according to John Colleran) saw 18 cyclists meet at the Templegate Hotel at 9.30am. Shortly after leaving, John punctured, so the main group headed slowly out the Tulla road while John and 2 others stayed behind to repair and then chase hard. Several KMs out the road, the group turned around to meet the chasing cyclists: just after turning they met the chase group and turned again.
At Bodyke the group made a right turn and all was uneventful until just around Broadford where there were another couple of punctures. Main group cycled on and split further on Broadford hill. There was a stop the other side of the hill at the garage in Parteen where all regrouped and refuelled:
On restart the group headed into a moderate wind and the increase in effort resulted in a split along the dual carriageway back towards Newmarket with the front group getting back to Ennis a bit later than normal at about 1315.
Technical info to gain some free speed on the bike
> Weight loss effect on climbing
>
> · “James C. Martin, an assistant professor of exercise and sport
> science at the University of Utah, based his calculations on a 5 km climb up
> a 7 percent grade. His numbers were based on a rider who could climb at 250
> watts. He found that a rider weighing 160 lbs. will ascend the hill in 19
> minutes and 21 seconds. He also discovered that for every 5 lbs. added to
> the rider’s weight, it would take him an additional 30 seconds to complete
> the climb”.
>
> http://www.livestrong.com/article/468577-how-does-the-weight-of-the-rider-affect-cycling-performance/
>
> 160lds = 72.5kg or 11.4 stone
>
> 5lbs = 2.3kg or 0.36 stone
>
>
>
> Proper clothing effect on cycling speed
>
> · A 70kg rider with hands on brake hoods & jersey unzipped, putting
> out 200 watts can achieve a speed of 19.9mph.
>
> Changing nothing else but zipping up the jersey & the speed increases to
> 20.16mph. That’s almost one minute over a 40km distance.
>
> Page 94, Cycling Plus issue 255
>
>
>
> Caffeine effect on cycling fatigue levels
>
> · “In one controlled study, subjects were able to perform for 90
> minutes to fatigue as compared to 75 minutes in controls (a 20% increase)
> after the drinking the equivalent of 3 cups of coffee or 6 caffeinated colas
> 1 hour before, even though values for heart rate and oxygen uptake were
> similar in both groups”.
>
> http://www.cptips.com/caff.htm
>
>
>
> Group cycling effect on average speed
>
> · “Cycling in a group – pace line riding – has very significant
> benefits. For much of the time you will be ‘drafting’ the person in front
> i.e. experiencing limited wind resistance yourself. Although the benefits
> this provides will vary with conditions and the number of people in the
> group, it is often said that average speed will increase 20-30% as a result
> of cycling in a group, even more”.
> http://www.road-bike.co.uk/articles/average-speed.php
>
>
>
> Effort Speed effect on cycling speed
>
> · “As every cyclist knows, it’s easier to ride fast when in a group,
> and we’ve been working on a way to help cyclists understand (and quantify)
> why that is so. Here is something new we’ve developed that explains it”.
>
> http://www.ibikeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=47&p=11190
>
>
>
> Kind regards, Cathal R.
Dolmen Member Blogging Account
A new dolmen member authoring username, dolmenccmember, has been set up so club members can actively contribute to the site if they so wish. The password for this site has been made known to all club members. Members can blog about anything of relevance to Dolmen, typically examples being
- Weekend Spin Reports
- Links to weekend spin Garmin Data
- Links to articles you recommend on training, nutrition or hydration
- Notices about upcoming Dolmen events which the wider public should be aware off
To contribute, go to the wordpress login page, log in and go to the New Post screen:
Type away, upload photos(s) if you wish and Publish. Its that easy ! Please sign your name at the end of the post so members know who the author is.
