Go The Distance

3 March, 2016 By Administrator in Sports & Fitness Comments Off

There is nowhere better than the saddle of a bike to do some serious thinking. On my recent trip down under I got to thinking about the fact that good old fashioned ‘miles’ is a pretty inaccurate way of describing how tough a day’s riding will be. Some factors, such as headwinds, are very hard to take into account but the most obvious other variable is the amount of climb. Surely, I thought, it would be possible to come up with a fairly simple equation that combines distance ridden with climb to give a unit of measure that allows comparison of rides in all terrains.

Ladies and Gentlemen (drum roll), I give you…… the Terrain Adjusted Mile (or TAM).

To calculate TAMs you start with the distance to be ridden and add (or subtract) miles according to the actual climb against a ‘normal’ value. This ‘normal’ value, and how you convert any shortfall/excess into miles is bound to be contentious but I reckon the following works for me:

‘Normal’ climb is 50 feet per mile. The adjustment is 1 mile per 150 feet (either plus or minus). Here is how a 100 mile ride looks, based on 6 different amounts of climb:

Miles ridden	100	100	100	100	100	100
Feet climbed	1000	2000	3000	4000	5000	6000
Standard climb	4000	4000	4000	4000	4000	4000
Difference	-3000	-2000	-1000	0	1000	2000
Mileage adjustment	-20	-13	-7	0	7	13

TAMs	80	87	93	100	107	113

Or, to put it another way: A 100 mile ride with 3000 feet of climb is the same as a 50 mile ride with 9500 feet of climb.

I’m going to try this out on the next trip (Camino and Portugal) – I’ll work out each day in TAMs and see how this compares with a subjective ‘how hard was that ride?’ test.

2000 Miles

29 February, 2016 By Administrator in Sports & Fitness Comments Off

So, our exploration of Australia‘s bottom right corner is complete. It had been my intention to provide an update once we got to Melbourne but, to be quite honest, we were just too busy having a good time!

It has been a challenging trip but this was largely a problem of our own making: We set ourselves an 80 miles/day target and ended up doing several considerably longer days and we were hauling all our own gear. Despite this we had the time of our lives! The coastal route offers a great variety of scenery, ranging from ‘pleasant’ to stunning, the roads are mostly cycle-friendly, Sydney and Melbourne are world-class cities and the Australians are friendly and welcoming. Oh yes, and the weather is brilliant. Accommodation along the route was plentiful, available and inexpensive and we ate like kings. There can be little better than a double lamb shank after a hard day’s ride.

We ended up with 2100 miles on the clock, which was done over 25 riding days. Our longest day was an eye-watering 117 miles and our shortest was about 60. Our hottest day reached 40 degrees and the coolest started at about 12. The task now is to package some (or maybe even all) of the route for a magical Bike Adventures trip in 2017. See you there.

If you would like to see our tan lines, Chris and I will be leading the Camino and Portugal trips in late April/Early May – it isn’t too late to join us!

Two Out of Three Aint Bad

4 February, 2016 By Administrator in Sports & Fitness Comments Off

We have a great many customers from the antipodes, a number of whom are repeat offenders and have become friends over the years. Several of these live on our route and have offered us support in various forms. Last night we arrived in Sydney, one third of the way through our trip and a nice round 1000km from the start, where we are staying in the lovely home of Lynn and Graham for a rest day. As if this wasn’t enough, we have been lucky enough to spend a rest day on the yacht of another customer,seeing the sights from the waters of the harbour.

When I think of Australia I automatically think of three iconic images: Ayers rock, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and today we ticked off two of them.

So what of the ride so far? Fan-bloody-tastic. The scenery is far more varied (and greener) than I expected, the people are incredibly welcoming, the roads vary between good and outstanding, and the provisions for cyclists are excellent. My only dilemma in considering adding a part of the ride to our commercial programme is deciding exactly which part.

A potential concern was the heat but even this is not such an obstacle. Temperatures are steadily falling as we head south and as the calendar advances. On the hotter days we start and finish early and we make sure we take plenty of stops in the shade and drink copiously.

We have seen a variety of fauna including kangaroos, bandicoots, large lizards and kookaburras but sadly no koalas. It seems that most Australians have never seen one in the wild either!

Our next leg, on to Melbourne, starts tomorrow.

