Too cold to ride? Too much ride? Time to dial back...

So I took a couple of cold weather rides this week to try to stay somewhat fit after oinking out on all the holiday dishes of slow cooked chuck roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, meatballs, lingonberries, salad, green beans, cookies, caramel corn, and uh, more.

The weather was clear after a lot of rain, but in the low to mid 40s, which to me at least, is seriously nippy when you’re in the wind chill of riding the bike between 15-20 mph. I covered my ears, wore long fingered gloves and put toe covers on my cleats. I wore a long sleeve fleece-lined jersey over a long sleeve shirt, and took off. And I stayed pretty warm. One ride was 33 miles, the other, the next day, was 51. On the last five miles of the second ride, I noticed my toes were numb. And visions of a hot shower danced in my head.

This cold weather riding made me think about a question. At what point is it too cold to ride? And beyond that, on long organized endurance rides, like the Death Ride in my area, which involves climbing and descending five peaks, at what point is a ride just too much ride? When is it just too freakin’ long to be worth it?

We all ride at different levels to be sure, and some of us can tolerate cold better than others. But, today, I could have gone on a ride. But the weather is once again in the low 40s and cloudy. And I couldn’t get up for it today. Just wasn’t up for the cold.

That no-go decision came from a gut check of what I want out of a ride. And in cold weather, I want to be warm enough to not be bothered – i.e. numb in the extremities -- by how cold it is. And no, I don’t care if that’s considered, uh, unmanly!

Same for extra long rides with big doses of tough climbs. Sure, as in the Death Ride, it’s considered a distinctive badge of major endurance to ride the whole thing from start to finish. But I’ve ridden all of its climbs individually or in combinations with buddies. And the thought of running them all together in one ride, is to me, too much ride. Overkill. Not fun. To me, four of the climbs and descents are more than enough of a ride to sufficiently kick one’s ass, while providing a legitimate sense of accomplishment. The Death Ride’s fifth climb, the last, comes at the hottest time of day -- the afternoon -- against a headwind. Now to me, that’s not worth doing. It means you have to go into it pedaling the bike at a snail’s pace, exhausted, until finally – hopefully -- you reach the end, having sufficiently beaten yourself up to declare yourself a bad ass. But really, when you really think about it, nobody cares if you’ve just made it through a tough ride.  Nobody!

We’d like accolades and respect from others, but ultimately, we’re riding for ourselves. Yes, it feels great to know we’ve conquered a big physical challenge. But that “I’m such a badass” feeling fades away like a tan in December (except in Australia, South America and Africa!).

So why kill yourself? Why not get in a long ride that isn’t as long, one that challenges your endurance, but one that doesn’t leave you trembling in the fetal position, sucking your thumb and mumbling to yourself? Pushing yourself to ridiculous extremes is fine – if you like extreme punishment. But let’s face it, at some point it becomes, oh I don’t know…kinda stupid!

I used to think running and finishing a marathon would put me into an elite status of athletic toughness. I thought that if I did a marathon, I’d feel superior to those that hadn’t. But running five straight marathons – one a year – many years ago, cured me of that mentality.

On the first marathon, I didn’t train long enough, and then caught a cold. I finished the thing, but it completely beat me mentally and emotionally. I even remember sobbing in utter misery toward the end, barely moving on cramped legs, no more energy, wondering what the hell I was doing this for!

The next year I trained enough, didn’t catch a cold, and finished with a much-improved time. Same thing for the third try, got a better time. Not as fast as my goal, but a better time. But on the fourth one, my time slipped. And on the fifth one, my time slipped more.

After that I took inventory of this marathon running business. I figured I’d reached the peak of my speed on the third run. I remember how I felt at the finish of each one – I’d ask myself why I had just subjected my body to such a thorough thrashing – and each time, I couldn’t come up with an answer. I’d told myself that it was a physical challenge that would make be admired by others with less dedication, strength and endurance. But then it dawned on me, I’d been trying to prove something to myself. Nobody else really cared that I ran the race or how fast, or how slowly. So all I ended up with was a minimally boosted ego along with a beat up body. I decided the self-flagellation was no longer worth it.

I know that super endurance events are big deals for a lot of athletes. I say, go for it, more power to you, do your thing. But I learned that self knowledge is what makes or breaks the value of a long run, or a long cycling foray or any extended physical outing. To me, when you know what you want out of a run or a ride, or any other physical activity, you’re on track to get the most out of it. You know how far to push yourself, and how far not to push yourself. And staying within a reasonable framework is the key to fully enjoying your activity. If you don’t stay within yourself, you’re sure to do one thing, and it’s not fun: Burn out.

So in the spirit of knowing yourself enough to dial into your cycling or other physical challenges with maximum benefit, here’s a youthful Clint Eastwood, playing Dirty Harry, on this very point:

Until next time, always remember to put a helmet on before you get on the bike. Then do all you can to keep the rubber side down!

-- Mark Eric Larson

Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit: 
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelf
His blog of personal essays is at: http://marksmuzings.blogspot.com/

Wanna ride fast, strong? Get your core on!

