This is the third part of Rob D’Amico’s series looking at Tour Das Hugel and his attempt to do the 2011 ride. See here for Part I. and here for part II. He also is hosting a fundraiser that lets you donate a set amount for each mile he completes, with all proceeds going to local bike nonprofits.

About Me: Part III
My wife mentioned at one point in my training that it helps to not only visualize your achievement, but also to speak out loud to yourself to reach that goal. Something about your brain hearing the message audibly versus inside your head makes a difference. Somehow my declaration of, “I’m going to drink beer and watch hockey tonight,” on one particular jaunt through the living room never seemed to produce the desired results. But I have started talking to myself out loud on the rides. Mainly it’s, “I’m going to beat you…” and fill in the blank with the name of the hill. It seems to work. I just hope the hills don’t talk back.

I feel a tad weird right now coming into the final week before my ride Saturday. On the one hand, I’m proud that I’m doing dozens of climbs that most people wouldn’t attempt. On the other hand,  it’s really a bit silly that I’m writing about this ride when I’m barely making it up most of the bigger hills at an absurdly slow rate, and I’m threatening to finish in over 10.5 hours. (You can do the math on the average speed.) I wonder if I will continue down this road and actually try a true Hugel next year, or perhaps other fast-paced rides or long distances. One thing is for certain: I investigated a lot of the local breweries for possible supporters related to the event, and I’m mighty thirsty. So I damn better do something that burns calories each week.

I have managed to lose an entire pound more for a total of eight pounds shed, maybe nine if I take off my flannel boxer shorts. And with the ride day being Saturday and no big training days left, I’d say that I’m going to have to be happy with eight or nine pounds lost overall. Oh well, that’s all the less to haul all day.

Das Hugel: Part III
Since starting these posts I’ve heard from a lot of riders in my circle of cyclists friends who have fond memories of Das Hugel. Well, I guess I wouldn’t exactly call them “fond.” That’s kind of a flitty word for their experiences. Some noted that they finished so that they never would have to do it again. But all noted that you have to have the mental prowess going in…an attitude that simply says, “I’m going to finish.” That and the biggest refrain: drink and eat continually during the ride.

It will be interesting to see how many riders show up this year, since with the departure of the original crew of “organizers,” things seem to be quieter on the traditional communications front of listservs and social media. But many people already have posted that this ride will always happen. People will just show up.

The Course: Part III (The Second Loop)
Previously I described most of the first Hugel loop of just under 40 miles. I had heard the second loop is even harder (and of course longer at 68 miles).  After doing chunks of the course over a few weeks, I’d have to agree, and not just because your legs are reduced to rubber from the first loop. Some of the hills are just as steep as the High Road, but they’re longer. Here’s a quick look at how it goes, but for those who want detailed looks at the course and hills and how some of the more advanced riders have done, check out the Strava stats on this example, including hill elevations, grades, etc.  (You can also sign up at Strava for free to search other Hugel rides.)

Mount Bonnell
After returning to the starting place at the MoPac pedestrian bridge at Lady Bird lake, you head out Lake Austin Boulevard to Scenic Drive, a  picturesque little jaunt that runs on a cliff above Lake Austin. For a couple miles you almost feel as if you’re in a little European village along a river, since many of the stately houses along the street have an Old World look (betrayed somewhat by their massive square footage). Eventually you wind over to Mount Bonnell to climb it from the south, which isn’t particularly difficult, even for a novice cyclist intent on getting up top. But it reminds you that you’re on the road to pain again. Flying down the backside you’re treated again to a gorgeous view of the lake below and the hills beyond.

Cat Mountain
Passing 2222 you head up several hills in the Cat Mountain area. Nothing here is a killer if you’ve made it this far.

Smokey Valley/Ladera Norte
This is where Das Hugel gets to be a bit absurd. On the one hand, you actually go down the giant incline on Far West Boulevard heading west, but then there’s a little treat in store called Smokey Valley. The Hugel creators actually take you a block out of your way from the start of an already massive hill–Ladera Norte–to tackle this short, but insanely steep sucker. The first time I tried it I actually came within feet of the top before I gave in, but that was on an attempt with fresh legs. This hill is where I first started “paper boying”–zig zagging back and forth up the incline, both to get some relatively flat ground to push on, and to take a breather while still pedaling. Last week, I finally made it up, although with a couple zig-zags and another trick–rolling over onto a side street for a moment and turning around, as if that little detour gives you the momentum to again assault the peak. The reward for getting up Smokey Valley is simply the necessity to finish the rest of Ladera Norte. On one ride to the top of Norte, I stopped–as usual wheezing profusely–and looked down to find a coral snake slithering through the gutter pan by my feet. I actually thought about grabbing it and thrusting it into my jaws and clamping down, then taking a self-portrait with the iPhone. That’s what this ride does to you, or maybe just Smokey Valley. Red and yellow will kill a fellow.

Beauford
So there’s a bunch more notable hills in the route to this point. (Getting tired of the play-by-play?) So I’ll stick to the biggies. Everyone who rides Hugel has their “worst hill,” and at the top of my list–and many others’–is Beauford, off of Lakewood and 360. Not only is it curving and long (so you’re crushed to find out the peak is still way off and even steeper as you come around a corner), but it’s grooved with deep pavement divots that bounce the tires and rattle the wrists. I worry about this one on ride day. The course then takes you down Jester, one of the longer climbs out there, as a preview of what comes at the symbolic finish later.

West Courtyard/City Park Road
Heading down 360 you make a right on West Courtyard, which tops the hate list for a lot of other cyclists. It took several attempts to make this in one go for me. But even more discouraging is the fact that after finishing, you only have a short downhill breather before ending up in the middle of the City Park Road climb. Ugh.

River Hills Place to 620
Arriving in River Hills, you get a wide-open view of the west from a high elevation. It’s half inspiring, half terrifying, and it really gave me a good perspective of  the scope of the overall course. This section will play prominently on the way back.

620 to Mansfield Dam
The course takes you off 620 briefly, just so you can see a few picturesque shots of drought-devastated Lake Travis. And if you really wanted, I suppose you could stop in at the Oasis for a drink and to browse through some souvenirs. Then it’s on to another tough jaunt up Bullick Hollow Road. After that, it’s simply a slog to the dam and back. But in one of the nicer additions, the course takes you down a little trail tucked into the trees by the dam, then emerges at the low water crossing road over the river. It’s a nice resting spot, and I often take a couple minutes here just to take in the awe of the massive concrete dam and watch the egrets and herons swoop along the water.