Ps our ‘leader perma-tans’ are coming along nicely

Down Under

29 January, 2016 By Administrator in Sports & Fitness Comments Off

It is a long way to Australia (only Bike Adventures brings you this sort of insight!). However, based on our first 3 days on the road, it is well worth the journey. We are now in Grafton, on the banks of the Cavendish River, having covered an heroic 225 miles. For the first 150 of these we rode almost entirely on cycle paths with a wide variety of scenery, all stunning. Today we had to make do with a major highway but, even on the highway there is a generous shoulder and cyclists have no need to feel ill at ease.

Australians are, naturally, friendly and welcoming but stuggle to hide a look that says ‘Jeez mate, you must be bonkers’ when we tell them where we are heading. So far we don’t feel bonkers at all!

After 3 glorious (but very warm) days we made it into town as the heavens opened and we are sheltering from a tropical downpour and rehydrating 😉

The Lunatics Have taken Over The Asylum

21 January, 2016 By Administrator in Sports & Fitness Comments Off

You are probably wondering how it is that Bike Adventures tour leaders rock up at the start of the season all bronzed, toned and fit as fleas. Well, it isn’t easy! It is a measure of our dedication that Chris Heywood and I (we are the good looking ones) will shortly be heading down to Brisbane to start a 2000 mile unsupported trip around the Australian Pacific Coast to Adelaide. If that doesn’t sort out the tan and the leg muscles nothing will.

You may notice that all my blog entries have a song title as the subject. Sometimes these are obvious and sometimes a little lateral thinking is required. I’ll give you a clue for this one but don’t expect one every time: there are three of us going, we are boys, and we are going to have FUN. Got it yet? The third member of our ‘Fun Boy Three’ is Neil: part friend, part customer, part carpenter.

We set off on Jan 25th and start riding on the 27th. Our route is pre-planned but the schedule is flexible; we are aiming at 80 mile days with 3 rest days but it all depends on what happens during our month on the road. We already have plans to visit friends from the Bike Adventures community in Sydney, Batemans Bay and Melbourne but if you live on our route please get in touch, we would love to see you. As well as having a great time and drinking more beer than is probably wise, we will be looking for a suitable route/itinerary for an inaugural Bike Adventures trip to Oz for 2017. I will file the odd blog entry to let you know how we are doing but if you want the whole day-by-day account (and aren’t easily offended) try my personal blog.

If you can’t wait until 2017 to cycle ‘down under’ why not take a look at our 2016 New Zealand Tour.

Little Boxes

16 January, 2016 By Administrator in Cycling challenge, Mountain Biking, Sports & Fitness Comments Off

As our programme grows we find ourselves visiting more and more new places; in 2016 we will take people cycling in over 20 countries. Many of these trips start or end at a foreign airport and the topic of how best to transport one’s bike is a contentious one. Hard sided cases provide great protection but:

They are expensive
Considerable dismantling of the bike is required
They are very bulky to haul in the support vehicle during the trip

Regrettably, for reason 3 above, we cannot accept hard cases on most of our trips.

Soft bike bags address most of the above problems but the protection they afford is poor. The manufacturers response to this now seems to be the fitting of an internal cage, rendering them as bulky and unacceptable as hard cases.

The bike you purchased was almost certainly manufactured in the Far East, stacked 10 high in a container, hauled by truck to a port, loaded onto a ship, unloaded at the other end and trucked to a distributor. From there it was removed from the container and placed in a warehouse to later be loaded onto another tuck and delivered to your Local Bike Shop. This was all achieved using nothing more than a cardboard box and a bit of careful packing!

Not least because I am a notorious ‘tightwad’, I am a big fan of the humble cardboard bike box to protect my pride and joy when travelling. The key to the whole thing is the ‘careful packing’, which finally brings me to my point. I am shortly off on a cycling adventure (more in the next blog) and I thought it might be worth sharing with you the process of converting my vulnerable and fragile collection of exotic metals into an airline proof parcel.

Step 1: Select Your Box

Bike shops are usually delighted to give away boxes – they have loads and would otherwise have to pay for them to be disposed of. Pop in a couple of weeks before the trip and ask them to put a suitable one aside. If you are feeling generous slip them fiver, it is a good long-term investment.

