Cycling

Planning ahead, a steady rhythm and stocking up on decent snacks have all been recommendedThe Guardian's Kate McCann is among the lucky 20,000 people to have secured a place in August's London-Surrey 100 event. In the coming months she'll be writing a series of updates about preparing for her first long-distance ride – and asking for tips.Three–quarters of the way from London to Brighton, on my biggest training challenge yet, I turned to my riding partner and laughed smugly at the people who had tried to frighten us with tales of hilly woe. We both agreed we must be much fitter than we thought, our fears about riding 100 miles in August quickly fading.Those of you who have ridden the 56-mile route before are probably having a little chuckle yourselves right about now, remembering the might of Ditchling Beacon that lurks out of sight until the very last minute. Anyone who stopped at the pub in the village will also remember the Tour de France photos that adorn the walls, a reminder of the leg of the race which passed through the village in 1994.The beacon features at number 22 in Simon Warren's 100 Greatest Cycling Climbs book, is 1,445m in length with a climb of 142m. Warren estimates it will take you six–and-a-half minutes to reach the top and gives it a 6/10 difficulty rating. I reckon it took us closer to 15 or 20 minutes and if you measure difficulty by the amount of swearing I'd offer up a firm 10/10. The beacon stands squarely between riders and their well-deserved fish and chips at Brighton and there is, as we confirmed by asking lunchtime drinkers in the pub, no way around it.This was my first long-ish hill climb in cleats. Although the route from London does offer up some smaller hills, there's nothing else on the route like the sustained punishment of Ditchling to really test your thighs. Having taken advice from some cyclist friends, I started off at a relatively steady pace, something I could aim to maintain. Bum squarely in the saddle I focused on powering through each pedal rotation, only standing for steep turns, of which there are a fair few.What became immediately obvious was the importance of nutrition, and how quickly the lack of it affects you. Stocked up on water and electrolyte drinks, hydration wasn't a problem, but having eaten only cereal many hours before, and some dried fruit and flapjack along the way, my energy was quickly sapped. Each turn of the wheel became a fight not to go backwards down the hill and thighs burning, I stopped a number of times (although I did manage not to get off and walk).The rest of the way to Brighton felt easy by comparison, and I was pleased to find I recovered quickly, despite strong headwinds coming from the sea and a few smaller climbs. But I do need to improve my technique when it comes to hills - stubbornness can only carry you so far - so I've gathered some tips.The team at Wiggle recommend knowing what type of hill you're facing before you set off:"Hills that have a gentle incline that are fairly long in duration can be tackled in the saddle at ridden at an efficient cadence of around 90 – 100 revolutions per minute (RPM) at a sustainable pace. With hills that are short and steep, these are best tackled by attacking with some speed at the bottom in a relatively big gear at a lower cadence (70-90RPM), out of the saddle using your momentum and body weight to get you to the top."They add that a combination of both techniques will help you cover all bases.A cycling friend advised that learning how to use your gears most effectively can also make a big difference (more info here). Food is equally important, as is teaching your stomach to digest while exercising - which takes time and practice. I took dried fruit and flapjacks to keep me going but it definitely wasn't enough.Laura Bower from Rapha and Claire Beaumont from Condor Cycles put their heads together and came up with a list of foods that they rely on including jelly babies, nougat and rice cakes. Tom Staniford

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a day not to miss...a cultural experience like you have never experiencedunless you have been to a Tour de Fat Beforethe Tour de Fat is like nothing elseTour de Fat in Washington DC on June 1sthttp://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/search?q=new+belgiumhttp://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/search?q=tour+de+fat

