Getting Fit Archives - Page 2 of 2

ECCC – Advice On Bike Shops And Service

July 21, 2016 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

A Snippet From
The East Coast Cycling
Newsletter

One advantage to being in a cycling club is members gain access to many different sources on training, equipment, and maintenance.

Sometimes this information is gained on the fly, during training rides, or over coffee afterward. Sometimes it’s delivered by mail, as in the weekly newsletter.

Following is a good example. It’s an opinion piece by Gray Braatvedt on bike shops and services that was included in the East Coast Cycling Club newsletter. His opinion is worth hearing. Not only is he an accomplished cyclist but he’s also owned and operated bike shops.

The piece was informative. It gave me a more informed sense of appreciation for the services local bike shops provide.

Before the article, though, following is a training ride video by the A-group from Suncoast to Westbrook and back. Due to a stiff south wind, the speeds were quite quick going out and much slower on the return.

It’s worth mentioning that when one rider had a puncture, they all stopped to help out, or at least keep company. That’s what club members do.

Now For Gray’s Insightful Article

There has recently been a flurry of comments about various mechanics in bike shops on the Chit Chat group and having owned a bike shop and being a bike mechanic, I’d like to weigh in with a few comments to ponder. [Read more…] about ECCC – Advice On Bike Shops And Service

15 Wattbike Training Benefits

July 9, 2016 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Indoor Doesn’t Get Better Than Wattbike

Using Wattbikes at the La Lucia Virgin Active gym has been a real pleasure and I’m not the only one who thinks so. The Bikes are popular. So popular that the gym upgraded from three Wattbikes in the squash court corridor to a dedicated Wattbike studio with nine bikes, two TV’s and fans.

All the bike computers have the most recent software and automatically connect to your favorite workout tracking site, that is, if you use the right heart rate monitor and a smartphone. I use the Polar H7 HRM but I’ve been told the Wahoo Bluetooth HRM works as well.

It’s brilliant! Once your session is completed, the data is saved in real-time and that is only one of the many benefits.

The Positives

Following are eleven quick benefits to training on a Wattbike indoor trainer:

No wind, no rain, no sunburn, no intense heat, no debris, no potholes, no road traffic, no punctures, no mechanical failures, no crashes and a serious amount of training data.

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And two more benefits for good measure. [Read more…] about 15 Wattbike Training Benefits

8 Reasons Wattbike Wins

July 1, 2016 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

Indoor Cycle Training
Made Brilliant

What bike do you use when you can’t train on the road? Wattbike!!

I started using Wattbikes for cycle training a couple years ago and I love it! And I’m not alone. Although many amateurs use the device, Wattbikes are becoming the indoor trainer of choice for elite cyclists too. There are many good reasons for this. Following are just a few.

Easily Adjustable

Saddle and handlebar positions are easily adjustable for individual user dimensions and the bikes are universal. They can accommodate mountain cleats, road bike cleats, and non-cleated shoes.

Fully Computerized

Not only is the Wattbike designed to mimic the feel of the road, but it is also computerized and offers several key data points for measuring your training output during each session: power, speed, distance, heart rate, cadence, time, and the data is presented in real-time and as an overall average. The actual speed is displayed at any given moment as well as the average speed overall.

Improves Pedal Stroke

One unique feature is the Polar view which displays a graphic representation of your pedaling technique. Not just how much each leg is working but where in the pedal stroke each leg is working the most: downstroke, upstroke, the entire revolution, or what.

Variable Data Displays

The computer is also capable of displaying data in several formats depending on what you’re monitoring. If you’re interested in distance, set the display to show what distance you’re traveling by the meter.

The computer can even show how many minutes you’ll take to travel one kilometer at your present rate of speed.

Forty different parameters are measured and recorded while you train. If they made bike computers to record the same amount of data, it would probably cost more than the Wattbike! A power meter alone is half the price.

But that’s not all. [Read more…] about 8 Reasons Wattbike Wins

Cycling The Valley of a Thousand Hills – ECCC, Durban KZN

June 30, 2016 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

It’s Not The Valley
Of A Thousand Flats

For lack of a better word, the long ride for the East Coast Cycling Club in the month of June was interesting. Although I planned to do the ride, I had to bail at the last minute because I was nursing a few symptoms leftover from the flu.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t ride at all. I did a little indoor training later the same day but the long rides aren’t the usual. With 2000 meters of climbing over an 85-kilometer track through some very cold country, you need to be at your absolute best.

I wasn’t. My better judgment won the argument.

Several others missed the ride too. There were only 10 who participated, which is low for the long rides. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have made it up all the climbs but I hated that I didn’t get to try. [Read more…] about Cycling The Valley of a Thousand Hills – ECCC, Durban KZN

12 Reasons East Coast Cycling Is For You – Durban KZN

June 29, 2016 by EnnisP Leave a Comment

The Smartest Kit
In South Africa

If you’re thinking about getting fit, great!

One warning though. Don’t do what I did and take too long to get serious.

You don’t have to be clever to get fit but you do need a track to run on. One place to find it is a cycling club. I joined East Coast Cycling Club and it really made a difference. I’m embarrassed to say that it took me far too long to get to that point.

I bought my first bicycle somewhere around 2000. I don’t remember the month. It isn’t important.

The truth is, outside of a pedal stroke or two in front of my house, I never got started. The bike was old. I picked it up in a yard sale so there was no real motivation.

Eventually I decided to up the game and bought a Hybrid. It’s a little heavier than an road bike but a little lighter than a mountain bike. You can use it on or off road.

Sounds like a good idea but I don’t recommend it.

All my riding was on the road. I couldn’t help but notice that road-specific bikes were sleeker and seemed to be faster. I was constantly wondering how much better I could do with one of those. I eventually got rid of the hybrid and invested in a road bike, and then discovered that the grass really isn’t that much greener.

Light or heavy bike, it didn’t really matter cause I rarely did any training. I was the proud owner of several bikes before I was serious about what really mattered. But I finally figured that out.

What made the difference for me was I started entering races. I learned that you need more than a bike to do a race. You need training.

The problem is I didn’t learn that lesson very quickly. I painfully completed four races before the penny dropped. It wasn’t that I never trained, but I definitely didn’t train enough or the right way.

Keep in mind that I reached this point about eleven or twelve years into my cycling adventure.

It was then that I took a definitive step. I joined East Coast Cycling Club. It was a beginning. From there it’s been only up. Not quickly, but up none the less.