Monday, December 31, 2012

Last Day of 2012

Tomorrow I start a new log book for 2013. My 2012 log closes out with a total of 1,519 miles and a total gain of 114,845 feet. It's not a lot of miles but how many miles can one do over the course of year towing   100 pounds of dog and trailer on more then 9 out of 10 rides? On the other hand the elevation gain would have gotten me from sea level to the top of Mount Everest almost four times (with ma doggie).

The Year in Review

JANUARY started off a little slow having to recover from a heart attack on Dec 25th, 2011. I still managed a few rides with my doggie bud.

FEBRUARY was spent reflecting on future goals and enjoying family.

MARCH, I was back into full cycling mode. Tweaking my rides and having fun again.

APRIL was sort of a training month . I spent time developing a exercise routine to do away with leg cramps and it was successful. I also worked on perfecting nutrition during rides. Everything is working!

MAY is pre-summer in So Cal that means great weather more family time and ride...ride...ride.

JUNE, kicking back and enjoying life.

JULY means hot days and early rides.

AUGUST, no change here, still hot days and early starts but gotta ride. It's all good.

SEPTEMBER was almost a mistake, I tried to sell the 700...OUCH. The 700 was the demon I was riding when I had my heart attack last December. I thought I was selling it for practical reasons when finally I realized it was processed with the bad memory of that fateful Christmas Day in 2011. It has since been exorcised...PHEW...that would have been a big mistake to let it go. It's way to much fun.

OCTOBER, Byron started volunteering for the National Park Service with me at Cheeseboro Canyon.

NOVEMBER is a great time to ride and picnic. The weather is cool and the sun feels warm. I enjoyed many a ride and picnic this month.


DECEMBER, I'll never forget this month and my Christmas Day heart attack. Boy...did I screw up everyone's party schedule last year. Life is good!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013









Sunday, December 30, 2012

Breathing and Climbing

update below

Yesterday I read a post in BROL (Bent Rider Online) referencing a post from Fietsers Afstappen  "How to Climb Fast with Recumbents". To sum it up the post suggested that with a proper laid back position and head angle a recumbent rider should climb faster. I gave it try today on my 700.  Today's ride on my Catrike 700 was 19.5 miles with a gain of 2,022 feet. My average speed was 12.1 mph and a max speed of 43 mph.

First, before the ride, I had to adjust the head rest. The 700 tire presents a bit of challenge to adjust the Catrike headrest. I removed the bar that spans the base of the headrest so it wouldn't hit the tire when headrest is position backwards. Next I extended the arm of the headrest to it's full length so that my helmet would rest on the headrest pad instead of the back of my neck resting on the pad. This position is more to stop me from hitting my head on the tire then to provide a pillow to take a nap. I'm sure I'll be making adjustments over time until I feel it's just right.
Headrest bar at the base of the rest has been removed to allow the headrest to be pushed back 



 It's been my habit to tighten my abs and to slightly lean my shoulders and head into the climb when attacking hills. Taking advice from "How to Climb Fast with Recumbents"  I relaxed my upper body and allowed my head to drop back to just touching the headrest. I focused on my breathing and taking good full breaths. 

It's hard to say if my new body position while climbing increased my speed but I was much more comfortable and I felt that I did have more energy through the effective use of my lungs and opening up my airway by taking full advantage of being laid back.

I think there is something to be said about the Fietsers Afstappen post and it's analysis of efficient breathing and hill climbing. In time I will probably be able to judge if I'm stronger going up hills. I'm not one to spend time over analyzing and coming up with complicated calculations. The best way for me to make that judgement is when other riders on traditional diamond frames are working the same hill that I'm going up.

____________________________________
UPDATE 1/5/13
Due to the rotation of the headrest mount to accommodate pushing the headrest back the two screws at the bottom on the headrest were digging into my back.

Instead of having my helmet rest on the pad I changed the rotation of the bracket by lowering the headrest so  my neck rests on the pad.

 With the new position I can still rest my head further back then before which was my goal. However...

before I couldn't set the headrest back when in the lower position because the arm of the rest would poke me in the back through the seat.. It looks like I had an older model rest with long arms. I changed out the old rest for a newer model that's on my son's trike (he is devoted to track and field at school and doesn't get out cycling lately).
New model on the right.
_________________________________________


