Travelist: Vote For Taiwan Cycling Route

The Travelist is conducting an online poll for the "Best Cycling Routes", and Taiwan has a couple spots on the list to compete against Arizona and the Paris-Roubaix route.

If you like cycling in Taiwan, vote on it. HERE

Training Notes:

I completed my training loop in record time last night. I usually do this route solo, every Wednesday between 6:00p.m. and 7:30pm. The roads are dark and there are lots of traffic lights and traffic to wait for... with all that in consideration, the effort is pretty good.

The best part was my feeling after I warmed up. I just forgot there was a bicycle under my ass and just was concentrating on my immediate goal in front of me. The tension in my legs melted away and I was just spinning away. Glorious!

Now this performance will be the monkey on my back until I can recreate it.

Caotun Loop:

Distance: 50km/31mi.
Max Speed: 50kph/31mph
Average Speed: 32kph/20mph

Bike route 716556 - powered by Bikemap

Back In Business: Night Riding and Training Notes.

The past two months have been pretty rough as far as training goes. I took almost a month off on vacation with only a couple meaningful rides during that time, and then the weather in Taiwan became too unstable upon my return to really build back into my regular training routine. It seemed every evening I could potentially get out on one of my routes, the rains would start immediately after work. Talk about depressing... I would see clear, blue skies all day--until 5:00pm when the rain would start up.

In the mean time I made some minor adjustments to my diet and lost 6lbs. in 4 weeks. I replaced my morning Cheerios and yogurt with broccoli based smoothies. Now going down in the drops feels so much better.

Lemme see.... We then had the typhoon eliminate another weekend. I was sick last week. It can all seem like it just starts piling on-- and it sucks.

Finally, FINALLY!!! Last night I went out for a real training ride. I did my 30 mile loop from Taichung to Caotun and back through Fen Yuan and Dapu on the Changhua side of the river.

Distance: 32mi./51km.

Max Speed: 32mph./51kph

Average Speed: 18.89mph./30kph

I felt loose and performed much better than I had presumed, but I can tell my ability to keep the heat on has taken a bit of a hit. I was also feeling some of chest congestion from the cold.

Regardless... getting out on the road like that couldn't feel any more right.

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• Cycling is set for another bid at the Hollywood treatment. Trailer. Other biking movies: here
• Floyd Landis is angry at somebody else... again.
• More on the benefits of cycling.
• Insights on long distance utility cycling.
• Part III of Joe Friel's valuable study on the effects of aging on cycling performance.

Guide Of The Century: How To Prepare For A Century Ride

Due to work and other commitments, I often have to save up my serious riding for weekends and that often means as much time on the bike as possible. The result has been dozens of century rides under my belt as I seek new and different places to visit or different ways to test my body. Putting down 100 miles in a day has become a pretty common feat, though the mystique of the "Century Ride" remains. There is something rewarding about seeing the odometer flip to the triple digits, and now I am training (weather permitting) to double that in a day's ride.

With all the long rides I post, a number of people have contacted me about my preparations for completing a century ride. Although I am not as meticulous asI was when I first tried 100 miles (note: This is not kilometers) there are still some practical and sensible things a rider should do to prepare.

1. Be physically prepared: Ride longer distances leading up to your century and try to emulate the conditions (hills, flats, estimated wind direction...). If you know the route and you now the landmarks then you know where you are in relation to your goal. It helps rein in a defeatist imagination that seems to want to imagine you are further back. You don't need to long distances to get into shape. Shorter, high intensity rides, can increase your overall fitness so the long miles won't seem so long. Two weeks before your first century, you should complete a longer ride, maybe 50-75 miles. Cut back on the riding the week prior. When you ride, pace yourself. Do the first 50 miles at an easier pace and see how you feel for the other half. A slow 15mph pace can easily get you to your destination in 8 hours with the occasional pit-stop.

