3 Ways to Improve Your Cycling While Away From the Bike

Obviously, the best way to get better on the bike is to ride your bike under a training plan. However, the reality is that many of us spend more time in an airplane seat than on the bike seat. So, when you are on the road, what sort of exercise can you do that will also benefit you when you actually get on the road?

Here are three ways, even on a limited time schedule, to improve your cycling while traveling. A good workout session of 30 to 40 minutes, either in the weight room or your hotel room is a good start.

• Strength training - It is important during the season that you pay attention to overall muscle maintenance. Two sets of 10 to 15 reps will make a difference for you.
• Lower body lunges (and if you want to ratchet it up a little make these what I knew in high school were called mountain climbers).
• Push ups
• Chairs - I cannot think of what this exercise is called. What you do is place your back flat against a wall and then begin bending your knees until your knees are bent 90 degrees (like a chair). Keep you back flat against the wall and do this until fatigue. Take a three to five minute break and repeat. I would recommend doing no more than three or four of these since your quads will feel it in the morning!
• One or two core exercises - Your core muscles provide the key link between your upper and lower body. Your core muscles also provide a solid base of support to ensure an efficient delivery of power to the pedals. Two exercises that I recommend are planks and crunches. Focus on control and form.
• Flexibility - The muscles that cyclists typically need to stretch out are hamstrings, the lower back, calves, achilles, quadriceps, glutes, hip flexors, shoulders and neck.

In doing these exercises, you will find yourself riding stronger and reduce training-related injuries. Let me know if you have questions. Comments, thoughts, feedback is always welcome!

Also, I will be at Interbike next week. It is the largest cycling-industry event in North America. If you are going to be there, let me know. I'd love to meet up with you!

- Mark

Word of the day - Crap!!

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This wasn't exactly what I wanted to write about for my first blog post. But, sometimes you have to take what you are given and go with it. I'll have to save the topic of my first post for another day.

Since it was a sunny but cool day (by Southern California standards) I decided to ride up to the Top of the World in Laguna Beach. The climb itself from the Pacific Coast Highway is just over one mile long but oh what a mile! The hill has an average grade in excess of 10% with the last part of the climb jumping to over 20%! This is a ride I've done numerous times so I knew what to expect. What I didn't expect was the unexpected.

As I turned onto Thalia Street to start the climb, I got out of the saddle and stepped on the pedals. Suddenly, I heard a snap and the sound of my chain hitting the spokes of my real wheel. My first thought was "What the h***??" followed by CRAP!

After frantically popping my feet out of my pedals before I fell over, I looked down to see my chain wrapped around the front chainrings. My first thought was a broken chain, something that is not unheard of.

Upon further inspection, what I saw was that the metal arm on rear derailleur had literally snapped in half with the only thing keeping it together being the internal spring. My day was done before it had hardly begun! Who would've thought that a Shimano derailleur would snap off? Not me but it did. I even took pictures to prove it!

What is the lesson you ask? Preventative maintenance checks cannot be overlooked. For the past week, I had noticed a clicking noise that I attributed to a worn chain being used on a new cassette. During each ride I would remind myself to check it out only to leave it for another day.

Could I have predicted this? Probably not but had I taken a closer look, I might have realized that in fact the chain was ok so perhaps there was a derailleur problem. Here is my advice:

• Listen for any unusual noises coming from your bike. If properly maintained, the only noise you should be hearing, other than the wind past your ears, is the occasional light noise from hub when you are free wheeling.
• After each ride, take a couple of minutes to look your bike over. If you did hear some odd noises, try to isolate the area from where you think it is originating.
• When all else fails, take your bike to a qualified mechanic and explain to them what you are hearing. Your safety isn't worth not doing it.

Happy cycling!