i have a new question for you guys:

ever heard of 'fast twitch' versus 'slow twitch' (relating to muscles)?

my hubby says i should not only learn how to switch gears but when going uphills i should stand up :eek: yeah right!!!! anyhow, being that it is next to IMPOSSIBLE for me to do..

somsone i work with rides about 20 miles a day and he mentionend he heard something about this 'twitch' thing.. where some people do well standing up because of being one kind and others do better sitting down? I cant recall exactly what he said.. do you guys know what im talking about? (because i dont..)

thanks in advance! (also what are your opinions on standing up to do hills? and if this is how you do it.. how do i work up to doing that?)

Peapod,

I'm also a novice biker - at least I was before I fell and tore my rotator cuff so bad that 2 surgeries haven't fixed it. I hadn't been on a bike since you had to pedal backwards to stop (well, since I was a kid). I wasn't used to the hand brakes. I was riding my partner's mountain bike on a closed flat road two years ago, and didn't want to ride it through the mud puddle and get it dirty. I couldn't go around it because of the curbs, so I hit the brakes.

Now I'm a science teacher and love to demonstrate science principles, but I think that that afternoon was a bit much. An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and I proved that when the bike stopped and I didn't. I did a belly flop in the mud puddle, with my arms in the "stop" position. I laid there trying not to drown in an inch of water until he came back to see if I was okay (he was riding ahead of me and didn't notice I was missing for a little while).



So, take it from someone who knows, practice with the brakes before you have to use them in a pinch!

To the rest of you who have posted here, thanks for all the good info. I'm still trying to get my partner to take me biking again - for some reason he is reluctant to do so. :lol: Meanwhile I keep my quads toned on the exercise cycle at the gym.

Joan

Hello Joan!

BUMMER about the accident. I know it can be hard to overcome "issues" that arise from accidents. I suggest you go get the current issue of BICYCLING. It has a picture of Lance Armstong on the front. It has a real good article about the author's rehab after breaking a collarbone that required some serious surgery. It might have some similarities for you to consider.

OK, next to peddleing, braking comes in pretty important and being a teacher, this lesson should make sense.

1. Your most effective brake is the FRONT brake which is in your left hand...repeat after me...LEFT HAND! LOL No, the brake isn't different than the one in the rear. It is because as you break, the combined weight of the bike and rider shifts towards the front wheel. Proper breaking technique will alow you to apply more pressure on the front without locking it up.

2. THEREFORE...the least effective brake is the rear (right hand brake) which adds another problem...skidding. Repeat after me...REAR IS RIGHT! The harder you brake, the more weight you off-load on the rear so if you brake too hard you can lock it up and if you are in a turn your tail will want to slide out from under you.

3. To compensate for these tendancies practice slidding the butt back as far as possible for aggressive breaking. This will keep more weight on the back and help avoid a swan dive over the handle bars.

4. Brake BEFORE a turn! Braking in a turn can be disasterous if you aren't on top of the situation. Gravel in a turn can do some crazy things.

5. Don't ride a dead horse to the grave! If you loose control...GET OFF THE BIKE! That means get your self into a position to roll instead of planting a straight arm into the ground. (Sound familiar Joan?) The tendency for novices is to feel the bike slide from under them and to hold on hand to the hight side handle bar and extend low arm towards the ground. Planting the palm in the ground is a natural instict but it can lead to serious injuries. Rolling and taking some road rash is perferable to wearing casts and slings. The picture in the BICYCLING article is a perfect example of what I mean.

6. Brakes CAN overheat! If you are on a long, steep down hill and you find yourself constantly on the brakes SIT UP! Go "anti aero". Let your body provide aerodynamic resistance to keep your speed under control. If that doesn't keep you happy, then apply brakes to get below your comfortable speed, release brakes let the speed increase, then repeat.

