Slipstream Sean

I purchased 2 new tubes with slime sealant in them, at the season. A 2 or 3 rides and I got a front puncture. Highly pissed of I ripped out my tube to see it was a cut, from glass, which the sealant cant close. I went back to my local bike shop and bought some tyre liners...but only put the tyre liner on the front wheel, and left the slime in the back wheel...and here I am 6 weeks down the line with no more punctures to report...the slime in the rear wheel is doing it's stuff(or perhaps I've just ben lucky) and the tyre liners seem bulletproof. If I get a puncture in the slime tube I'll put the tyre lioner in and let that be that, the tyre liners are lighter than the slime anyway so I reckon thats a much better option. Maybe thats a further topic for discussion: Slime vs Tyre Liners?

2 days down the line for me...will be 3 when I wake up tomorrow morning...is it too late to prevent scaring?

Is it really best to keep it wet. I felt on saturday on a DC training ride. Taxi pulled into oncoming lane, and my team mate in front of me broke too hard, I had nowhere to go, tried to squeeze between her and the pavement, clipped her hip, then the pavements, took quiet a fall. Lots of abrasive scrapes and scratches on my left arm and shoulder. Anyway, I went to the chemist and ask them what I should do...they said dont keep it wet, you have to dry it out, so I took their advice, sure I'm due for some hectic scars. Are their any risks in keeping the wound wet? e.g. infection etc

Ok, so how did the cramp block go...I said I'd report. I did the West Coast Express today. Strangely my left calf was twitching last night, but I took 2 tablets before bed as recomended, and woke up twitchless. Good start for cramp block. The pace was incredible from the get go...no warming up...and I can safely say I rode the hardest 80km I've ever ridden. Anyway, took 2 tablets before the race, took 1 after an hour, and another 1 after 2 hours. At stages I felt like I may cramp...was pushing hard, but I never did, throughout the whole race...not a single twitch. We even had a group bunch sprint which I tried my luck with(after the stopped us at a robot 500m from the finish, was pissed off at that). So whether it was the psychological confort I had in knowing I'd taken cramp block tablets or whether they really work, not sure, but I took them, push like never before, and never cramped...Hmm

Yeah woofie, I totally agree...I feel great and full of energy ready to finish a race strong, then I get some twitches. I've only experienced twitches during races...At the end of the Engen dynamic, but that was my first race of the season and I put it down to adjusting to race pace. Then the 1 tonner after 145km, which was the next week and I hadn't trained for that distance BUT I rode within myself and felt like an enregiser bunny(relatively speaking) at the end...didn't feel fatigued.

Yip, that sounds like a practical way of doing it. But it's not rocket science...READ FOOD LABELS, eat healthy and nutritious foods and exercise regularly and you'll shread kilos. Eating healthy becomes a habit...a lifestyle, just like making ur bed, scrubbing your teeth etc, doesnt require a lot of work or hectic science once you get the hang of it. You just have to determine which foods a good...food labels

Oh, so thats why ur HappyMartin

Start with low intensity, long duration(build up to longer distances) for a few weeks to get a base, then start doing some intervals. Intervals promote the burning of fat following exercise.

Well like I said. my sprint session on wednesday is low intensity apart from the 30 second bursts. In the speed session I do a lot of high cadence stuff which rids the muscles of any lactic acid from the lactate thresholds the day before(tues), which by the way takes way more of a toll on my body than hills. So Tuesday is my hardest midweek session. It depends what your used to. But to answer your question, there's nothing wrong with doing two relatively hard sessions on adjacent days as long as you have a rest day following. You wont break down unless ur not used to it and just throw urself in the deepend...integrate gradually. You wouldnt do hills 2 days in a row cuz u'd be using the same muscles in the same way...that would be a recipe for disaster...if you catch my drift. Triathlons/iron mans are the hardest to train for cuz there are not enuf days in the week to train all disciplines sufficiently...you just have to do the best you can...not for me...I'm gonna stick to the bike

By varying ur sessions, u stress the muscles in deffent ways. Like for example midweek I do LT intervals on tue, sprints on wed, and strength/hills on thu. So wed gives my legs a chance to recover apart from the few short bursts. Oh and FF I'm doing the exact same thing on the weekend...it's gonna make us men!

Mark. Are you cycling just to lose weight, or are your goals to improve your performance?

Good question...well you require lots of food high in energy throughout the day to ensure that you meet your energy needs, i.e. you need to replace all the energy lost through training otherwise performance will drop and you can endanger your health. Now fibre is your roughage...it makes you full. Food that is high in fibre will fill you up quicker than low fibre foodstuffs, which means you will end up eating less. This could jeopardize you meeting your energy requirements because you need to eat lots of food. Oh and dont try stuff yourself with food either, and try meet your energy requirements in one meal, its not gonna happen. Studies have shown that food is more effectively and quickly digested when eaten in smaller quantities. Energy drinks are useful in restoring energy balance cuz some people cant eat a lot.