The crucial trick is to get the optimum size and the most common mistake is to assume that bigger is better. The BEST box is one that is JUST big enough to contain the bike when collapsed as described below. Your bike will fit so snugly that it shouldn’t require any packing materials at all! If necessary do a trial pack as described, measure the result and take these measurements with you to the shop.

Step 2: Remove The Sticky Outy Bits

If you use mudguards remove the front one (the rear should be OK) and remove any racks (you may find there is room for the rack to remain, in which case your box is probably bigger than it needs to be!). Where possible return the removed bolts and washers to their threaded holes – you won’t lose them and you will know what goes where.

Also remove the pedals and the front wheel. Take a moment to apply a little grease to the pedal threads – it will make removing them at the end of the trip much easier.

Take the skewer out of the front wheel and make a bag of the pedals, skewer and any other left-over bits. Tie this bag to the crossbar.

Remove the saddle/seatpost/saddle bag as one unit. Re-tighten the seatpost clamp so it doesn’t fall off.

NOTE: There is absolutely no real reason to let air out of the tyres. Most airlines now know this but some still ask. I have found that the simplest thing is to leave them inflated and just lie when asked about it!

Step 3: Pack The Main Bit

As well as the box, your Local Bike Shop may be able to give you the bits of plastic that the manufacturer uses for shipping. There is a plastic bar that sits in the front fork drop outs and a plastic gizmo that sits on the end of the rear skewer to protect the derailleur. These are not essential – I never use them and have never had a problem.

Put the bike in bottom gear (little ring front, bike cog back). This pulls all the vulnerable bits in close to the frame. Remove the handlebars and stem as one piece (this preserves the position of the bars on the stem): undo the bolt/cap on the top of the fork steerer tube, loosen the bolts that clamp the stem to the steerer and pull the stem upwards. Once removed replace the bolt/cap in the top of the steerer.

Turn the forks through 90 degrees.

Suspend the handlebars from the cross bar – this is the only tricky part, see the picture. Depending on the type of bars and frame size the best position may vary. Usually this can be done so that the only parts in contact with the frame are those wrapped in handlebar tape but if you are worried wrap a bit of old towel round the frame first.

Pick the bike up with one hand, holding the handlebars in position with the other. Hold the box open with a third hand….or get someone to help.

The whole thing should drop in neatly and snugly.

Step 4: Pack The Leftover Bits

The front wheel should fit down one side – you may need to experiment with whether the handlebar hangs on the left or right and exactly where the crank arms rest to create the optimum space.

There should a nice space somewhere for the saddle/seatpost combo. You may want to use a little bubblewrap to keep is secure and protect the frame.

Mudguard can usually be placed around the front wheel.

There should be enough space to tuck in the rack (often just sitting on the rear wheel) and, with a bit of creativity, you will probably still find room for your helmet and cycling shoes.

Step 5: Seal

Packing tape does a good job. Be careful not to tape over the handholds that are usually cut into the sides and end of the box. If you are a ‘belt and braces’ sort of person add a couple of luggage straps. A useful by product of doing this is that you can attach a shoulder strap to them giving you a means of hauling everything to check-in.

I cannot guarantee that a bike packed this way will emerge unscathed but you have given it the best possible chance.

He Ain’t Heavy

10 January, 2016 By Administrator in Sports & Fitness Comments Off

I have need of a new pair of pedals so I turned to my internet vendor of choice and, as is my custom, went immediately to the pricey end of the long list of possibilities. I found a pair of Shimano Dura-Ace pedals that were shinier than a shiny thing, made of pure Unobtanium and……… £120. A quick look a bit nearer the bargain basement end revealed a pair of Shimano 105 pedals – still quite shiny, virtually identical at a quick glance and only £55. This got me wondering so I took a look at the weights of both sets. For an extra £65 you save a mere 37g.

Using this rather crude method, the cost of saving weight by buying better kit appears to work out at about £1750/kg. If you are a professional cyclist this is fine, your sponsors will be paying and, since your body is pure muscle, there isn’t anywhere else to lose the weight from. Of course the total potential saving is finite and the law of diminishing returns will apply. If, on the other hand, you have a bit of a tum there is a much simpler way of reducing your all up cycling weight:

Keep your diet and exercise regime exactly as it currently is BUT add an extra 1 hour of brisk cycling per week (an exercise bike will do). There are a million opinions on how many calories cycling burns but I believe the following figures are reasonably cautious. You burn about 30 calories/mile so a brisk one hour session should burn about 450. Over a year this makes about 23,000. This many calories is the equivalent of 6.6lbs (3kg) of fat. By a happy co-incidence this is more or less exactly the difference in weight between an ‘ordinary’ road bike and a £5000 featherweight carbon jobbie.

