Went to the gym this morning, and incorporated a new aspect into the routine. Interspersed sets of running and kettlebells. So, 4 x 500m runs at 14+ kph and varying of gradient, then sets of swings and clean and presses. Repeat for an hour.
It would have to be said, this leads to a fair old heart rate and lactic tolerance work out.
There is a motive behind all this. The gym are running a fitness challenge (as they sometimes do) and i think i may have a bash at this one. The previous one was centered around the tour de france, but riding on a machine is never the best, so this will be my first. I can feel the competitiveness in me beginning to stir - leading to all sorts of failure/self analytical moments. I reckon i should do ok, but the fastest so far (set by a triathlete dude) is pretty quick.
So: cycle 1.5km on level 6, then row 500m at full resistance, lat pull downs with 36kg (i think), 40 press ups onto a 5kg weight so chest drop is measurable, 50 abs crunches, 50 steps, shoulder press with 35kg/40 reps, then an 800m run at 8% gradient and a 40 rep bench press with the olympic bar and 12.5kg on either end to finish.
The record so far is 17 mins. Ouch.
I reckon i will be 20 or so mins...the run i did after the k-bells today was 800m at 8.5% and it took 4.13mins so, the row will be under 4.30mins i would hope, maybe even less, giving me 11 minutes for the rest. Easey peasey right?
Date - next Tuesday, and ill try not to be shy with the time. I might aim to do it twice, as a preliminary run through may be good...the actual compo is 5th july, which ill miss, but its all about a healthy comparison, no?
What else? ive been tooling around on the ro sham bo with the best pair of Times i have. Its been like trying to balance my foot on a ball bearing...horrible. So it will be interesting how i get on with the Looks after a bit more time (ha!), as i dont think there is any going back. If Look follow every other manufacturer they will add a tension adjust at some point and i can ramp it up...
The bike packing hasnt been forgotten either. I may be heading out with chipps for a longer than average run next week, so it may well get pushed into service then, and in order to minimise packed weight and volume, ive been playing around with a few things. Now the temperatures are up, i think i can get away with a sleeping bag liner and the clothes i will always carry in case of surprise scottish weather, a hat and gloves. This will decrease weight by a pound. In order to do this I will keep the double skin tent, but i think i will pack the poles and the fabric separately. That will allow a much smaller volume behind the saddle. I noticed when i was riding staircase style technical stuff, i was tending to sit on the rear rack and its load, which was not ideal in terms of positioning or stess on the rack...its a project anyway.
The other thing is ditching the number of extras. Pad/pen/treats/Some extra clothing (again, the warmth at present will give me this ability). We'll see.
A concept or two has been germinating in my mind. One: at some point i want to own a Cog bike courtesy of cog bike cafe/damo. He is well into the 69er bike and i think a technical woods style bike may be the thing. As in a singlespeed rear freehub with maybe a single, or maybe 3-4 speeds - 26" with a 3"+ tyre - coupled with a jones front fork, 135mm spaced (perhaps with a different gear, or perhaps a full on wide hub he is having made by paul components), and a endo morph. Super low slung, ideally with a 2 step, or perhaps a crank bros dropping seat post, if they hold up...Oh yeah! take me to the woods!...the pic is from a guy called tison....
The other is the continuation of the lefty equipped racing bike. In order to get faster i will need to work on not only fitness (encompassing nutrition and rest), reducing the effects of day to day life (if youknowwhatimean) and i think i will need gears. Although i only have about 5 photos up of 245, i spent a couple sundays ago doing a bit of support for anja, who was racing the drumlanrig NPS race. It was interesting to see people go *fast*. Although some of us who ride singlespeeds (perhaps with the exception of the lalondes) might kid ourselves we push harder than geared riders, the truth is that *fast* geared riders push as hard, in a bigger gear a lot of the time. Coupled with suspension a 4-5 speeds would be a probable benefit. If and its a big 'if' i continue to try and do the odd short fast race (anything up to 65miles or so...over this i think the speed i would go would not be overly affected...unless i got a *lot* stronger). The lefty is the best suspension fork i have ridden for the weight at 2.7lbs minimum. Add this to a bb30/SI crank with 1 or maybe 2 speeds, and a 4 speed rear, the weight will be a negligible increase over singlespeed/rigid.
We'll see. First gots to pays the ways for sswc08 and shenandoah...and a kitchen!
9 comments:
hola,
just thought that I'd let you know I'm currently building a fork that'll take an Endomorph (3.7) tyre. I'll let you know when it's done and you can take a look.
Steven
ta! would be interested indeed...
...laughing...
I thought "that guy is crazy! What does he need that specific a bike for?" Then I remembered my own stable, and how each is subtly different and enhances the love of all through it's tiny variation on the theme of riding...and I see you're on to something.
Go, man, go.
having had the Trek 69er for almost a week no and 5 rides later I concur that the concept makes for a great woods bike.
My feeling is that it'll be a great replacement for my broken 29er Spot which is/was a great woods bike.
Granted I ride a lot slower than you but the benefits are clear, although I think tubeless especially on the rear makes a lot of sense, I've already smashed the rear wheel enough times to feel the rim :-)
exciting and very different bikes in the pipeline. John @ Alpine has an awesome racey 'dale with lefty, 26" wheeled but def worth a look (and play)
i ran the ti carver as a 96er rigid at drumlanrig using a 26/38 x 11-34 geared set up and it rocked around there, not one person caught me or gapped me in the techy stuff during the sport race, bike goes back to a squishy 650b bike for midland round this weekend, lefty speed 110 carbon is this close to being ordered, and testing a cannondale caffeine 29er tomoz......... the experiment continues..........
Mixing machines is good. Currently favouring max heart rate sessions on the steps machines. Phantom Of The Opera by Iron Maiden is the perfect length for 50 floors finishing with 5 floors at level 20. It's a killer on the legs but has helped enormously for those sections of races where you're off and pushing.
Now I just need to let them use the step machine while carrying my cross bike as Three Peaks training :0
Row should easily be sub 4 minutes for 500m for you - nearer 3.30 I'd have thought.
As a singlespeeder the fastest way to ride a geared bike is to push each gear instead of using them to make your life easy. Where you'd be spinning out on the singlespeed on ageared bike you need to change up and make life hard for yourself.
And never, ever, go below 2:1.
if your gonna go BB30 ans SI cranks,and geared, you need this and go 2x9 http://www.leowheels.it/articolo/Leo-SI/kit-corone-per-guarnitura.html
rode a carbon rush with a carbon lefty, rides really nice, very stiff, so stiff that i hit a root at high speed and with no give in the fork it pinged me to the right headbutting a tree breaking my helmet and nearly my collar bone! now im in love with squishy bikes..........
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