By Coach David Ertl

One of the common questions I receive has to do with hill training, especially from people who live where there are no hills.  Imagine that – there are places that are flatter than Iowa!  For those of us who live and ride here, or for those of you who have done RAGBRAI before, you know that Iowa has hills.  No, we don’t have mountains but we do have a lot of rolling hills which can wear you down. 

This year’s RAGBRAI is the 11th flattest in the history of the ride.  However, it still contains a total of 16,125 feet of climbing.  That is a total of 3 miles of vertical climbing!   So it will serve you well to incorporate some hill training in your RAGBRAI preparation, even for this relatively “flat” route.  Here are some tips for building your hill climbing ability.

If you have hills where you live, here’s some ways to work on the hills to improve your climbing ability.  Being a good hill climber involves both leg strength and cardio fitness.  The best way to get better on hills is to ride hills. Now that sounds foolishly obvious, but how many of you actually do that??    If you are serious about getting better on hills, do not avoid your local courses that contain hills.  Instead go out of your way to ride hills, at least on some rides. There are several ways you can train on hills to work your strength and cardio fitness.  

Seated fast cadence
You can ride hills seated in your saddle and spinning a low (easy) gear quite rapidly.  This tends to work your cardiovascular system more than leg strength but is a great way to build overall fitness as well as climbing ability.

Seated slow cadence
While you normally don’t want to pedal at slow cadences (less than 75 rpm), for this workout it is okay.  On a hill keep it in a fairly hard gear and grind up the hill at a low cadence (50-75 rpm).  This should feel very slow to you if you are used to spinning at the recommended 80-100 rpm.  This will build leg strength – think of it as strength training on the bike.   Word of caution – if you have any knee problems or pain, do not attempt this workout.

Standing fast cadence
It is good to develop the ability to stand up on your pedals as you climb.  This is helpful for very steep hills and to give your legs a break when climbing longer hills. As you get to a hill, stand up and shift to an easier gear and try to spin up the hill while standing, at 80 rpm or higher.  This may feel a little awkward at first but will improve with practice.

Standing slow cadence
By climbing hills standing at a slow cadence (50-75 rpm), you will be building leg strength while learning to control your bike at slow speeds.

If you don’t have hills where you live, here are some tips for training for hills.

Headwind grinds
Even if you don’t have hills where you live, you probably have wind.  If you don’t, tell me and I will move there!  On days when you have a strong steady breeze, head out to an open road and ride into the wind and keep it in a fairly hard gear so that you are only able to pedal no more than 75-80 rpm.  Ride like this for 2-5 minutes at a time pushing hard as if you are climbing.

Low cadence grinds
On days you don’t have much wind you can still do the above hill simulation.  You just have to use an even larger (harder) gear to get a resistance level that simulates hills.  This can also be done on a spin bike.  Crank down the resistance and force yourself to pedal hard at a slower cadence.

Riding well on hills is as much mental as physical.  I know a lot of people who psych themselves out when they see a hill. They are already defeated before they even get to the hill.  If you have been riding on hills in your preparation, when you get to a hill on RAGBRAI you will know that you can handle it and may even look forward to hills. 

One final note – a great way to get faster on hills is to be as light as possible.  If you happen to be ‘gravity challenged’, making hill climbing easier is a great motivation to shed a few pounds.  With all the riding you will be doing in preparation for RAGBRAI as well as the 400 plus miles you will do at the event, it’s a great opportunity to drop some weight and make hills a little easier. 

Happy climbing!

Coach David Ertl

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and Personal Trainer. He coaches the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team, the Iowa JDRF Ride To Cure Diabetes Team, the Above & Beyond Cancer RAAM Team, and he coaches individual cyclists.  He also provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website: http://www.CyclesportCoaching.com . He can be contacted at coach@cyclesportcoaching.com

Note that I said this is a template.  It is not to be followed literally, although it is okay if you do.  Rather, it is designed to give you an idea of how many days a week you should be riding and some suggestions on how far each ride could be.  The most important number to note is the distance of the longest ride of the week.  If you continue to allow your longest ride to step up each week.  Your weekly mileage should also increase gradually.  You don’t have to do every ride listed, or on the same days as indicated.  However, here’s a few tips. 