Reprinted fromFietsers Afstappen



Focus breathe: how to climb fast with a recumbent


Humanity seems convinced recumbents and mountains don’t go together. This might be the case for some recumbent designs and some recumbent cyclists, but it is not a law of nature. On the contrary, with the right design and the right technique, a recumbent can be a good and even excellent climber. Probably better than the best traditional bicycles.
The laws of physics are clear on this one. Climbing speed equals effective power divided by the total weight. The losses who make the difference between the power of the cyclist and the effective power ending up on the road, are generally not that large, and do not differ much between various bicycle concepts. Exceptions are aerodynamic drag in case of strong headwind, and rolling resistance on bad roads. However, this discussion deals with gaining height, not overcoming cobblestones or wind.
If we focus on factors that can be influenced by the design of the bike, and ignore energy losses which do not really differ between various designs, the whole physics of climbing boils down to this simple formula:
climbing speed = \frac{breathing volume}{total weight}
With SL-technology, the weight difference between a recumbent and a traditional lightweight bicycle is now within a few percent of the total weight. This difference is so small it could in the long run be offset by the better comfort alone, which saves a lot of energy. The difference is at least too small to denounce the recumbent as a bad climber.
However, it is the numerator which holds the secret to recumbent climbing. The body position has a large influence on the amount of air a cyclist can pump through his or her lungs. More oxygen in, more CO2 out means more power and faster recovery. On a traditional bicycle breathing is hampered by the position of shoulders and upper body. The recumbent concept leaves more freedom to optimize for breathing. I think this effect makes the recumbent potentially the best climber.
So how to exploit this benefit of the recumbent? Take a singing course and quit halfway the first lesson. You’ll know enough by then. To breath well, one needs to stand upright, shoulders to the back in a relaxed way, head up, and use both chest and belly.

Rules of thumb

This translates to a few rules of thumb for both the design of the bike and the riding technique.
  1. The body should be relatively stretched out. The recumbent-equivalent of standing upright is to lie stretched out. This means a relatively low bracket and a laid back seat. This goes against popular belief the seat angle should be steeper while climbing! It also means neither a full blooded low racer nor a comfort-orientated touring recumbent will ever be a really fast climber. A real climbing recumbent has the seat of the former and the bracket of the latter. The Fujin SL is a good example.
  2. The shoulders should be held a little backwards. This means the design and adjustment of the tiller should be such that the arms are relaxed and leave a lot of room to move the shoulders. As a bonus, the relaxed arm muscles enhance the breakdown of lactic acid. For people with short arms, an under seat or open cockpit steer can be a bad choice because of this. Also, the seat should not push the shoulders towards each other.
  3. The head should be held in line with the upper body. This might take a little practice, but is important to open up the chest and throat as much as possible. Users of a head rest might want to adjust it differently or even remove it before going into the mountains. It should also be taken into account when choosing a top pannier. Fine tuning of the seat helps too. Add or remove small pieces of padding until the bulge in the middle of the seat matches your body perfectly.
  4. The upper body should be used for breathing, not for pushing. Push only with your legs and counter these forces with your lower back. Never brace yourself with the shoulders. Relax your abs.

Climbing position on a recumbent.
So why do so many people, including recumbent riders, still think the traditional bike is the better climber? The problem is, good recumbent climbing feels unnatural in the beginning. When riding gets tough, we are inclined to push harder. And to be able to push harder, we tend to sit more upright and use the upper body to apply even more force. But force is not what gets you up. It is power. Watts. It is the amount of fat and carbohydrates burnt per second that counts. And for this, you need as much breath as possible.
So it does not only take a well designed and adjusted recumbent to climb fast. It also takes practice. Go out riding and focus on breathing. You’ll soon feel the difference. After awhile the craving for breath will make a “breathing” position feel more natural than a “brute force” position.

