Newsletter Issue No. 1096
November 23, 2023
8 Tips for Coming Back From Time Off the Bike
By Coach John Hughes
Roadies sometimes spend weeks or longer off the bike for various reasons. Family vacation. Injury, illness or surgery. Changes in life such as moving to a new home, especially in a new city or starting a demanding new job. Four years ago I stupidly fell off a ladder, broke my ankle and was off the bike for 12 weeks. In this column I’ll use my experiences from that and other accidents to respond to a reader’s question. Read more.
Quick Product Tip: Orange Seal’s Line of Bike Tubeless Tire Sealants now Includes Subzero
Jim’s Tech Talk
By Jim Langley
Winter’s on the way here in the USA and I only recently learned that the tubeless tire sealant company Orange Seal makes a product specifically designed for frigid temperatures, their Subzero Sealant. I thought I’d tell you a little more about it and share how well Orange Seal products have worked for me as a pro mechanic and rider. Read more.
It’s What Wise Cyclists Do: Get the Lead Out and Get Cooking
By Kevin Kolodziejski
If you wish to be wise in all walks of life, you need to eliminate the non-essential.
That’s the gist of the advice prolific writer and Harvard scholar Lin Yutang offers in “The Importance of Living,” a rather easy-to-read and unconventional book of philosophy first published 86 years ago. I can only suppose you agree with this observation — and that you and I will disagree, at least to some degree, about what is and isn’t essential. Read more.
How do I make one ride every two weeks count?
QUESTION: I am a truck driver. I only get to ride one time in two weeks. How do I make that one time count to stay in shape? —Gil
RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: I’m somewhat in that same situation myself lately. Some family responsibilities have limited the number of days I’m free to ride, so many weeks, I get just one ride in, and some weeks I get none. I was in good riding shape to begin with, so I’ve found that riding about 30-40 miles on those days — at a steady pace — seems to help me hold the fitness I have. Read more.
Vigorous Exercise Associated with Larger Plaques
It is overwhelmingly established that exercise helps to prevent heart attacks (J Am Coll Cardiol, 2016;67:316–329), but a recent study showed that very vigorous exercise may be associated with increased plaque size (Circulation, Mar 28, 2023;147(13):993-1003). Read more.
Anti-Aging E-Book
Anti-Aging: 12 Ways You Can Slow the Aging Process, by Coach John Hughes, incorporates the latest research and most of it is new material not published.
The book explains how to get the most benefit from your endurance rides and the importance of strength training. It has sample training plans to increase your annual riding miles and to build up to rides of 25-, 50-, 100- and 200-miles. The book explains why intensity training is important, the pros and cons of gauging intensity using rate of perceived exertion, heart rate and power. It includes how to do intensity exercise and different intensity workouts. It integrates endurance and intensity training into an annual plan for optimal results.
Question of the Week
Do you follow pro bike racing?
Most Clicked Last Week
Quick Tip: Carry a Cotton Ball!
Cool Stuff to Read
Road.cc: Testing 10 budget cycling products from ‘China’s answer to Amazon’
Cycling Weekly: Am I too fat to be a cyclist?
Endurance.biz: Strava releases ‘Flyover’ 3D video recap of athlete activities
Canadian Cycling: Worm blood might be the latest form of doping in the pro peloton
End Notes
Paul de Vivie 7 Commandments for the Wise Cyclist
Keep your stops short and few.
Eat before you’re hungry, drink before you’re thirsty.
Never get too tired to eat or sleep.
Add a layer before you’re cold, take one off before you’re hot.
Lay off wine, meat and tobacco on tour.
Ride within yourself, especially in the first hour.
Never show off.
