Shop ride Sundays: going down south

With CapTex this weekend, we are going for the simple option, all three rides are heading south leaving the shop at 8:30am sharp. The no-drop ride will go to the high school, the Intermediate an hour out and back, and the advanced group will do the Buda with extended loop, and theres always the option of going down to the 4-way at Kyle for those that want to.

We'd really like to hear feedback about the schedules and rides. With June starting next week the ride leader/escorts myself, Zac, Tammy with James will need to meetup sometime and spend time planning out what we are doing, then theres typing them up, producing the printed handout etc., it all takes time.

So does anyone care about variety or is going back to the old alternating south/east ride fine? What about the hill, transition, paceline clinics etc. Let us know what you think.

As of today, for June 6th we will be heading east. The no-drop ride will go out to Decker Lane and back, the Intermediate and Advanced groups will go around the back of Decker Lake, for those wanting to hammer it in the advanced group, you can add 10-mioles by doing the lake loop twice giving a nice split of hills and speed. Lynn Sparks pointed out that in fact June 6th is the Danskin Triathlon, I knew that but it completely slipped my mind when writing this earlier... Hmm what to do on the 6th?

Shop ride Sundays: going down south

Shop ride Sundays: Transition redux

We had fun running around and practicing transitions in Butler Park after last Sundays shop ride. The chance to try things on grass helped hugely to work out how to cut valuable time, good luck to everyone doing CapTex Tri on Monday, I'll be there to yell at you if you are taking too long ;-)

My key point is simply this. If I told you I could cut 2-minutes from your swim time with just an hour’s practise, you’d bite my hand off, how many people have ever spent a whole our practising transitions though ?

Back in 2001, I was fortunate enough to be able to take part in the ITU Triathlon World Championships. I was a mediocre swimmer, an overweight cyclist and a poor runner. What was a boy to do? Make sure I gained as much time as possible with a fast transition.

Since that event I’ve honed my skills in transition to the point where I’m disappointed if I’m not in the top-10 for T1 and T2 at a race, including the pro's/elites. So, how do you do it?

Wetsuit – yes, they do make you more buoyant; many wear them because everyone else does. Does the time it takes you to get it off outweigh the benefit? If you don’t have to wear it, think, really, honestly, do you need it? If you do, practise getting it off. The best place to do this isn’t in T1, strip to the waist while running to T1, then find somewhere on the side of a path where you can safely step out of the legs before you get to your transition spot.

Don’t clutter your transition area. Take just what you really need, a clean transition is a clean mind, have what you need, use what you have. If you have to pack a suitcase to take to transition, please don’t leave it there. Work out your race plan before the race; take everything else back to the car!

Practice getting your helmet on and off. Make sure before you leave it to go to the swim start that you’ve tried it on, that the straps are untangled and ready to go. If you can’t do it up with your eyes closed you have not practiced enough. Don’t “faff” around trying to put your sunglasses on, put them in your teeth and go, plenty of time to look cool!

Practice running with your bike. At CapTex Tri, you could end up having to run nearly 150 yards before the mount point. A simple mistake that many people make is they run the wrong side of their bike; they run holding the bike the wrong way. You should run holding the bike only by the saddle.

If you are right handed, hold the rear of the saddle with your right hand and run on the left of the bike. If left handed, hold the saddle with left hand and run on the right of the bike. Hold the saddle loosely, keep your shoulders relaxed. No holding the handlebars; holding the handlebars you'll often have to bend, which is clumsy and prone to the front wheel turning; holding the saddle and running, if done correctly, you can steer and recover, holding the handle bars, you often people unable to recover, fall over as the main part of the bike is behind.

Running mounts/dismounts. This is where you’ll spend 45-minutes of your hour practice.

