Painful Hill Sprints

When the team riders and clients take the time to come up to Macclesfield to train I always take the opportunity to show the athletes how to train. This weekend Nadine and James were up to pick up Nadine's Cannondales that were becoming a fixture in our front room, so I took the opportunity to run through the finer points of anaerobic power intervals.

As far as the UK goes, Macclesfield is as good as it gets for training terrain. The Cheshire plain allows you to complete big steady rides with only small variations in altitude, or you can head for the Peak District and find a good supply of long steady alpine gradient hills and short "chin strap on the bars" steep hills.

For those of you who have ever completed a Wingate maximal sprint test you know the pain and nausea associated with anaerobic power efforts. In order to replicate the same sort of loading that is achieved during a Wingate test where a given mass per kg body mass is loaded instantly to a cycle ergo meter as the rider initiates the sprint I get the athletes to do anaerobic efforts on a steep hill.

Nadine stated during the intervals she didn't feel fast as the hill prevented her gaining momentum and getting on top of the gear, but the power output is very good. Nadine will compliment this with high leg speed maximal intervals and the combination of the high force production from the hill reps and the high motor control from the fast cadence drills will enhance her sprint.

I won't post what happened after the 6th interval, lets just say Nadine pushed to the limit and perhaps a little beyond it. Good work Baby Belly ;-)

More snow pics

It's beautiful when the sun comes out but it can be a grim place when
it's wet and dull. Whatever the weather it's home and I love it.

It's still cold out!

I was having a good few weeks around Chrismas when the weather was
very cold, the trails were dry and I was getting a good ride in most
days. I was working on specific skills at set points along my route
and felt that I had made some real progress.

The steep hills through the forest and around the Peak District were
great for transferring my gym strength to longer muscular endurance
sessions, so I was on track to reach my preparation period goals.

That was until I found myself stuck in the apartment dealing with a
high coaching workload, writing plans and analysing power data. Not
only that I had to sort out the new team bikes, and wait for the mail
man.

On top of all that it's been snowing on and off for quite a few days
now, and the trails have become like a ski piste with deep snow that
makes pedalling real hard work, if you can get any traction at all.

The picture attached is the turn of to Charity Lane at the opposite
end to Forest Chapel. The whole lane is a 6 feet tall drift, I haven't
seen this sort of snow up here since the late eighties.

And as for the new Scalpel, I'm still sorting the steering out to get
the right reach without slowing the steering down too much. Some
aspects of the bike I like are the nibleness with which it climbs and
how well balanced the bike is on those steep climbs. I'm learning
about the lefty set up and may need to change the factory fitted
negative spring as I'm under 80 kg now and the spring fitted to my XL
Scalpel is for an 88 kg + rider. One aspect of the bike that I will
have to change is the 175 cranks, I've been on 180's for years now and
anything less feels like riding a kids bike. It's a shame as I'll have
to take the Cannondale BB30 SI cranks off which are über light, stiff
and look fantastic.

Biketastic

Mr Cotty at Cannondale has done a great job and the bikes have been coming in thick and fast. The bikes are in a state of transition, being pimped up with finishing kit from our sponsors Hope, FSA, Crank Brothers, Panaracer and lizard skins. No prizes for guessing which one is mine. I can't wait to get out on the Scalpel, im just waiting for some stem options to get the front end set up just right. Annie Simpson is the only rider to take her new Cannondale Synapse out for a spin during our training day last weekend and apart from a very non womans saddle she was right at home on the Synapse. Good news from the Team training front is that Nadine has made great improvements in critical areas of her physiology so she is well on track for a good season. Jenn as always is hammering the miles in with her commute every day through all weather and is coping well with being an Elite racer and a full time worker however we are both in need of a warm weather training camp. I gave the Scalpel a quick blast round the apartments where we live and I can report that it is the stiffest front end of any MTB I have ever ridden. I jumped back on my old bike with Reba forks and the difference was very noticable, and Reba's are great forks. I think the system integration on the Cannondale bikes is first class and is very evident in the ride charicteristics of the bikes.

The snow is still falling here in Macclesfield so the Forest is looking good for an early evening blast after work, the question is do I get the Scalpel dirty or take the old bike out which I have polished up ready for eBay?