Jas0n
journeyman
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 62
Loc: Westchester, New York
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since this forum really isn't to vibrant these days, and with the weather warming up and more people hopefully riding, what are your plans for 2004? goals? any particular races where you want to particularily well? ill start first. i think someone posted this already, but hey, what else is there to talk about.
i have a 24 hour mtb race in late june which i hope to be competitive in. there's also the usi bronx river parkway race this year which will be a road priority. i think most of my racing will be off road this year; hopefully i can make the step up from expert to semi-pro. as for the road, ill be content to move from a 5 to a 4 with as few crashes as possible (last year sucked with my first road race and my first road crash).
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eat to live, live to ride
if it ain't rainin, it ain't trainin
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KYCalfee
friend
Reged: 01/08/04
Posts: 35
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Jas0n,
Yep, I tried to get this started a few weeks ago, but let's see where this takes us. This is my 2nd year competing in Triathlons. I rode a low end Cannondale last year. My Calfee Tetra Pro arrived at the end of January. I concentrated mostly on sprints last year with one Olympic distance. This year I am opening the season with a sprint in 3 weeks. I will be doing at least one Olympic distance race a month until August. In August I hope to complete my first half ironman (Great Buckeye Challenge). I compete in the Clydesdale division and I would like to finish in the top 5 in at least one of my races in that division. Winter training is over!!!!!!!!!!! 
Now it's time to race I am looking forward to seeing my bike split on the Calfee. Good luck this season.
KYCALFEE
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Mikemets
new member
Reged: 12/24/03
Posts: 9
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Hey Jason,
Where do you find out about local races like the
"usi bronx river parkway race"?
Good luck this year!
Mike
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Jas0n
journeyman
Reged: 01/26/04
Posts: 62
Loc: Westchester, New York
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i found out about the usi race through the usi website. otherwise, there is also bikereg.com which is awesome. also check out the training series in bethel, which i think runs every tuesday or thursday during the summer. there are also some races in the city, central park in particular, but they are really early (and crash prone, as i know first hand). see you on the road.
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eat to live, live to ride
if it ain't rainin, it ain't trainin
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Max
journeyman
Reged: 12/18/03
Posts: 69
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KYCALFEE,
Wow! The season starts a lot earlier than it did back when I use to race triathlons. I raced 7 seasons back in the 80's, after my first season I changed my bike, too. I noticed a nice difference on my bike, and run splits. Hopefully you will also find your fresher for the run, because of your new bike. Good luck on your races, you have a good set of goals. Enjoy the Great Buckeye Challenge, I really liked the half ironman to ironman distances the best myself.
No tri's for me this year, however I do have the first stage of a bike race coming up in five weeks.......
http://www.planetultra.com/mulholland/elevation.html
I like to finish in the top 10, however this being the first time doing this one I'll be happy if I don't DNF 
Just keeping on, keeping on
What part of Kentucky are you from? I was born in Owensboro.
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MAX
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sellsworth
new member
Reged: 12/24/03
Posts: 6
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My main goal is to do better in the Death Ride this year than I did last year. I guess that means not bonking on the last climb (Carson Pass). I feel a lot stronger this year and I expect to do better. I also want to do a lot more mountain biking. The traffic here in Reno is getting pretty bad which has me thinking that it's time to hit the dirt more.
Re the forum - I hope that this one takes off. I hung out at the Serotta forum for a few months but it has gotten a bit stale lately.
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easypedaler
contributor
Reged: 02/08/04
Posts: 149
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good luck to all you racers/competitors. No longer compete myself. Just love to ride.
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Lon
sage
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 595
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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In regards to bonking, I read a long time ago that what will stop virtually any rider is lack or hydration or glycogen. If you keep those topped off then you'll finish all your rides. I have found it to be true. If you remember Lance almost learned it the hard way.
Good luck on the Death Ride. 