• Put bike in easy gear
• Mount the shoes in the pedals· Make sure the pedals/shoes are parallel to the ground, left food forward
• Loop a small elastic band through the rear heel tab on your shoes. If you don't have a rear heel tab you can either buy much longer bands and hook them under Look cleats or find some other place to connect the band to the shoe
• Fasten the other end of the band for the left shoe around the downtube, probably on the front gear mech.
• Fasten the right shoe to the rear gear mech. or around the lug on the rear stays etc.)
• When you arrive in transition, helmet on, number belt on, grab the bike and run on the left side of the bike holding the saddle with your right hand - to make this easier I always rack my bike by the bars and NOT the saddle. Many smaller bikes, and bikes with front-mounted aero bottles can't be mounted by the bars.
• When you are past the mount line get your stride ready and in one swift move place your left hand on the bars and your left foot on the front pedal
• A fraction of a second later swing your right leg around the back wheel and saddle and onto the right pedal, releasing your right hand from the saddle and grasp the bars(see the picture in blog entry from April, my right hand is still on the saddle for control when the right leg is already on its way around to the pedal)
• Once your foot is on the right pedal start pedaling.... the bands will snap - you need to do this fast enough so you don't wobble and fall off!
• Pedal down the road until you get to at least 16MPH, at a safe point reach down put your left foot in the shoe
• Pedal again to regain momentum
• When safe reach down and put your right foot in and you are done.

Coming back in is basically the opposite....

• Well before the dismount line, remove your right foot from the shoe, keep pedalling with the right foot on top of the shoe
• Remove your left foot from the shoe
• Pedal to the dismount line and just before getting there swing your right foot over the crossbar
• Standing on your left foot and gliding in with your right foot tucked behind your left...
• When you get to the dismount line, drop your right foot, then your left
• Let go of the bars with your right hand, grab the saddle
• Let go with your left hand and run holding the saddle...

Practice this on a field somewhere until you can do it perfectly and then try it in the car park of an office or out-of-town shopping center car park at night after its closed.... no one will see you if you fall off or trip! You don't need a transition rack, a bucket, chair or stool will be fine just to keep your bike upright!

I've saved more time by practising this than I have after 3-years of swim training.

Shop ride Sundays: Transition redux

Cycling Shirts and Accelerade Products!!

Jack & Adam's now has active wear cycling t-shirts from Be Kind To Cyclists with American Apparel fabric! Stop in and check out the great selection.

Also, mention this blog post and get 20% off all Accelerade Products!!

Cycling Shirts and Accelerade Products!!

IronMonth Challenge

Though May is almost over, there's still time to follow the Placid Athlete as she continues to take on the IronMonth Challenge in May! The IronMonth Challenge is to complete the equivalent in training of at least 4 Iron-distance triathlons during the first 30 days of May: 9.6 miles swimming, 448 miles biking, and 104.8 miles running. (May 31, Memorial Day, will be a rest day.) Suzanne Bertin of placidathlete.com will continue logging her progress throughout the month, sharing information on daily workouts, tips for how to manage time (including how to deal with unexpected schedule conflicts), and nutrition and training.

Suzanne Bertin is certified by USA Triathlon as a Level 1 Coach, and has been a multi-sport athlete for many years, having completed numerous events from sprint distance to half-ironman, 5k to marathon, bike commuting to multi-day, century-plus bike rides. It all started with a daily bike commute to and from work back in the early 90s and grew from there.

Suzanne’s goal is to inspire others to get out and get active, in spite of their already busy lives. As a working, age-group triathlete who is also a mother of twins, Suzanne can appreciate the quest for the elusive work-life balance. It can be done, and Suzanne will show you how! Follow @placidathlete on the IronMonth Challenge!

IronMonth Challenge

Shop ride Sundays: Northwest Passage

"This is a story of early America during the century of conflict between the British and their American colonies ..."

Oops that was the Northwest Passage film from the 1940's - This is the Jack and Adams Sunday Shop Ride edition! No conflict, and much love from your's truly the British(not Australian) Sunday shop ride guy.

