Cyclingnews Fitness Q&A - August 10, 2011

Johnny Hoogerland's legs are heavily bandaged, but he continues in the polka dot jersey (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

Topics: Hill training simulation, Scott comes clean RE: shaving your legs, Rebuilding endurance after a Laryngectomee, ITB syndrome

Considering I live in a flat area and the only significant hill is 50km away, it is simply impractical to incorporate that in to my training. I’ve read here and there that grinding a big gear can be an equivalent to training in the hills. In fact, in my Garmin device there is a list of template workouts and one of the workouts is hill simulation which basically calls for big gear grinding intervals. Is there any validity to this approach? If it is a valid way to substitute hills, what should I know before I do this kind of workouts? What would a typical hill-sim workout look like?

Yes, low cadence/high force riding is acceptable as a substitute for climbing practice and will indeed help you prepare physically for climbing in races about as well as climbing in training. You should probably make the 50km trek to the hills a few times to boost your confidence and familiarity with hill climbing. Also, there is nothing you can do on the flat that is adequate preparation for twisty descending, so for safety sake, be sure to work some descending practice into your program before doing any races that include challenging descents.

As far as what to look for in using big gear riding as a substitute for climbing: Don't do big-gear work until you are sure you have your position dialed in and are riding pain free for long rides in light gears. Big gear work in a position that is already bothering your knees or back may cause some serious harm. After you've been training by spinning for 6 hours or more per week for a month or more, add some rides where you pedal along at 70 rpm in your usual endurance heart rate or power zone for an hour or more at a time. That's a good power builder in itself. Once you've been doing that few weeks without problems, it's time to do some real on-bike strength training. There are many ways to do that. One of my favorites is the Big Gear-Little Gear exercise: Warm up for a while at an easy pace and then start switching back and forth every 5 minutes between a gear that gives you 90 rpm on the flat and a gear that gives you 50-rpm on the flat, but keep switching between those same two gears no matter where you are in the ride, so you might switch to the big gear while climbing a steep hill some times. Stay seated and grind it out always in your endurance zone.

Okay, I have to tell you the real reason pros shave their legs. It's because pros shave their legs. There are lots of reasons to do it, but ultimately they do it because all the other riders do it. I've heard that pros shave so that it they crash and have to have bandages, the bandages won't stick to the hair, but I don't believe that most pros plan to crash so while that is a reason to shave, I don't believe that's why they do it. I've heard that hair sticks to asphalt and makes road rash worse as bigger chunks of skin get pulled off, but again, I don't think that's why they shave.

I'm not familiar with through the towel massage. I'm sure it can be done, though I suspect that it detracts from the experience when the masseur can't see what he or she is working on and there is no skin-to-skin contact. With shaved legs one can do a bit of massage anytime, anywhere without a towel or lubricant. I'm sure pros could arrange to have towels and lubricant present so again, the ability to get a massage doesn't adequately justify shaving.

It's been said that smooth legs might decrease aerodynamic drag and improve competitiveness. It's also been said that a bit of hair could act like the turbulators on airplane wings, actually deceasing wind resistance by disrupting laminar flow and easing the separation of the air from the leg. Since smooth legs being faster makes intuitive sense, aerodynamics could explain shaving. Some pros do shave their arms as well.

My first ride was a whopping 26 flat miles last weekend, and I didn't know if my quads or seat were sorer at the end. Even though it was a very flat route, however, I found myself sometimes breathing heavily. Also, as I live in Puget Sound, there are not that many flat miles around (that don't have good sized ridges in between), and I live on top of a hill. I am fearful that when I hit a hill, I'm simply not going to be able to get enough air. Will a slow, steady growth in cycling miles, progressively working in small to larger hills, get me back to being comfortable on any terrain? What sort of gym exercises might I do to build cardio-pulmonary endurance?

It's no surprise you'd be breathing heavily or that you'd end up sore with such a big first ride after a long time off. Yes, building up gradually will have you back to decent fitness in a few months, with speed coming gradually after that. The first few months should be mostly easy spinning. Since you don't have flat roads available, you might start with your bike on a trainer and cardio machines in the gym for the first month. By then you should be able to ride slowly up moderate hills without getting sore or out of breath.

Scott Saifer (www.wenzelcoaching.com) is head coach, CEO of Wenzel Coaching.com and has been coaching cyclists professionally for 18 years. He combines a master's degree in Exercise Physiology with experience in 20 years of touring and racing and over 300 road, track and MTB races to deliver training plans and advice that are both rigorously scientific and compatible with the real world of bike racing.

Steve Hogg has owned and operated Pedal Pushers since 1986, a cycle shop specialising in rider positioning and custom bicycles. In that time he has positioned riders from all cycling disciplines and of all levels of ability with every concievable cycling problem. Clients range from recreational riders and riders with disabilities to World and National champions. He can be reached at: www.stevehoggbikefitting.com

James Hibbard progressed from the junior to the professional ranks as a rider and has over 15 years of competitive cycling experience. He is a former Collegiate All-American track cyclist, trained as a resident athlete at the United States Olympic Training Center, earned international medals as part of the U.S. National Team, and was a member of the powerhouse Shaklee and HealthNet Professional road cycling teams.

Carrie Cheadle, MA (www.carriecheadle.com) is a Sports Psychology consultant who has dedicated her career to helping athletes of all ages and abilities perform to their potential. Carrie specialises in working with cyclists, in disciplines ranging from track racing to mountain biking. She holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University as well as a masters degree in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University.