Gearing up for Kuantan

Enjoyed my century ride yesterday. The unplanned and unexpected recent purchases did definitely make the ride more enjoyable haha. I felt good, relaxed and comfortable throughout the ride. Happy.

First, the wheels. By some stroke of fate I discovered two spokes of my current Mavic front wheel had splintered. These were proprietary carbon spokes and had to be replaced. Time and cost to replace these may not be worth the while. Whatever the case, this was a reason to look at a new set of wheels, perhaps with a more aero design. These new wheels are by far the most expensive and aero wheels I have used to date. When I first upgraded my stock wheels to the Mavic R-sys, I thought that the power transfer and effciency improvements was already tremendous. It felt like I had changed to a faster and smoother ride immediately, almost 3x better than the stock wheels. Perhaps, then I was a weaker cyclist haha. Guess what, changing to the Enve 3.4SES gave me that same feeling over the Mavic!! The power transfer, smoothness and "addictive" buzz of the CK hub makes the ride just delicious..hot knife on butter is the feeling mates! LOL.

Second, Power Meter. One thing always leads to another and in the bicycle world, this is no different. I have been using the Cycleops Powertap Pro for some time now. This is a power meter that is based on the rear wheel hub, as a result of which, if I were to use this power meter, I will be obliged to use this "training" wheel exclusively. This makes the purchase of the Enve pretty obsolete haha. However, I was prepared to forgo the Powertap for Kuantan 160 contrary to popular belief heh, as in OCBC Singapore where I also did not use a power meter. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Lim Wee How and Serene Gan had time to meet me for lunch on Friday and the rest is history lol. For some reason, Wee How was in a buying mood. The Power2Max is one of the newer crank-based power meters in the market. It is made in Germany and is a direct competitor to the Quark system. First time using it in Kuantan, I felt the power readings pretty uniform, consistent and fairly quick. It also measures cadence. In addition, an advantage of this system is the ability to read left and right crank separately, making use of your Garmin's latest firmware upgrade. I am happy with it and in so save some money from getting the SRM system hahaha.

Lastly, the most important upgrade discovered by chance - the Rotor Q-rings!! The Power2Max system comes packaged with the Q-rings, although u can buy either separately. I have been reading a little here and there about them but haven't really researched much into them. So when it came packaged with the Power2Max, it was the deal clincher! Here, I was with a chance to test two systems out, yeah! go for it!...Wee How was but all too eager and didn't help lol..Did it help for Kuantan? I'd say hell ya!..the Q-rings work by eliminating or reducing your dead spot during the pedaling execution and this is really evident when climbing hills. I found the climbing more easier, some of which also contributed by the new wheel I guess, but significant from the ring. On flats, the feeling is like you are on a 0.5% decline. I'm convinced they work and would advocate all of us to try them out. They however, do come in various sizes and settings for which I am still trying to figure out. As such, I cannot recommend the best size or setting for u and I myself am not convinced I have the right size or setting. A little more rides over the next couple of weeks I should be clearer. This is one upgrade I think will help most of us here, not only for the more efficient hill climbing pedal stroke, but also to help improve your pedal form and technique.

Here is an article on the Q-rings which is pretty close to how I feel about them. Knock yourself out guys!--> http://bespokecycling.blogspot.sg/2012/07/rotor-3d-and-q-ring-review.html — with Lim Wee How.



October 2013 Update:

After using the asymmetrical rings for the past 4 months, i found it was inefficient...the "square" rings depend a lot on applying the pedaling force on a sector/phase of the ring whilst relaxing in the other phases, but I realized when I accelerate or attacking a hill, this particular sector of the ring changes for me so become inefficient lor....haha....its good if your pedaling technique still not ideal cos it forces you to learn how to pedal but if you have good pedaling technique already then it restricts you pretty much....again in my opinion only..I've given up on them literally and I think the round ring is perfect shape liao, no need to be square


i want to pedal in circles not pedaling in squares hahaha

The Power Meter and Hill Climbing

As we approach the final week of our build up towards our epic trip to Cameron, let me share some of my reflections, lessons and experience from hill climbing in Ampang and the recent use of the power meter in my preparation for this event. 

