Thursday, November 18, 2004
Postmortem
Now that the Alyn Bike Ride is over, time to take stock.
What did I do right and what did I do wrong in training for the ride?
What were the good points of the tour and what could use improvement?
Would I do it again?
Training
My training was, for the most part, spot on, with one major exception. I would divide my training into three categories. Spinning, On-road biking and core training.
The spinning was, by far, the most effective training that I did. I spent between 45 minutes and an hour on a spin bike between 4 and 5 times a week. In the beginning I did a lot of high end interval training but the closer I got to the ride, the more I focused on simulating climbing. Many times in the last couple of months, I simulated climbs for the entire length of my session. This was very important because in Israel I had to ride uphill for as long as 1.5 hours straight on the last two days of the ride.
Had I really known how long and steep the climbs were, I would have concentrated even more on simulating climbs and I would have made them much more difficult. I would have done a bunch of 45 minute climbs with big resistance at a cadence of no more than 60 rpm. As it is, I feel that I could not have done nearly as well as I did had I not put in the hours on the spin bike.
The one area where I essentially wasted most of my time was on my road bike. All the time I spent in Central Park or riding out to Point Lookout in Long Island was a complete waste of time (in terms of training; I loved riding in Central Park). The only worthwhile rides that I did were the centuries, particularly the ones in Stamford, Connecticut and Westchester (although even the hills there were nothing compared to what we had to ride in Israel).
Knowing what I know now, I would have driven out to Bear Mountain or places like that and found the biggest hills I could. Even shorter rides on bigger hills would have been better than longer, flatter rides.
I also did not anticipate the extereme heat we faced in the Negev and the Dead Sea area. The combination of a very mild summer and very early riding times resulted in my doing virtually no serious hot weather training. Next year the ride will be in the north and will be a couple of weeks later (because of the timing of Succos) so I'm sure it will not be nearly as hot.
The other part of training that I nailed was my core training and conditioning. I did a lot of pushups and planks, shoulder rolls, squats and sit ups. This strengthened by arms, shoulders, quads and abs. Although many people don't realize it, this can be extremely helpful during an endurance ride. many people complained of sore shoulders from the descents, sore backs from bending over (especially during climbs, sore thighs from the amount of riding. Because i was so well conditioned, nothing bothered me the entire time. For next year's ride I will follow essentially the same regimen, adding a few more exercises.
The Tour
The tour rocked. It was amazingly well run. There was plenty of water, plenty of rest stops, good food, good mechanical support, nice enough accomodations (other than the Bedouin Tent), good comeraderie, and lots of fun. The routes were well planned and challenged everyone at his or her level.
I have small criticisms. The stronger riders had to wait a very long time at lunch for the slower riders to arrive before we were permitted to continue. It was crazy hot and I got cooked at every lunch break. Also, the decision to delay the start on the fourth day was a huge mistake. Finally, lunches were meat; I would have preferred dairy. As I said, these are small things. All in all the ride was amazing.
So long as the dates work out for me next year, I expect to do the tour again. Wouldn't miss it. Everyone I spoke to who did the tour feels the same way. Many people at home who didn't do it are very interested in doing it next year. It's funny but they fall into different categories. There are people who are in good shape who feel they can do it. There are people in lousy shape who see it as a challenge. I even know of two people who were severely injured in car wrecks and are in very bad shape who have set next year's tour as a goal.
The challenge for the tour organizers is to figure out logistics for 500 riders. I have no doubt that that many riders are going to want to ride next year.
If you are interested (or are interested in looking at the pictures from this year's ride), go here.
I am signing off for now. I will probably be back in the spring when I start my outdoor training for next year's ride.
What did I do right and what did I do wrong in training for the ride?
What were the good points of the tour and what could use improvement?
Would I do it again?
Training
My training was, for the most part, spot on, with one major exception. I would divide my training into three categories. Spinning, On-road biking and core training.
The spinning was, by far, the most effective training that I did. I spent between 45 minutes and an hour on a spin bike between 4 and 5 times a week. In the beginning I did a lot of high end interval training but the closer I got to the ride, the more I focused on simulating climbing. Many times in the last couple of months, I simulated climbs for the entire length of my session. This was very important because in Israel I had to ride uphill for as long as 1.5 hours straight on the last two days of the ride.
Had I really known how long and steep the climbs were, I would have concentrated even more on simulating climbs and I would have made them much more difficult. I would have done a bunch of 45 minute climbs with big resistance at a cadence of no more than 60 rpm. As it is, I feel that I could not have done nearly as well as I did had I not put in the hours on the spin bike.
The one area where I essentially wasted most of my time was on my road bike. All the time I spent in Central Park or riding out to Point Lookout in Long Island was a complete waste of time (in terms of training; I loved riding in Central Park). The only worthwhile rides that I did were the centuries, particularly the ones in Stamford, Connecticut and Westchester (although even the hills there were nothing compared to what we had to ride in Israel).
Knowing what I know now, I would have driven out to Bear Mountain or places like that and found the biggest hills I could. Even shorter rides on bigger hills would have been better than longer, flatter rides.
I also did not anticipate the extereme heat we faced in the Negev and the Dead Sea area. The combination of a very mild summer and very early riding times resulted in my doing virtually no serious hot weather training. Next year the ride will be in the north and will be a couple of weeks later (because of the timing of Succos) so I'm sure it will not be nearly as hot.
The other part of training that I nailed was my core training and conditioning. I did a lot of pushups and planks, shoulder rolls, squats and sit ups. This strengthened by arms, shoulders, quads and abs. Although many people don't realize it, this can be extremely helpful during an endurance ride. many people complained of sore shoulders from the descents, sore backs from bending over (especially during climbs, sore thighs from the amount of riding. Because i was so well conditioned, nothing bothered me the entire time. For next year's ride I will follow essentially the same regimen, adding a few more exercises.
The Tour
The tour rocked. It was amazingly well run. There was plenty of water, plenty of rest stops, good food, good mechanical support, nice enough accomodations (other than the Bedouin Tent), good comeraderie, and lots of fun. The routes were well planned and challenged everyone at his or her level.
I have small criticisms. The stronger riders had to wait a very long time at lunch for the slower riders to arrive before we were permitted to continue. It was crazy hot and I got cooked at every lunch break. Also, the decision to delay the start on the fourth day was a huge mistake. Finally, lunches were meat; I would have preferred dairy. As I said, these are small things. All in all the ride was amazing.
So long as the dates work out for me next year, I expect to do the tour again. Wouldn't miss it. Everyone I spoke to who did the tour feels the same way. Many people at home who didn't do it are very interested in doing it next year. It's funny but they fall into different categories. There are people who are in good shape who feel they can do it. There are people in lousy shape who see it as a challenge. I even know of two people who were severely injured in car wrecks and are in very bad shape who have set next year's tour as a goal.
The challenge for the tour organizers is to figure out logistics for 500 riders. I have no doubt that that many riders are going to want to ride next year.
If you are interested (or are interested in looking at the pictures from this year's ride), go here.
I am signing off for now. I will probably be back in the spring when I start my outdoor training for next year's ride.