Ok I tell you what...I'll be the crash test dummy(hopefully not literally). this weekend I'm doin the west coast express and I'll take the usn cramp block as recommended and turn myself inside out over the 80km...and if I get cramp I'll never take it again. I've bought it so I may as well experiment with it hey. Hate having to remember to take tablets on the bike tho. Between drinking and eatin I've got enuf to remember...us cyclists just wanna cycle!

Yeah I agree totally...I hate the thought of taking these supplements to perform my best, as I said i'm a big believer in the training side of things...i.e. if u cramp ur not fit enuf. I've only done 2 races this year, and the 2nd was the 1 tonner so I guess I'm being being a bit impatient so early in the season. Thanks for the feedback guys

Both. Start of with more long duration - low intensity exercise to get ur base up. Then start with some intervals...focus on training for performance...when ur on your bike u shud not be thinking about losing kgs, u shud be thinking about improving ur aerobic and anearobic energy systems. When you're off the bike follow good nutrition principles, such as 6 meals a day to speed up your metabolism, and subsequently burn more fat. Dont starve yourself tho...you need food to replace the energy burned thru training. You need food high in energy, low in saturated fats, and low in fibre. At the beginning of my preseason, 4 months ago, I was 77kgs. Now I'm 69kgs...its what you put in AND how hard you are willing to train train hard...eat cleverly

So I've been getting a few niggle cramps towards the end of races, usually resulting in me having to turn off the pace a bit. I'm not a fan of taking anti-cramping supplements, as I'm a big believer in training and allowing your body to make the adaptions by itself, but im aware that there are many reasons why one cramps like lack of water, mg, k, na, lactic buildup etc. and the cramping supplements give them a boost so I've decided to try them. I bought some usn cramp block. It says you should take 2 tablets before a race and then 1 every hour into the race...now to me that is just overkill! Does anyone else follow these dosage recomendations. I'm not pulling up with any cramp unil at least 3hrs into a race. I would only take one after 2hrs. What do you guys do?

Do one of the short routes, almost every fun ride has a short route in the region of 40km

Wow we have some hardcore cyclists on the hub We love the climbs, wind, rain...wouldn't wanna run into sum of you guys in a dark...er...mountain top.

For those like me whome do not have any strengths, vote on your strongest weakness

Oopsie! Just saw Edmans link pretty much says what I went on about regarding fat burning zones, missed that part. Forget what I said and read the link...it's more professionally worded.

One more thing to remember in the ongoing debate of 'low intensity endurance vs hard intervals' with regards to fat burning... Let's say you rip some hard intervals and effectively kick the living $hit outta your body. Now you stretch-out, shower and plonk yourself down in front of the tele with some grub. Whilst stuffing your face, your HR is still in the 'cardio zone' from your intense workout, and could remain in this region for hours(depending on fitness), and effectively you continue to burn more fat on the couch. Conversely after a low intensity endurance ride your HR recovers a lot quicker. Obviously fitter riders recover quicker but this is all relative and applies to all levels of fitness. But never underestimate the importance of base training(to echo sum of the other hubbers comments)...low intensites, longer duration, hypertrophy. Let your body adapt before you try hard intervals. The better your base program in the pre season, the better your season... It's that simple... I learned that first hand!

Unlikely, but perhaps some WASPS were

Help.Me. Remember that sessions are different intensitys use different muscles in different ways...thats your key to designing a training program that works best for you. For example high intensity sessions recruit the use of fast twitch muscle fibres, while as you long endurance rides train your slow twitch fibres. So 1 could follow the other, but if you're doing sprint intervals the day after a long ride...your session will be faaar less effective because to train speed you need to be fresh to push it to your max. Thats why most cyclists do hard intervals on a sat(even if its strength/hill climbs) and endurance rides on sunday... Also note the muscle groups, climbing uses largely glutes and quads, while high cadence works more calves and hams. So this supports the sat/sun plan cuz you arent stressing the same muscle group 2 days in a row...muscles need 3 days at least to begin to build...its this phase that makes you faster and stronger, so dont wipe yourself off the map! I do a tue + thur med intensity and distance, and another interval/60min TT on the wednesday, and rest mon + fri...you need to find wat works best for you. Oh and southern suburbians...I do Rhodes memorial for convenience...its a short climb of 4-5mins, but it has a decent kick especially at the right hand bend