Official Sprocket Rockets Training Thread

[climberevan]

I'm stoked to see where this goes. Right now I'm in the midst of a big volume push to finish base season. After some consideration of a sweet spot focused plan for this year, I decided to stick with a polarized model, as that's worked well for me in the past. I also just like to spend 25 hours a week on the bike sometimes, so it suits me.

Lately I've been eating more and more often and even using a diy carb mix in one bottle on harder rides. I still mostly eat my homemade rice cakes, but now I'm eating half every 30 mins instead of going nearly an hour between feedings. It's been great for keeping the energy high in hour 7.

[jm2e]

No one wants to see little ankle panties.

This might be my favorite new expression of 2021.

Personally, I dig my Over The Calf Darn Tough socks. I've got the super think hunting version for winter riding, a medium thickness for spring & fall. Wish I could find a lightweight one that doesn't have any design. When they put thread designs in their tall socks the extra threads catch on shit and kill the elasticity.
Tall socks in summer for tics. Mother. Fucking. Ticks. I'd pull those fuckers up over my ballz if I could.

[The Suit]

pfft. Training.

Just use the fitness slider. It's in the garage. Behind the socks.

[radam]

Very interested in Pickle’s thoughts on cramping.

I know it goes against the research but I have zero doubt that electrolyte intake helps me. At a minimum, it reduces mental fatigue, but it also minimizes cramping for me. I’m not talking a pill here and there, but max recommended doses starting early in a long ride. If it’s placebo I’ll take it cause I got tired of finishing rides with my legs locked up.

I am very interested in this as well. I have had many many rides cut short due to cramps, and most were not even particularly long rides. For me it is usually a case of too many hard/sprint efforts and I often feel like I have a lot more gas in the tank than the cramps will allow me to use. I do not get out for as many hours/miles as I'd like, but I'd like to think that my general fitness level should be high enough to complete my normal weekday rides without fear of cramps looming in the back of my brain. And more to the point, I would really like to be able to plan longer rides to take advantage of the the rare half or full day hall pass, but I have had some bad outings (due to cramps) the last few times I've tried to do so.

[Dee Hubbs]

Fueling strategy question? I'm going to tackle the Full PRL ride on Saturday morning.
174 kms (108 miles) 2627 meters (8605 feet). Pacing at 2.0w/kg it should take me 6 hours.
I'm hydrating all day today to ensure I wake up Saturday hydrated. I'll eat a normal preride breakfast of Latte (with 12oz of milk) some Oatmeal with nuts and fruit and a yogurt.
Durning my ride I plan to drink a 16oz bottle per hour. I set a stop watch to beep every 10 minutes where I take a sip from my bottle of 2-3oz. I alternate between water and electrolytes every 10 minutes. So thats 6-7 bottles over the ride. Should I include caffeine in some of my electrolyte mixes? I use a a weak Gatorade mix or use nuun tablets and have caffeine options with the Nuun.
I just don't know what I should eat or how ofter? I know I have the luxury of eating real food because I'm in the house, but I also have plenty of "sport food" that I know my body likes. I have Stinger Waffles, Stinger Chews, Fig Newton Bars, and a Protien 20g bar. But I plan of having a rice protein meal for dinner tonight, and can have left overs during my ride on Saturday.

How often should I eat, and what should I eat to keep fueled thought this ride?

[smmokan]

Here's one for you: as someone who rides their bike quite a lot already, what kind of training or riding should I add to see the biggest gains? I don't lift weights at all, but I ride about 60-100 miles a week (all MTB) and do yoga a few times a week on average. My "normal" ride is usually around 15 miles with 3k+ feet of climbing, and it goes up to 30 miles w/ 5k feet in the summer and fall. I live in the Boulder area and typically ride FR stuff, but I travel a ton for work and ride all over the country.

Should I add weights or resistance training? Should I add more interval work? Should I do a longer ride each week to build stamina? I'm not looking to compete with some of the climbing freaks out here in Colorado, I guess I just want to bump my fitness up to the next level and feel like I can push it harder when I need/want to. I really hope you don't say to lift weights, because I absolutely hate it.

[fastfred]

I judge a ride by the joint, is it a quick two puff before you leave the house? Is it a half a joint or a full joint ride? was accosted outside a 7-11 in aurora this past weekend because some cracker liked my spandex outfit I don't think they see alot of spandex in the depths of aurora

was also considering using meth as a training enhancer after seeing this guy with no shirt on completely raging while fearlessly walking down the middle of mississipi with out a care for the cars around him in denver a few weeks ago

[bean]

Here's one for you: as someone who rides their bike quite a lot already, what kind of training or riding should I add to see the biggest gains? I don't lift weights at all, but I ride about 60-100 miles a week (all MTB) and do yoga a few times a week on average. My "normal" ride is usually around 15 miles with 3k+ feet of climbing, and it goes up to 30 miles w/ 5k feet in the summer and fall. I live in the Boulder area and typically ride FR stuff, but I travel a ton for work and ride all over the country.

Should I add weights or resistance training? Should I add more interval work? Should I do a longer ride each week to build stamina? I'm not looking to compete with some of the climbing freaks out here in Colorado, I guess I just want to bump my fitness up to the next level and feel like I can push it harder when I need/want to. I really hope you don't say to lift weights, because I absolutely hate it.

Yes you need to lift heavy weights.

https://youtu.be/V88wwTCs680

[EWG]

Very interested in Pickle’s thoughts on cramping.

