Category Archives: Cycling Tips

Cycling Tips, News, Opinion

Mindset in Cycling: How to Manage Your Mind for a Five Star Ride

Mind matters.

Due my workload I almost skipped my lunch run today, but I like to keep it as the one sacred constant in my day, so I headed out for the trail. But it was tough, I had low energy and that sapped my enthusiasm.

My thoughts turned to a couple of friends I lost earlier this year, each had a passion for life and a great sense of humor. I had no doubt they would relish being in my shoes, no matter how bad I thought my day was. As someone once said, every day above ground is a good day.

Trail run in Altra Lone Peak 2.0My mood changed, the tiredness was not gone but it was forgotten, pushed aside and impotent. I chose to ignore it. I picked a work problem to solve, took a few deep breaths, soaked in the sunlight and dancing shadows, then ran on with the purpose of clarifying my problem and coming up with a solution.

I had a good run. I didn’t definitively solve my problem, but I do have some promising options to try.

As I’ve said before, mindset is everything, almost. There’s the matter part too, but…

Mindset motivates, you can climb skyscrapers!Mindset makes or takes… your energy, your motivation, your purpose.

In bike racing it’s commonly said that training is 90% physical, 10% mental; but racing is 90% mental.

The strongest rider often doesn’t win, because some other guy or gal wanted it more, and was prepared to dig deeper, and deeper… until everyone else cracked.

With that preamble (I promise to be brief tomorrow!) here’s a good article by pro triathlete and performance coach Danelle Kabush on some tricks to gain control of your mind to have a more successful ride:

Train Your Brain to Survive the Ride

http://www.bicycling.com/training/tips/train-your-brain-survive-ride

BTW, her last tip, on how you’re lucky to be riding in the rain… I’d go further. I used to relish cold, rainy days, because most cyclists would take the day off, and I knew it was a day to make marginal gains on them. It’s not so much how much you do, but how much more you do than them.

There’s no one big thing you can do, but consistency in doing *every little thing* that you can do… pays off big.

P.S. For a good movie on the power of the mind, watch “Touching the Void.” It’s on Neflix, and it’s a true story, the dramatized documentary with interviews with the two key characters involved. When you think you’re having a hard time on the bike, or a bad day, you’ll have a very vivid and concrete example of what a bad day really looks like.

You might also like…

Mindset in CyclingHow Bad Do You Want It?Mastering the Psychology of Mind Over Muscle
– by Matt Fitzgerald

Get practical, actionable guidance that you can use every day, to enjoy more success in sport and in life.

Cycling Gear Reviews, Cycling Tips, New Cycling Gear

How Two Tiny Centimeters Unlocked 500 Miles

Reader Brian F tells a story that dramatically illustrates the potential power or destructiveness of a bike fit, and how little adjustments can have major effects. 1500 miles in to a 2000 mile bike tour he faced defeat due to unbearable pain…

“We had already done about 1500 miles, but I started to develop saddle sores. I spent almost two entire days coasting and standing because I couldn’t bear to pedal while sitting. I was resigned to having to take a bus for the last 500 miles of the trip, which was a completely demoralizing thought. About four in the morning I woke up in my tent and said out loud, “Lower the seat.” A couple of hours later I lowered the seat by about 2 cm. and I was good to go. It was like a miracle.

Don’t you love the way his mind figured it out while he was sleeping?

Speaking of bike fit and saddle sores, I had the hardest time finding a saddle that was comfortable. I used to ride quite a bit, up to 40-50 miles was no problem, but a couple of days a week I’d do 90 miles, and occasionally I’d do 120-150.

It’s those long rides that revealed the weakness in a saddle for me… and frankly scared me a bit as I started experiencing lingering numbness and pain.

Finally I found one that worked, here’s the saddle that saved my butt.

Saddles are a very personal thing, but if you’ve had issues and are not quite satisfied with your saddle, I recommend giving this one a try.