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sellsworth
new member
Reged: 12/24/03
Posts: 6
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I'm really stupid when it comes to hydration and eating enough on really long rides. Many times I just don't feel like eating or drinking until it's too late and I'm visiting Bonkville. I am starting to use a Camelbak again which seems to help. I load it up with Gatorade powder and it seems to do the trick. I used it for the Foxy's Fall Century in Davis last fall and it kept me hydrated and I felt great at the finishing line.
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Lon
sage
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 595
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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I enjoy eating and I like to drink liquids so it helps. I have a friend who is just like you.
My way to make sure I stay hydrated in warm/hot weather is every 1/2 hour I stop and chug a bottle. That puts 2 bottles an hour into me and my only problem is finding places to relieve myself. 
Then I make sure at least every hour I eat something if not on the half hour. It depends what I am carrying. I also usually have a Cream Saver stuck in my cheek and maybe that little bit of sugar helps. I'm an ex-smoker into oral gratification so that is why the Cream Savers are there. Plus they taste good and are made with real milk! I bet I get a lot of calcium as well!
My friend uses a camel back and I have tried to get him used to emptying two bottles an hour. I think it is easier to keep track of and to not forget. It seems he gets riding and forgets to "suck" on the "pipe."
Well enjoy the ride. 
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Triman
new member
Reged: 01/23/04
Posts: 16
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This year I will be competing in triathlons and duathlons. Last year I competed on my Tetra Pro, and this year I will use my new Litespeed Vortex, primarily because it is not prone to scratching, chipping and it has a new Dura-Ace 10 speed component group. I think that I will reserve my Calfee for group rides and charity rides at least till the newness of my Vortex wears off. I just finished my first duathlon of the season on Sunday, a 5k x 10k x 5k. I live in Orlando, so our multisport season has just started.
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skagwayroadie
contributor
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 141
Loc: Alaska
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I have heard and experienced the same thing. Staying hydrated can be tuff when one is having so much fun. But it is the single most important thing you can do. It doesn't have to be an energy drink or Gatorade, simple h2o is fine.
I teach Spin classes and it is amazing the difference in my own performance due to the hydration aspect. I slam 2-4 glasses of water 30 miutes to 1 hour before a ride or Class and it helps tremendously.
Drink up!!
...Mark
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SpinDoc
friend
Reged: 12/24/03
Posts: 35
Loc: Columbus,Ohio
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Just to add my two cents on hydration and eating.
I've had glycogen bonks in bigtime races I trained over 9 months for and lemme tell ya it aint pretty.
I've also gone the other way and overhydrated causing the same end result, my body shutting down.
Finding what your body can handle is essential as it varies with every person and can be the difference between a good race and not even finishing.
One tidbit about Gatorade that it took me a long time to figure out. If you have any issues with digesting what you take in during a race Gatorade is absolutely the worst thing you can ingest. This happens a lot more frequently than you would think but folks like me can't disgest all of the sugar(Gatorade has simple sugars no other sports drink has) and the drink just sits and swills around in my stomach making me ill and cramped zapping my energy and keeping me from refueling, same with Powergel. Plus Powergel is so thick and sticky going down that if you're breathing hard it can interfere and even gag you. Nothing like bicking bile on the bike right after you shove down a sticky swab of Powergel and now can't swallow right.
Every time I have used Gatorade either before or during a race or Powergel, I hit the wall from hell and end up emptying my stomach on the sidelines. My body just can't hydrate or draw energy from Gatorade, it sucks a ton to go all the way to California to race before you finally find that out.
I ditched Gatorade, switched to Powerade which is more of a real sports drink and HammerGel and voila! no more bonking from lack of hydration and no more yawning technicolor from nothing getting digested. I tell ya figuring that out with the help of my Coach was the biggest thing to happen to me as an athlete.
Last thing....you guys will probably laugh but my coach insists on me chugging Chocolate milk after a workout, he says it's pretty much the best recovery drink I can find and it tastes great! Not too bad on the refreshing part either. It works for me!