We have probably one or at most two more hill workouts left before our ascent next weekend. For those that have been training regularly, I’d suggest doing a brick workout if u can as a last intensive workout. This brick session would comprise an endurance ride with a hill workout, in so simulating Day 2 and also allowing u to be sufficiently fatigued to test your hill climbing rhythm. If however, you don’t feel up to it or have not been sufficiently conditioned or have left training to the last minute or not at all, no fret, just concentrate on finding a hill climbing rhythm should be enough. So hit Mt Faber or Telok Blangah hill and do a few loops just to find this rhythm. The trip next week is NOT a race, so there is no urgency to get yourself super fit or in top form. Find your climbing rhythm, you will find the trip pretty enjoyable liao. All things else, posture, cleats, nutrition, braking, bike handling etc…on job training can la.

I would seriously suggest to end most of the strenuous training by end of this week and taper your mileage next week to recover. The prep over the last few weeks would have caused your fitness to increase but also cause u to be more fatigued. So by tapering, you will lose a bit of fitness, but good news is, if u have been regular with your training, not to worry too much because the recovery of fatigue will more than outpace your loss in fitness. So still continue to ride next week but lessen duration and intensity. My plan is to ride Tuesday and Wednesday but recovery pace only. Recovery pace is actually zone 1 or 2 based on power or heart rate fyi.

Lessons I learnt. Most we have learnt together already. May be quite technical, but if u understand the concepts, I’m pretty sure it will help u:

1. Find your rhythm. Find your pace for climbing hills. This does not mean climbing at a particular speed. It actually means keeping the power used to climb as constant as possible. Most of us will probably not have the experience of the type of hill climbing to be expected. Singapore does not have the length of climbs that these places provide. Imagine inner loop of mount faber 3-5 x as long but with no reprieve of the uphill..ie no gradual flattening out in the uphill segment like the inner loop, just up up up. So its important to find a rhythm or pace that can carry u up..er,... indefinitely 

a. Power=Force applied on pedal x Cadence

b. Have a sense of the power you need to sustain climbing indefinitely. For those with a power meter, this is generally at your FTP or preferably less. If you apply more Force, the Cadence need to be lower, or vice versa, to maintain your Power constant.

c. If you are overweight or don’t have a FTP of 4W/kg, throw cadence out the window. Your weight will obligate u to apply a minimum Force on the pedals when climbing anyway, increasing your Cadence will unnecessarily bring your Power output beyond your FTP and make u go into oxygen deficit. So slow cadence is alright when climbing hills for the overweight cyclist.

2. Avoid surges. Surging means varying your power output by suddenly increasing your power output and then reducing it just as suddenly. This can occur if u are focused on maintaining speed or trying to overtake. Surging zaps energy and makes you fatigue very quickly.

3. Conserve, conserve, conserve. Cycle smart, save as much energy as u can. As this is not a race, no need to burn any matches. Completion takes priority rather than speed. 

a. Coast on the downhill. Remember that for every extra 1km/h you achieve by peddling exponentially increases your power used.

b. Let the terrain do the work.

Last one or two workouts to try these strategies out. I have found out after all these weeks that actually these may be enough to get you through even with just minimal training. So there is hope yet haha.

I am looking forward to the trip next week. All the preparation can never ever make you completely prepared in such trips. Safety comes first. So take it easy guys, relax and enjoy. So don’t care whether ride, take bus or what la, just gonna enjoy. I’m glad so many of our group are going up on this trip and I am sure we will have a great time like in KL. 

Huat ah!

Learning points from LCSG's King of the Hills 2012

Just like to share my experience of the past few days on tackling hills. I decided to take part in the KOH event because I thought it would be a good opportunity to bring hill training to a different level. It would give me a chance to experiment with equipment and improve form and technique. Boy i certainly got more than I could ask for haha...the first two training sessions were indeed humbling. I chose Mount Faber as the key challenging adversary and the initial two sessions saw me struggling to get past the slope without stopping to gasp for air. Whilst stopping and gulping air, several roadies would past by steadily and oh also a Bike Friday Pocket Rocket) and do loops on the mountain. I could only watch in admiration and vowed to return one day and do the same thing. But before I could do that there was KOH looming up in the weekend. It did not help also that we had just finished a long 160km ride a few days earlier and I was recovering from the flu so energy levels were low and I had lost at least one third of my cardio respiratory fitness. So I had to strategize a plan. My objective for this event is to complete it not how fast. What were the factors that would impact my hill climbing performance.

Intrinsic factors - fitness, weight, condition
Equipment - wheels, gears, 
Technique - spinning, mashing, form

Intrinsic factors
I couldn't do much about these haha. You either have it or u don't and time ran out on improving these overnight. Weight does play an important part in cycling particularly hill climbing. No point having the lightest bike in the world and u are 10kg overweight. I had already lost 10 kg but it was not enough as that only brought me down to a normal weight. To be a good climber I had to lose another 10kg to bring me to racing weight. So too bad Liao..do what I can.

