Beginners Page # 14 CompuTrainer Chapter 3

And then personal tragedy struck. I developed bronchitis and held off from riding and training. Last Saturday was the first time in a week with nice enough weather for a group to ride 32 miles and I tragically missed out. Christine continued her Computrainer workouts getting miles (literally) ahead of me.

See how heart broken she is!!

I have convinced the modest better half to tell some of her experiences from her perspective. Generally, she is much more comfortable letting me tell the stories with her as editor. As I was not an eyewitness, I would have to relate what she has told me upon her returns, and too much of it would be lost in the translation.

With Roy down and out for the count, I continued my training sessions. Randy thought I had received enough level terrain riding. What was obvious was that for about two and a half years I had trained the right leg to compensate for the left leg. (The day after receiving and using new bike shoes and clipless pedals for the first time I did a slow fall exactly on my left knee. It took about two and half years for that knee to stop hurting so that I could put downward force on it to pedal. During that time the left leg was lifting only and I was really building up the right one.) Now I’m contending with the arthritic left hip. (insert whining here) I was raised a tough farm girl but I like to avoid pain as much as anyone. Recall: I started this adventure when I called Randy to set up an appointment to learn to pedal without further injuring myself.

No more flat terrain. No more zero wind. Randy needed to evaluate posture and technique during more realistic real life terrain. The first program was a slight incline of maybe 1.5% grade but it was still harder than the flat terrain. On the next visit, I was put on a program that was more hilly—a lot.

The 1.5% grade is barely felt. This one started with a 3.5% grade which we’ve encountered often, but I’ve always coasted down the other side to get the thrill of speed and to recover a bit. No way on this program. You have to pedal downhill, too!, all the while trying to make that perfectly circular spin. The very last hill was a 6.3% grade. I’ve almost always walked up long hills that steep!

This was on the 6.3% hill grade. I was proud of my pedaling efficiency going up the hill (ave 72 with a 49% left leg effort and a 51% right leg effort). The left is still weaker. (Efficiency and effort aside, I am glad that the ascent speed was cut out of the picture)

My hour of struggle was up and I was ready to quit, but Randy asked if I could finish the course. I was tired, sweaty, and aching but since there were male bikers in Randy’s shop (one of whom knows me) I replied that I would. (insert whining here) The training must be working because new muscles are cramping. Somehow I seem to remember that I started the program to avoid pain, cramping, and joint injury. I have high hopes that as I progress and improve, the only pain I will see will be on Roy’s face as I pass him on a hill. Oh, yeah, my motto is supposed to be: “Stronger, faster, farther.”

Beginners Page # 14 Computrainer Chapter 2

Going into week two of training, we arrived while Jack Lomax was working out on the trainer. He was going on a computerized virtual route of hills with a little wind resistance. And he was doing quite well on maintaining a circle, had an impressive speed, was generating a lot of watts, and was leaving the silver guy in the dust. Note 90% efficiency.

I waited until he was well clear of the area before I mounted my slow motion two wheel apparatus.

I was still struggling with what was probably a figure 8. Randy switched me to a bar graph rather than a circle as I understand that graph better than a circle. The goal for that graph is to have all the bars equal in height all the way across. Although I understood the graph better, that is not to say that the graph was performing better. Note 74% efficiency. It's going to take some time.

My pedals were still clicking, snapping, and sometimes grinding. On the very first day, Randy determined I had weak ankles and a splayed foot posture. Randy put an insert in my shoe to help my foot posture. Good, I am always in favor of upgrading something rather than working on improving myself. Now it wasn’t that he was discovering some of my faults (which I wanted him to do) it was that he was discovering them while Rick Ogan was there watching. That destroyed all possibility of my telling Rick or anyone else that I had perfect posture, I just needed to work on my pedal stroke.

I knew Rick could relate to working on the pedal stroke as it reminds me of a story I don’t think I have told. Rick worked out on the computrainer one time and he was telling me that he needed to work on his left pedal stroke as he was right leg dominate. Shortly after that, we were at the State Park and were about to go up Wink Hill. I put my bike in the third chain ring and hunkered down to force pedal up. Rick was right beside me and I was thinking of how much stronger I was getting as I was keeping up with Rick. Soon he pulled away but I stayed even with him a lot longer than I would have thought possible. Being modest, I told Rick he did a good job going up the hill. He said “Thanks, I was practicing using my left leg and was using only it.” I was badly beaten by a one-legged biker!! Get me on a Computrainer quickly!!

