Fitness questions and answers for January 30, 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.

This made me think. If say for instance I am riding a 54cm Cervelo Soloist, I run a 120 mm stem. I have noticed that I have toe overlap on the front wheel when turning sharply, this has never been a problem in a race situation, only in slow speed maneuvers. I feel sometimes that a larger frame may be something that would work for me. I know this is vague, because I do not have any measurements to give you. I have been told that my legs are long as well as my arms for my size. I am 5'-8.5" tall, my inseam is 32in, and I weigh 145 lbs.

You are right. 30+ years ago, larger frames for a given rider than they would ride today were common. Riders had less gears to play with too, so pedaling fast for extended periods was more valued than it is now. This meant that seat tube angles were often (not always) steeper on many frames of the 70's than they are now. Leather seats of the era had much shorter seat rails than modern seats which steepened the effective seat tube angle by a degree typically. The net effect of all of this was that riders rode further forward generally.

I'm a male 54 year old, 185 lb avid recreational cyclist who logs about 3500 miles a year and does the typical circuit of charity metrics and centuries throughout the year including a lot of hill work. My wife and I also take cycling vacations with companies like Backroads and Trek Travel and have a trip planned this summer in the Santa Fe area where we'll be riding for a week at altitudes of between 7000 and 9100 feet.

Now, I wasn't using two HRMs at the same time, but I know from several years experience with the Polar, that I probably would have had a calorie expenditure of about 1800. I am a 59 year old male, 5 ft. 11 inches, and on both units I entered my actual max heart rate (177) derived from a stationary bike protocol. I am an experienced road rider. I inquired with Garmin's tech support about their Kcal calculations, and they simply responded that their formula was "proprietary."

I have two questions. What factors are typically included in the Kcal formulas used by HRMs? Do these formulas vary between manufacturers? With the discrepancy between the 2 units with which I've had experience, the question of accuracy of the Kcal estimates comes up. I always knew these were estimates, basically ball park figures, but with this recent experience, I almost wonder if these figures are garbage.

I am a 35 year old club racer with over 15 years of riding under my belt. On and off over the past four years I have had a problem with numb feet. I switched from Sidi's to Specialized Carbon Pro's to no avail. My bike, clothing fit is correct and I do not need orthodicts. Usually, after and hour and half of in the saddle riding results in my feet going numb, nothing else. No one as yet has been able to help me. Any suggestions?

I am having problems getting my cleat positioning correct, and I think it has to do with an anatomical problem. No matter what I seem to do, my right heel always wants to point outward, and my left heel always wants to point more inward (basically angling my legs to the left). I am uncomfortable unless they are angled about a half centimeter this way. As far as I know I don't have a leg length discrepancy, but my chiropractor feels that the pelvis is slightly rotated.

He measured me up, went ahead and built me the bike and I've been running it since. Just recently I wanted another road bike and went to see John Kennedy. He measured me up and came up with these dimensions: Seat tube length: 59 (centre to centre); top tube length: 58 (centre to centre); seat tube angle: 71 degrees; crank length: 175 mm; handlebar width: 44 mm; stem length: 110mm; handlebar drop: 14cm.

I'll let Steve give you the super duper Steve detailed answer, but here's what I thought as I read your note just based on the dimensions and before I read the lines that follow, and I quote myself here, "If he liked the old bike he's not going to like the new bike unless he's gained a bunch of weight. If he has gained a bunch of weight and liked the old bike, he's going to like the new bike more".

I can't answer your question in the way you would probably like me to as I know nothing about you other than what you have told me. What I can say is this: If you are in any doubt about buying a bike to the newer set of dimensions, have John Kennedy set your existing bike up in the position he intends you to be in and ride around in that position for long enough to be able to make a decision based on your own experience.