Big View
Riding back the same way through River Hills, the Hugel designers decided that simply heading back to Jester Boulevard to finish wouldn’t be enough. So the course takes you down a giant lump call Big View into a quiet subdivision and suburban pocket park perched on the river, before landing in a dead-end cul-de-sac. The cruelty comes after you make your U-turn and look back to see Big View winding back up. The only way out is up.

Jester
A lot of people are familiar with Jester Boulevard, so it’s a good landmark to describe the kinds of hills Hugel presents. I actually made it up OK on my first attempt, although it was only after 20 miles of riding. And again I did it last weekend passing some guys riding the Enchilada Buffet, kind of the mountain bike version of Hugel. Coming in around mile 94, though, Jester is sure to be a bitch. Since it’s the last major hill, it’s really considered the symbolic end of the ride. Unfortunately, you still have to get back to the MoPac ped  bridge, 13 miles of pure hell.  If I make it to Jester, I simply ask the wind gods to take a smoke break and return later so that I can return to the finish without battling the open roads of 360 in a headwind. I think I will weep if the wind doth blow too hard at that point.

Equipment and Logistics: Part III
Rarely does the transportation cyclist have to worry too much about how their bike is configured, since you usually find a comfortable bike that fits your commuting needs and then outfit it with accessories for storage, lights, etc. And you’re usually not confronted with a barrage of steep inclines. But I immediately realized that the standard compact gearing on my Trek wasn’t cutting it for a beginner like me trying these hills with only a couple months’ preparation. I’m mechanically challenged, and a lot of the terminology is Greek to me, so I simply told Mellow Johnny’s, “Get me up these hills!”

Instead of going with a triple, which offers the ultimate “granny gear” for climbing, they outfitted me with an 11-34 rear cassette that seems to do the trick.  There’s a ton of info on the Web on this subject, but here’s the easiest explanation I’ve found if you want a quick overview, and as usual, here’s the most comprehensive from Sheldon Brown. Our own local Bike Noob weighs in on this subject on a variety of posts as well.

What About You? Part III
I really encourage anyone with decent riding skills to give Hugel a try. Although the caveat would be that you should be comfortable riding Loop 360 and it’s hazardous on/off ramps, as well as dealing with a bit of traffic in the winding roads of Westlake Hills. At worst, you’ll probably be able to struggle through 20 miles and still feel a sense of accomplishment. And you’re certain to open up a whole new world or riding hills and learning to love them. Kind of.

Additionally, the ride still needs some help, so if you have a free block of time on Saturday Nov. 5 or Nov. 12, email info@tourdashugel.com.

Disclaimer: Das Hugel is not a sanctioned event. It is a happening, a gathering of people out for a ride, with no support guaranteed, no leadership and no official coordination.

This is the second part of Rob D’Amico’s series looking at Tour Das Hugel and his attempt to do the 2011 ride. See here for Part I.  He also is hosting a fundraiser that lets you donate a set amount for each mile he completes, with all proceeds going to local bike nonprofits.

About Me: Part II
I mentioned before that I really wanted to lose a bunch of weight, maybe 15 pounds in two months, to make the hills a bit easier. I kept picturing a backpack with a 15 pound iron weight in it, hoping it would spur the discipline to eat (and drink) better and ride more. Although some pounds are coming off (I’ve lost 7), it was slower than I anticipated. Perhaps, I’m gaining muscle mass in my legs! Or maybe I’m just refueling more.

After a long ride last Sunday, I noticed that I began viewing food as fuel. At a local market, I started sampling everything they had out, not out of curiosity for taste, but just because I needed fuel. It brought back memories of one of my long-time roommates—James Franzen, who commented on my first post. The guy was lean and muscular, rode everywhere he went and was known for passing other well-geared cyclists on his single speed in the Oakland Hills. Most of his greetings were, “Is that food?” and “Are you going to eat that.” He ate everything in sight, and I really don’t recall when he wasn’t eating. I will just have to see how the food and weight issue pans out, but I’ll be at least putting together an eating/nutrition plan heading into the final week before Nov. 5.

As noted previously, most all of my cycling has been commuting from destination to destination. I’m hoping that this experience simply will increase the distance between destinations and remove the fear of some of the obstacles, i.e. hills. Hell, it makes a trip through South America seem less daunting! And I want to expand my knowledge and abilities. For instance, clipless pedals were new to me, and although clipping in and out didn’t turn out to be a big deal, it did lead to my first fall in years.

I’m a pretty skilled bicyclist that knows how to navigate traffic and hazards well, and I ride as if every driver is about to do something deadly and stupid. Still, a lot of people are incredulous when I tell them I haven’t wiped out since 1995, when I somehow vaulted forward, ran over my own face and left a tire tread mark across my forehead and down my cheek. (My friend I was riding with stopped laughing just long enough to make sure I was OK.) Maybe I just don’t ride hard enough!

Regardless, I was pumping slowly up City Park Road a few weeks back on my second time out on the new road bike, flew through to many gears at once, grinded to a halt and fell over. It’s a strange feeling to still be clipped in to the pedals with your bike on top of you. Luckily it’s light. Didn’t even have a scrape, although my saddle got a sizable scrape on its second day on the road. Bummer.

A couple people have asked about shaving my legs to make road rash heal easier when the eventual crash occurs. Not in the plans right now. Although my kids undoubtedly would think it was a riot.

Das Hugel: Part II
It’s hard to even tell when Das Hugel first started. Retracing emails to the group listserv it looks as though it was either 2002 or 2003.  Support has varied over the years with some bike shops offering assistance at various points, including last year, and informal rest stops with food and drink helping riders along the way. The original group promoting and setting the route have bowed out from taking the lead, and it’s obvious that this year the ride will be an off-year, with little or no support or rest amenities offered. I think the support probably will develop again in the coming years, but until that time, riders will have to make do on their own for much of the course. I anticipate a lot of business at convenience stores along the way on Nov. 12. (I also see some opportunities to again play with different routes each year.)

2010 Tour Das Hugel pictures courtesy of flickr.com/photos/onefiftyfour.

It’s also clear that the course changed over the years, actually going up from 66 or so miles to more than 100.  Too bad I didn’t start earlier. Pam LeBlanc offered a look at Hugel and its founders in one of her Austin American-Statesman Fit City columns.