2. Make sure your equipment is in good working order. The last thing you need are mechanical problems on a long ride. This goes with shoes and clothing. Can you imagine finding out your chamois rubs or you get hot spots in your shoes at 50 miles? Once you start to think about any article of discomfort, you will think about it all day. Be sure your bike is fit well and is comfortable with properly inflated tires. Every imperfection is magnified the longer you sit on a bike. Overinflated tired might not be noticed on shorter rides, but an beat you up on the long rides. One century ride I got a flat and filled with CO2. I usually inflate to 100psi, but I bet I was around 130 and it just beat the crap out of me. A helmet that doesn't fit can give you neck and back aches down the road as well.

3. Food and nutrition management is vital. Start eating and drinking for your century a week before. You want to make sure you have plenty of glycogen stored in your muscles. Start really packing in the fruits, veggies and carbs mid week. If your body is ready it helps ease the mind. Cut the caffeine and the booze. These will only dehydrate you. Start taking in the carbs to fill your glycogen stores for maximum exertion.

4. Eat during your century. Maybe one thing every hour if you are not conditioned for regular centuries. Eat before you are hungry. Granola bars, raisins, a ham sandwich... whatever works for you. Try not to eat candy unless you are 20 miles from the finish.

5. Drink during your century. Drink before you are thirsty. If it is hot, you may want to add one sport drink for every two bottles of water.

6. Start stretching more the week before your century.

7. Read for pleasure. It gives you something to think about on the ride if you go solo.

8. Don't worry too much. You put down a few miles and take them one at a time. Next thing you know you have put together a string of 'em and they make 100.

Fat Zoning and Muscle Memory

Here are a couple articles that may be of interest to those who are training or want to start training.

The first is Matt Fitzgerald's new book, Racing Weight, about the myth of fat burning zones and on strategies to increase your weight to power ratio.

The second is a little article concerning some new research in which a team of scientists have discovered that muscles retain their memory of earlier form, far after you have destroyed them under layers of doughnuts, beer and reruns of Three's Company.

Cycling When I'm In Heat... and Humidity.

Cooling and Refueling

It is mid-summer in Taiwan, which means the weather is both hot and humid.

I make no secret of my love for long, long, long, endurance rides and in pushing myself to the limits of fatigue. The way this year seems to be shaping up, I should be able to put together several rides over 160km. Lately I have been experimenting with rides in the 200km range with plans for longer as my strength and fitness increase.

The question I get asked a lot by cyclists and non-cyclists alike is how I can possibly put in that type of distance in such extreme temperatures in excess of 35C/95F. My usual response is, "With awesome 70's tan lines."

I really don't mind riding in the heat as much as I mind riding against the wind. Still, hot weather riding requires proper training and preparation to be done safely. The greatest danger to high temperature athletes are the effects of heat exhaustion and heatstroke. If left untreated these conditions could be fatal to an endurance athlete.

It is common to hear people scream heat stroke whenever they feel a little discomfort out in the sun, but actually heat stroke or hyperthermia is a term used to describe the body's inability to cool itself when the natural temperature controls, such as perspiration, shut down. What a person may be feeling are the minor effects of heat exhaustion.

Heat Exhaustion:

Heat exhaustion is the result of dehydration. The body has exhausted its supply of H2O reserved for sweating and can not allocate any more water for temperature control without affecting the vital organs.

Some typical signs of heat exhaustion include:

thirst

weakness

cramping

nausea

headaches

lightheadedness

excess sweating

weakness

Now, as athletes, we have probably all felt these symptoms while training and it does not necessarily mean we are suffering from heat exhaustion. We will, now and again, get a little dehydrated out in the elements. That is natural. Cramping can also be caused by a variety of factors beyond heat as well. Still, these are symptoms to be aware of while on the road.

Heat Stroke:

With heat stroke the body loses its ability to regulate its core temperature through sweat or radial heat and starts to shut down. Heat stroke requires immediate medical attention and may lead to cardiac arrest and death.

Symptoms:

Nausea

Disorientation

Extreme Fatigue

Inability to Sweat

Hallucinations

Rapid Breathing

Seizures

Coma

Red Skin

Riding in the heat will not necessarily lead to these symptoms if it is done with right with a healthy dose of awareness and caution. I have returned from some very long rides in temperatures exceeding 35º C with a temperature at statistically normal or unchanged (Though I am slightly hypothermic).

For riding in Taiwan's heat and stifling humidity I deploy a combination of tactics to ensure a long, safe ride at maximum power.