Why am I so sure about this

This sounds like good news for recumbent-riders, but is it based in fact? Some research has been done on the influence of body position on aerobic power output. One experiment showed a significant influence of the angle between upper and lower body. Some 10% of power is lost when this angle decreases from 130~140 degrees to 100 degrees (1). There is however no difference between an upright and laid-back position (2). Only the angle counts. I suspect an angle of over 140 degrees is even better. On my climbing recumbent, a Challenge Fujin SL, it approaches 150 degrees.
Further, research has been done with traditional time trialists. An optimal aerodynamic position is not the fastest one, because the breathing is hampered by the position of arms and shoulders. A time trialist needs to accept more aerodynamic drag to give their lungs enough room (3).
The most important thing for me, however, is my own experience in the mountains. It is not scientific, I know, but I am pretty sure I’m not fooling myself. During my second journey in Scandinavia I have been experimenting with different climbing positions. I did not change the seat of the bike; I took different body positions by holding my head and shoulders to the front or to the back, and by shifting a little in my seat.
At climbs on which I took in a more upright position I had to open up the zipper of my jersey. But when I took a more laid back position with shoulders and head to the back, I had to close my zipper. It was too cold otherwise. But the cold came from the inside. It was the cooling effect of the extra air entering my chest. This air was quite cold, as I was riding at some 70 degrees latitude. So I clearly noticed the difference.
A year later, in France, I had the chance to see how big the difference can be. I was riding with a friend on a traditional racing bicycle. In the low countries he gives many recumbent riders a hard time. During this trip my bike was carrying most of the luggage: a tent, cooking stuff, both sleeping bags, mattresses and locks, and also most of his clothes. He had just a small day pack.
I had no ambition to keep his pace on the hills, and with a regular body position it was indeed impossible. However, any time I took the breathing-position, it was he who couldn’t follow. Even with the luggage, I climbed faster and recovered faster. For us it was clear the big difference came from better breathing.
I realise this article is quite radical. In fact, I say everybody was always wrong, and traditional diamond frames are bad climbers. But the idea that recumbents are inherently bad climbers, has always been at odds with the laws of physics. There were a lot of hypotheses to support the idea, but none was convincing. I think the explanation in this article finally solves the mystery. And it is definitely the best explanation we could wish for.
1  Raoul F. Reiser II, Michael L. Peterson, Jeffrey P. Broker: Anaerobic Cycling Power Output With Variations in Recumbent Body Configuration, Journal of Applied Biomechanics, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2001.
2 Steven R. Bussolari and Ethan R. Nadel: The physiological limits of long-duration human power production-lessons learned from the Daedalus project, Human Power Vol. 7 No. 4, 1989.



Thursday, December 27, 2012

Lazy Days

Cycling slows down a little this time of year. My Catrikes don't see much of the road during the holidays, maybe once or twice a week. Cold weather, rain, parties and warming up with Carrie and the family around the fireplace, it's no wonder that I prefer to take it easy and hang around the house. It's also a time for me to catch  up on some chores around the house and  do some gardening before spring comes along.


When it's wet outside roast marshmallows inside.

Where's the rake? 
 Found time to take advantage of the weather yesterday.


Thursday, December 20, 2012

Statins-The Gift That Keeps Giving


Boring health post but I wanted to put it out there again, Statins (cholesterol lowing drugs) suck! It's been two months since I got off Statins and I'm still dealing the muscle damage caused by using the nasty stuff for only one month. The pain in my chest muscles was easing up until I took a ride on a cold windy day yesterday. Luckily I still have some hydrocodone for pain (ibuprofen wasn't enough) left over from my hip surgery back in 2011 otherwise sleep would have been difficult last night.
The pain in my chest muscles was jacked up last night and the only thing I've done different was ride in the cold wind. The first four miles of yesterday's ride was uphill fighting the cold wind. I was working the pedals hard and sucking in cold air. I could feel the cold on my chest but in a few miles the riding would be easier and the wind would be at my back and that would be that. So I thought...
I can now easily tell the difference from Statin induced muscle pain and exercise induced pain. Unlike sore muscles from exercise which tend to be tight and stiff Statin induced muscle damage just hurts without loosing range of motion from stiffness. It seems to be small pin point areas of pain rather the generalized pain from exercise.
Some folks have taken as long as seven months to recover form muscle damage caused by Statins. In the worse case there has been death but I talked about that in an earlier post.
For the last couple of months riding hard and breathing hard has exacerbated the muscle pain, nothing a little ibuprofen couldn't handle. But the cold and the wind was a little to much for ibuprofen to handle this time. What to do? Keep riding and suck it up. In time it'll be better.

Update 5/15/13
It's been about seven months now since I've been off statins. Everything I wrote in the above post holds true today. I'm not a violent person but sometimes I sure feel like I could rip a certain doctor a new one. That not being a good idea I turned to Angie's list to warn others about that certain doctor.
It seems that if you are exercising, on a low fat diet and you take statins then you're a setup for muscle damage. 

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

So Cal Cold

Low 40's with some serious wind chill here in sunny Southern California.

The blue cover on the front of Betzi's trailer is the spray guard I use on wet days. Today I used it to try and block some of the wind.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Today's Park Pic


We have a good assortment of parks here in Agoura Hills. It's always nice to get away from the street noise and have a snack. It also gives Betzi a chance to stiff out the local talent. The long noon day shadows give away that it is winter in So Cal. 

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The Day After

After patiently waiting for the days of gloom and rain to pass I am rewarded. 


Sunday, December 2, 2012

Rainy Day Blues

Lousy weather for four straight days, gotta get out!! I took advantage of a break in the rain to take Betzi down to the local school. I rode around in circles while Betzi chased me. It was just enough of an outing to shake of the rainy day blues.

Homemade spray guard on Betzi's trailer.

What ya looking at girl?! 

Good opportunity to make sure the Spot GPS Tracker works with the rain cover on the tail bag..