Fitness questions and answers for September 18, 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.

Jon Heidemann (www.peaktopeaktraining.com) is a USAC Elite Certified cycling coach with a BA in Health Sciences from the University of Wyoming. The 2001 Masters National Road Champion has competed at the Elite level nationally and internationally for over 14 years. As co-owner of Peak to Peak Training Systems, Jon has helped athletes of all ages earn over 84 podium medals at National & World Championship events during the past 8 years.

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.

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.

Michael Smartt (www.wholeathlete.com) is an Associate Coach with Whole Athlete™. He holds a Masters degree in exercise physiology, is a USA Cycling Level I (Elite) Coach and is certified by the NSCA (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist). Michael has more than 10 years competitive experience, primarily on the road, but also in cross and mountain biking. He is currently focused on coaching road cyclists from Jr. to elite levels, but also advises triathletes and Paralympians. Michael is a strong advocate of training with power and has over 5 years experience with the use and analysis of power meters. Michael also spent the 2007 season as the Team Coach for the Value Act Capital Women's Cycling Team.

As a type 2 diabetic, I find it difficult, if not impossible, to consume the daily recommended 400-600 grams of carbs (for my weight) without adversely affecting my blood glucose in the days leading up to my 100 mile mountain bike races. I can manage about 200 grams. My performance in these races has suffered since I've become diabetic, and I attribute this decline in performance to my diminished pre-race consumption of carbs, since I can maintain adequate carb consumption while racing without adversely affecting my blood sugar levels. Any suggestions?

I'm a road/mtb racer heading into my first cyclocross season. I have a significant leg length discrepancy - around 5/8”, which I have effectively treated on my road bike with ~8mm of cleat shimming. I've done the same with my mountain bike shoes, using standard le wedge shims for SPD’s. However, the shims on my mtb shoes (SIDI dominator 5’s) place the cleat way out beyond the tread. This doesn't affect performance on the mtb significantly, but it’s very unstable for run-ups in ‘cross and I recently rolled my ankle (not badly, no sprain) on a particularly hard packed, bumpy running section.

So is this a problem that has been addressed before? I don't want to trash my shoes by attempting to glue a chunk of rubber to the tread, but that might be my solution. I've been to a cobbler, but wasn't confident that he could guarantee he could attain a specific thickness (given that he'd have to grind off the existing tread before gluing. Do you know if anyone makes “tread shims” for systems like SIDI’s SRS?

My son directed me to ask you folks - I am 70 year old female in good condition but have had orthoscopic knee surgery in both knees. I find that walking more than one mile per day results in some knee discomfort so I want to get my exercise on a recumbent bike. While in physiotherapy, I used such a bike half an hour a day and it was helpful. Any suggestions for the top 5 brand names of bikes given steadiness, adjustments, variety of resistance and medium price.

Here’s the confusing part: everything I've read suggests that pain on the front of the knee is usually attributed to a saddle position that is too low or too far forward. This doesn't apply in my case because my left leg is about .75 of an inch shorter than my right. The difference is all at the hip due to having Legg-Calvé-Perthes syndrome as a child. I'm not doing anything to compensate for the length difference except that my saddle height is a bit low for my long leg, my right cleat is a couple of mm further back than my left, and my saddle is angled to the left about 3 degrees. My right leg feels great. Off the bike my body has compensated for the difference so I don't use any shoe lifts, orthotics etc.

Frontal knee pain is usually saddle too low or too far forward. Frontal-lateral knee pain can be rotation of the lower leg causing the patella to track against one side or the other of the femoral groove. Since your pain is on the medial side of your knee, I'd suspect medial rotation of the lower leg. That can happen if the cleat is set to keep the lower leg medially rotated compared to the angle that would be required to get good patellar tracking, if the foot is permanently pronated (needs wedge to support inside edge) or if the arch of the foot collapses during hard pedaling since the collapsing arch also rotates the lower leg (needs arch support or orthotics).