The Course: Part II  (The First Loop … Das Hugelito?)
Previously I described the pleasures of the High Road/Terrace Mountain, which makes up the first real challenge of the first Hugel loop of just under 40 miles. After the High Road section, you head out west on Bee Caves Road, then down Cuernavaca Drive, then do a loop back up River Hills Road to Bee Caves. I’ll skip discussion of the Cuernavaca section, since it’s only five miles or so, and if there are any “giveaways” in the course, this would have to be one.  It’s relatively easy climb up River Hills, although if you get into a headwind on the rolling hills of Bee Caves, it’s just another way that this course taxes your endurance.

The last section of the first loop is a sure to sap your energy, regardless of where the wind blows. When I first attempted it, I turned on Barton Creek Boulevard and was shocked to find myself screaming down a magnificent incline, since I would have expected the masochistic founders of Das Hugel to make this a ride up the hill. I had driven this road many times, and despite the somewhat disgusting politics involved in the area’s development, I still marveled at the spectacular view. Passing Barton Creek over a rather unique bridge, I noted the parched grass and dry bed below and lamented that the drought had robbed us of what makes Austin summers special—swimming in Barton Creek. It didn’t take long for me to curse the Hugel founders again, though, as several steep rises had to be dealt with before even getting to the next severe challenge—Lost Creek Boulevard. A mile or so down Lost Creek, I was suddenly confronted by a big old hump that’s short but nasty. It took all that I had to make it to the top, only to find that there was another climb just as bad waiting after the downhill.  All of this is before the big slog. Lost Creek Boulevard back up to 360, although not particularly steep, is long, about two miles. The only solace is that you know that after you’ve made it up, it’s a breeze back to the Hugel starting point at the MoPac pedestrian bridge over Lady Bird Lake.

After three or so weeks of partial-loop rides, I had completed the whole first loop. Yet another “hardest thing I’ve ever done,” in what turns out to be a continuing advancement of that concept. Many Hugel riders do this loop then call it a day.  I would have to find out if I could stretch it a “bit” further. Only 68 miles of hills to go.

Equipment and Logistics: Part II
Thanks again goes to the crew at Mellow Johnnys. I’ve spread my purchases to a variety of bike shops around town throughout the years, and they are all great. I just happened to end up at MJs one day and they got me set up with everything I needed to at least act like a real road cyclist: the new Trek 1.5, clipless pedals, shoes, gloves, a good pump, shorts, etc. Then fitted me on the bike and gave me some tips on hand positioning and clipping in and out of the pedals. (I’ll address the gearing in a later post.)

I felt a bid weird picking out a jersey, since they are kind of what defines the overall look of road cyclists and reinforce some of the negative stereotypes that drivers have about some of their bad behavior. Then again they have pockets. I started on the clearance rack, but my son—who is an avid Andy Schleck fan—gravitated toward the Leopard-Trek jersey and insisted this would be the best. Turned out it fit the best on my large girth and was on sale.

Getting used to my new Trek 1.5 was easier than I thought, although I have to admit it was a bit scary in the beginning on the high-speed down-hills trying to figure out just the right finger positioning and pressure on the breaks.

One unique innovation that I haven’t seen elsewhere, yet, is putting a sock around my water bottle. It keeps the water cooler and offers storage space for easy access to energy bars or whatever else I may need on ride day.

What About You? Part II
If you don’t want to try Das Hugel yourself, why not come out and help out? Traditionally there have been a handful of stops manned by friends to pass out nourishment and offer encouragement, most often in three-hour shifts. Unfortunately, the number of people offering this year is sparse, so email me at tourdashugel@yahoo.com if you’re interested in helping out.

Several points on the ride also are great places for photographers to hang out and shoot. And need I mention how cool video would be?

Disclaimer: Das Hugel is not a sanctioned event. It is a happening, a gathering of people out for a ride, with no support guaranteed, no leadership and no official coordination.

I have to admit mapping out a training plan is one of my favorite parts of preparing to do a race or challenging endurance event. It is a fresh start and everything looks so impressive laid out on the training calendar. There is no injury, sickness, work, or social obligations getting in the way. You can just see how things line up to the perfect preparation for your “A” event.

Of course, real life almost never works the way you planned. No matter how well you plan or how dedicated you are to the goal, something will get in the way of the plan. In some ways this is good. Sometimes plans are overly ambitious. Sometimes life tells you what is really important. As important as a good plan is, I think what is more important is that you have the acceptance and flexibility to dust off, get back to it, and make tweaks as necessary. This is not an out to ignore or abandon your plan, just to know that things may not go to plan and that’s OK. This is why many people benefit from a coach. They give you the experience and perspective to know when you need to push yourself and when you need to throw in the towel.

I’ve raced in some capacity for nearly ten years now, mostly triathlons. Most of that was as a solid back of the packer, but each season I saw improvement and a few years ago I broke through into the mid to front of the pack in my age group. I qualified for and competed at the National Age Group Triathlon and made the podium of another race for the first time. Today, I will share some of the things I have learned over the years in training for races that I hope will help you in your race or challenge event planning. I will be heavily tapping the training concepts of Joe Friel, the author of The Cyclist Training Bible and Triathlete Training Bible. I highly recommend you pick up one of these books if you are going to create your own training plan. I am going to go over general concepts of this sort of training philosophy, but these books have far more information and specific workouts. If you have not raced or trained much, I also highly recommend hiring a coach if you can.

Keys to a good plan

Over the last 50 years, there have been a lot of breakthroughs in understanding how the body responds to training and what produces the best results. In the old days, most training fell into one of two camps: grueling suffer-fests or relatively light non-specific training that relied on personal genetic gifts. We cannot all be Olympic medalists, but we can all improve and set person bests.

Specificity

The first key concept is specificity: you need to train for the sport and the event you are planning on participating in. This means while running is good for general health and fitness, it will do relatively little to improve your bike splits. It also means never riding your bike more than 20 miles is a poor preparation for a century ride. If an event is hilly, train in the hills. If it will be hot, ride in similar heat or add articles of clothing to simulate the heat.

Essentially, the closer you get to your target event, the more you want your training to mimic the environment and distance of the race. If you are doing a long distance ride like a century or 24 hour race, then you want at least a few of your training rides to be near the distance of this event. If you are preparing for a road race, you want to make sure you are doing plenty of group rides with pack riding, probably at a pace that is a little too fast for you. Not all workouts have to be about specificity, but these non-specific workouts should be weighted towards the beginning of your training period when you are working on general fitness and should be used sparingly as a break to stay fresh as you get closer to your target event.

