Endurance training methods compared

I came across a really interesting series of blog posts on endurance training. The author goes through all the major types of endurance training and discusses their positives and negatives. They're quite long posts, but they're really quite well written I think. It's certainly made me rethink my training schedule for next year.

Race Face X-Type BB Service Tool

I was perusing the Jenson USA site and came across this tool, a Raceface BB service tool. I have been wanting to get something like this for a while. DIYMTB has some, but they're about $150. This one was $65USD so I got one.

It will remove and install bearings onto a Hollowtech or X-Type bottom bracket. It's a pretty solid tool and the instructions show how to set it up for each purpose. I purchased some Enduro bearings and upgraded the roadie. It's pretty easy use and I had the bearings replaced in no time. The only trick I would note is that you need to get the old bearings and line them up with the new ones and press again. This will seat the new bearings just that little bit further down where they need to be.

Interestingly I can't find any mention of the tool on the Raceface site, but it appears to be legit and it works well so I won't complain even if it is a knockoff. It's certainly work the money if you've got a few bikes and are replacing BB bearings regularly.

Kettlebells and cycling

Due to the family situation, it hasn't been practical to get to the gym these days. To compensate for this, I have been using kettlebells. These are essentially cannonballs with handles. You can do a wide range of exercises with these simple tools and they are great for conditioning

I'm also interested in general fitness, so I'm not so concerned if some of the movements aren't directly useful for cycling. Interestingly, Lance himself uses them for his conditioning workouts and John Claxton seemed to favour them.

They generally come in multiples of 4kg. Males generally start with a 16kg bell and women a 12kg. The most common sizes for males are a pair of 16kg and a pair of 24kg bells.

The current program I am on is a conditioning workout, which doesn't take very long, maybe 22min, but is very taxing nonetheless. I modified the program from this article.

The workout consists of two different workouts. I am doing 3 a week alternating workout A, workout B, workout A so that I am doing two of the opposite workout each week. The workouts are:

1) Double-KB clean and military press, 6 reps
2) Alternating renegade row, 6 reps (each side)
3) KB pushup (8 reps)
4) Turkish get-up, 3 reps (each side)
5) One-arm front squat, 8 reps (each side)
6) One-arm KB swing, 15 reps (each side)

Here's the second:

1) Double-KB clean and push press, 7 reps
2) Double-KB bent-over row, 8 reps
3) KB pushup (8 reps)
4) One-arm windmill, 5 reps (each side)
5) Double-KB front squat, 5 reps
6) Hand-to-hand KB swing, 12 reps (each side)

The exercises are done with just 30 seconds between exercises and 90 seconds between rounds. The idea is to do a total of 3 rounds. It has taken me 2 weeks to do the full workouts twice, so next week I will go for the entire 3 rounds.

It doesn't seem like a lot of work, but it gets harder each round and the swings at the end really have you gasping for air.

The KB's really work your core and back chain of muscles (lower back, glutes, hamstrings) all of which are essential in riding. Throw in a few upper body exercises and you have a great overall workout.

A word of warning: Kettlebells can be quite brutal if you let your form slip. I've injured my shoulder and back before with them and so have others. Interestingly, advocates say that kb's are great for back rehabilitation. I dunno about that, but I enjoy using them even with the risks.

The absolute cheapest place to buy them in Brisbane is Southside Fitness.

First post

I've got the blogging bug back, so I thought I'd start the new one specifically focussed on cycling.

Going Tubeless

After all the hype that I've read for tubeless, I finally tried it just before the last 24hr race I did.

The reasons I wanted to try it were mostly increased grip, due to lower pressures and a wider surface on the dirt and a decreased rolling resistance, as when you're out there for 24hrs you want it to be as easy as possible. I was also interesed to see how well it handled, as I was sure that the fact that I run such high pressures now are a cause of some of my poor handling.

I'm pretty fat at the moment, (100kg) so I run my tubed tyres quite high (45-50psi) to avoid pinch flats, something I've had problems with before. I'm of the opinion that this doesn't help me at all in rocky/rooty terrain as the tyre will be bouncing off these obstacles, rather than rolling over them.

I couldn't afford a new tubeless wheelset, so settled on getting a Stan's conversion kit. I then got a pair of LUST Maxxis Crossmarks all online from www.wiggle.co.uk and the lot only cost me $200.

Installation

My current wheelset is a Frankenstein mix of a Maxxis 317 rin up front and a Velocity Synergy O/C in the back. Stan's website states that 317's are fine, but they don't mention the Synergy's. Since I had no other option, I thought I'd give it a go.

Most people recommend a high pressure pump like that at a service station, but it's said that you can do it with a floor pump, so that's what I tried.

The installation instructions are on Stan's website and I'd recommend watching them a couple of times through, just so you understand all the steps. There are also many YouTube videos of people putting them on, so you won't be alone for pointers. I will give you a couple of things that I found useful.

Because I didn't have access to a powered pump, I had to use a floor pump. This did work for 2 out of 3 tyres. I ended up with 4 Crossmarks, for various reasons and one of them just wouldn't take for some reason. Nothing I tried could get it to seal enough for me to pump it up.

If using the Stan's kit and a floor pump definitely unscrew the core of the presta valve. This isn't removing the thin stopper, these valves actually screw apart and you can get a heap more air in at one time, which is a must.

I had no real issues with either of the rims, the Velocity Synergy seemed to work fine.

The scariest part of the whole procedure was having to drill your rim, as noted in Stan's video. Just make sure you don't go all the way through, you only want to drill the innermost section.

The Ride

So was all that effort worth it? Absolutely. The things I noticed:

1. The general ride seemed a lot more smooth. As I said above, I normally run 50psi and the max for Tubeless is 40, so I ran round 39ish. You could definitely feel the smoother ride. Whether I was actually faster, I couldn't say, but it felt smoother. There was however the disconcerting sound of less inflated tyre constantly sounding like it was going flat. I couldn't help but look down periodically and check that it wasn't flat.

2. I'm normally terrible at riding in the sand and the race at Canungra was shocking for it. The interesting thing is, I managed to handle the sand a lot better and didn't come off once. I attribute this to the larger surface area of the tyre and the softer tyre not biting into the sand and throwing me off.

3. Similarly with the rock garden on the course, I managed to ride this every time and I wasn't constantly bouncing off the rocks which usually throws my momentum.

4. Off camber corners are also one of my weak points and I think the normally hard tyre doesn't help this at all, as it skates off the corner. The sweeping off camber corner during the race I rode many times and not once felt that I was going to slide off it.

So overall I'd say it was an great outcome. I'd certainly recommend to anyone to make the upgrade to Tubeless.