Fitness questions and answers for February 6, 2007

Form & Fitness Q & A

Got a question about fitness, training, recovery from injury or a related subject? Drop us a line at fitness@cyclingnews.com. Please include as much information about yourself as possible, including your age, sex, and type of racing or riding. Due to the volume of questions we receive, we regret that we are unable to answer them all.

Carrie Cheadle, MA (www.carriecheadle.com) is a Sports Psychology consultant who has dedicated her career to helping athletes of all ages and abilities perform to their potential. Carrie specialises in working with cyclists, in disciplines ranging from track racing to mountain biking. She holds a bachelors degree in Psychology from Sonoma State University as well as a masters degree in Sport Psychology from John F. Kennedy University.

Kelby Bethards, MD received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University (1994) before obtaining an M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine in 2000. Has been a racing cyclist 'on and off' for 20 years, and when time allows, he races Cat 3 and 35+. He is a team physician for two local Ft Collins, CO, teams, and currently works Family Practice in multiple settings: rural, urgent care, inpatient and the like.

Fiona Lockhart (www.trainright.com) is a USA Cycling Expert Coach, and holds certifications from USA Weightlifting (Sports Performance Coach), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach), and the National Academy for Sports Nutrition (Primary Sports Nutritionist). She is the Sports Science Editor for Carmichael Training Systems, and has been working in the strength and conditioning and endurance sports fields for over 10 years; she's also a competitive mountain biker.

David Fleckenstein, MPT (www.physiopt.com) is a physical therapist practicing in Boise, ID. His clients have included World and U.S. champions, Olympic athletes and numerous professional athletes. He received his B.S. in Biology/Genetics from Penn State and his Master's degree in Physical Therapy from Emory University. He specializes in manual medicine treatment and specific retraining of spine and joint stabilization musculature. He is a former Cat I road racer and Expert mountain biker.

Since 1986 Steve Hogg (www.cyclefitcentre.com) has owned and operated Pedal Pushers, a cycle shop specialising in rider positioning and custom bicycles. In that time he has positioned riders from all cycling disciplines and of all levels of ability with every concievable cycling problem.They include World and National champions at one end of the performance spectrum to amputees and people with disabilities at the other end.

Pamela Hinton has a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and a doctoral degree in Nutritional Sciences, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She did postdoctoral training at Cornell University and is now an assistant professor of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she studies the effects of iron deficiency on adaptations to endurance training and the consequences of exercise-associated changes in menstrual function on bone health.

Steve Owens (www.coloradopremiertraining.com) is a USA Cycling certified coach, exercise physiologist and owner of Colorado Premier Training. Steve has worked with both the United States Olympic Committee and Guatemalan Olympic Committee as an Exercise Physiologist. He holds a B.S. in Exercise & Sports Science and currently works with multiple national champions, professionals and World Cup level cyclists.

Richard Stern (www.cyclecoach.com) is Head Coach of Richard Stern Training, a Level 3 Coach with the Association of British Cycling Coaches, a Sports Scientist, and a writer. He has been professionally coaching cyclists and triathletes since 1998 at all levels from professional to recreational. He is a leading expert in coaching with power output and all power meters. Richard has been a competitive cyclist for 20 years

Andy Bloomer (www.cyclecoach.com) is an Associate Coach and sport scientist with Richard Stern Training. He is a member of the Association of British Cycling Coaches (ABCC) and a member of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). In his role as Exercise Physiologist at Staffordshire University Sports Performance Centre, he has conducted physiological testing and offered training and coaching advice to athletes from all sports for the past 4 years. Andy has been a competitive cyclist for many years.

The short answer to your question is that yes, individual muscle fibres have their own glycogen stores. They also share glycogen storage in the liver, but the rate of energy release that can be sustained by oxidation of hepatic (liver) glucose is lower than that which can be sustained by oxidation of locally stored glucose. And yes, the glycogen stores are depleted only in those fibres that are recruited during a particular exercise. The only thing you've written with which I take issue is the idea that the fibre recruitment pattern relates to a "percent" effort. Percent of what? The recruitment patterns of fibres in the bike-powering muscles depends on the force requirement, training and the availability of un-fatigued fibres.