Specificity also means trying to improve your weaknesses. There is an old racing motto, “Train your weakness, race your strength.” A lot of people focus on the parts of training they enjoy or are strongest at rather then where they need improvement. If you are training for cyclocross and you have plenty of speed, you want to focus your training on developing better handling skills. In my case with triathlons, cycling was my strength and I was OK at swimming so I focused mostly on improving my run splits and endurance. Not only was this my weakness, but in the case of triathlon, the run is where you can close gaps if you are strong or lose serious time if you are not.

Speed

Next on the list is learning to train with speed. Many newbies do not practice this and wonder why their performance stagnates after they see initial marked improvement from basic fitness. If you want to get faster, you need to train faster. This is done with interval workouts that push your lactate threshold and VO2 max (Zones 4 and 5 respectively for those familiar with zone training.) If you do not know what these terms mean, don’t worry. Most training books will spend several pages telling you more than you want to know about this. For general training planning, lactate threshold workouts occur at a pace just at the limit of your aerobic system and include intervals that you can maintain for 5 minutes or longer each. VO2 max workouts include intervals that push your body in the anaerobic zone and include intervals as short as 10 seconds but no longer than 3 minutes.

There are lots ways to know if you are in the right zone for these workouts. Power meters, heart rate monitors, pace, and perceived effort are all legitimate ways of making sure you are in the right place on your workout. I used heart rate monitors for several years but have gotten to the point where perceived effort works for me, i.e. I have a pretty good sense of what zone I am in by how my body responds. There are lots of good specific workouts out there, but I think the key is doing intervals with the time frames mentioned above. Do an interval workout of 3-5 intervals where you can maintain the fastest possible pace for each interval time and where the final interval is really hard to finish. If the last interval feels easy, you are not doing it fast enough. To prevent injury and burnout, each of these workouts should not be done more than once a week and can be replaced by a race which mimics the workouts.

Periodization and Recovery

The final and probably most important aspect of a training plan is periodization and recovery. Understanding when to peak and managing your recovery well will do more to improve your fitness than the hard workouts.

Periodization means that not only do you need to build fitness over time but also that the body cannot maintain the highest level of fitness and speed indefinitely. You will reach a peak fitness at some point in your training, and your body will only be able to maintain that level for a few weeks. It is best to have your top priority race or event during this peaking time.

Here is my training plan divided into periods. In case I decide to race the State Cyclocross Championship, I have included a short period after my target race to attempt to extend my peak fitness.

Traditionally, training plans that fully use periodization start about 3-4 months before the target event. The plans are divided into base periods in the first half of the plan where the focus is building enough endurance to finish the event and the build and peak periods where you build the speed you are looking for while gradually ratcheting back the distance. If you are doing an event that really pushes your endurance and your goal is simply to finish, the build period is often replaced by more base before you drastically reduce volume in the peak period a few weeks before the target event.

During each period, you divide the plan into 3-4 week mini periods. During the base period, each week you add no more than about 10% to your longest workout or to total workout volume for the week. As you move into the build period, you stop increasing the volume and instead increase the intensity by adding the speed focused workouts mentioned above. Every 3rd or 4th week is designated a recovery week which gives the body a chance to catch up on the physiological changes your training is creating. During these weeks, you reduce total volume and your longest workout by about 25% and reduce or eliminate the speed workouts.

During any particular training week, you should have a breakthrough workout where you focus on targeted improvement. In your endurance building base period, this will be your longest workout while in the build and peak period where your body has adapted to the long rides these will cease to be breakthroughs and just maintenance. In your build period, the breakthrough will be your speed workouts. The key here is to make these workouts really count by not allowing other workouts to compete. This means you want only 1-2 breakthrough workouts a week with all your other workouts either skills work or rides at a slow recovery or endurance distance speed. Avoid having all your workouts feeling the same which neither pushes the body enough to make physiological change or allows enough recovery to be fresh and ready for your next breakthrough workout.

Applying these principles to my training plan

My training plan includes a lot of skills sessions for this knobby newbie so I can avoid this. Image courtesy of Cyclocross Magazine.

Since it has been a while since I raced regularly, I have decided to include a heavy racing schedule starting in late September up to the Duathlon. When you use racing to train, these races are treated like breakthrough workouts with no special peaking or reduced training volume included. These events are raced hard, but finishing placement and overall performance are not the critical focus.

I will be racing the Dirt Derby on Tuesday nights each week with a 5K run and some cyclocross races thrown in along the way. Not only is this good to test out equipment but allows a more varied and often more demanding speed breakthrough workout than solo training can provide. From my own experience, I know that I do endurance workouts very well and am pretty good at staying the course on lactate threshold workouts. High intensity, VO2 max workouts on the other hand are the bane of my training plans. I have a very difficult time making myself do these workouts so the racing, especially the constant cycle of red lining in cyclocross, will make me get these done.

Summary

If you are new to training, all this information will likely be overwhelming. This is where a coach can really help. They understand these concepts and apply them to both your fitness level and target event goal.

If you decide to self coach, be sure to check out the Training Bible books for more details and create a written plan. A physical plan helps keep you honest and on track and can help you see if your goals is too ambitious for your fitness level or amount of free time.

Race Rules :  Know your race rules and know the course.  Do not make the mistake of missing a check point, or a course marking.  You are responsible for knowing each rule. Attend the pre-race meeting and ask for clarifications if you need them.  Ask any question you feel is relevant, but know the rules.  In 24 hour racing, for example, some events use the 12 o’clock rule and some don’t.  The 12 o’clock rule refers to whether or not a racer is required to ride another lap if he or she comes in before 12 o’clock.