The Long and Winding Road

6 January, 2016 By Administrator in Cycling challenge, Sports & Fitness Comments Off

The longest-standing record in cycling (and probably in athletic endeavor of ANY kind) is the Highest Annual Mileage record, or HAMR. Or rather is WAS! In 1939, Tom Godwin (a Brit) rode an astonishing 75,065 miles and for most of the last 76 years it looked like the record would stand forever. However, on Monday an American named Kurt Searvogel (aka ‘Tarzan’) notched up his 75,066th mile since starting his attempt on the record on January 10th 2015.

I don’t want to belittle Kurt’s efforts (they are truly incredible ) but:

His final tally will probably only exceed Tommy’s by about 1000 miles despite having access to the very best kit the 21st century has to offer. Tommy Godwin set the record long before Lycra, carbon composites, high intensity LED lights and 22 speed gear sets.

Kurt has been riding in the US, where he can chase the good weather. He has mostly been riding in Florida and I can tell you from a recent trip out there – it isn’t the same as plugging away through a British winter!

There is obviously no way of making a meaningful comparison between the two efforts. Kurt is the new record holder and deserves to bask in the glory but what Tommy Godwin achieved remains, in my book, the greatest cycling feat since the dawn of time.

Kurt better enjoy his moment in the spotlight because it may be brief. Until April another Brit, Steve Abraham, was snapping at his heels when a prat on a moped knocked him off resulting in a broken ankle. Steve kept riding but, having lost about 6 weeks while it mended, the attempt was effectively dead in the water. The beauty of the HAMR is that it doesn’t have to be a calendar year, so Steve re-set his trip meter in August and effectively started again. This means that, at the end of this new 12-month period, he will have been riding 200+ miles per day for 19 months!!! The man is clearly bonkers but you can’t help admire him. Anyone whose response to a broken ankle isn’t ‘bollocks to that – I think I’ll stop’ but ‘OK, I’ll just cycle an extra 36,000 miles’ is clearly pretty determined and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see a new record holder come August.

If all of this has pricked your conscience, or you have already resolved to up the mileage a bit this year, take a look at Bike Adventure’s longer-distance ‘epic’ trips. The US Pacific Coast Highway, New Zealand Middle Earth Tour or London to Venice (or even London to Dubrovnik) would all make a splendid 1200+ mile contribution to your own personal HAMR in 2016!

End of Season? – Five turbo sessions to try.

3 November, 2015 By 7pxadmin in Sports & Fitness Comments Off

With advances in sports science and testing many of the old rules we have come to rely on for performance development may no longer apply.

Science laboratories and sports institutes around the world are publishing new research daily questioning the relevance of existing theories.

Among the most common of these is the relevance of long training rides. Whilst they have a place in any training regime they are no longer to be considered in isolation, more miles doesn’t necessarily mean better performance. Psychological milestones, the 100 club for example, are relevant targets for motivation but have limited physiological effect.

It has been proven however that 20 minute high intensity intervals i.e. above 90% effort help to develop anaerobic capacity (the maximal point at which adenosine triphosphate (lactic acid) can be resynthesized by the body) by as much as 28% where moderate intensity long miles will not. Continuing from this max efforts (100%) of 20 to 60 secs will develop vo2 Max (your body’s ability to absorb, distribute and utilise oxygen).

These intervals can be added into road sessions but are more commonly used during indoor training sessions on turbo trainers or in spinning classes.

To discover more on the relevance of high intensity training and its relevance in cycle performance take a look at British Cycling’s Insight Zone.

With the autumn and winter upon us now is the time to think about indoor training to support your Bike Adventures trip. Listed below are 5 Turbo Training sessions to mix things up. Try to add one or two sessions a week to compliment your road riding.

If you are off to Bhutan this autumn with Bike Adventure’s on their Mountain Bike trip I will see you there. I need to get on the turbo!