Aim for riding 3-4 days per week.  Typically people have the most time to ride on weekends, so if that is your situation, ride a couple of more days during the week.  Tuesdays and Thursdays are logical days, so that you have days off on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  Don’t make the mistake of thinking that you need to ride every day.  You will make more progress with your cycling fitness if you take some days off and allow your body to recover and respond to the days your ride.  You will come back fresher and feeling stronger if you intersperse rest days in between riding days.   As RAGBRAI approaches, you do want to add in more consecutive days of riding to acclimate your body to riding multiple days in a row. 

Another tip is to ride faster on days when you don’t have much time to ride.  On longer rides your pace can be more relaxed.  So the rule of thumb is the shorter the ride, the faster it should be.

Below, you will see two versions of these charts available for downloading.  One is the training plan in a .pdf format.  You can download or print this and keep it handy for reference.  You can use it as a log of your riding if you wish.   There is also an Excel file available with the same training plan.  If you wish to use this to alter the rides and put in what you actually do, It is set up to sum the daily rides to track your weekly mileage. 

Click here to download a PDF file of the training plan and log: 
RAGBRAI Training Plan 2012 

or to download an Excel files of the training plan and log:
RAGBRAI Training Plan 2012

I need to give a shout-out to Michael Hughes for putting these plans together for me this year.  Michael is a reader of the RAGBRAI training blog and a serviceman with the Army at Fort Bragg, NC.  Thank you for helping me with this training plan and thank you for your service!

 I hope you find this this plan a helpful tool for you.

Coach David Ertl

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and Personal Trainer. He coaches the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team, the Iowa JDRF Ride To Cure Diabetes Team, the Above & Beyond Cancer RAAM Team, and he coaches individual cyclists.  He also provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website: http://www.CyclesportCoaching.com . He can be contacted at coach@cyclesportcoaching.com

1. Bike Fit and Comfort 

Regardless of how fast you are, you will be sitting on your bike for a long time during RAGBRAI, anywhere from 30 to 47 hours during the week.  It had better be as comfortable as possible or you will be sorry and sore.  If you have been riding a lot, your bike position is probably pretty well dialed in.  If you don’t feel comfortable on it, or if you are getting a new bike then it is very important that you get it fit for you.  What does ‘fit’ mean?   There are several adjustments you can make to your bike.  But even before you between making adjustments, you need to make sure the bike is the correct size for you.  If it isn’t there is only some much adjusting you can do and that may not be adequate.  So if you have a bike and are unsure if it is the right size, or if you are buying a new bike, go to a local bike shop and talk to them.  Many now offer bike fitting services.   Some of the easy adjustments you can make include: seat height, seat forward/aft position, seat tilt, handlebar height and angle, stem length.  None of these require buying anything except if you need a different stem size. Often bike shops will swap out stems at no charge.  You can also consider getting a new seat if you don’t like yours.  Avoid trying to get the biggest, softest one you can find.  While this may sound appealing at first, usually less is better.  Most bikes come with narrow seats (or saddles as they are often called) to allow your legs to move without chaffing against the seat.  New seats have lots of nice padding options.  The other thing to help comfort is a nice pair of cycling shorts.  These have very soft chamois liners which really help comfort for long days in the saddle.  Cycling shorts and gloves help pad your body-bike contact points from the hours of vibration and absorb perspiration.