Better muscle flexibility in my legs, arms, back and stomach has done wonders to help me have stronger, faster bike rides.

And there are two big reasons: Regular sessions of Yoga and Pilates.

For many years I had back pain issues from the immobility associated with a 9 to 5 job. I sat in a chair five days a week and wrote news stories on a computer while my back and core muscles hibernated. Another hindrance is that, genetically, I don’t have the most flexible muscles in the human spectrum, and flexibility is definitely genetic.

Put it all together and I was a recipe for the occasional pain crazy lower back spasm. Once I even had the lovely experience of sciatica, where I felt throbbing pain from my butt down my left leg to my big toe, oh, for about an un-fun month or so. Oww. Ack! OwOwOw!

But the back spasms struck with a vengeance here and there and came without warning. They left me feeling instantly 30 years older, stooping around like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, in a defensive crouch. That was the only way I knew to avoid pissing off my ever so cranky lower back muscles, that seemed to be saying, “Go ahead, make my day move…just the wrong way… and BAM! I’m giving you another BACK SPASM, funnyboy!” Here’s Clint Eastwood giving a perfect impression of a back spasm ready to fire off:

Nooo, nono, I didn’t want that – my particular back spasms, after providing a jagged bolt of pure, chronic pain, had lingering, nagging muscle ache after them. And that lasted a week or longer before I felt normal enough to move pain-free again.

But eventually, regular Yoga and Pilates sessions, a regular morning routine of hamstring stretches and abdominal exercises, mixed with some weightlifting, have combined to bring me liberation from years of back pain tyranny.

OK, I still get a cranky lower back in the mornings sometimes. But after I do my routine of stretches and ab work, the pain almost always goes away. And I’m oh so very glad about that!

It helps that now I’m a freelancer and no longer on a 9-5 office schedule. I make up my own hours, so I ride my bike a lot more, and rarely sit for hours at a time. By the way, if you can ever swing the freedom to make your own work schedule, do it!

Three years ago, after many years of fully intending to try Yoga, I bit the bullet and started three, hour-long Yoga classes a week, and a once weekly Pilates class. Back then, I was stiff as a board, and could only manage a laughable effort to touch my toes. My muscles and I groaned when I tried to stretch. But as I kept at it, my muscles got more flexible, and the stiff, pain-fests gradually turned into feel-good flexibility sessions.

My hour-long Pilates class, tough as it usually is, has also done a great job building my core strength, through work on abdominals and on the transverse abdominal muscle. A physical therapist told me the transverse abdominal is the band of muscle around the lower stomach and lower back that stabilizes the back. Trouble is, most of us don’t flex the TA regularly enough to make it strong. So in a relatively flabby state, it really doesn’t do much for back or core strength. And oft-tested abs, which sit above the TA, will also make major contributions to a strong mid-section.

I never really had anything to compare my before/after Yoga/Pilates/core work until last summer. That’s when I went kayaking with my buddy Doug down in Southern California. His kayaks have molded interiors, seats with nice back support and footrests. When I’d kayaked with Doug in the past, I felt like I needed stronger abs and lower back muscles. It didn’t take long before I was tired, my lower back hurt, and I slouched to ease the pain.

But this last time was different. My core strength gave me much more leverage while paddling than before. It was easier to sit up straight, and being taller in the seat, I could power down on the paddle strokes much better and with an easier rhythm. I used to feel like I was paddling upstream even when I was on a calm lagoon. But this last time, I paddled with power for a good bit before I got tired.

On the bike, and for most physical activity, a strong core is a huge factor in stamina and performance. I noticed I got faster on climbs with a strong core and also during extended pedaling on flat roads or rollers.

And Yoga relaxation techniques have also helped. Cindy, my instructor, often has us breathe and relax all muscles while a particular muscle group is stretched.

To get us to release muscle tension, she often tells us to relax our face. The face is really the entry point to perceiving the world with our eyes and expressions made with our facial muscles. When your face is free of muscle tension and deep breathing, it sends a body-wide message to relax all your muscles, including those getting stretched. That paves the way to a healthy stretch and is the mind/body coordination that inspires Yoga practice.

Yoga-learned relaxation has improved my cycling, I find, especially when suffering on a climb, or on an extended ride when fatigue starts in. Already breathing deeply, I relax my face and hands on a tough climb, or when I stand on the pedals to build more climbing momentum. Just like in Yoga, the relaxed face and soft hands let the mind and body relax, while pedaling under stress.

This works, uh, at least until you push enough to get lactic acid buildup in your legs and cramps come calling. But seriously, the next time you’re in a tough climb, relax your face and hands. I bet you’ll notice it helps.

And if it works, even just a little, maybe you’ll give regular Yoga and Pilates classes a shot. If you do, pay attention to how over time, the work boosts your power and stamina as a bike rider. When you feel the rewards of stretching and strengthening your riding muscles with stronger, faster rides, it really feels great. If you haven’t done this yet, do it!

Til next time, remember to always put on a helmet before getting on the bike. And after that, don’t forget, it’s your job to keep the rubber side down. Have fun and be safe.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit: 
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelf
His blog of personal essays is at: http://marksmuzings.blogspot.com/

Fast descent? Do the right thing...

