John’s Ramblings

I’ve been amused lately with the headlines on magazine covers… particularly fitness and bicycling magazines:
“Lose that belly fast!”
“Fat burning foods”
“Ride your fastest Century this summer!”

Where's the article on how to crush Rod up Little Italy?

I am sure that they sell a lot of wood pulp by putting these “silver-bullet” one-liners on the cover, otherwise they wouldn’t.  Take a look at the magazine rack next time you’re in your local mega-mart.

News flash: no one ever got skinny/stronger/faster by turning the pages of a magazine.

Conversely, I don’t really believe that the way to be a better cyclist is by riding and riding and riding.  Let me tell you a story about “a friend”…

This guy loved cycling, and he could ride all freakin’ day.  He always got dropped on the hills, however, which bugged the shit out of him.  He paid to have a “cycling coach” work with him on improving speed and hill climbing ability.  The coach gave him week after week of interval training sessions.  Did he get faster?  Marginally.  Did he still get dropped on climbs?  You betcha.  He also had knee pain, occasional hand-numbness, and his back would start cramping after 20 miles.

Was this guy’s problem that his Anaerobic Threshold was too low, his bike didn’t fit, and a need for chiropractic adjustment?

In my systems work, when we have a “problem” we do a “root cause analysis”… if the user keyed a name change and the software didn’t save the new name, is it a problem with the code (software), the keyboard (hardware), or is it an operator (wet-ware) issue?  In the case of our cyclist, he could do hill intervals until the cows come home, but he will be plagued with the same problems until he manages to:

• Stop ordering pasta and fries, and lose 40 pounds or so (root cause of speed issue),
• Do some real strength training on his core and posterior chain… I’m not talking about balancing his fat butt on a ball and doing dumbell curls… we’re talking squats and deadlifts here (root cause of back issue),
• Increase hamstring and hip flexor range of motion (root cause of knee issues).

Yes, I’m talking about me, and no, even with all the gains I’ve made in the last few months I can’t say that there is a magic bullet that I could print in a magazine and make a gajilllion dollars selling as an e-book on the internet.  It takes a lot of hard work, but work that is targeted at the root causes of your weaknesses, not just working harder.

Am I still getting dropped on hills?  You bet your ass.  But my ass is skinnier now, and the smallest chainring on my bike is feeling neglected.  So while I’m not up to “ludicrous speed”, I feel great.

The path to your goal will almost never be a straight line, but a step-by-step progression from point “A” to point “B”…

Tags: Cycling, High Intensity Training, hocevar performance, intervals, spinning, weight loss

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