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Your Fitness is our Passion- Coaching - Gear - Classes - Bikes - Private Lessons - Bikefitting |

Highlights & Headlines

Cyclocross Bootcamp is now open for registration, 2 levels so pain and fitness for anyone wanting to get into or perfect their 'Cross.

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More Details here

Both our stores will be closed July 4th and July 5th for Independence Day. Happy Celebrations to you and your families!

Hill Climbing Bootcamp!

2 for 1 price on Hill Climbing Bootcamp, starts next Wednesday the 7th at West Seattle 6pm. A month that will change your Road cycling life dramatically, open to all levels, ride along with the Tour de France.
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More Details here

Periodization of Recovery

Coach Tom Roseberry talks about recovery techniques. See below for full article.

Demo Bikes for Sale at West Seattle

Sweet Carbon Specialized Roubaix, Tarmac and Ruby Demo bikes now on sale at West Seattle Get em while they last: Roubaix 58cm, 54cm $2799, Tarmac 56cm, 52cm $2799, Ruby 48cm $2799.

Cross Swap Meet and Used Bike Sale. West Seattle Cycle U.

Saturday the 7th 10-3pm small fee for booth, open to individuals and shops *Mark your Calendars*. Consignment options available if you want to leave your stuff for us to sell. Come check out the new cross gear from vendors and sign up for the Seattle or MFG cross series races early.

From the Dean...

Surf your way to better cycling results.

Last month I talked about climbing hills, as a reminder below are the keys to focus on. This month I have been thinking about how to draft and go faster with less effort. It is very similar to surfing waves. In surfing you use the energy of the wave and position yourself for maximum fun. In drafting you do the same, you use the energy or momentum of the rider in front of you to "ride" him or her to your destination. Everyone understands this, but it takes keen focus and years of experience to become good at it. Here is the short cut...

7 Biggest mistakes of Climbing (refresher from last month, there will be a test):

-starting too hard

-breath shallow from chest instead of deep diaphram

-standing up too much or not enough

-spinning to fast or slow

-eating right before the climb

-mashing gears instead of spinning circles

-surging instead of smooth, even, economical effort

Now back to surfing...

To "read" a wave you watch where it starts so you can position yourself to begin paddling so that as the wave crests you are on top of it, ready to ride it toward shore. In Cycling you are waiting for the same thing, but you are "riding" the other riders so you need to be behind them, or let them pass you and then get in their wind shadow. Their pace must be fast enough so there is a draft (over 12-15mph) and you must often accelerate as they pass you so you match their speed and stay within a close distance to them.

Surfers look to gain momentum by pointing the board down the face of the wave, you look for this by reading where the wind shadow is on your "puller" or "pullers" and position yourself to get as much shelter from the wind as possible. Use your face to do this, look up and ahead and slowly turn your face side to side and feel the wind move over your nose (bigger noses help). When you are feel the wind moving evenly on both sides of your nose you are looking at the direction of the wind (tree branches, flags, grass and waves on lakes and rivers are clues). You position the rider you are following between you and the direction of the wind.

How close you get is determined by the direction of the wind, grade of the road, the leading riders size, your skill level and speed. The faster you are going, the closer you need to get, and the "smaller" you need to become to gain shelter from the wind. You get small by moving your hands down on the bars as far as you can go without losing power, sucking your elbows in and dropping your chest as low as you can...while still pedaling if you need to. On downhills you can generally give more room although if you are a lighter rider you will need to stay close to a heavier rider or they will pull away from you.

Then there is how to find the "right" wave or rider to get you where you want to go. This is the real art of riding. If you surf a slow rider you won't go anywhere, so you are looking for faster riders, and they must be motivated to keep going fast or they will slow down in front of you risking a crash. You have to wait, and it helps to be at the back or behind a few riders to be ready to draft. When there is a split in your group, when a few riders want to go faster or after a turn are the best times to look for a ride.

If the rider you need doesn't show up, then you give the ride to those behind you and "pull" them steadily and evenly to the new pace or up to the back of the next group. Watch your speedometer so you gradually change speeds, one mile an hour every 10 seconds or so, so your followers have a chance to respond and you don't create a whiplash effect behind you. If a rider bolts up too quickly when you are trying to follow, just let them go and maintain your pace...unless you are riding a free for all or don't really care who is following you, then jump for that wheel and hold on.

When surfing you point the board down the wave and then must be sure the tip doesn't go into the water, so weighting the board with your feet adjusts that. In cycling you need to ride close to the rider in front, but be ready to react to what they are doing and not let your front wheel be caught by their rear wheel if they suddenly slow down or turn or shift left or right. You need to stay flexible and ready, dynamic and fluid, when they move you move, if they slow you glide up along side them and sit up a bit to catch some wind on your chest.

Drafting is the reason I can jump into races 12 years after I stopped training full time and hang with riders training 20 hours a week. Drafting is the key to getting there faster with the strength and endurance you have.

Ride the wave,

Coach Craig

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Articles & Details

SALE

Sweet Carbon Specialized Roubaix, Tarmac and Ruby Demo bikes now on sale at West Seattle Get em while they last: Roubaix 58cm, 54cm $2799, Tarmac 56cm, 52cm $2799, Ruby 48cm $2799. We also have a great selection of Time Trial bikes in Carbon and Aluminum from Specialized.