Equipment: I have stressed this before, and it bears repeating again.  During your long training rides, you should have been dialing in your equipment from tire choice to the gloves on your hands, you should know that everything you are using is something you can tolerate for multiple hours in the saddle.  I once wasted valuable time searching for another pair of gloves after discovering that my grips, which had served me faithfully for the cross-country season, were destroying my hands in an ultra.  A few tips on equipment:

• If you run a camelback, consider the weight.  While it is wise to carry extra tools, etc, it is also wise to ensure that you are not overloading yourself. If you are on a multiple lap course, chances are, you won’t need some of the equipment you are carrying.
• DO carry a multi-tool.  These come in tiny, compact sizes now. In my opinion, there is no excuse for a racer not to own one of these little gems and have it in his or her pocket at every event.  (Well, okay, I HAVE forgotten mine out of nervousness, but I do own one!)
• Have a spare saddle in your pit area.  A common theme in endurance racing tends to be the “broken saddle” syndrome.  Strangely enough, I have heard of more broken saddles than anything else (besides a flat tire).
• Have a spare set of sunglasses, and if you can, purchase sunglasses with interchangeable lenses. Should you crash, sunglasses are easily lost, and should conditions change, you might need to change your lenses out.  (For 24 hour racers:  have a separate set of glasses ready to go and change them out when you put on your lights).
• Spare, spare, spare.  Not all races allow you to change bikes, but many allow you to scavenge parts of a spare bike.  It does not hurt to have extra everything!
• Know how to do the quick fixes.  Attend a maintenance class or hit up a friend for some training. You need to know the basic fixes: adjusting your derailleurs, straightening rotors, fixing chains, and putting tubes in a tubeless wheel.  The last thing you want is to be at the farthest point away scratching your head over a simple fix.
• Lights and batteries:  if night riding is a component of your race, you should have tested all of your lights and batteries AGAIN the week prior to the event.  Know the length of time your battery can last, and keep a spare, if possible.  Have a plan to change batteries out and get them charged.  I use 3 batteries and have a back-up light set available. Each battery is marked with a number, and my crew (my husband!) changes them out depending on the lap time. I never spend much time in transition as a result.

Nutrition:

• Eat your last full meal 3-4 hours prior to the event. Keep it low in fat to avoid gastric distress.
• You should fuel every hour of the event with plenty of carbohydrate. These can be in the form of gels, blocks, or whatever else you find palatable and digestible.  As mentioned in previous articles, you should have been practicing fueling on the bike, and should have a good idea of what works for you.  Generally, people need approximately 40-60g of carbohydrate per hour to sustain hard exercise.
• If it’s a particularly hot day, dilute your carbohydrates and any electrolyte/carbohydrate drinks a little more than normal.  I have often found that even the most tried-and-true formulas can contribute to gastric distress on a really warm day.
• Energy bars are good choices if you feel like you need a little more in your stomach during a long race. I typically race off carbohydrate gels alone for anything up to 12 hours, but sometimes, that “empty pit” feeling can really take over. Energy bars are a good way to combat this feeling.  Again, only use things you have used in training—unless you get into trouble.  If you are starting to feel like you are going to bonk, you need to eat, plain and simply.
• Hydration/electrolyte balance.  This is a tough area and comes to the best racers with practice.  Because it is so individualized, it is very difficult to quantify the amount of fluids and electrolytes you should take in.  Just remember that, in hot conditions, we sweat on the order of LITERS per hour.  Generally speaking, you want to replace what you’ve lost.  Remember that these are extreme events, so you should be listening to your body every step of the way. Don’t drink so much water that you start to become waterlogged. This can be a very dangerous situation.   A gram of salt per liter of water/hour is the average sodium requirement for a racer.  Again, people sweat with a widely varying rate of salt concentrations.  If you notice white crusty lines on your clothing, chances are, you need more electrolytes than the average person.
• If you are doing a multi-lap event, take a bunch of bottles and pre-mix as many as possible.  Approximate the number of bottles you’ll need and then add more!  Differentiate between water bottles and bottles containing sports drinks using a band of electrical tap around the side, OR another simple system such as bottle color, or cap color.   This works beautifully if you are self-supporting and working out of a cooler.  (if that’s a case, strap a bag to the side of the cooler and toss your empties in it so that you can maintain your grab and go system).

The devil is in the details in ultra racing.  You need to manage each detail very carefully. Take this part seriously because no matter what your goal is, these tips can make the difference between a miserable day and a fantastic day in the saddle:

• Do not stop pedaling.  Keep transition time quick, and stay on the bike.  This will give you minutes on a competitor, and will keep your motivation high.
• Create a checklist.  Everything should be on this checklist- from what to pack to where to put things.  You should have every single detail worked out on paper, so that you do not have to spend time worrying before your race.
• If you are doing a 24 hour event, print an hourly weather forecast off a website. Tape it  to your cooler, your team area, or whatever.  Highlight any significant weather changes and DRESS APPROPRIATELY.  If the temperature is projected to drop, you should have a plan as to what you are going to wear, and WHEN you are going to put that equipment on.
• Have a race bag with everything you can think of in it.  Raincoats, arm warmers, skull caps, and any other equipment should be in that bag in the spring and fall. Anything you think you might need based on the weather- down to the clothes you’ll wear before or after your race, needs to be in that bag. This is the time to overpack!
• Organize your race bag. For example, all items of X type are in the side pocket (such as spare socks, or anything to do with hands or feet), and all items of x type are on the left or the right.  I once had a friend marvel at how quickly I grabbed exactly what I needed out of my race bag at 2am.  He said, “either you got lucky, or you knew exactly where that was.”  It wasn’t luck.
• When you set up your pit area and team area, think through everything you can do to save yourself from HAVING to think during the race.  This goes right down to where you plan to hide your car keys!  Be very methodical. If you aren’t typically methodical, talk it through with a friend—often times, fellow racers will interject things you have NOT thought of!

When you finish your race,  in the days following, write down a few of the things you had problems with or ideas you got from others at the venue. Keep those things for next time, because, after the soreness subsides, and after you start to feel fresh on the bike again, you’ll start thinking about the next time!

____

Sara Krause, M.Ed. is an exercise physiologist and owner of Krause Sports Performance

“if the fastest that you can ride on a flat road for 1 hour is 20 miles per hour, then every distance you do that is longer than one hour will be a proportion of that speed.  Therefore, the ability to go fast necessarily erodes the longer the distance.  If you worked on raising that speed to 23 miles per hour, then you would be slightly faster at all distances longer than 1 hour.  In other words, at every given intensity, you have a capacity to do work. That means that as your capacity to do work increases at high intensities, your relative ability at lower intensities also increases.”

I also talk about specificity of training for your event:  “Focus on specificity throughout your program.  You should always have an eye towards the course you will be riding.”

If you need to be specific in your training, but you also need to develop speed, how do you reconcile the two when it comes to training to race for a minimum of 5 hours?