NOTES TO AID TURBO SESSIONS

Rear cassettes come in numerous forms (9/10/11 rings) of differing teeth ratios, the sessions below are based on 10 ring cassettes but can be adapted to match your setup. Always use the larger ring as your start point for warm up and progress from there.

It is more appropriate to manage turbo sessions by RPE (rate of perceived effort) and specifically % MHR (percentage of maximum heart rate) where possible.

Maximum heart rate can be approximated using the calculation 220 – Age = MHR. However more accurate results can be achieved through specific heart rate or vo2 testing.

FOR YOUR GUIDANCE:

TRAINING ZONE		%MHR	RPE
RECOVERY		<60%	0-1 EXTREMELY EASY
ZONE 1:	BASIC ENDURANCE	60-65%	1 VERY EASY
ZONE 2:	ENDURANCE	65-75%	2 QUITE EASY
ZONE 3:	TEMPO	75-82%	3-4 MODERATE
ZONE 4:	THRESHOLD	82-89%	5-6 HARD
ZONE 5:	VO2 MAX	89-94%	7-8 VERY HARD
ZONE 6:	NEUROMUSCULAR	94-100%	9-10 EXTREMELY HARD

THE TURBO SESSIONS DETAILED BELOW SHOULD BE FOLLOWED AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE BUT YOU MUST TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION YOUR HEART RATE RECOVERY, YOU MAY NOT ALWAYS REACH THE TARGETS SET HIGH OR LOW. MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO ACCOMMODATE YOUR ABILITY.

TURBO 1 – PROGRESSIVE GEARS

Progressive Strength and resistance session – Hill Simulation – Cadence 90rpm – Effort 60 to 90% progressive

12 min – Ring 1 (Largest)	60%	ZONE 1
11 min – Ring 2
10 Min – Ring 3
9 Min – Ring 4
8 Min – Ring 5	PROGRESSING TO
7 Min – Ring 6
6 Min – Ring 7
5 Min – Ring 8
4 Min – Ring 9
3 Min – Ring 10	90%	ZONE 5
5 Min Recovery – Ring 1

75 Min Total (this session can be simply progressed by increasing the start minutes and decreasing accordingly with ring change)

TURBO 2 – MINUTE MADNESS

High intensity sprint intervals – Cadence 90rpm – Effort maximal at interval

5 Min – Ring 1 (Largest)	Warm up	65%	ZONE 1
5 Min – Ring 2	Warm up	70%	ZONE 2
5 Min – Ring 4	Warm up	75%	ZONE 2

2 Min – Ring 5	Recovery	75%	ZONE 3
1 Min – Ring 10 (Smallest)	INTERVAL MAX EFFORT	100%	ZONE 6
Repeat 10 times

5 Min – Ring 4	Cool Down	75%	ZONE 2
5 Min – Ring 2	Cool Down	70%	ZONE 2
5 Min – Ring 1 (Largest)	Cool Down	65%	ZONE 1

60 Min Total (to increase the intensity of this session simply change the warm up and cool down rings accordingly)

TURBO 3 – SIT/STAND

High resistance technique intervals – Cadence 90rpm – Effort maximal at interval

5 Min – Ring 1 (Largest)	Warm up	65%	ZONE 1
5 Min – Ring 2	Warm up	70%	ZONE 2
5 Min – Ring 4	Warm up	75%	ZONE 2

1 Min – Ring 10 (Smallest) – standing		85%	ZONE 4
1 Min – Ring 8 – seated – INTERVAL MAX EFFORT		100%	ZONE 1
1 Min – Ring 5 – Recovery		75%	ZONE 3
Repeat 10 times

5 Min – Ring 4	Cool Down	75%	ZONE 2
5 Min – Ring 2	Cool Down	70%	ZONE 2
5 Min – Ring 1 (Largest)	Cool Down	65%	ZONE 1

60 Min Total (to increase the intensity of this session simply change the warm up and cool down rings accordingly)

TURBO 4 – AEROBIC

Progressive aerobic intervals – Cadence 90rpm – Efforts at % Max Heart Rate

10 Min – Ring 1 (Largest) Warm up	65%	ZONE 1

2 Min – Ring 6	Progress to 70%	ZONE 2
6 Min – Ring 6	Hold at 70%	ZONE 2
2 Min – Ring 7	Progress to 75%	ZONE 3
6 Min – Ring 7	Hold at 75%	ZONE 3
6 Min – Ring 8	Hold at 80%	ZONE 4
Repeat 3 times