Alison Powers' heart rate (red line) spiked to nearly 200 bpm on the final climb (green line) in last Friday's time trial in California. Photo: TrainingPeaksNormally we don’t compare data between men and women because it can be like comparing apples to oranges, but we decided to make an exception this time when two world-class cyclists and time trialers shared their data with us after racing the same course on the same day. Spanish rider Juan Antonio Flecha (Vacansoleil-DCM) shared his Powertap data and American Alison Powers (NOW-Novartis for MS) has shared her SRM data from the 19.75-mile course through San Jose, Calif. It was stage 6 in the men’s Amgen Tour of California. An initial comparison of their data is below. Powers’ TT summary Result: 56:45, 2nd place, 56 seconds behind the winner 309 Average Watts 4.6 w/kg 1047 KJ 93.4 Training Stress Score (TSS) 313 Normalized Power (NP) 185 bpm Average Heart Rate 89 rpm Average Cadence 21 mph Average Speed See Powers’ file in TrainingPeaks. Flecha’s TT summary Result: 51:15, 14th place, 2:23 behind the winner 413 Average Watts 5.4 w/kg 1247 KJ 82 TSS 419 NP 158 bpm Average Heart Rate 81 rpm Average Cadence 23.2 mph Average Speed See Flecha’s file in TrainingPeaks. Other than the obvious differences in that Flecha was putting out more watts and completed the course 5:30 faster, there are definitely some interesting comparisons to make. One could argue that Powers actually did a slightly better job at pacing after comparing the two VI (Variability Index) values. VI examines the ratio of Normalized Power (NP) versus average power for a ride, and the resulting value shows how steady or constant the power output for an effort was. A VI of 1.0 (NP equals average power) indicates a perfectly steady effort, and most skilled time trialers will have a VI figure lower than 1.05. For more context, a VI for a road race full of surges, attacks and varying terrain may be in the range of 1.2 (though this can vary widely depending on circumstances). Powers completed the TT course with a VI of 1.01 while Flecha logged a 1.03 VI. Both demonstrated excellent pacing, but Powers really nailed it with close to a “perfect” 1.0. Flecha opted to ride his time trial bike the entire race, while Powers changed to a road bike for the final climb up Metcalf. After the race, Powers felt that the bike change worked to her advantage because the climb was so steep (900 feet in elevation change over 1.9 miles), and the road bike allowed her to ride in a more comfortable position. For the section prior to the final climb, Powers spun just a little more than Flecha with a higher average cadence of 89 rpm vs. Flecha’s 81 rpm. However, on the final climb, both ground it out at a similar cadence: 63 rpm for Powers vs. 65 rpm for Flecha. Powers’ Metcalf climb 12:42 1.84 miles 321 Average Watts 4.8 w/kg 245 KJ 323 NP 1.01 VI 191 bpm Average Heart Rate 63 rpm Average Cadence 8.7 mph Average Speed Flecha’s Metcalf climb 10:50 1.87 miles 439 Average Watts 5.9 w/kg 286 KJ 445 NP 1.01 VI 163 bpm Average Heart rate 65 rpm Average Cadence 10.3 mph Average Speed Although Flecha had the higher average speed overall (23.2 mph vs. 21 mph), Powers had the higher maximum speed. She hit 44.6 mph on the technical, challenging descent while Flecha topped out at 42.3 mph. Powers comes from a downhill ski racing background and she definitely put those skills to work! Overall, both riders had great time trials while demonstrating excellent pacing, technique, and strength. Editor’s note: Thanks to TrainingPeaks.com, we are looking at two riders’ power data from stage 6 of the Amgen Tour of California. Today, Shawn Heidgen, a USA Cycling certified coach, former professional cyclist, and Education Specialist at TrainingPeaks, recaps the data from the eight-day race. For more, follow Shawn on Twitter.

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Bike To Work, Bike At Work from East Side Compost Pedallers on Vimeo. I really dig this video out of Austin, Texas of the East Side Compost Pedallers. I worked for a similar organization in Indy at my last job, except we delivered organic groceries instead of picking up the scraps…and we did it in gas-guzzling vans instead of carbon-nuetral bikes. Regardless, the program seems to be a success and it’s great to see bikes put to work in such a synergistic manner. And hey, if you’re in the Austin area, they seem to be hiring!

Video highlights world class trails in inaugural event

Photo submitted by Joe Garcia, “This picture was taken at Santiago Oaks Regional Park located in Orange County, Ca.”