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The inevitable bike blog post
Doping. Sooner or later anyone with a vague interest in sport cycling will bring up the topic of doping. Heras and Millar's recent news profile got me thinking about it again. I have written a few posts about riders who have had their run-ins with the authorities and I am finding it increasingly difficult to be objective about individual cases because it has become such an everyday aspect of the sport. Unfortunately, my opinion is becoming more and more dependent on popularity rather than facts. To be crude about it, I would happily watch Hamilton and Heras race again, but couldn't care less if Rumsas or Hondo race again.
Apologies for those who have been reading this blog for a while but I'm going to repeat parts of an older article originally about Frank Vandenbrouke because it pretty much explains my take on the situation.
Whether you are vehemently anti-doping or accept it as a forever present element in sports where the physical demands on athletes necessitate its use, it is impossible not to see that the doping scandals of recent years have seriously damaged the image of many sports, and none more so than cycling. For all riders caught up in doping scandals it is always fascinating to see if and how they manage to continue there cycling careers.
Setting aside the potential obstacles of bans and custodial sentences making a sucessful return to the top must depend hugely on the reaction from teams, sponsors, fellow riders, the press and the fans. Fortunately (maybe unfortunately) there seems to have been more than a few episodes in recent years from which to learn lessons. Pantani, Ullrich, Zulle and Virenque all made comebacks from scandals of varying degrees of seriousness, albeit with limited success for some of them. For the latter two, the way they reacted to the 1999 Festina affair made a big difference to the speed of their comebacks. However, although both tasted success subsequently, I believe Zulle did so with much less of a smear to his character. His relatively immediate admission and acceptance meant he returned with the image of a someone who served his time and was left to continue his career carrying very little baggage from his past. Virenque on the other hand relied on something else to ease his return. His popularity. "Housewive's favourite", "Tricky Dicky", call him what you want. His popularity with the French fans, to the chagrin of the officials, helped him overcome a very serious image problem. Pantani and Ullrich also both benefitted from being very popular riders when caught in sticky situations. Why are they popular? Because they are all very talented cyclists; between them they have given cycling some of its greatest moments. The same goes for the recent cases. Who will forget Hamilton's exploits with broken bones, Millar's debut prologue win, Heras on the Angliru.
And here's the rub. Riders like these are needed by everyone involved in cycling. Teams and sponsors need talented high profile riders to raise there rankings and provide better media coverage. Race organisers need to attract riders like these to promote their events and provide competitive high quality racing. The fans want to see these riders because they will provide them with some of their greatest memories as spectators.
For the teams, it's a fine balance between demonstrating an intolerance of doping (and other misdemeanors) and needing to secure the services of good high profile riders; Saunier Duval being a recent example. For the fans, it's the balance between passion for the sport and any moral contentions they may have.
Cranks and crank length, any advice?
I am looking for a new chainset and have been mulling over the possibility of trying a longer crank length so I have been looking around on the web for some advice for taller riders.
I am 6'3 with a 90 cm inseam so, purely on proportions, according to Lennard Zinn the ideal crank length for me should be .216 x inseam, this results in a crank length of over 190mm.
I am currently riding with 175mm cranks and certainly don't want to jump up to custom 190mm cranks without trying an off-the-shelf slightly longer crank first, something like a Campag 180mm.
Does anyone have any experience of using non-standard length cranks?
As with many things cycling I have a suspicion the answer to this will be "we are all different, it's personal preference".
Sleep
I know I am not an insomniac, but I am a terrible sleeper. I know the importance of sleep and especially its part in the post-exercise recovery process. I also know that, more often than not, I do not get the recommended amount.
My main problems are:
- I rarely get into a regular routine of going to bed and waking up at the same time.
- I allow the events of the day to effects my state of mind too much. On too many occasions I have gone to bed with lines of code looping round my head.
- I don't let myself wind down towards bedtime by avoiding TV, PC's and exercise.
Being away from the computer and TV for last two weeks has done a lot to improve my sleep, but before going away I was having some pretty poor night's kip. So I was trying a few things to improve matters. Two methods in particular do seem to be working. I am drinking a glass of milk before going to bed and I have got hold of a clock lamp which fades down over 30 minutes and back up again in the morning at the required time. The milk's an old trick, but I was pretty sceptical about the lamp , however it really does seem to be working.
If you want some good tips on getting a sound nights kip there's a good post over at To-Done thats worth having a peek at [ Tips for getting to sleep faster & sleeping better ].
Communal cycling online
Sorry to those who have contacted me through the contact form recently, I have been a little slow in replying.
I have received a few emails about online community tools for logging training and mileage. It's something I have thought about doing for herneweb in then form of a training log but I haven't had the time to get this off the ground. Having said that, any contributions to the climbs log or rides and features sections are always welcome.
Here are a few tools along the same lines that have come to my attention
BikeFacts.co.uk - This is a nice little app under development. It allows commuters to log their performances to and from work and compare their times against other commuters. I am glad to see that they do not advocate an extreme/no holds barred race to work and highlight the importance of following normal road regulations. I will follow the development of this with interest; it looks like a good fun community tool.
Entryworks - JoT - this is, to quote the site, "a fully featured online Training Log and Fitness Journal. Manage daily workout data: track fitness, monitor nutrition, lose weight...". I had a browse round the site using the demo login and it has a fair few features and has training programs for many sports other than cycling.
Spinner Saturday - The Amazing Shrinking Man runs a weekly mileage round up for those wishing to submit their numbers. Nice and quick!
Bananas etc. 44%, energy bars etc. 56%
The manufactured nutrition beat natures own in the vote this month. Sorry it was a pretty lame vote subject but the numbers were high so it's quite representative of the hw readers preference at least.
The current vote is "In light of the drugs scandal should Johan Museeuw still be considered one of the greatest classics riders of all time?"
Dead zone
A mixed ride today with the excitement of some new wheels dampened by a total lack of energy.
Setting out at a medium pace for a medium distance I was soon feeling the effects of the journey home and two weeks off the bike. I find it very easy to slip into the dead zone between slow endurance and high end training, especially when I've been off the bike for a while. I am aiming to be in the best shape possible for the Gran Fondo we are planning to do in June, so for at least the next six weeks am sticking to the long slow rides accompanied by some gym work.
To help with this I've dug out the heart rate monitor, replaced the battery and will use it to control my pace on lone outings. I'm not a slave to the gadgets but equally I am no Pantani, who never used technical monitors and instead rode purely on feeling. Unlike him I am not attempting to create the "poetry of our sport", I just want to get in good shape.
The good side of today's ride is that I got to test the new wheels for the first time. You can read my first review on the Flash-Point site
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