For the ultra-racer, the importance of spending long hours in the saddle becomes more than just about  physical training, but a matter of logistics and psychology.  The following items are just a few issues addressed by long rides:

• Fueling strategies-learning to fuel at the appropriate times, and in what concentrations to avoid gastro-intestinal upset.
• Ability to sit in the saddle for long periods of time-avoidance of saddle sores, developing lower back muscle tolerance.
• Equipment problems-the race is not the right time to learn that your gloves or your grips rub your hands raw, or that your saddle is great for 4 hours, but is intolerable thereafter.  Your favorite equipment can quickly become your enemy in these types of races.
• Maintenance of skills in a fatigued state—the ability to ride obstacles should be second-nature—when tired, you need to be able to ride safely.
• Psychological benefits—it is difficult to ride for long periods of time if you have not engaged in this in the past.   (Note: the converse of this is that if you do this too often, you can cause a mental burn-out.  You should climb into the saddle on race day looking forward to the challenge ahead, not dreading another long day in the saddle).

You can get the same physiologic benefit from doing two different types of rides.  Typically, I see riders build and build mileage throughout the training program.  Instead, do your longer rides earlier in the program.  What defines “long” is largely based on your riding history and current fitness level. If you have been riding for 2 years and have never done a 3 hour ride, don’t go out and do 5.  Be smart; if you are doing 4 hours of riding at a time and find that you are exhausted for days afterwards, do shorter rides with a little more quality built in, then work your way to a longer ride.

In your long rides, make sure that you can hold a steady pace—at least a 4-5 on a scale of 1-10, where 10 is all-out.  At that pace, ensure that you can withstand some harder efforts (such as hills) without becoming completely exhausted before the ride is finished.  Again, if you are riding really easily for 4 hours, chances are, you’re not gaining much benefit.  You are better off riding a little faster for a shorter period of time, and on a course that has elements that mimic your race.

When you incorporate longer rides into your schedule, focus on the recovery afterwards. If you are riding at a 3-5, it should take 2-3 days to fully recover, so don’t push too hard in those days.   If you are riding at a harder effort, then it can take longer.  Be careful to allow for recovery before doing more hard training; it’s easy to hit diminishing returns when you are building up to an event.

As your training program progresses, and you have adapted to longer rides, you can insert quality into these rides.  You can incorporate threshold intervals, hill attacks, and other ingredients of your race into these rides.   By way of an example, let’s say that Pat is doing a 100 mile mountain bike race in June. The race has a lot of climbing.  Pat is a category 2 mountain biker who will be completing a cross-country season.  Pat trains about 7-8 hours a week, and has a good level of fitness.  Pat has been riding for about 4 years.    Pat’s longest ride to date was 4 hours.

In a 6 month time frame, Pat might choose to incorporate the following rides:

Early phase:  3 hour rides, progressing from rolling hills to a hilly course.

Early middle phase: 3 hour hilly rides progressing to two 5 hour rides on courses mimicking race course, spaced 2 weeks apart.

Late middle phase: 3 hour rides incorporating long intervals at threshold (these intervals should have incorporated into early training, so that you are familiar with them)

Late phase training: 2.5 hour rides incorporating hill repeats and other maximal aerobic training.

Again, this example is based on a specific, hypothetical athlete.  This formula might not be right for you, but the general idea is that instead of progressing to longer and longer rides, you progress to faster and faster rides over a moderate to long distance.

When undertaking any training program, be certain that you are careful to have any aches, pains, or unusual symptoms checked out by your doctor.  Training is a hard business, and avoiding injury or illness is the key to future success.  I have a saying: “they will hold the race without you, and strangely enough, they’ll hold it again next year.”  So, if you have to err on the side of caution and change your plans, do not feel badly: when the time is right, pick another race and forge ahead with a new plan.

Once your training has been dialed in, you will need to spend time planning the logistics of your race and managing it appropriately.  In future articles, I will go through the logistics of these races: equipment choices, and insider tricks that will shave minutes off your total time.

Sara Krause holds a master’s degree in sports science and nutrition and has been coaching athletes to numerous state championships and top national results since 2005.  Krause has won multiple solo victories at 6 & 12 hour races, and has placed 5th in the women’s solo category at the prestigious 24 hours of the Old Pueblo. She has also won the 24 Hours of Rocky Hill where her performance netted her a 2nd place amongst all solo men as well.  Krause will focus on ultra-distance racing for 2010, with appearances at the National Ultra Endurance Series.   She is the owner of Krause Sports Performance

You should have gathered as much information as you can about your race and have a general idea about what the course looks like.  You might have information about the venue, lodging, start times, etc, but for the time being, focus  only on the physical requirements such as steep climbs versus long climbs,  or technical terrain (including descents)  versus long-open stretches of road.  Each aspect of the course has its own physical requirement and how you prepare for those requirements will determine your success.

Then, think about your own abilities and determine what your strengths and weaknesses are on the course.  Are you tentative on descents?  Do you hate long flat stretches of trail? Are you happiest when there are no roots and rocks? Be honest with yourself, because you’ll want to take advantage of everything you are good at in training while bringing your weaknesses up to snuff.   In your mind, you should be starting to think of the course from a good racer’s perspective, “the climbs early in the race ought to give me an advantage, but the rock gardens later are going to hound me.”

Go back to your calendar and look at how many weeks you have to the event.    The most traditional model of 3 weeks on-1 week rest is often the most effective for the working athlete.  So, you’ll want to break out your training into 4 week phases, ending with a rest week the week of your event.   How you distribute your training amongst those 4 weeks is a process of working both forwards and backwards as you flesh out your training plan.

As I mentioned in last week’s installment, building a training plan is a detailed process that is best done by a professional.  What I am offering here is simple, logical advice to help map out your program.