While tough climbs up mountain roads have their rewards, fast, technical descents on a road bike have heart-pounding thrills aplenty. Now, this type of descent on a road bike isn’t anywhere near the technical riding of say, a Red Bull mountain bike descent championship. There aren’t death falls abysses on either side of the four-inch wide desert rock and dirt trail. On a road bike those falls are a potential sometimes on one side of a relatively wide asphalt road. A roadie doesn’t have any big gap jumps like pro MBers, do, catching enough air to do a style kick out or a 360 to rack up more points.

No, the biggest challenge to descents on a road bike can be boiled down to a couple things. Assuming your bike is in working order with good brakes and tires, you have to keep from going so fast that you lose control. And that can happen when you’re flying into a sharp turn or a switchback, and you have to take the line that will see you safely out of the turn. If you’re going too fast, that can be a big problem. And that’s plenty of challenge right there, really, just riding at an optimum, but still safe, speed. Because it means that as a rider, even though you want to push beyond your former limitations, beyond where you have gone before, there’s something to keep in mind, for self-preservation’s sake. Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry bad-ass cop character once made this pith observation onscreen many moons ago:

“A man’s got to know his limitations.”

Yes, it’s true. You can push your limits, it’s good to do. But you still have to know your ultimate limitations as a matter of survival.

If you keep your bike from going too fast on a descent, you allow yourself more time to take a safe line through curves. So going too fast can lead to a crash and maybe a free-fall through crisp mountain air onto a pile of jagged rocks somewhere along the cliff supporting the road.

At the same time, there’s often an urge to push your descent speed envelope a little, to see for yourself just how long you want to let the bike go all out.

And that’s where your nerve butts up against your self-preservation instincts. I’ve got a nearby hill that I do practice climbs on, usually five repeated climbs. The descent is steep at the top, does a couple of wide curves onto a straight pitch, then dips into a hard right at the end. I worked on going as fast as I could on these descents, but I had to work on building up my nerve a little bit. My goal was to pedal down the whole thing in my highest gear, even on the last steep tight curve, where cars sometimes pop up going the other way and squirrels sometimes decide to run across the road right in front of your tire. And sometimes a car is stopped at the park entrance checkpoint right as you come out of that last curve, and that requires deft but firm braking and a quickly figured path around the car. That has happened a few times. When it’s happened I’ve followed pre-planned escape routes to take while easing onto the brakes.

Practicing these descents, I worked on relaxing on the fastest part on the last steep turn. That’s where many times I’d lose my nerve and slightly brake, in case I’d come up on a stopped car.

But after checking that no cars had gone down the road in front of me, I forced myself to pedal through to the end. When I did that, it was a little victory of blasting through a window of fear, and it felt pretty good. So I did that until it was routine. Then I worked on just letting the bike go through the turn as fast as it wanted to, without pedaling. That also built up some more descending confidence.

And once you’ve ridden a descent a few times, you can’t help but ride it faster and more efficiently, because you get to know all its features. And each time you can test your nerve at appropriate sections with a bit more confidence.

But of course, descents are dangerous. If you fall, it’s going to be nasty. That’s something that lurks in the back of my mind when I’m pushing for speed on a downhill run. So I ride to feel within my zone of estimated safety, and each time, let my confidence, or not, dictate the speed and lines I take on curves.

Sometimes an accident can leave a rider unwilling to descend at high speed ever again. A riding buddy’s friend, whom I haven’t met, had a front tire blowout while on a high-speed descent. He managed to steer the bike across the road to a driveway that had a short up-pitch. He braked gingerly so as not to lose his balance with the blown out tire, and managed to bring it to a stop right at the closed garage door at the top of the driveway. While he didn’t have a cardiac arrest, the experience scared him down to the marrow. With that fresh in his mind, this rider has become unwilling at least for now to ride a fast descent. He was haunted by the close call. Who knows if he’ll get over it.

But that’s the thing. Fast descents are risky. You can have a blowout on a tire, then lose control at high speed and fall. You can hit a chuckhole in the road at high speed and get thrown off the bike. There are many more bad scenarios possible. But the point is, risk is part of the cycling and descending is part of the package. At the same time, there is a huge reward after descending a technical road at speeds pushing the edge of your bike handling abilities. It’s maybe not as big a thrill as what a pro mountain biker feels after mastering one of those nasty competitive stunt filled rides. But it’s still pretty satisfying. To me, a challenging but fast descent beats even the craziest amusement park rollercoaster ride I’ve ever been on. And that’s just one of the many reasons riders like to ride.

Till next time, remember to always strap on a helmet before getting on the bike. And then, it’s up to you to keep the rubber side down at all costs. Ride safe, have fun.

-- Mark Eric Larson

Mark Eric Larson has written two books of essays, "The NERVE...of Some People's Kids," and "Don't Force it, Get a Bigger Hammer. To read, visit: 
http://www.scribd.com/Mark%20Eric%20Larson/shelf
His blog of personal essays is at: http://marksmuzings.blogspot.com/