I was tested a few years ago and was told that my lactic threshold was about 178bpm. When I race my average heart rate (HR) over the course of the race is consistently around 175bpm. In spinning classes when I can watch my HR, verses having to pay attention to where I'm going, I've seen my HR get up to 193bpm (this is when my eyes start crossing and I start praying for mercy). I've noticed that when my HR exceeds 179-180 it puts me on the rivets so to speak and I can't stay there for very long.

My general statement, particularly for people with injuries, is that a formula driven fit system is not an absolute answer, and any formula is only as good as the experience of the person using it. All that we need to do is look at the pro peloton to know that there are many different ways that riders successfully align themselves on their bike. To say that there is any one magical formula is shortsighted at best. To give you an idea of how many systems can give a best "fit" check out this site.

My question is, does this saddle break in at all or must I throw it away and get a more padded version of the SLR? Or are there any Selle Italia models of similar shape but more flex? I rode an avocet air 40 for 12 years with no dramas on even the longest rides, but I can't find anyone that sells them now and my old saddle is getting quite worn out. I realise that saddles are a subjective thing but not everyone can keep buying saddles until they get it right, any advice would be appreciated.

I am a 21 year old male, 6'0", with roughly 50/50 legs and torso, erring slightly on leg length. UK size 12 feet. My style is fairly high cadence, and I find it easy to find the "sweet spot" cadence, when you know you are at maximum sustainable power output i.e. comfortable, powerful and changing a sprocket in either direction would cause a loss of power. I ride a new, 56cm road bike, no radical geometry. I ride with the bar before the hoods almost horizontal (I tilted the bars upwards from stock to make it easier on my wrists when riding on the hoods). I ride Sunday club rides most weekends, of about 65 - 75miles at a decent pace, and during the week I commute 14miles per day through central London. This involves a long high speed blast at full effort down embankment for about 2.5miles, the rest very on/off sprint - stop - sprint riding.

My question is two fold. As soon as I bought the bike I changed the stem from an insane 120mm to 80mm, and it seems to suit me very nicely when I am on the hoods. My first problem comes when I move to the drops - I get firm, almost painful pressure on my perineum, and seem to lose power to my legs. I have noticed myself forcing a higher cadence until I become unstable before changing gear, instead of shifting in a smooth progression as I would on the hoods. Additionally, in order to hold the diagonal of the drops, a slightly forced wrist position must be adopted - presumably caused by my tilting the bars upwards, thus changing the angle of the drops. This combines to mean that I cannot spend very long riding on the drops, measured in a couple of minutes at a maximum.

My second question is that I feel I have my optimum cleat position sorted, I have a slight toe-down pedaling style, and I don't get any kind of knee or ankle pain even after 75-80mile ride. However, if I slow down or back off and just spin without putting any power through, as you would to drop gears whilst stopping for traffic lights, or to slow down gently behind another rider, or when pedaling at walking pace. My right knee feels "loose" I suppose is the best way to put it. A bit like the upstroke of my left leg is doing all the work and pulling my right shin down. This effect disappears the instant I put power though the pedals in a smooth circular motion, pushing and pulling on the top and bottom of the stoke as appropriate, but I can force it to happen by adopting a push-push pedal stroke.

If you have had persistent perineal issues, then either your seat is too far forward or too high. Perhaps both. We all tend to favour one side while riding a bike in the sense of dropping one hip and bearing more weight on the sit bone on that side. If the seat is even 3 mm too high, the tendency to do this is exacerbated and pain is often the result. If your seat has been set by formulaic methods (inseam measurement times a number) then this is even more likely.

I am doing some research for a local touring club (SCBC). I agree with your statement on older bikes since I still have mine. One thing that I have found is that every company measures their seat tube length from a different point. It seems to me that they used to measure center to center but now they are measuring center to top or center to top of the seat clamp, which could result in a shorter head tube. Compact frame measurements are even worse as they seem to be a guess. Case in point, I have a 59cm Lemond, 60cm Cannondale, 61cm Fuji and a 62cm Trek and all have relatively the same top tube within millimeters of each other.

I couldn't agree more. Many years ago, all seat tubes were measured centre to centre. This makes sense to me because if you are designing a frame with a CAD program or even on graph paper, you need to work along centre lines and that used to be the case. Cannondale were the first manufacturer that I am aware of that started measuring seat tubes from centre to top, possibly because their larger diameter top tubes skewed the measurement in terms of what most people used as a point of reference; i.e. a skinny tubed steel frame.