BTW, the shifters follow the same pattern, right - rear custer, left - front chain rings. That relates to this topic in the situation where you come up on soft/gravel settings, whether that is the gravel typically encountered in many turns or the other times you run into it in an unplanned detour. The trick in these situations is to DOWN SHIFT (easier gear) PRIOR to encountering the situation and slow down. Then, keep your peddle cadance a bit higher. Just like a car that should be downshifted in snowy/slippery conditions, you won't have as much torque so as you peddle you will avoid causeing your rear wheel to spin and increase the chances of loosing control. It takes a bit of practice but the the idea is to apply just enough peddle pressure to maintain a safe speed and, as you become more confident, to GENTLY accelerate as you hit the appex of the turn.

BTW, most of my experience is with road bikes. Trail riding presents some slightly different challenges so anyone confident about commenting on road vs. mountain bike techniques is welcome to chime in.

must wholeheartedly agree with cb there, the front brake is king
but theres a risk with the front brake, due to the shift in weight and momentum, going head over handlebar....

but like all good things in life this risk can be downgraded by practice
so get out there and practice braking with front only, steadily increase braking speed and pressure and feel when the bike starts to become unstable, then you know you are at the limit
if an emergency happens for real then you will be glad of the practice


fast twitch/slow twitch

basically there are 3 main muscle types, but humans have basically only 2, slow twitch oxidative ( type I ) and fast twitch glycolytic ( type IIb)
without getting into too much biology ( heres your in CB :p )
the slow twich fibres are for endurance, long slow low intensity
the fast twitch fibres are for high intensity glycogen burning
you have a mixture of both but some muscles have more of one type and some people have a greater % of one type.
so in effect someone can be born a sprinter or marathon runner


stand or sit
when you stand out of the saddle you develop more power on the pedals because your body weight is helping your legs BUT power doesnt come for free, so you will wear yourself out quicker ( problem is this is an anaerobic kind of tired, which lasts longer and more devastating to your performance than an aerobic kind of tired - esp in lc )

getting up changes the muscle groups a little, so it gives your legs a little respite, you can also do this by shifting forward/back in the saddle

so wherever possible i would advise against standing in the seat, get in an easier gear and spin up the hill

if the hill is short get up and blast out of it, give the heart a workout
if you run out of gears sitting down, well you probably have no choice so get up and grind ( or walk )

if you need to get out to increase momentum/rest your butt, do so, but get back in soon as you can

theres a saying "spinners are winners, crankers are wan.... " :angel:

wow this is AWESOME! i love information..

cue bald 1 thanks for the info on brakes and gears.. such excellent info im still taking it all in. I have to say my ride today with DH was much easier for me.. I even got up the big hill the first time (on the way back i got about 2/3 and then had to walk) by switching my gears the best i could figure how.. im so proud of myself.. on gears: if i ride with my left gear in 3 and my right in 2 alot of the time.. is this bad? is there a reason why this is easier for me to do (i know you probably ride in the highest gear.. but im new :) ) I understand which gear is for which and im learning how to use them on hills.. but i obviously still have quite a bit to learn :) I do tend to ride my brake(s) coming down a hill so your info about aerodynamics is quite useful! I do also try and ride back on my 'sitting bones' (this may be why my back doesnt ache also)

m0rgan excellent info on 'twitch' thanks! also as far as sitting/standing.. youre saying if i choose to sit the entire time, to get more momentum i can shift a bit forward in my seat (in an easier gear), right? or is this to simply give some of my leg muscles a rest? im still taking in your info as well!!

you guys are SUPER!! youre helping me (and hubby) so very much and we appreciate you!!

im going to see if i cant get a subscription to bicycling.. today was my fourth time out and I am addicted!! Maybe the more people see this thread up towards the top, the more people we can ghet addicted too LOL

There are a couple gear combinations you should avoid.

1. Biggest chain ring and biggest rear cluster gear. You want to avoid this because it tightens the chain to the max, stretches the rear derailleur to its maximum position, and might cause it to break if the chain is too small. You also will get chain rub on the inside of the front derailleur causing some additional chain wear and it get noisy

2. Smallest chain ring and smallest rear cluster. This allows the chain to get very loose and makes it easier to throw the chain. This will not normally cause any serious bike damage. It also will be a noisey combination as the chain rubs on the chain ring next to it.

