The heavy cyclist

In my last blog I mentioned some obstacles that I would have to overcome this year. The main obstacle is the fact that I am a terrible climber. I am a very strong powerful rider and have always shown signs of power and expect that If I had a power tap I could probably put in some pretty good wattage for decent amounts of time. I recently stopped lifting heavy but my last trip to the actual gym I could still bench press over 300 pounds and was still squatting over 400 pounds. Which would be all well in good if my goal wasn't to be a better cyclist! Needless to say It will be push ups, crunches, plyometrics and bands for the rest of the year.

I read something that really opened my eyes and made me realize to be competitive I have definitely chosen the wrong sport. I found this at www.cptips.com

Question: I began riding last year and recently met my first professional cyclist in person. He's a good climber on a U.S. pro team. I'm astonished at how small he is! He looks skinny, emaciated and weak. But I know he can ride circles around me even though I'm an athletic 6-footer and 190 pounds. How can such an unimposing person put out so much power? I want to climb like him! -- Bradley N.

Comment: When you're familiar with athletes in most conventional sports, it's a shock to see how small and thin top cyclists are. The rule for climbing prowess: You should weigh (in pounds) no more than twice your height in inches. So at 6 feet (72 inches) you'd need to weigh 144 pounds rather than 190. Pro cycling tends to select lean, light-bodied athletes in the same way that the profile of a mastodon is required for football linemen. Climbing ability is crucial in racing, and it depends on the power-to-weight ratio. A light rider doesn't need to generate as much power as his heavier competitor because he has less weight to propel up hills. In the 2005 Tour de France with 189 starters, here's the profile of the average rider:

• Height -- 1.79 meters (5 feet, 10.4 inches)
• Weight -- 71 kilograms (156.2 pounds)
• Resting heart rate -- 50 bpm
• Lung capacity -- 5.69 liters (1.48 gallons)

To say I am 5 foot 9 (69 inches) is a bit of a stretch,
I started the season at 193 pounds.(yes I can still see my abs) and even while I was playing college baseball I was rarely under 185 pounds while batting lead off.

I believe it was in Lance's "It's not about the bike" where he explains how even lean upper body muscle is just extra weight that has to go up the hill or in his case mountains, and how he had a hard time adjusting coming from swimming/triathlons.

As you can see I have a long way to go for my weight to be no more than twice my height. (it will never happen)

But to be the least bit effective I am going to try to drop 20, I am currently at 188. I should have started this process months ago.

People spend thousands of dollars on a carbon bike, light wheelset and even handlebars whenever it would be much easier to drop a few pounds with a little hard work. With that being said...

BRING ON THE HILLS!

A very intense eye opening experience

First off, I am not a writer I didn't go to college with a passion of sharing my thoughts and delivering main points with an amazing climax. There will be grammatical errors Just get used to it and accept it now and you will enjoy yourself a lot more.

This blog will hopefully serve as a way for me to profile some of my experiences during my first season of cycling.


In the State of Oklahoma Cycling isn't exactly the most popular sport in the world, and definitely wouldn't be considered an extreme sport as far as most Oklahoman's are concerned so the last few years I have taken a lot of pride in considering myself quite the expert fan, after all I do subscribe to the versus channel and I know all about Lance's most recent attempt at making history, I just might like to dress up in my bike get-up and I just might sit my trainer right in front of my 52 inch TV and pretend I am also climbing in the Alps. Unfortunately that only lasts about one month of the year and then I am generally back to running 5k races with my wife, not eating so good, and lifting weights probably a little heavier than a 28 year old guy trying to be an endurance athlete should be.

In late 2010 I began talking with the local  360 Sports bike shop owner Jon about being part of a race team, I was in pretty good shape, I was able to run 20 or so miles with my wife without stopping, I am sure the cycling thing would be a piece of cake, after all I already had more than enough of a bike to push me around Owasso Oklahoma, and probably a better piece of equipment than I needed in the first place, maybe I should actually give it some use!

After slacking in the winter and not coming to any of the spin classes I knew were only 4 miles down the road I wasn't in the best cycling shape, but after a local friend called my out repeatedly via facebook I figured I better start getting out and riding.

Last Sunday was my first race of the 2011 season, the Northwest Arkansas Classic was the name of the race. Just getting off training for a marathon with my wife it would be very accurate to say I have not put much time in the saddle this year, and with my complete race experience totaling a whopping one race two years ago it would be accurate to say I am very much a novice. As for the outcome of the race I absolutely got my ASS butt handed to me. For anyone reading this that isn't an avid cyclist guess what, it’s not near as easy to just "maintain" the pace the peloton does as it appears on TV. I was dropped from the top group about 4 miles into a 24 mile race and never recovered. I finished 18th but it sure felt a lot worse than that!

However the race itself was a very motivating, and positive experience. I met some very encouraging, talented people and look forward to training/racing with them the rest of the year. This is going to be a fun year, but I have quite a few obstacles standing in my way if I want to be successful. Of course I will be sharing those obstacles now matter how embarrassing I hope to give a few smiles and laughs at my own expense.