2. Ride a Lot and Often

The number 1 training lesson regarding RAGBRAI is to ride a lot prior to heading out to Sioux Center in July. The number 2 lesson is to ride often.  Sure, there are a lot of things we will talk about going up and down hills, riding faster, riding with other people, etc.  But the main thing you need to focus on first is getting a lot of miles on your bike prior to July.  If you ride the whole thing, you will be riding 471 miles in one week.  Even many experienced cyclists haven’t ridden this far in a week.  The good news is that with ample riding, you can do this, and do it without too much difficulty.  So, ride a lot.  I often get asked how much is enough.  I say that if you can get in 1,000 miles of riding prior to RAGBRAI, you should be in pretty good shape to make it.  More is better.  But the amount of riding is just half the equation. The other half is to ride frequently.  On RAGBRAI you will be riding 7 days in a row, so you need to train your legs to go every day and allow them to shake off the fatigue and keep going.  So I’d suggest dividing your riding up throughout the week.  Aim for riding 4 or more days per week.  Don’t just jam it all into weekends.  However, as RAGBRAI approaches, it is also a good idea to put in some high mileage back to back rides on weekends to get used to the rigors of the ride.  Shortly I will be posting the training plan guideline for RAGBRAI to give you some idea on the minimum distances you should be able to ride throughout the spring and summer weeks leading up to RAGBRAI.  For now, you just want to get out on your bike as much as possible.  Daylight Savings Time is coming which may help give you time to ride after work.  If not, try to ride an indoor training or partake in a spin class when you can’t get out.  It all helps and it all counts.

3. Fueling Your Body  

For many people trying to avoid gaining weight, or trying to lose weight, they are looking for ways to avoid eating.  As you start riding lots of miles, you need to consciously eat and drink to keep your body fueled.  Riding consumes about 30 calories per mile, so a 50 mile ride will cause you to burn about 1,500 calories.  That’s probably half to two thirds of what you may normally consume in a sedentary day at the office.  As you start to ride more you will notice you have a bigger appetite.  That’s normal. Your body is your engine and you need to keep it fueled jusy as you would you car”s engine.  Listen to your appetite but don’t use it as an excuse to eat anything and everything you wish.  It is possible to gain weight even while riding a lot.  As you increase your riding and food intake, try to increase with complex carbohydrates primarily, as that is rocket fuel for your body.  Complex carbs include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and even milk. Avoid fueling with junk food. You body will appreciate nutrient rich foods to perform and recover to its full potential.  You will also need to pay more attention to staying hydrated, both while riding and after.  You lose a lot of water weight riding, through your heavier breathing and perspiration.  To prove this to yourself, weight yourself without clothes before and right after a ride.  You can easily lose 2-3 pounds of water during a ride, even if you drink during the ride.  The longer the ride and warmer the weather, the more you will lose.  Be sure to have water bottle cages on your bike (two are recommended) and get some larger sized water bottles to carry with you.  You should be drinking about a bottle per hour of riding.  On training rides of several hours, you should plan on stopping at convenience stores to refill your bottles.  When you get home, plan on continuing to drink fluids as it takes some time to rehydrate, especially after especially long rides. Doing so will aid your recovery and allow you to feel better the next day.

So there you have the basics.  Do these well and you will be well on your way for a fun and successful RAGBRAI.

Coach David Ertl

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and Personal Trainer. He coaches the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team, the Iowa JDRF Ride To Cure Diabetes Team, the Above & Beyond Cancer RAAM Team, and he coaches individual cyclists.  He also provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website: http://www.CyclesportCoaching.com . He can be contacted at coach@cyclesportcoaching.com

There are a variety of indoor trainers.  There are spin bikes at gyms where you can do spin classes.  Spin classes are a great way to build cycling fitness.   Usually you can ride these spin bikes on your own when there isn’t a class in session.  You can also get a variety of indoor trainers where your rear wheel mounts on them.  The most common types are wind, magnetic and fluid trainers.  They all have their advantages and disadvantages so check them out at your local bike shop.  When riding an indoor trainer, it is very difficult, especially mentally, so you don’t want to try to do long endurance rides on your trainer.  Instead, pick up the intensity a little and you can get a good workout in an hour or less.