1. Training: My first summer of riding in Taiwan's heat was an eye opener. I didn't know what I needed to do it right. I built my bike up and it was ready to ride by the beginning of June, I think. It took all summer to get used to it and I did experience some extreme headaches upon coming home. I would do 40-50k, come home and crash on the couch. My body simply wasn't used to working in the heat. It takes acclimation time to be ready for the high temperature and a lot of good fitness to resist working too hard. Ease into the temperature with several incrementally longer rides in the heat until you can do several hours comfortably. It takes 7-10 days to build up your blood plasma for the heat.

2. Liquids: Drinking water is a no-brainer. As lame as it sounds to most roadies, a Camelbak might be a good investment for long, summer rides. They can hold more liquids and don't require too much effort for the occasional sip. I also like to drink water to FIN sport drink at a 2:1 ratio to ensure I can resupply my body with electrolytes. Sport drinks have a higher concentrate of sodium and potassium that help with the body's natural electrical conduction and replace the electrolytes lost in sweat. The added sodium helps the body retain water better than straight water to reduce the risk of heat exhaustion. I like FIN better as it is not as sugary as Supau or Pocari. If you have two water bottles, one could be water and one sport drink. It is ok to stop for water. Drink before you get thirsty. Maxim: Cash is lighter than water.

Occasionally, I like to use a bottle of water to dump over my head for cooling. This helps bring my temperature down and wash the salt off my face. There have been several times I have come home looking like a margarita glass. The salt on my skin just pulls the moisture right out.

In Taiwan we are lucky to have hydration available nearly everywhere, but it can take a little more planning in some of the more remote mountain areas. Politically I choose Family Mart over 7-11, but I take whatever I can get when I need liquids. Taiwan also has a wonderful network of betel nut stands that sell water, sport drink and other refreshments if you need them in a pinch.

It is also a good thing to start your hydration program a day or two early to ensure the body is saturated with fluids before the ride. That may mean waking up in the middle of the night to pee a couple times, but it mitigates the natural dehydration that occurs through perspiration and respiration during sleep. Don't over do it and wash out all your electrolytes. Sweating is a good sign, so be sure to keep it up.

3. Ventilation: Always try to wear something that allows airflow over the skin. For men, a full zip jersey can be opened up and allow the maximum benefit from sweating. A helmet with more holes the better. Of course the less helmet you buy... the more money you spend. Proper cycling clothing works best. Some people like to bring a handkerchief to wipe away the salts. Others like to wear full hot weather arm covers and leggings to protect against the UV rays and some people say it is actually cooler.

4. UV Protection: I always bring a bottle of waterproof sunscreen in my jersey pocket and although I get the sexy 70's tan lines, I don't get burned. I also need to remember to apply it to my head. There have been days I have felt spots of soreness on my head and found burn marks where the sun penetrated the holes of my helmet. Doh!

5. Nutrition: I try to eat a high carb, high sodium meal the night before a long ride to fill my glycogen and electrolyte stores before I ride. For breakfast I usually have a couple bananas for potassium and tums for magnesium. I take along a few granola bars for nutrition and sodium, but if I need to get water I like to get an occasional bag of Tong Yi Instant Noodles (統一麵). The instant noodles are portable, high carb and extremely high in sodium. They make a perfect snack for the heat. Eat before you get hungry.

6. Mental Preparation: Mentally prepare for the heat. Understand it will be hot and get over it. Keep the mind busy and push the heat out of mind.

Other Options:

If you really don't feel ready to ride in the heat of the day, there is plenty of heat and humidity at night. A good, hard, regular night ride can be a great way to build and maintain endurance while getting used to the heat. I actually love the relative coolness of the night rides. It is a good idea to get eyewear with clear lenses to protect against nighttime insects. There are fewer cars and a good light makes you easier to spot.

Tan lines are sexy

Unhappy Endings for the Post Ride Massage

Like a lot of people I enjoy a good massage after a long ride or when my muscles feel beat all to hell. Unfortunately, a good massage is hard to find as nobody seems to put enough elbow grease into it and it just ends up tickling. Anyways... like most people I assumed the massage was a great way to recover. It unknots muscles and flushes the toxins and lactic acids that accumulate in the muscles during exercise.