This Sunday the No-drop will go south, helping out with riding hints and tips, keeping people together and helping where we can with technical issues. Please remember to bring your own spares, puncture kits etc. This is especially true for those riding city, mountain bikes, or anything with 650 wheels. We'll help you repair, or even do it for you but don't have access to all types of tubes while riding!

The Tammy from Tempo Multisport will be leading the Intermediate group, and Zac will be there for the Advanced ride. Both will head North West, distance and difficulty will vary per group. Here is a sample of the route. As always, we leave on time, that means pulling out of the shop at 8:30a.m prompt.

After this Sundays ride I'll be over in Butler park, the other side of the railway line from the shop ride to hold a transition clinic to show you how to do transitions, including running mounts and dismounts. Please bring your full transition set-up including run shoes. You'll have the chance to practice on grass and I'll give you some homework so you can be ready for CapTex Triathlon.

Finally, this week we will have post-ride massage by Shannon Burns from Advanced Bodywork Center. See you at the shop!

Shop ride Sundays: Northwest Passage

Shop ride Sundays: Hills clinic recap

We had a stellar turnout for Tempo Multisport’s Hill Climbing/Descending Clinic at the Jack & Adam’s Bicycles shop ride this past Sunday. We rode as a group out to Lost Creek, where we held a quick clinic on the physics of climbing and descending. For a reminder of the tips covered, click here to visit the blog post from our first clinic.

Remember, in order to master these skills you must now practice them! Don’t avoid hills, seek them out and challenge yourself to be better. If there is a component of climbing or descending that gives you anxiety, break it down and practice it in a less intimidating environment. For example, we noticed many riders were not comfortable riding in the drops of their handlebars while descending. As discussed, this is THE SAFEST way to descend a hill. Not only are you lowering your center of mass, which creates greater stability and better handling of the bicycle, you are also protecting yourself from your hands flying off the handlebars in the event that you do hit a bump in the road. If this is you, start practicing riding in the drops while on a flat section of road until it becomes more comfortable, then move on to small descents, and eventually the bigger ones. If this is not physically comfortable for you, chances are you need an adjustment to your bike fit, so drop in and see the fit experts at the shop! Safety and stability on your bicycle is priceless. Just as you wouldn’t dream of riding without a helmet, don’t ride on an ill-fitting bike. When you do, you compromise not only your own safety, but that of those around you.

Thanks to all who attended this clinic. We had a blast interacting with all of you. It was a diverse group this week, with some doing one repeat, having never before conquered a hill such as Lost Creek, and some taking on three repeats on this long, challenging climb before we headed back to the shop. Well done to one and all! In addition to Coach Tammy Metzger, three members of Team Tempo Multisport were on-hand to provide feedback and encouragement to clinic attendees; Shane Carbonneau, Laura Carbonneau, and Kim Barnett! Thanks again, and we’ll see you at the next clinic.

Shop ride Sundays: Hills clinic recap

Shop ride sundays: Take to the hills

a bit late for this week, but better late than never! This week see's the Intermediate and Advanced groups take to the hills. The no-drop ride will go south.

We don't just do hills, Tammy Metzger and the Tempo Multisport will take the intermediate group and do a repeat of the Hills Clinic they did a couple of months ago. You'll get to ride a repeat route and they'll ride either alongside or in reverse and offer tips on gear changes, pedal stroke, position and most of all encouragement.

For the Advanced group, myself, Zac and Lisa will take you on a slightly longer route, with a few more hills and hopefully just as much encouragement. I'll get to ride my new Guru Praemio which the shop fitted and had built for me especially for my Sierra to the Sea bike tour, hills and more hills!

As always, we leave at 8:30am unless its raining at that time.

Next week I'll be rerunning the transition clinic, this time I'll cover both basic and advanced, for those that are interested, I will cover and give you the chance to do running mounts/dismounts. We'll be on grass, so bring your transition gear and we'll go practice after the ride a short walk from the shop!

Shop ride sundays: Take to the hills