1. Establish your peak volume.  If you are planning on increasing your volume, do so in the early phases of training.  Every person is different- and every person has a different training history and injury history.  Be reasonable with respect to your volume increases. If you are trying to go from 7 hours a week to 17, then you’ll probably just run yourself into the ground.  Instead of jumping up your hours in the saddle, go back and evaulate where you can substitute quality (and therefore speed) for time.
2. Working backwards from your race date, start to drop your volume back 6-8 weeks before the race, make a note to begin increasing the intensity at this time.
3. Working towards your race date, drop in the key elements that you need to work on for the race 2-3 days a week.  Think about it this way: if you have a course with a lot of short, steep climbing, then you need to begin working on climbing skills early.  Again, you are looking to get an edge climbing, so you’ll want to ride a little bit faster than you normally do in order to better your fitness.
4. Concentrate skill training (i.e. hill work) in a 4-6 week time frame, utilizing a rest week to allow your body to adapt to the training demands.
5. Use moderate and easy rides to fill in around your harder days. For example, on an easier day, you might practice technical skills.  Be careful here:  technical riding has a high power demand. You will want to work on flat elements, such as riding rock gardens on easy to low-moderate days. Work on descending skills on a hill repeat day- and only on days when you feel really focused.
6. As you begin to reduce your volume, add higher intensity. You won’t need to train a sprint, but you will need to train at very high intensities. One of the top mistakes an endurance racer makes is to constantly push the mileage, but ignore the intensity.  Intense workouts will not only build your fitness, but they will prepare you for the intense moments of the endurance race.  You will recover faster, and you will be able to cope with the demands of a tough day if you focus on the intensity. Intense workouts are also where you build speed.  Remember: if you can ride really fast for 2 hours, then you can ride pretty fast for 3-4 hours!
7. Focus on specificity throughout your program.  You should always have an eye towards the course you will be riding.  If you are a mountain biker, then ride your mountain bike on the road, and do many of your workouts on the mountain bike.  Mountain biking produces a very specific power demand that is exhausting over long durations. You will need to be able to repeat very short, hard efforts in order to cope with that demand.  Where possible, ride courses that mimic your chosen race and repeat elements similar to your race—such as a long climb with steep switchbacks.
8. Focus on one thing in a workout. If you are working on hill repeats, focus on just hill repeats, don’t try to stack 5 hours of riding around those hill repeats, else you won’t get the full advantage of the primary workout.
9. Race to race!  Use cross-country racing to help build endurance.  Cross-country racing will make you ride faster than you would in a training ride, and it will also sharpen your technical skills.  Take advantage of the race environment to further your goals.  Racing also reminds you how to prepare for a race- all of those little details will serve you well later on. You can also use  group rides with riders that challenge you.
10. Always err on the side of recovery.  Program too tough? Dial it back.  Bad legs? Take a recovery day.  Your body needs to adapt to the demands you are placing on it. If you don’t allow that process to run its course, then you’ll lose the benefits for which you have worked so hard.

Now that you have these basics, start to fill in your calendar. When in doubt, default to specific training for your race. Remember what you are after, and let that guide your program.

In two weeks, I will go into more details about how to manage longer workouts and what the relative benefits are.  Future articles will discuss the logistics of the race and how to manage various endurance races.

Sara Krause holds a master’s degree in sports science and nutrition and has been coaching athletes to numerous state championships and top national results since 2005.  Krause has won multiple solo victories at 6 & 12 hour races, and has placed 5th in the women’s solo category at the prestigious 24 hours of the Old Pueblo. She has also won the 24 Hours of Rocky Hill where her performance netted her a 2nd place amongst all solo men as well.  Krause will focus on ultra-distance racing for 2010, with appearances at the National Ultra Endurance Series.   She is the owner of Krause Sports Performance.

Ultra-Endurance racing: training to go the distance

Part 1: picking your race & starting your training plan

If you’ve read my bio, you know that my favorite cycling discipline is ultra-endurance mountain biking, which has gained a lot of popularity in recent years because of its fabled races and seemingly super-human athletes.  USA Cycling defines Ultra Endurance as an event lasting over 4 hours, which includes the Marathon format (which is limited to 47-62 miles), ultra marathon and timed events such as 6, 12, and 24 hour racing.  This series of articles will focus on preparing you for long-distance mountain biking,  but the principles are applicable to long-distance road cycling events as well.

I will explain how to pick the right race, how to lay out a training plan, and how to strategize your race-down to some of the nitty gritty details you might not have thought about but can make or break your day.  Whether you are doing a set distance or a time-based race, and whether you are an experienced ultra racer or are brand-new to the discipline, these articles will help you maximize your enjoyment of this sport discipline.

The very first thing you have to do is pick your target, and, ideally, give yourself a good 4-6 months to train for that target (this, of course, is dependent  on your fitness level and training history).  The great thing about ultra-endurance racing is that there are many events available such as  The Leadville 100, The Cascade Creampuff, any of the National Ultra Endurance Series races, and any of the USACycling Ultra Endurance calendar races.  There are also plenty of top-notch races that are promoted by other race companies such as the ever-popular 24 Hours in the Old Pueblo or 24 Hours of Rocky Hill. Check out adventure race promotion companies as they often feature ultra races as part of their yearly line up.

When you pick your target race, there are multiple considerations:

• Cost of travel
• Logistics- if you are traveling a long distance, how will you get all of the necessary equipment there? If you are doing a 12 or 24 hour, what about a crew?
• Reasonableness of the race course for your background

The first two are fairly obvious considerations and the last point is less-obvious.  If you are thinking about doing an ultra-endurance event, pick a course that is achievable to you! In other words, don’t over face yourself by racing at 10,000 feet if you live at sea-level, and don’t pick a course with thousands of feet of climbing if you don’t have access to hills on which to train, or if you have not done significant climbing in the past.  If you are a more experienced racer and have done some of these types of races in the past, then you can pick a new challenge.  If you are new to the sport, the bottom line is: start with a race that you can complete and give yourself the confidence to progress to bigger personal challenges.

Once you’ve chosen your goal race, start setting up your training.

Creating an effective training plan takes a lot of experience and training knowledge, and is best done by a professional. However, you  can follow a few simple steps to organize your training and set yourself up for success.

Start by pulling out the calendar and fill in your race date and any expected travel days to the race. Working backwards from your race, determine the number of weeks you have to train. If you haven’t ever done a race like this, and you have any doubts that you’ve left yourself enough time, try to pick something further out.   For purposes of these articles, I’m going to use 6 months to the target race.   Now that you have a timeline, fill in all of your family, work, social, and any other potential obligations during the 6 months.  Be honest: if you have a business trip or conference, for example, make sure that you don’t schedule a lot of training time (if any at all) during this period. Chances are, you won’t be able to do the workouts so it’s easier to plan the time off than to try to re-vamp your training.

Next, establish the number of hours you have to train each week.  Again, be honest with yourself and remember your mantra is quality not quantity. If you find yourself thinking things like, “well, if I skip little Johnny’s soccer on Tuesday, and ask my boss if I can leave at 3:30 every Thursday” then you’re not being realistic about your true time availability. Work with what you can reasonably achieve or your training will become a stressful obligation instead of enjoyable personal time. Immediately mark out or put an asterisk next to days that you suspect might be challenging for you each week. These are days on which you should not plan a key workout.

What you should now have is a clear idea of when you can train, and the amount of time you have to get to your goal race.  The next challenge is to discipline yourself to the quality principle as it applies to endurance racing: in order to be a good endurance rider, you must develop your speed on shorter distances. Understanding this principle will help you avoid the common pitfall of training long hours, but never including all of the ingredients required to go the distance.