The only problem is that... it doesn't flush out anything. Or at least that is the conclusion reached by Michael Tschakovsky, an associate professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

"The results, published in the latest issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, are a blow, at least to those of us who justify our massages as medicinal. It turned out that massage did not increase blood flow to the tired muscle; it reduced it. Every stroke, whether long and slow or deep and kneading, cut off blood flow to the forearm muscle. Although the flow returned to normal between strokes, the net effect was to lessen the amount of blood that reached the muscle, particularly compared with the amount that flowed to the forearm muscle during 10 minutes of passive recovery. Meanwhile, active recovery reduced blood flow as well, since muscular contractions, however slight, compress blood vessels in the muscle briefly. But the overall reduction of blood flow was significantly less during active recovery than during the massage session."

Although the conclusions of the study do not dispel all claims that massage after exercise is beneficial, but it does cast some doubt on the pseudo-scientific claims associated with massage therapy. Regardless if the feelings of recovery are a placebo or related to other aspects of therapeutic massage, if it works and is enjoyable... then I don't see any reason to stop.

And Now For The Rest

I don't have too much to worry about for the month of May as work and family commitments have limited my ability to follow my inclination... on some damned fool crusade... to destroy myself on the seat of a bicycle... all in the name of a good time. But the month of June I hope to tear it up something awful.

When I get these crazy notions in my head to push myself to my physical limits or train to achieve some seemingly arbitrary goal, I risk the dangers of overreaching and overtraining; two common conditions that occur in ambitious athletes.

After a major physical effort I am more prone to sickness, injury and I have even felt a type of general malaise. It happens to us all. The stronger we get the more it takes to push us to that edge. Still, rest is a very important part of training and it can make a huge difference in performance increases. So, today I will rest and then hit tomorrow hard and fast, do some climbing practice on Thursday, before resting up for a hill century on Sunday to make sure my glycogen stores are filled and I am ready for a long day in the saddle.

There is a great article on training here with an excerpt below:

"Overreaching lasts from a few days to 2 weeks and is associated with fatigue, reduction of maximum performance capacity, and a brief interval of decreased personal performance. Recovery is achieved with a reduction in training or a few extra days of rest.

Overtraining (overtraining syndrome, staleness, systemic overtraining) is the result of many weeks of exceeding the athlete’s physiologic limits and can result in weeks or months of diminished performance - symptoms normally resolve in 6-12 weeks but may continue much longer or recur if athletes return to hard training too soon. It involves mood disturbances, muscle soreness/stiffness, and changes in blood chemistry values, hormone levels, and nocturnal urinary catecholamine excretion.

Stress factors such as the monotony of a training program and an acute increase in training program intensity lasting more than a few days increase the risk of development of overtraining. On the other hand, heavy training loads appear to be tolerated for extensive periods of time if athletes take a rest day every week, and alternate hard and easy days of training.

Pathologic fatigue is deined as fatigue and tiredness that cannot be explained by the volume of training. These are generally medical conditions such as infection, neoplasia, disorders of the blood, cardiovascular, or endocrine systems, and psychologic/psychiatric disorders. Included in this grouping are the side effects of medications and "chronic fatigue syndrome" - an ill defined medical condition. A recent article has muddied the water even further by describing muscle changes from years of high volume exercise training that may be related to this entity. Another controversial possibility is iron deficiency without anemia - although this is much more common in endurance runners than cyclists."

518 Miles in one Day!!!

Life Ain't Easy For A Boy Named Drew!

Jure Robic

Last night I was just thinking about the possibility of a Taichung to Kenting ride and how great that would be. Then I was sent this old New York Times profile on Jure Robic, from 2006. I totally suck!

‘‘ 'During race, I am going crazy, definitely,’’ he says, smiling in bemused despair. ‘‘I cannot explain why is that, but it is true."’