2 Min – Ring 4 – Recovery	65%	ZONE 1

90 Min Total (to increase the intensity of this session simply increase the times of the held efforts)

TURBO 5 – RUSSIAN STEPS

High Intensity short intervals – Cadence 90rpm – Maximal Efforts

5 Min – Ring 1 (Largest)	Warm up	65%	ZONE 1
5 Min – Ring 2	Warm up	70%	ZONE 2
5 Min – Ring 4	Warm up	75%	ZONE 2

15 Sec Max Effort / 45 Sec Recovery Spin – Ring 9		100% / 75%	ZONE 6 / ZONE 3
20 Sec Max Effort / 40 Sec Recovery Spin – Ring 9		100% / 75%	ZONE 6 / ZONE 3
25 Sec Max Effort / 35 Sec Recovery Spin – Ring 9		100% / 75%	ZONE 6 / ZONE 3
30 Sec Max Effort / 30 Sec Recovery Spin – Ring 9		100% / 75%	ZONE 6 / ZONE 3
35 Sec Max Effort / 25 Sec Recovery Spin – Ring 9		100% / 75%	ZONE 6 / ZONE 3
40 Sec Max Effort / 20 Sec Recovery Spin – Ring 9		100% / 75%	ZONE 6 / ZONE 3
45 Sec Max Effort / 15 Sec Recovery Spin – Ring 9		100% / 75%	ZONE 6 / ZONE 3
7 Min – Ring 4 – Spin recovery to allow for maximal effort		70%	ZONE 2
Repeat 2 times

5 Min – Ring 4	Cool Down	75%	ZONE 2
5 Min – Ring 2	Cool Down	70%	ZONE 2
5 Min – Ring 1 (Largest)	Cool Down	65%	ZONE 1

58 Min Total (to increase the intensity of this session simply add additional Russian steps)

Europe – Why not enjoy an active vacation?

13 October, 2015 By 7pxadmin in Sports & Fitness Comments Off

Throughout most of Europe you can cycle from one village to the next within a matter of minutes and you can do this on minor roads and cycle paths.

This means you pack in a whole host of sights within a single tour. Accommodation, restaurants and civilization in some form or another are normally close by. Whether touring alone or on an organized trip there is always the reassurance that help, civilization and communication are constantly close at hand. Cycling allows you to explore the scenery and culture. Mixing with the locals will give you a great insight into how they live.

By travelling through the different regions and countries you will be able to taste a whole variety of foods. You will be getting your daily exercise quota plus more most days, so taking advantage and experimenting with the many different cuisines should not be too much of a problem regarding weight gain and lycra stretching.

By bike you can experience the true charm of Europe. Europe is steeped in history, has a range of different terrains and many parts have a very relaxed way of life, which will often make you re-evaluate your own lifestyle.

The increase in cycling throughout Europe and all over the world means that cycling routes and places accommodating bikes and cyclists are constantly growing.

Whether you like dry dusty landscapes or hill climbs with mountain backdrops or lakes, Europe has it all to offer. Various different parts of Europe offer different climates and the seasons have a huge effect on this too. The only problem is that you can never guarantee the weather.

Planning your route can either be down to you, or you can let us help you. If you are unsure about going it alone then why not book a place on any of our wonderful European trips. Our guides are all experienced and have a vast amount of knowledge of the routes, the sites, the regions and cycling in general. Believe me they are fabulous company and a great deal of fun, which means that often they can really enhance your experience. Europe is also great if you are restricted by holiday times, as travelling is not too far or long, leaving you with plenty of cycling days.

Remember if booking a tour to book early to ensure your place, then please ensure that your passport is current and will still be valid when your trip is due. Last minute passport obtaining is just a stress that you do not need, be assured of that. Make sure you have currency changed up or some way of obtaining the correct currency on route and remember to check the currencies for different countries before you set off. Make sure you have insurance and your European Health Insurance Card before you depart and then it is time to go and enjoy Europe.

‹ Previous
1
2
3
4
5
6
…
23
Next ›