Think of it this way:  if the fastest that you can ride on a flat road for 1 hour is 20 miles per hour, then every distance you do that is longer than one hour will be a proportion of that speed.  Therefore, the  ability to go fast necessarily erodes the longer the distance.  If you worked on raising that speed to 23 miles per hour, then you would be slightly faster at all distances longer than 1 hour.  In other words, at every given intensity, you have a capacity to do work. That means that as your capacity to do work increases at high intensities, your relative ability at lower intensities also increases.

Knowing this, look for training opportunities: group rides and/or races that will help you train at faster paces.  If it’s a weekly group ride, keep it in your mind for later. If it’s a race, such as a state series cross-country race, go ahead and pencil it into the calendar. You can make final decisions on what you will do leading up to the race later. For now, just keep those races on the horizon.

Now that you have a general calendar started,  gather information about your race.  The harder work on building your training plan is still to come, and you’ll need a good understanding of what you are training for in order to finish your plan. Look for course profiles, and read other racer’s experiences. Note average temperatures and check out the farmer’s almanac  for that region if you can. Take nothing for granted: a notorious climb or descent or river crossing can be a lot more daunting in person than it is in writing. Start to think about what portions of the course favor your abilities, and which ones will be more challenging. Remember, no matter what the course profile, you’re in for an epic journey, anything you can learn about the course as you prepare your training, the better off you are.

The next installment of this series will be posted in a week, and will focus on more details of the training plan.

Sara Krause holds a master’s degree in sports science and nutrition and has been coaching athletes to numerous state championships and top national results since 2005.  Krause has won multiple solo victories at 6 & 12 hour races, and has placed 5th in the women’s solo category at the prestigious 24 hours of the Old Pueblo. She has also won the 24 Hours of Rocky Hill where her performance netted her a 2nd place amongst all solo men as well.  Krause will focus on ultra-distance racing for 2010, with appearances at the National Ultra Endurance Series.   She is the owner of Krause Sports Performance.

Location:  PURE Austin Quarry Lake on Tuesday, February 2 at 7:15pm

Cost: FREE!

“PURE Endurance for The Dirty Dozen and Super 6 Hour Mountain Bike Race: 10 Things You Need To Know Before Clipping In”.

In this interactive session, led by Sara Krause, coach & endurance athlete, and Shae Rainer, Pro Mountain Bike Racer, you will learn about:

• Nutrition Strategies: food and hydration before, during and after the event

• Racing Strategies (Solo and Team)
• Gearing up For The Race: What to wear and how to prepare
• Much more!

Whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned racer, this session will provide valuable information and insights for all!

All who attend will receive a valuable pre-race check list.

“10 Things You Need To Know Before Clipping in” is brought to you by:

PURE Austin

Krause Sports Performance  www.krausesportsperformance.com

Bicycle Sport Shop Women’s Mountain Bike Race Team  www.bicyclesportshop.com

This is also invariably the time of year when we start considering new equipment purchases and considering what we can do to prep for next season. It is for this reason I wanted to write about THE best bike component on the market. It’s not carbon, it’s not shiny, it is sleek, and, if it’s the right one, it’s going to make your cycling experience better every single day.

If you haven’t guessed yet, it’s a bike fit. Yes, you need a bike fit. I gave myself one of these a few weeks ago. I headed over to see Erik Vitela at Pro Cycle Works to let him have a look. Vitela has a darn good pair of eyes, and a lot of experience and training to back them up. After a nearly straight 2 year run of racing, it was time for me to get back to some critical basics: bike fit being at the top of my list.

“Some people have a position that might look terrible on the bike, but they’ve been sitting that way for so long that if you change them to fit conventional logic, you destroy their power,” says Vitela. Thus, he starts by gaining an understanding of your basic flexibility, then riding style by watching you pedal.

A proper bike fit is a combination of the practitioner’s experience and training, and it’s worth every penny to get a qualified fitter to evaluate your position. “Typically, a rider is going to make the small adjustments to the bike—a few millimeters here and there, not the bike fitter. The fitter is going to make the gross adjustments. Invariably, the rider will continue to make some tweaks as they train.”

This has been my experience as well: riders tend to change their style as they become stronger, fitter, and more flexible in certain planes (or less flexible if they are not maintaining a proper range of motion through stretching!) This invariably leads to small adjustments in stem height, seat height, and saddle position. The net effect is that, over time, bike fit should be revisited.

In my case, I had continued to lengthen my position on the bike causing power losses on the road bike and which evolved into consistent upper-back pain. Over time, I would have set myself up for injury.

A good bike fitter can be your best friend with regards to injury prevention. All those little aches and pains on a long ride might mean more than you think. One of my teammates reported pain near her shoulder blade after two hours on the bike, “I let it go, and now I actually have a diagnosed problem and am in physical therapy. I’ve been told for so long that pain is a part of long rides, that I believed it. If I had gotten a good bike fit, I could have avoided this.”

If you have an established relationship with a bike fitter, he or she can also be your best friend when the new bike bug bites. More often than not, riders choose bikes based on the way they feel at the shop—without verifying the geometry—and knowing which geometry works best for you, that new bike can end up on craigslist faster than you’d think. Vitela makes the great point that each bike is set up differently depending on the bike builder. For example, a stem might be set on a tall stack (higher) and have a steep rise. The saddle might be forward on the rails. The combination of these two items could convince a rider that the top tube is too short, or that the bike does not handle well. It is better to review the geometry in advance, know which size will suit you, then ask the shop to make a few minor adjustments to give you a better feel for the bike.

We cycling fanatics tend to gravitate towards the tangible when we consider the tools to enhance our training. We love our bikes; for us bikes are more than just a means to an end. They are of a certain brand, color, and build, all of which express individualism in and passion for the sport of cycling. But, the bottom line is, you can build your dream bike, and if it doesn’t fit well, it won’t ride like a dream.

Sara Krause, M.Ed. holds a master’s degree in Exercise Physiology and is the Owner of Krause Sports Performance based in Austin, Texas.

The Beginners classes are on Sunday, January 10 and include a skills clinic at The Driveway and tactics seminar at Bicycle Sport Shop Central. The Advanced classes will be the next Sunday, January 17. The skills clinics are $80 and the tactics seminars are $40. You can register for both for $110, $50 for Juniors. All participants can join in on a free 50-80 ride with Team Super Squadra that includes lunch afterwards at Bicycle Sport Shop.

Registration is available at BikeReg.com.