Periodization of Recovery

by Coach Tom Roseberry

Problem

About 8 weeks out from most Ironman triathlons, online social networks are littered with the debris of shattered athletes as they push through the final preparations for their race. This is just the tip of the iceberg as most people, especially Ironman-type people, don’t call “Uncle” easily. Status updates like “…” accompany emails sent from work which include lengthy

sections of “tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt” from when the athlete/employee fell asleep on their keyboard.

A clean dish becomes a sacred item, and the thought of using bike shorts two to three to ten times before washing becomes an increasingly tempting option. Most often this state creeps up on the individual. Ultra-distance racing is inherently a

crazy endeavor. Therefore, by the principle of specificity, training for such an event requires some crazy training sessions. A sound training plan is built to progressively increase the craziness of these sessions in a logical fashion in order for the body to absorb and adapt to the craziness. Unfortunately, the body does not absorb and adapt during training - it does this afterwards as it sleeps, eats, does the dishes, reads a book or even takes a light bike ride.

The fitness one accumulates over a lifetime is not the result of training. It is the result of the training they were able to recover from and adapt to. Therefore, as training and training stress

increases recovery must also be increased. This is the mistake that many ultra-distance triathletes make. They have a training plan and a recovery strategy. Unfortunately, the training plan modulates and increases stress while the recovery stays the same. At some point the training stress from the plan exceeds the amount of training stress allowed for by the recovery strategy. This is when fatigue accumulates, life falls by the wayside and the shelled athlete feels like they are barely hanging on.

Unfortunately the culture of ultra-distance racing does nothing to help matters. Massive fatigue is seen as a badge of honor and if one isn’t living workout to workout they are not training hard enough. A defamed cyclist once said “There is no such thing as overtraining, only under-recovery”. I would argue that for the shelled athlete coming into the last few months of a build up that under-recovery is more the case and the “culture of fatigue” is rooted in a misunderstanding of the roll of recovery.

I’m not saying fatigue is a bad thing, in fact quite the opposite: it is the body’s signal that it is recovering and adapting. A certain amount of it is absolutely necessary to gain fitness and achieve goals. But continual inability to recover between workouts and a feeling of malaise for weeks on end indicate that the amount of recovery allotted is inadequate to adapt to the training imposed.

The solution is to modulate recovery just as one would modulate the training plan. Recovery of any type requires time. Unlike training stress which can and should be measured in both intensity and duration, recovery can only be measured in time. An hour massage. Eight hours of sleep. A one hour nap. These all require time. As training stress increases so must the amount of time allotted to recovery. This is the main reason a working or family oriented

athlete can only undertake a few weeks of very high training stress per year: the rest of their life will not allow them to sleep for ten hours each night and take a two hour nap during the day.

Of course the caveat: recovery is individual. Maintaining a training log with training volume and intensity, hours slept, nutrition info and notes about recovery techniques and times

will give the athlete a better idea year-in and year-out on what strategy they need to employ at various times of the year. Did I just say you need to keep track of both your training AND your recovery? YES! As stated before – fitness is the training the athlete has RECOVERED FROM and adapted to. The training journal is a record of the progression of your fitness. Knowing what you did is half the puzzle. Knowing what you did to respond to your self-inflicted craziness is the other half. Knowing what worked and didn’t work strengthens and provides a roadmap for the athlete for future goals.

How does one decide the right amount of fatigue? Look back at the training log. Is there an improvement trend week after week? This can be seen in paces, power, and even feeling (although I prefer pacing and power… you can’t fool the numbers!). If there is no improvement for two to four weeks accompanied by the “shelled” feeling for the duration, recovery is lagging. If improvement continues but people cover their heads as you walk by to defend their brains (aka: you look like a zombie), check life priorities: “Can my life afford to be in a haze?” If you answer “yes”, keep plugging. If not, check both the training plan and recovery strategy and adjust them to a level you and your life can handle.

Give the perfect gift: A Cycle U Gift Certificate

Talk about going green, e-mail your gift to your recipient and give them health, fitness or a new pair of Specialized bike shoes. They redeem for whatever they want. Any amount to anyone, the perfect answer for the hard to shop for person.

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Cycle U Online Store just choose Gift Certificate from the drop down and enter the amount and details when prompted.

Thank you for reading!

We hope you enjoyed this issue of the Cycle U newsletter. Please pass it along to your friends. If you love what Cycle U has done for you and want to give back, please go to
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Classes, Clinics, & Events

Watch our
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Calendar for indoor and outdoor class schedules and events.

Road 101, 201 and 301 classes continuing on Wednesday nights beginning the 7th from West Seattle.

Kids learn to ride classes Friday afternoon's at Sand Point in July. Check the calendar for specifics.

Expert Bicycle Repair Services now available at our West Seattle Location or Sand Point. Drop off after class or anytime 11am-5pm. Parts, Bikes, wheels, watt meters and speed accessories available.

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We know what works and how to fix it because we test our work on rides and races every day. We make it simple to choose the right gear.

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