A lot of bike computers run off the front wheel, which is stationary on indoor trainers, so you can’t tell how fast your are riding.  But the good news is all you need is a watch or a clock and ride by feel.  It’s okay just to get on and pedal at whatever pace you wish.  Any riding beats sitting on the couch!  However, if you want to try to increase fitness you should try picking up the pace.   For example, after a warmup, increase your effort until it feels somewhat hard and your breathing increases.  Hold this pace for one minute, then back off to your easy pace for two minutes.  You can repeat this pattern for 30 minutes or so, then ride easily for a few minutes for a cool down.  You can use any combination of intervals that you can dream up.  Part of the benefit of timed intervals is they make the time go by faster.   The important thing is to get your heart rate up, breath hard and work up a sweat. You can also play around with different gears and cadences, and adjust the resistance on your trainer if yours has such an adjustment.

I’ve also received some questions about weight training.  There are a number of reasons you should consider doing some strength training but the most important have to do with building balanced fitness and bone density.  Cycling is great for the muscles from the waist down but doesn’t do much for the arms, shoulders and core.  So, to complement your cycling strength you should do some strength training that incorporates your arms, shoulders and back.  A few exercises such as chest press, pulldowns, overhead presses and rows will do the trick.  Also, don’t forget your core muscles.  These are important for stability while riding and efficient transfer of power from your handlebars down to your pedals.  The other issue is bone density.  There are some reports that cycling leads to lower bone density than other types of exercise.  Unlike running where your legs and spine have to hold you upright, cycling is not a weight-bearing exercise. Your bike holds you up.  So while riding your bike is great for cardiovascular fitness, it doesn’t help your bones.  Strength training can help to do so.  It will also help make your fitness more well rounded.  Aim for one or two strength training sessions per week.  These only have to take 20 to 30 minutes per session.  If you are unsure how to do these exercises properly, seek some help from your local fitness center. This time of year is a great time to get started on some upper body work.

Stay tuned for more thoughts on preparation for your best RAGBRAI yet!

Coach David Ertl

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and Personal Trainer. He coaches the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team, the Iowa JDRF Ride To Cure Diabetes Team, the Above & Beyond Cancer RAAM Team, and he coaches individual cyclists.  He also provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website: http://www.CyclesportCoaching.com . He can be contacted at coach@cyclesportcoaching.com

The 2012 RAGBRAI XL overnight towns have been announced. While the detailed course will be announced a little later, this gives enough of an idea on the difficulty of the course for this year’s ride.   This year the ride is 471 miles, which is reported as the 18th shortest ride.  However, because there have been 40 of these rides, 18 means about the median so it is average length.  Still 471 miles is a lot any way you look at it and it means you should have plenty of miles in before your RAGBRAI journey begins. 

A good rule of thumb is to ride at least twice as many miles in preparation as you plan to ride during RAGBRAI, so if you are expecting to finish the entire ride, you should get in at about 1000 miles in training.   More is better.  Keep in mind that RAGBRAI isn’t something you can just come and do like an ultra endurance event without any preparation.  A week on the bike is just too long to go without training and expect to be fine.  As one of my cycling friends says “You can’t fake endurance”. And I’m not just referring to be able to do the ride without your legs giving out.  I’m referring to other body part too.  Sitting on a bike seat for 6-8 hours a day takes some getting used to, also.

And how about the hill situation?  This route is ‘relatively flat’.  It’s the 11th flattest out of 40.  But there is still a total of 16,125 feet of climbing (that’s over 3 miles straight up!). So don’t leave some hill climbing out of your preparation.  Despite rumors to the contrary, Iowa is not flat. 