The craziness is methodical, however, and Robic and his crew know its pattern by heart. Around Day 2 of a typical weeklong race, his speech goes staccato. By Day 3, he is belligerent and sometimes paranoid. His short-term memory vanishes, and he weeps uncontrollably. The last days are marked by hallucinations: bears, wolves and aliens prowl the roadside; asphalt cracks rearrange themselves into coded messages. Occasionally, Robic leaps from his bike to square off with shadowy figures that turn out to be mailboxes. In a 2004 race, he turned to see himself pursued by a howling band of black-bearded men on horseback.

‘‘Mujahedeen, shooting at me,’’ he explains. ‘‘So I ride faster.’’

His wife, a nurse, interjects: ‘‘The first time I went to a race, I was not prepared to see what happens to his mind. We nearly split up.’’

I find the mental aspect real interesting. Although I have never done anything near 518 miles, I have had periods where I test my physical endurance. Five centuries in 14 days is a good example of this. People ask me all the time how I can possibly ride for so long and I never have a solid answer. Most, but not all of my very difficult "projects" I do solo and sometimes I just enjoy it that way.

When I am on a long solo ride my mind drifts off into some wild places and my mind fills with an inner dialogue between myself and whomever I wish to talk to. I have had some brilliant papers written and lost on a bike ride. At the same time I am constantly "checking my instruments". I am monitoring my speed, gearing, energy levels, equipment, comfort, hydration and environment.

Beyond that there is a mental threshold for pain, punishment and fatigue. I have been on some rides where I have mentally pushed myself through cramps and aches to make it back home. The mind can manage discomfort and push it to the background, almost like when the mind wanders off during a boring lecture or staff meeting, the pain stands in the distance and the mind fails to acknowledge it like an accidental encounter after a bad, drunken one night stand.

By my third century in January I had developed a pain in my leg from over use. The pain would disappear after a couple days, but then come back in the middle of my next ride when I was already committed to a day on the bike. At that point my body would continue to operate normally, but my mind would manage the aching and place it elsewhere. I was never totally comfortable, but I could still finish another imperial century.

The best training I had in mind/body management did not come from the saddle of a bike at all, but from the wrestling mat.

Long before I started seriously (and not so seriously) cycling, I was a pretty good wrestler. I started when I was 5 years old and continued training up into college. I won a few medals and made the newspaper a few times as well. Wrestling is one of the most demanding sports a person can train for. A wrestler must keep strength and endurance up while keeping the weight down. I would typically shed 7-lbs for the season (and sometimes in a night). A wrestling match is 6 minutes of full exertion in which one participant tries to force the other to hold his back to the mat... and the other wrestler absolutely does not want to stay there. The training is demanding and forces the wrestler to draw strength from where there is none. Furthermore, with the rigid weight categories it takes a tremendous amount of discipline to resist the urge to eat. I would ask for oranges on my birthday and limit my portions on Thanksgiving and Christmas to "polite" servings. I would sit next to people stuffing themselves with pizza and fries and instead spit into a cup while wearing 10 layers of plastic and wool. A few times I'd falter and beg to chew on fries just to spit them out. I wanted the taste. It sounds kind of sick, but I can not emphasize how greatly it helped me in life, both in the arena of athletics and in living life. Although my coach never told us to drop weight or anything like that, he would call our discipline "mental toughness" and I had always assumed most people had that. Only later in life have I realized how few actually have the ability to mentally "fight" through both physical and emotional obstacles. When I was living in Seattle this training to "fight through" is the only only thing that got me past the worst working environment EVER! I imagined every day as a physical test of endurance and on my way to work I mentally prepared like I would for a competition. I remember walking through the door every day and imagining I was stepping on the mat or walking into the gym. (I think in retrospect it also helped that I had been mercilessly teased as a child and had to learn how to handle bullying. My mom said not to fight, so I didn't... until the day she turned me loose and I gave QB a few bloody noses and later stacked up a couple suspensions from school.)

A clipping my mom sent me from the 1992 KingCo Tournament.

So today I am at mid-week before a long, hard ride and I am making the same mental preparations. I am imagining how to manage the physical strain... and again I have been nursing an overuse injury from riding when I should have been resting. I am fighting hypothermia. I am getting ready for a battle against myself. On Saturday I am going to step out my front door and fight my way to Kaohsiung against wind, weather, weakness and pain, and I will reach back to my days as a wrestler and push myself to become better and do something I once would have thought was impossible.