Ok that's it for my thoughts!
OH FYI I'm an Olympic distance duathlete
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TheMightySkunk
journeyman
Reged: 12/26/03
Posts: 82
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A surprising number of IM-distance tri-geeks drink de-fizzed cola - either full-strength or slightly diluted. Plenny kine sugar, and a bit of caffeine to boot. Karen Smyers, for example, a Princeton University graduate who has won IM a few times, and presumably is pretty smart, drinks cola oncourse. Due to the popularity of cola, the last time I went over to Kona (two years ago), there were two drinks offered at the on-course aid stations: water and cola.
IM-distance tri-geeks seem to be the most nutrition-obsessed group of people I know, so I found this very interesting. I mean, with all the zillions of dollars spent trying to find the ideal sports drink, and so many top athletes just pop a Pepsi......
If you look carefully, you'll also see many Tour de France riders drinking cans of Coke or Pepsi, at least occasionally. Perhaps that is a packaging issue, in that if a rider gets isolated from the team car and needs fluids, he will sometimes grab something offered by a spectator, and a can of something that goes PFFFFT when opened is a pretty good sign that the drink hasn't been tampered with.
Personally, I've never had bonking problems, so pretty much anything (water, Gatorade, Propel) works for me. I tend to choose drinks which taste palatable warm, since that's the state in when they are usually consumed. Warm Gatorade makes me retch, so I'll only use that in my first bottle when I know it will be consumed cool. After that, it's usually water. Propel tastes pretty decent @ room temperature, as well, at least to me.
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"I haven't failed. I've just managed to find 100,000 ways that don't work"
--Albert Einstein
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skuke
captain
Reged: 12/22/03
Posts: 323
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Quote:
TheMightySkunk wrote:
Personally, I've never had bonking problems,
Um, with all due respect, you therefore have no idea what it *really* means to suffer on a bike. :-)
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Skuke
95 Carbonframes Tetra Pro
92 Bridgestone MB-1
90 Moser 51.151
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vaxn8r
contributor
Reged: 12/19/03
Posts: 222
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LOL Skuke,
I bonked so badly one time I actually stopped at a Dairy Mart 5 miles from home to call my wife for a ride home. Sadly she wasn't there so I got back on and crawled home.
Unfortunately there are more episodes than I'd like to admit. But, they always happen early in the season on rides too long with too few base miles.
Everyone I know has bonked at one time or another.
Q:What's the difference between bonking and blowing-up?
A: When you blow-up you feel like roadkill. When you bonk you could actually eat roadkill.
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Lon
sage
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 595
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Well here is one more person who has not bonked. By that I mean I could not go on. I've run my reserves too low from time to time but I was always able to recover by eating and drinking like a pig. By now I know exactly how my body feels when it is getting to that stage. I feel sweaty and like I have a fever with chills. Plus I feel like crap trying to keep the bike moving. I stop eat, drink, rest a little and I'm all set for however much more I need to go.
Have a nice weekend!
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skuke
captain
Reged: 12/22/03
Posts: 323
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Quote:
vaxn8r wrote:
When you blow-up you feel like roadkill. When you bonk you could actually eat roadkill.
I like that definition!! Thanks!
I once rode with a guy on the verge of bonking. We rode past an unpeeled banana that had probably fallen from someone's jersey pocket. He turned around, picked up the banana and ate it! Yeah, it was unpeeled, and not quite "roadkill", but it did sorta give me that "ugh" feeling. Of course, if I were bonking, I would have eaten it too!
Interesting thing is that others have told me they heard this story before. But nobody could substantiate it. So for those of you who heard this story before from the friend of your friend's barber's cousin... I can tell you that I was there and the rider who ate the banana is Leonard (last name withheld) and it was in Calaveras Canyon in northern Calif.