I know it goes against the research but I have zero doubt that electrolyte intake helps me. At a minimum, it reduces mental fatigue, but it also minimizes cramping for me. I’m not talking a pill here and there, but max recommended doses starting early in a long ride. If it’s placebo I’ll take it cause I got tired of finishing rides with my legs locked up.

Salt has helped me as well, in cool and hot weather. My DIY Hotshot is a dry mix of salt, cinnamon, ginger powder, cayenne, vinegar powder and sugar. Pills seem to help me less than salt right in my mouth.

Is there anything to know about cramping that wasn't covered in Dylan Johnson's cramping video? I've made a DIY version of Hotshot that is fairly effective but I still have issues sometimes. I know that the data seems to show that the most effective treatment is to get in better shape, but I still have problems even when I'm well-trained. I never had issues with cramping most of my life, but about 10 years ago it became a chronic problem.

I'm no pickles (seriously, dude is a pro), but I've spent a long time chasing down a solution to this problem and I'll pass on what I know. Frankly, some of it may have come through pickles through mutual coach friends. Regardless:

There is no single cause of cramping. Everyone is different, and many folks have multiple issues that they need to solve. I won't go into the why it happens (though again, Pickles could likely give quite a lecture on the physiology if that is of interest) but here are some of the things that seem to help, in order of impact:

1. Sleep. By far the most impactful thing for most people as far as my experience. If you are training hard and not sleeping you are setting yourself up for a series of issues, cramping being one. (I think this book is great, by the way, and this is partially covered here: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Go-Athle.../dp/039325433X)

2. Calcium/Magnesium supplements. They really do work. Lots of them are marketing under names like "sport legs" but I've found you can just use bulk stuff from Costco.

3. Tylenol. Little known, but Tylenol can enhance endurance and seems to fight cramps. Not sure how - I read a number of studies on this which seem to be totally gone from my mind now. Would not recommend this be a routine supplement for obvious reasons.

4. Salts. Heavy doses. I like the Gatorade gatorlytes, but only half the pouches at a time. https://www.amazon.com/Gatorade-Endu.../dp/B0050Q4DJS. In theory this is far better for long efforts, but it seems to help me for stuff between 1 and 2 hours.

5. Fluids with carbs. I am always surprised at how little impact this seems to have, but in extreme circumstances (ie, you just aren't drinking or eating at all) it can get you out of the hole. Most non-beginner people naturally eat and drink enough to keep from cramping from due to this however (in my experience). (now, drinking/eating enough to maintain performance is a different issue entirely)

6. Pickle juice, mustard, etc. Yeah, anecdotally helps. I understand the theory behind the mechanism, just not sure it's not placebo.

7. Ok, this one is weird: phosphoric acid. As in, don't drink it (it's a major ingredient in most soft drinks.) My wife is a human health scientist and she worked with this guy who swore up and down that it pulled calcium out of your system and could cause muscle cramps under high loads. I did not believe it, but tried it. It worked for me. I don't think it was placebo, and there is science behind it.

8. Potassium. Again, makes sense in theory, but rarely the issue in my experience.


Hope this helps.

[smmokan]

Yes you need to lift heavy weights.

https://youtu.be/V88wwTCs680

OK... so I'll change my question to "what else can I do other than lifting weights" to make noticeable gains in fitness on the mountain bike?

[jm2e]

OK... so I'll change my question to "what else can I do other than lifting weights" to make noticeable gains in fitness on the mountain bike?

Furious Masturbation #amirightamiright

[climberevan]

I resisted weights too, but did a basic squats & one leg step ups program this year. The lack of available equipment was a problem but I solved it with a digging bar, water, and some random tow chains.

It was actually pretty fun to do 2x/week for a while. Now I'm just doing a maintenance dose 1x/wk.

Other than that, if you're not adhering to an actual program, you might be doing a lot of "junk miles"--not hard enough to really spur gains but hard enough to require recovery. Most training programs will tell you to do intervals crazy hard but spend most of your riding time going pretty easy.

[Full Trucker]

Other than that, if you're not adhering to an actual program, you might be doing a lot of "junk miles"--not hard enough to really spur gains but hard enough to require recovery.

smmokan's post pretty much captures exactly what I would want to know, and how much and what I ride is pretty damn similar to what he describes... just maybe slightly less volume. This thought above from climberevan kinda turned on a light bulb for me... dots are connecting on why I don't maybe see any appreciable progress in fitness year over year. Interested to hear what XtrPickels advises in this regard.

[skaredshtles]

<snip> why I don't maybe see any appreciable progress in fitness year over year.

It's because you're getting older year over year.

[jamal]

6-7" cuff is the right sock height.

I'm really liking having power and accurate hr when I'm riding the smart trainer and am trying to track down a power meter for the road bike now (stages for cannondale cranks). Although I probably don't really need one.

I have a tendency to just ride a lot, and that has done me alright but I've always known that I should be smarter about my training. Basically, make easy days easier and hard days harder instead of all that "in the middle stuff" that leaves you a little too fatigued to do a good hard workout.

I recently signed up for intervals.icu and it's pretty cool (and free). It tracks all your rides/workouts, estimates your ftp, freshness, etc. The thing I really like about it is how it breaks down your time in zones each week. It was kind of a surprise to see myself doing a pretty big week (like 14 hours in the winter), thinking I did some hard rides and races, and then, oops, I only spent a total of like 12 minutes above z5. You do need power and hr to take advantage of it though.