Coachhanslip | Sports & fitness instruction

Coachhanslip

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19.01.2022 Bike racking complete. Well almost. I carefully measured where the first rack on the right should go and then didn’t bother to use that measurement. To avoid crowding in the corner I removed the first rack and put two more on the far right of photo (after extending the wooden strips to the right). I don’t have a photo of the finally finished version. Given that I have some paint that matches the garage walls, I think I’ll go to the trouble of painting the wood sometime soon too.

17.01.2022 Long time since I added anything here. Time to fix that. With the lockdowns lifting world-wide and cyclists everywhere anticipating more racing in 2020, it is high time to turn your focus to being race ready. This applies as much to the pros returning to their job as to us punters hoping to get a hard ride in against our club-mates. Now would be a great time to recruit a coach to assist you in preparing after weeks without bunches or races to keep your interest up. This col...d we are having to begin winter in Canberra doesn’t help either. A program to follow makes it easier. You spend up to $20K on a bike (or even only $2,000) and enjoy riding it so much. Why not invest a little bit more in working with a coach??? Doesn’t have to be me. There are many coaches around. One will suit your style. Ride Nation (https://www.ridenation.com.au/) is one place to start looking for a coach. The fitter you are, the more you can ride in comfort and the faster you can ride. Both these things make it more enjoyable. So get a coach and get fit. As Zwift says: Fast is Fun; Fun is Fast.

11.01.2022 A big day out on the bike - The Centenary Trail is 132 km of (mostly) dirt that takes hikers and bikers around Canberra. On this particular day my legs felt bad. At 20km I was certain I’d never finish the ride. But years of riding kicked in and I felt better as the Ks rolled past. Moral of the story is: you never quite know what your legs are going to bring to the bike until you try. Also: the more you ride, the better you ride. AKA, never get competitive with an ex-pro.

11.01.2022 Why we train! Saturday afternoon found a large group of like-minded mountain bikers at Stromlo for the final round of the CORC season. It was cold waiting for the start, but just fine once we set out. We didn’t start too fast - a fact I was quite happy about as I wasn’t fully warmed up - and I was fourth as we rode up the hill for the first time. The early pace was fast enough to string the group out (a dozen?) but I was happy sitting in. The guy in front of me was a bit sl...ower than the first two so I passed him before the gap grew too large. I caught them and sat in again; happy to be cruising along comfortably at this point in the race. Again the gap opened as we hit slower people from the earlier starters. Again I passed the wheel I was on and caught up to the front guy. Only the third placed guy didn’t fade, he just hung out a ways back. We spent most of the second lap (of 3) this way. No one was catching us and I didn’t see anyone trying hard to drop anyone else. On the final climb up the hill I felt like I had a bit more to give than the others. The hardest part of the climb was the last few metres to the crest. I pushed as hard as I could knowing I didn’t have to pedal up again. I distanced the former leader but pulled former third along with me. He was about 15m back when I glanced over my shoulder. I am not a good race leader. I tend to settle into a comfortable pace that isn’t fast enough. I’m better sitting on a wheel or chasing one down. So I descended as fast as I could but it’s so much easier for most people to chase - I got caught and he timed his pass perfectly such that there want any room to the finish to pas back. Well played!!! A second place felt OK. The race was never about my fitness and that makes all the hours I put in training worthwhile. If you like racing you should work yourself into a similar situation.

04.01.2022 There is never a best time to start racing. You can always be fitter or better rested or more mentally prepared. Always. Reality is racing hurts no matter what and it’s a ton of fun. Get on your bike and go fast. Get out there and get racing. It’s through the racing that you’ll quickly learn your weaknesses and they can be addressed in future training. Given that no one to whom this applies is racing for a living; remember that no one cares who won, who came last, or anywhe...re in between. It’s fun!!! The reward is in the competition (whether with yourself or others). I got back on my bike after doing no road racing last year and maybe only 1 the year before that. It was mostly motivated by having a new race bike. No point in having a state-of-the-art machine if you just roll around on it. I had so much fun. It’s easy to forget that motivation to train and the whole point in training stems from racing in the first place.

02.01.2022 The right tool for the task! The club’s annual age-standardised ITT was this weekend past. Last time I entered I brought my TT bike and won. This time I took the new Madone - a very aero bike - and had a go. And brought home the why do TT bikes exist. To hold a nice aero position for a half hour is very hard. After 10 minutes I basically couldn’t do it any more. On aero bars you rest your weight on bones and use almost no energy to maintain the good position. On drop bars... it is all muscles working hard. It was fun. It was reasonably fast. It was nowhere near a winning effort!