Neither of these combinations is so bad that they will cause you problems under normal conditions if you are only in them for short periods of time. The only exception would in in #1 if the chain is too short for the bike. Otherwise, you can stay in any gear combo for any period of time that suits your needs.

One of the things you should notice if you do a gear chart is that certain you will have some duplicate, or nearly so, gear inch combinations. You will also see how the gear ratio changes in smaller incruments as you move from the largest free well cog towards the smallest one. Gear selection is something that can take a long time to get a real feel for to the point it becomes second nature.

Some shifting ideas to explore:

1. When cresting a hill, shift the FRONT derailleur to the next larger chain ring first after you notice the peddling getting easier. Then, follow that with up shifting the rear (towards smaller cogs) as needed. If you were on the smallest chain ring, just move to the middle one. If the hill was steep on the way up and steep on the way down, you could consider shifting to the highest chain ring. Just keep in mind the "bad" combinations to avoid.

2. Reverse the process as you bottom out of a hill.

3. For smaller "rollers" you could stay in the same chain ring and then adjust the rear to keep your "spin" reasonably consistant.

4. Don't be afraid to shift often and frequently. As you add miles, the idea is to keep your legs fresh and take advantage of gears.

5. Practice anticipating your needs and develope an eye to "read" hills. It is better to be in a proper gear earlier then later. Proper gear shifting helps maintain cadance and momentum. It wastes energy to be in too tall of a gear and then struggle to get on top of the situation. If you down shift too early, you can compensate by spinning it out till the hill starts to slow you down.

All of these suggestions take time to learn...time = miles. It can be a bit annoying during the learning curve but when you succeed in these techniques you will find riding becomes easier.

shifting back...

if you shift back in your saddle a little you will develop more power ( greater muscle involvement )
however your pedal speed will drop
If you need a little more ooomph for a short time, its an easy way to do it
Also an effective way to rest your behind and give the leg muscles a break

m0rgan...

how about them Aussies in the tour already! Only 7 of them an it seems like there are dozens!

yeah i can see ill be addicted to tv for the next couple of weeks, good thing my magtrainer is infront of it hey :)

did you guys see the crash?, thats why you need to wear a helmet!
just goes to prove, somedays it doesnt matter how good you are, theres just nothing you can do

*bump*

peapod,
hows the cycling going, dont make me come over and take you out for a ride!

cue-bald
went for a ride sunday hrm said i burnt about 4000cals :)
i was thinking, surely thats got to include basal rate in the figure, do you know?
does your formula include basal?

Simon

going really well thanks!!! Im up the hill on both ways :) ive learned how to use the gears (somewhat).. we dont ride every day but maybe 3 days in a row and then take a break for two days.. i find after a break i feel much stronger !

im very proud of myself haha..

we watched some of the tour de france the other day.. the day when lance armstrong got dehydrated.. he is an amazing athlete from what ive seen (IMHO)!!

anyhow.. :q: how high should my seat be? level with my handlebars? i see those guys have their seats HIGH but im assuming thats for speed (doesnt that hurt your back?!?)

anyhow.. thanks for thinking of me!

hey you are doing really well, look back at where you have come from only a few weeks ago :)
terrific

i mentioned dehydration before didnt i, it just creeps up on you then BAM you're fried
even happens to the pro's

ok the seat should be as high as possible without making your hips rock when peddling, so when your foot is at the bottom of the pedal rotation that leg should be a little off straight

put some coins/keys in your back pocket and when they start jingling, you have raised it too high :)

this puts your knees in the safest position, riding with a low seat is quite nasty on the knees
adjust up or down no more than 1/4 inch at a time so your body gets used to the changed postion

ok thanks! Ill try raising it a bit at a time

I take a water bottle with us and sip every once in a while :)

its been so rainy here lately.. not able to ride :(

Hi folks!

m0rgan...4000 cals? How long was the ride and at what pace. That seems a little high unless you did at least 6 hours. I burn about 750 to as high as 1000 cals per hour but the later is at a VERY high intensity. What HRM do you have?

peapod!!!! You are doing GREAT!

it was 6 hours......
polar m52