Technique
There are two types of cyclists..the spinner and the masher..those that can combine both become phenomenal riders eventually. I consider myself more of a spinner as I don't have the strength to mash away at the paddles for long. A spinner takes advantage of gearing and adjusts speed by improving cadence. To climb hills I had to have a gear low enough to spin and maintain an acceptable cadence. No spin no movement. I targeted 60 rpm as the figure to go for.
Some tips on technique: stretch before starting as this helps prevent cramps, warm up enough before going up the hill or else u find yourself in a cardio respiratory mismatch with the exertion, take your time going up as this is a competition against yourself only. The thing I learnt about hill climbing is that it is indeed humbling and must know when to Cheong and when to ease up. The first time hill climber that Cheong will realize how quickly he tires out and maybe stall. So it's better to pace yourself, maintain a comfortable cadence and inch your way up. Some cyclists advocate getting off your saddle. While this technique works, I advocate doing it if u are familiar with the route and if u know where the top is. Getting off your saddle zaps u of energy very quickly and for the unwary he might find himself totally flat without reaching the apex. So save this technique for the last burst and gear up one or two gears if u do it to take advantage of this so called second wind. I learnt all these the hard way especially the first two attempts on Mount Faber.

Equipment
Ah..this was where it really got interesting and lots that can be done. Contrary to belief, the roadies will find it harder to climb up a hill than a smaller wheel bike. This has to do with the gearing ratio or gear inches when comparing a big wheel vs small wheel. From wiki, Gear inches is a relative measure of bicycle gear ratios giving an indication of the relationship between the pedal effort, cadence and bicycle speed in different gears. The gear inch measurement is a range based on the number of gears u have. For a big wheel bike these normally range from 40-120 or so. For the small wheels, they usually range from 25-90. The higher the gear inch selection u have the faster u can go provided u have the strength to carry u through. The lower part of the scale helps more in hill climbing. The lower the number the easier to climb or carry a load. Speed is irrelevant here. I considered myself an average or above average hill climber. I can do Mandai hills relatively well but when I first tried the KOH hills, I was truly humbled lol. Unlike Mandai, there is no long stretch before the hill to gain momentum and force your way up the hill, here the hills come up to u and u have to rely on your pure strength and stamina...no momentum. Straight away I realized that my weight would be a factor and though I could lose weight in time, that ain't gonna happen overnight. So I started playing with the gearing ratios. I started out with a 53/39 front chainring and a 12/25 rear cassette. This saw me struggling up the mountain with a low end gear inch measurement of 41". So I compared what others were doing. The foldies had low end measurement of average 30". I said to myself..oh wow I'm gonna suffer if I maintain my current set up lol. In fact i was looking at the lcsg forum and someone brought his gearing down to 23" for this event.. Oh wow! These guys are serious..So one day I popped into bike plus and asked if they had a large rear cassette for my bike. Luckily they had a 11-28 cassette. So I swopped my rear for this. I now had a lower gearinch number at 36" but wasn't sure if it would be enough. I attempted mt Faber again in the mid week. Oh this time so much better and can do the full mountain and inner loop with only a short 2" stop. I wasn't confident of being able to do the hill more than once though. So I brought my bike back and checked if they got a compact crank (50/34 crankset)... Guess what? they did haha...anyway during the first visit, I was already told that my chain and crankset had already worn out which was causing the chain to drop more than one occasion so it was opportunity to replace these anyway. So I changed the front end to the compact to match the 11/28 rear giving me a gear inch range of 31-120...not bad indeed...I had gained a bit from my top end 116 to 120 gear inches but a world of difference at the low end 41" to 31".. easily a 20% improvement in hill climbing ability! So so fun! Yesterday's ride was so much more manageable. Oh before I forget, better check your bicycle before going up the hill..after the 160km ride many thing came loose for my bike and had to be tightened.

Anyway to cut a long story short..check your equipment if u having problems climbing.. I am a true believer of using technology especially if it helps u improve your performance. Speed is overrated I say...make yourself more efficient..more fun! In other words, it may not be u, it may just be the equipment LOL!! Otherwise the other way is to Get on the Program! The Program?... Growth hormone nightly, EPO a week before the event, blood transfusion the night before...hahaha

Finally, i also want to say that I personally am not sure if all my training and changes will give me enough strength to tackle all the hills but am happy to just give it a good go and gain some experience. ...till next year!! Good luck guys haha.

P.S. Oh...lorong sensuai next week anybody?....lol