So, back to Randy’s watching my clicking, snapping, and grinding. He told me to stand up on the pedals and he started to adjust my saddle. Instantly, my pedal stroke smoothed out a lot. I am not saying I had a flat line or circle; my clicking and snapping went away somewhat. Note: efficiency went up to 79. Progress is slow.

Randy said he raised the saddle at least a ½ inch and would raise it more when my body got used to that height. Just about the time that I would get the bars looking almost even, Randy would tell me to breathe or relax and I would revert to my old habits. I can either breathe or pedal but not both at the same time. I can relax or pedal but not at the same time. But I can hold my breath, put my shoulders up to my ears, and get the bars almost even. I wonder if I need more workouts?

The answer to the above question is yes! After the first workout of the second week, we went on the routine Monday evening ride. Instead of chasing the silver guy, I found myself chasing Velma Ogan around the course. In the real world it is so hard to fight wind, hills, dodge potholes, chase after Velma, and tell myself to concentrate on the left leg, remember the 9-3 positions, pedal softly like on egg shells, breathe and relax all at the same time. Yes, I need more Computrainer workouts.

Christine is still striving to get back to her 99% efficiency but even at the 74% efficiency, note the 50-50 which means each pedal stroke is even. Trying to get the middle bars level with the outter bars has her starting to discover previously unused muscles. More on that later.

Beginners Page # 14 Computrainer Chapter 1

Along the middle of last year, Christine hurt her thigh muscles trying to emulate the cycling techniques of what she thought the big boys on the Tour de France were doing. Each time she would cringe from pain, I would say get a referral to sports medicine. Eventually she went to a doctor and was told to hold off on riding for two weeks, and then slowly work back into our riding routine.

Christine and the doctor also discussed working out on a training device such as a Computrainer to make sure her riding technique was not continuing to aggravate the problem. So recently, Christine informed me that she had made an appointment at Randy’s Bike and Run to work out on the Computrainer. I immediately suspected ulterior motives of trying to get faster than me and take over bragging rights. I had read somewhere that if you got on one of those machines, you would become 2-4 mph faster. No fair! I whined enough that she called Randy and set up an appointment for both of us. (Insert secret smile here).

Just about all I knew about a Computrainer was what I said above. If you sit on one of those machines you will become 2-4 mph faster. I can do that. Oh boy, talk about a babe in the woods.

But first, let me share some hindsight information about the Computrainer so if one is truly a beginner, he can stay up with the story. A Computrainer is similar to a resistance trainer to which your rear wheel is attached.

 You can pedal in a stationary position with various resistance levels and remain indoors. It has a lot of monitors to tell what is going on with the body. Some of the information immediately available while pedaling is your speed, distance, time, rpm’s, and power output (watts). One of the big things is what is called a spin scan. It is to analyze the pedal stroke in real time (instantly as you are pedaling) and assist one in developing an efficient stroke. An efficient stroke means you can go faster but use less energy in doing so. That part I liked.

We showed up at our appointment time and Randy asked a few basic questions to set up a profile for the computer stats. Then I discovered the traumatic part. You have to do more than just sit on the trainer. YOU HAVE TO WORK! I should have kept my mouth shut when Christine told me about her appointment. But alas, I was there so take it like a wimp. So, I “let” Chris go first. I needed time to adjust to the fact that you have to pedal fast, hard, and CORRECTLY!

Here is what the spin scan is supposed to look like. (Don't pay any attention to the name on the top left)

Here’s mine. Lots of work to do.

The program on which we started was a level course with no wind. There is a silver guy that can be programmed to set the pace or you can race against. The silver guy has a “perfect” stroke so his stats are displayed below yours so you can compare and try to be more like him.

Trying to stay up with the silver guy or match his stats is hard enough. But what really makes it hard is that Randy will watch and then say to make the left leg work more, put more power on the 9 and 3 positions, relax, breathe, ease up on the right leg, push, drop that heel, fire up those muscles, keep the pedals light… Now my brain and body will respond to only one instruction at a time. Do you want me to breathe, relax, concentrate on the left leg-right leg or what? I can’t do it all at once. Just as soon as I would breathe, my “circle” would collapse in the middle (meaning I would be just push-pulling on my stroke). Concentrate on the stroke and my shoulders would go up to my ears. Relax and then find myself blue in the face-breathe-breathe. Whoops, the circle just became a figure 8. Can’t hold more than one thought at a time.

So much for my sitting on the machine (which as mentioned turns out to be your bike connected to the training apparatus and computer) and instantly becoming 2-4 mph faster. This is going to be work!!!!