Cycling Tips

Bicycle Fit: Nailing Your Saddle Height

One of the critical elements in a good bike fit is saddle height, get it wrong and you can put undue strain on your knees and be in for a world of hurt.

When I had just started cycling, maybe 6 months, I somehow talked my wife into doing the MS150.

Crazy bicycle fit with high saddleI signed us up for the extended version which turned out to be 107 miles on day one. Around about 80 miles my knees started to feel fragile, like they were eggshells and cracking. It was almost unbearable, I only got through it with the help of painkillers.

The painkillers worked wonders and we completed the ride, all 187 agonizing miles of it. My wife has never let me forget.

I learned a valuable lesson; it’s so not so much about the bike, or the rider, but the marriage of the two.

When I bought that first bike, some kid in the bike shop had set me up, and sent me to circle the parking lot a couple of times. “Perfect,” I said. I was clueless.

My next bike was built by a veteran mechanic on the pro circuit, and a bike fitting fanatic… what a diffeence. That bike was a part of me. It still is. Fourteen years later I’m still riding it, it’s my trainer bike.

So how do you stop your knees from feeling like they’re about to shatter? Here’s a quick video on how to get that crucial saddle height right.

How to Set Your Saddle Height Just Right

Click the link below to watch the short video with tips on getting your seat height perfect:

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/fitness/bike-fit/saddle-height-why-you-need-to-get-it-right-25379

Cycling Tips, Opinion

Enlist Your Brain When You Train

Ever had one of those workouts where you feel like crap at the beginning, but you persevere, and it ends up being a great workout? I had one today on my lunch run. I’m pretty sure much of it is in your head.

As I hit the trail I was thinking about how I had recently been ripped off with an online purchase (never received the goods), and how I should respond. 10 minutes later I was struggling and found myself walking.

I recognized what was happening and shifted mental gears. I looked down at my soaking shirt. It was from my first ultra (which was a real struggle!), and reminded myself if I got through that, I sure as hell could get through a few miles at lunch. Besides, I am planning to do another ultra in a couple of months so I’d better start behaving like a freakin runner.

I focused on form and treading lightly and quickly. I decided to run hard up the (short) hills and recover on the descents, even walk if I had to. I did. No problem, that was the deal. And if it was going to be a struggle, so be it, I wasn’t going to mope about it and shuffle along, I was at least going to put up a damn fight and run with conviction.

AS I settled in to a steady pace I set the goal of making some plans for Velo Logic and growing the audience. In the last half hour my mind wandered a bit and I formulated an idea for a new product. I got excited.

Then I realized I was rolling along at a decent pace, and feeling strong. What a turnaround.

That’s happened to me many times, on and off the bike, often when I start out riding the trainer; and it’s probably happened to you. I’m sure if I had continued to seethe at the thought of getting ripped off, my run would have stayed a painful, run/walk ordeal, and I would never have developed the idea for some new stuff for Velo Logic.

The mind is our most powerful tool. We fuel our bodies, often we fail to do the same for our minds.

My advice… when you have one of those rides, don’t give in to that first impression. Maybe its legit, often it isn’t. Recognize that the sluggishness could evaporate in 10-20 min, and don’t quit.

Shift mental gears, think of a time when you had a great ride, and know you will have one again. Think of an upcoming event, perhaps a competitor you’d dearly like to beat, and imagine him on your wheel. He ain’t going home with his tail between his legs, are you?

And even if it turns out to be a hard, grinding ride, it’s still made you stronger, tougher, especially mentally as you’ve flexed and worked out your mental muscle.

One thinker said it well, “Ideas move man. Man moves the world.” It’s true, what we think has a huge impact on us, on a ride, in sport in general, in life, and throughout the sweep of history, ideas drive progress… or undermine and enslave.

Next time you train, enlist your brain.

Cycling Tips

Become a Bicycle Ninja

Yesterday I mentioned Dave’s crazy sale on his bike maintenance course, which teaches insider’s tips and short cuts from pro bike mechanics, and it can save you a ton of money down the road.