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Skuke
95 Carbonframes Tetra Pro
92 Bridgestone MB-1
90 Moser 51.151
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skagwayroadie
contributor
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 141
Loc: Alaska
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Caffine based drinks just plain work, but you come off the high as quickly as get the high. I used to drink caffinated drinks but my blood pressure won't allow for the stimulation anymore...it sucks because a dbl shot espresso was always a fave kick in the pants for me, well that and a banana or bagel too. My doctor has made the comment that my plasma tends to be thick...in effect, I am always in a mild state of dehydration. So the hydration issue isn't as pertinent as carbs for me...I don't think most riders are like me in this regard.
Interesting comment on the Gatorade...some people respond to it and other don't. I always had favorable results from it. I have not heard of anyone over-hydrating themselves directly, nor from friends, but I have read on it. Though it does happen, most people, by far do the opposite.
I also really like Powergel over all the others options when my rides are over a hour or so...I know this has been commented on the old forum, but everyone is a little different. Geography makes a bigger difference than the brand of the drink or gel. I don't ride in the intense southwest sun anymore, it rarely gets over 75 here in the summer, but I still need a lot of water to make my rides...so it could just be my physiology.
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Max
journeyman
Reged: 12/18/03
Posts: 69
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Hydration and carbs have always been an important issue for me, since I have done long distance and ultra long distance events for the last 25 years. In the last few years I have learned drinking Sustain Sport (performance hydration drink) with water, and eating Access Fat Conversion Activity Bars, that I can go all day long, and enjoy my workout or event without a problem of hydration or carbs. What I like also, is they both taste good (they come in an enough of a variety of favors to keep me from getting tired of them). Afterwards I always supplement my meals with vitamins and a ProFlex 30 ( protein shake). I find this works well keeping me fresh and ready for all my activities.
Wherever I am training or racing I always use the items mention above. The amount is the only thing that changes, depending on the environment and distance.
Then there's that occasional beer that must be important to hydration and carbs some where in the cycle of nutrition. Cheers to all.
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MAX
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Lon
sage
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 595
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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Skag, I actually had it happen to me once. The temperatures were over 100. I literally got off my bike on a tar and chip road and sank into it. It took a great deal of Simple Green to get my cleats and shoe ready to ride again.
It was an organized ride in the middle of no-where, aka no convenience stores. All they carried was water and I had not heard of too much water before. I had plenty of carbs in me as they had homemade chocolate chip cookies.
About the last 2 miles my head went goofy and so did I. I managed to get in and could not figure it out. The only thing I could think was the lack of any performance drinks without potassium, etc was what did it. I bought my own Gatorade to keep in the support van for the next day when it was just as hot and did fine.
About 2 years later I read an article on how you feel if you drink too much water and not enough of the other "stuff." It matched me exactly.
I always learn the hard way!
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skagwayroadie
contributor
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 141
Loc: Alaska
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Point taken Lon. I have learned the hard way too many times too. I am sure it happens more than we might expect, but not very often.I think that the main issue with over-hydration probably stems from the lack of electrolytes...IE potassium, sodium and other trace minerals. This is why I like gels, instead of solid food, except a banana or dates...they gives you energy and much needed electrolytes...
What did the article say about how one feels when you over do it with h2o? What are the signs...besides a bloated belly and sloshing noises.
Anyway, I hope to never bonk, super-hydrate or dehydrate myself ever again! That is my lifelong goal for riding my bikes.
...Mark
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Lon
sage
Reged: 12/20/03
Posts: 595
Loc: Pittsburgh, PA
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I can't remember that much in specifics because it was a long time ago. I think it is essentially like a bonk. I can say without a doubt I felt like crap, dizzy, weak, disoriented etc. Not fun at all.
I always carry gel now. Then on organized rides I did not carry my own food/nutrition. I don't do that any longer. I always leave with three gels. I never use the last one unless I have about 5 miles left. I save it for emergencies.
Every since then I never drink just water or eat just food.
Happy riding.
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