5. My first bike - the one I rode for the last decade at first to rehab from my knee surgeries and then because I found I really enjoyed it - was steel, 48cm frame, 73deg STA, 74deg HTA, Eff TT 530mm, stem 70mm (!) /-17deg, standard classic handlebars (36cm c-c, 90mm reach, 140mm drop), saddle-handlebar height difference of 6cm, cranks 165mm, 700c tires, wheelbase 100cm, and trail ~50mm. I was not 'professionally' sized or fit - I just tried the few bikes available in my limited size and price range and picked the one that felt the best, with the only modification being the addition of speedplay X/2 pedals.

6. My new bike - the one I have ridden for 6 months now with more serious intent - is carbon, 49cm frame (compact), 74.5deg STA, 70.1deg HTA, Eff TT 510mm, stem 120mm (!) /-17deg, short/shallow variable radius handlebars (38mm c-c, 70mm reach, 120mm drop), saddle-handlebar height difference of 4cm, cranks 170mm, 700c tires, wheelbase 97.5cm, and trail ~50mm. I was 'professionally' sized (according to my physical measurements) to narrow down the bikes I test rode, but again I ultimately chose the bike that felt the best to me. I transferred my old speedplay X/2 pedals to this bike, and my saddle height has remained constant (adjusted for increased crank length) at 65cm from center BB. Then after being 'professionally' fit on the bike, I have since been changing things around to try to further optimize fit/performance. Mind you, it's never been bad (and I've won several local road races on it already, in this my first ever season racing) but ...

Specifically, I have gradually migrated from a more aft saddle position (nose several cm behind the BB) with a short 90cm/-6deg rise stem w no stack to my current setup with a fore saddle position (nose in line with the BB) with a longer 120/-17deg rise stem on 12mm stack (which has the effect of extending my stem a net amount of ~95mm beyond the HT when you account for the "setback" caused by slack HTA and stack height, for a total reach to the handlebars of 605mm while maintaining the same handlebar height; interestingly, on my old bike setup I measured the total reach to be 5mm less than that, but the reach to the hoods to be 15mm greater).

Now, it's interesting that everyone (the guys I ride with and respected bike shops alike) kept telling me that a 120mm stem was "too long" for my small frame (both me and the bike) and it would compromise the steering/handling. Still, I felt a little cramped in the cockpit but I didn't like setting my saddle back so much, so...I put on a 120mm stem! But (and I think this is critical), I also swapped out the 'normal-sized' handlebars that came with it (85+mm reach, 140+ drop) for short/shallow variable radius bars (70mm reach/120mm drop). And this combination feels dramatically better to me - more open hip angle, more powerful and efficient, better balanced and aerodynamic, more stable and yet still very nimble both in the saddle and out - and I use all positions on my bars with equal comfort. It is also worth noting that this combo places the hooks of my bars vertically directly in line with my front axle, which as I understand it provides the best front end steering/handling characteristics, yes?

As a side note, I was surprised to learn of the rules regarding positioning of the saddle nose no less than 5cm behind the BB for road racing (UCI rule 1.3.013), as this seems ridiculously far back for a small/short-femured rider such as myself - esp. if using a standard crank length. Just for grins, I put my saddle that far back (w/ saddle height and stem length adjusted appropriately) to try it out and it felt horrible in every way! (Thank goodness there is a "morphologic exception" allowed)

4. With regards to handlebar height and reach to the handlebar: Why does the bike ride quality feel different when I have the handlebars positioned in exactly the same 3D special location, but in one case achieved with a -6deg rise stem and no stack versus in the other case achieved with a -17deg rise stem and appropriate stack? I have concluded that the only real difference is in the length of the 'lever arm' as measured from the stem clamp along the steerer tube down to the front axle - it is longer in the later case. I especially notice it while rocking the handlebars back-and-forth during sprinting or climbing out of the saddle.

5. With regards to a stem and handlebar combo: What difference (if any) does it make if you achieve the same overall reach to the hoods with a short stem/long reach handlebar (as with my old bike) versus a long stem/short reach handlebar combo (as with my new bike)? I only ever seem to see discussions centered on the reach to the bars, but not the hoods/drops where I like to place my hands during all but steeper climbing (and then when I am steeply climbing seated I prefer my hands on the bars with the longer stem).