I say “course,” and it is that comprehensive, so if you’re a bike geek and want to do it from start to finish, you’ll know your bike inside out in just a few hours. You could even open your own bike repair business.

If that’s not you, you can just as well dive in at any point and pull up any video on any issue you’re having and learn how to fix it in minutes.

You save time, you save money, and you get it done right.

About that… I’ve had stuff screwed up by bike shops. You never know who’s going to be working on your bike, the seasoned pro, or the kid who works there afer school. I’m guessing the guy who cracked my carbon rim with a hairdryer trying to remove the tubular was not the head mechanic.

Short of going to in-person classes, this kind of video is by the best way to learn. Books are just too vague and confusing, like reading a story with every second page ripped out. For the life of me I cannot figure out what the hell happened between figure 1 and figure 2.

That’s not what this is. Sure, you do get a 150 page manual, a great quick reference and reminder, but the meat is the videos which show you step by step, and from multiple angles, with closeups.

bicycle-repair-and-maintenance-video-course-sm-600x449

Complete Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Course

What you do get is:

  • Expert instruction aimed at beginners and seasoned pros, taught by 3 experts, covering standard road bikes, racing bikes and mountain bikes.
  • 200 videos (10 hours) plus 150 pages of in-depth lessons – it’s comprehensive, leaves nothing out, so you’re covered for almost any problem
  • Easy to follow step-by-step instructions 
  • Detailed specifications, exploded views and photographs – so you’re never left wondering which part goes where, or what to do
  • Suitable for BOTH beginners and seasoned pros
  • Learn to fix, upgrade and maintain any bike, from road, race and mountain bikes – heck, you could open your own repair business if you like
  • From the simplest repair procedure to the most complex – this is not just the usual stuff like how to change a tube, or adjust a derailleur, want to upgrade any part of your bike… you’re covered.
  • Clearly see all procedures from multiple viewing angles, including up-close views – unlike static photos or one viewpoint videos, you get to see exactly what to do

The package is a steal, but Dave has thrown in a couple of bonuses that make it a no brainer:

You get all future updates and new videos, so your investment never goes out of date (…unlike the Park Tools Bicycle Maintenance Manual I have in my shed which cost me almost as much as this course).

Limited Bonus: You also get one-on-one coaching from Dave via Skype if you need clarification or advice.

BTW, you have 2 months to check it out, test it, and if for any reason you don’t think it’s a bargain, shoot him an email and you’ll get your money back, no questions asked.

Finally… conquer your bike

Cycling Tips

Ride Like It’s 1896: Cycling Tips from the Past

Cycling is one of the most healthful and invigorating kinds of exercise; as well for mind as body. But like other good things it may be abused, and the faults of its votaries are visited upon it.

Beginners on commencing to ride should act with moderation. A short time only each day with the machine at first, then gradually lengthening it in proportion as the ease grows with which they can manage it. It is never quite wise to start on a long ride without first having had a few preliminary shorter ones. With regular practice and care, there is practically no limit which the human frame may not train up to.”

This is taken from the Metropolitan Machinist’s Company brochure from 1896. It’s a treasure, giving an insight into the equipment and problems of cycling in the late 19th century.

Cycling equipment 1896

Take a look at some of the saddles advertised, including Brooks saddles which is still going, and cutaway versions.

Bicycle equipment 1896

You could also pick up a bicycle bag, a variety of luggage carriers, lamps and rifle mounts for your handlebars. Apparently road rage is not a new phenomenon.

42-253441

I leave you with these words of wisdom. (When I was starting out I certainly could have used the tram-lines advice.)

In Riding it is well to avoid gutters, ruts and tram-lines. Cross the latter as nearly at right angles as possible, slacken speed in turning a corner. Keep the machine upright; and work the pedals evenly.

And if you want something more up to date (picky, picky)… you can’t beat a good book or browse the store. And before you ask, we’re out of rifle mounts.