So while this promises to be a gentler ride than some (according to RAGBRAI director TJ Juskiewicz only 8 RAGBRAIs have been easier),  it still will require preparation for long days in the saddle, the ability to make it up and over hills and dealing with the heat, humidity and long days.  But have no fear.  You can do it with proper preparation and remember that the better you are prepared, the more enjoyable the ride becomes.   I will be providing training tips through the next few months to address your questions and to offer training tips to help you have a very enjoyable experience.   So check back often to this website.  All training articles will be saved on the Training tab. 

You’ve already given me some great ideas and please continue to ask questions and provide your ideas for what topics you want me to address.

David 

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and Personal Trainer. He coaches the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team, the Iowa JDRF Ride To Cure Diabetes Team, the Above & Beyond Cancer RAAM Team, and he coaches individual cyclists.  He also provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website: http://www.CyclesportCoaching.com . He can be contacted at coach@cyclesportcoaching.com

Only 185 days until RAGBRAI XL!  The route announcement party is January 28 where we will find out how long (or short) and how hilly (or flat) this year’s course will be.  It’s not too early to start preparing (RAGBRAI speak for training) for the ride.  As I’ve done the past couple of years, I will be writing a training blog to give you helpful tips along the way and to give you some ideas of what to expect on RAGBRAI in terms of your physical fitness requirements.   My past blogs are archived on the RAGBRAI website if you are in a hurry and can’t wait to get reading. 

Some people scoff at needing to “train” for RAGBRAI.  After all, it is a recreational ride and isn’t a race.  However, it is about 450 miles of bicycling in one week.  That is a lot no matter how much you pace yourself.  Ask some of the veterans of this ride.  They will tell you that getting lots of riding miles in ahead of RAGBRAI will make the event so much more enjoyable and pain-free.  I will provide lots of ideas on how to ride – how far, how fast, hill training, what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, etc.   RAGBRAI is all about having fun, and being physically prepared is one of the most important ways to ensure you will have fun on the ride.

I’d really like to know what is on your mind, too.   I’d encourage you to write comments in the Training Blog forum when I post articles and suggest future topics for me to address.  I may overlook some of the obvious questions people have.  I want to make sure that I’m covering topics of most interest.  I will also be revisiting some of the topics covered previously that are just too important not to repeat.  So check back often and be sure to leave comments and questions in the forum.

Here’s to another great year of riding and RAGBRAI!

David 

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and Personal Trainer. He coaches the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team, the Iowa JDRF Ride To Cure Diabetes Team, the Above & Beyond Cancer RAAM Team, and he coaches individual cyclists.  He also provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website: http://www.CyclesportCoaching.com . He can be contacted at coach@cyclesportcoaching.com

Don’t forget to stop by and say hi to Coach at the Farmers Feed Us stop in Churdan on Tuesday!

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and NSCA Certified Personal Trainer. He is a coach with the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team, the Iowa JDRF Ride To Cure Diabetes Team, and he coaches individual cyclists.   He also provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website:  http://www.CyclesportCoaching.com . He can be contacted at coach@cyclesportcoaching.com

1. RAGBRAI is a bicycle RIDE; it is not a bicycle RACE

That means you don’t have to ride fast.  As a matter of principle, it should not be ridden fast or you will miss important things, like a turkey leg  or piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie, or a friendly Iowa farmer waving at you or a child wanting to high-five you as you ride into a town.  The objective isn’t to see how quickly you can ride through Iowa, it’s to see how much of Iowa you can experience.  Even if you ride 12 mph, you will have plenty of time to spend in the overnight town, so don’t shortchange the pass-through towns.   And while you are riding between towns, take your time and enjoy the scenery.  While Iowa doesn’t have a lot of (or any) mountains or seashores, we do have miles and miles of beautiful green rolling countryside.  Enjoy it. 

2. Be friendly

One of the reasons I believe RAGBRAI has become such a hit over the years is because of the wonderful hospitality of the people of Iowa.  Many of the towns you will be riding through have populations much less than the number of cyclists that will ride through them (which is about 10,000 cyclists per day).  These country folk are extremely friendly and enjoy guests.  Take the time to visit with your hosts and hostesses on your ride across the state.  You and they will come away enriched by the experience.  Also, another reason for riding at a leisurely pace across Iowa is so that you can hold a conversation you’re your fellow cyclists.   You will meet some very interesting people from interesting places if you just take the time to get to know them.  I have found that the slower I go and the more I talk to people, the better the ride becomes.

3.  Eat well but don’t gain weight 

One thing we are famous for in Iowa is lots of great food. Every town you pass through and every roadside vendor will be providing you with a plethora of delights from the heartland.  You should certainly sample these.  Food is a big part of the RAGBRAI experience.  From the breakfast burrito to the mid morning pork chop, to the piece of (daily) pie, to the best sweet corn in the world, to the wonderful Midwest church dinners, you will be surrounded by tempting and delicious food and drink all the way across the state.  I don’t think you can go more than three miles without having the option to stop and eat something.  But one word of warning – people can gain weight on RAGBRAI!  It may seem very odd that one can pedal their bike four hundred and some miles in one week and gain weight but it can happen, especially if you try to sample what every single town has to offer.  That amounts to about 10 meals a day if you are not careful, so choose wisely, try new things but don’t feel you need to try everything every day!  Take home wonderful memories, but not extra pounds.

4. Have fun

This should go without saying but I’m saying it anyway.  Riding your bike across Iowa in one week is hard work. It will be hot and humid, it will be windy, it will probably rain once or twice.  If you think this is going to be a luxury cruise you will be disappointed.  Not every mile may be totally enjoyable (just trying to prepare you for the worst).  And please be safe.  One sure way to ruin your RAGBRAI experience is to have an accident and bust your bike or your body.  But keep in mind, for every uphill there is a downhill.  For every hot, hilly final five miles, there will be a cold drink and hearty meal waiting for you.  For every rain shower there will be a bright sunny sky.   There is so much to enjoy on RAGBRAI that if you don’t have fun, it’s no one’s fault but your own.   So come to the ride with your eyes, mouths and hearts open and you could very possibly be experiencing the best week of the year, or maybe of your life!

Don’t forget, I look forward to seeing all of you at the Farmers Feed Us stop in Churdan on Tuesday.

Coach David Ertl

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and NSCA Certified Personal Trainer. He is a coach with the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team, the Iowa JDRF Ride To Cure Diabetes Team, and he coaches individual cyclists.   He also provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website:  http://www.CyclesportCoaching.com . He can be contacted at coach@cyclesportcoaching.com

Bike:  Several things should be done this final week prior to RAGBRAI to ensure your bike is in good working order.  Start off by cleaning it thoroughly.  When you clean your bike you tend to look at it more closely than normal and you may see some things that need attention, such as a worn tire, frayed brake or derailleur cable, wheel or brakes out of adjustment, or even something more serious such as a crack in the frame. Take some time to look over your bike and inspect it as you clean it. If you need work done on it, get it done prior to starting RAGBRAI. There’s also the matter of pride. You just feel better riding a clean bike than a dirty one. 

Check your bike to make sure the gears are working properly.  Run through all the gears in the back cluster to make sure they work and the gears run smoothly and don’t chatter or click, or that the chain doesn’t drop off the small cog or the derailleur doesn’t hit your spokes when in the largest cog.  Also check your front derailleur to make sure it shifts the chain on your chainrings in front smoothly and doesn’t throw the chain off.  Spin your wheels to ensure they are straight and don’t rub your brakes.  The last thing you need is to have your brakes rubbing all the way across Iowa.  Check your tires to make sure they still have plenty of rubber left on the center part.  Look for deep cuts or bulges in your tires and replace tires that have these or you may be doing it on the road next to a corn field. Flat tires always happen at the most inopportune times.  You should oil your chain. It’s recommended you use a lubricant designed for bikes as these work better than household oils.  If something isn’t working properly get it checked out by an expert.  Your first choice is your local bike shop, but be warned, if you live in Iowa, they are very busy this time of year with other RAGBRAI riders so hopefully they can get you fixed up before you have to leave.

Body:  Hopefully you’ve done an adequate amount of riding in preparation for RAGBRAI.  If not, it’s too late now. Any training you do now will not really help you but can possibly hurt you going in to RAGBRAI.  Here’s how I’d suggest approaching training for the last week.  Starting with the weekend prior to RAGBRAI (July 16-17^th), go for one medium long ride.  40-60 miles max is enough.  Remember, your goal is to maintain your fitness while allowing yourself to fully recover and refresh during the week prior to RAGBRAI.  The last week before RAGBRAI, keep your mileage down but do a few short, fast rides to keep your body tuned up, but again, not enough to fatigue you more.  Don’t worry about losing your fitness, you won’t lose very much at all by tapering the week before the ride.  What you want to focus on is resting and letting your legs fully recover. There should be no soreness in your legs this final week.  By being rested, you will be able to take advantage of all the fitness you’ve gained up to this point.  Many of you have to travel for a day or two prior to the start of RAGBRAI and that’s a good thing.  It allows your legs one final rest period before the big ride.   I would suggest going for a spin on Saturday when you arrive, to make sure you bike has made the trip okay and to loosen up your legs. 

You also want to hydrate well the final days before RAGBRAI begins.  Travel can dehydrate you as can the hot summer weather.  Work at drinking (water) throughout the day.  Eat well but don’t overeat or carbo load, especially on days you don’t ride.  There’s plenty of food available during RAGBRAI. Eat as you go rather than trying to store it all up before you go. You can store it, as body fat, which isn’t the ideal way to go.

Packing: Not only do you need to give thought to preparing your bike and body for the trek, you also should give some thought to what to bring along with you.  To help you out, here are some things to be sure to bring.  Warning, this list isn’t inclusive but does contain some of the more commonly forgotten items.  First, there’s the biking gear: shoes, several shorts, jerseys (the more shorts and jerseys the better so you don’t have to wash them as often), socks, gloves, helmet, sunglasses, hand or floor pump, and water bottles.  Be sure to bring along your tool bag containing at least these items: spare tubes (yes plural), CO2 cartridges unless you have a frame pump, mini tool, tire irons.  There are several bike shops that support RAGBRAI and they have lots of parts and accessories in the event you need something you forgot or need along the way.   Also, if you have energy drink powder or your favorite foods, be sure to pack some of these as you may not be able to get them on the road.   Don’t forget your sunscreen and detergent for washing clothes.  You can wash jerseys and shorts in a sink.  Just be sure to rinse well.  If you don’t, and it rains when you wear them next, you will foam. Take my word for that!    Oh, and don’t forget your bike.

Meet the Coach on RAGBRAI !!

I am going to be out at one of the towns on RAGBRAI this year.  My employer, Iowa Corn, is sponsoring the Farmers Feed Us stop in Churdan on Tuesday.   Throughout RAGBRAI, FFU is going to be hosting stops featuring Iowa’s abundant agriculture.  For a week, you are riding through the world’s more productive farmland in the world!  Stop and spend a few minutes learning about the precious land you are riding across.   At each stop they will be giving out spoke cards and an opportunity to win an iPad®.  So watch for the Burma Shave type signs coming into Churdan on Tuesday.  I will be there to tell you anything you want to know about corn or cycling.  And get your picture taken with a tractor!  If you have been reading these posts, please stop by and say ‘Hi’.  I’d enjoy meeting you in person.

So as you approach your final week before RAGBRAI, now is the time to get your bike and body prepared for a fun and successful ride.

Have a great time at RAGBRAI!  – Coach David Ertl

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and NSCA Certified Personal Trainer. He is a coach with the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team, the Iowa JDRF Ride To Cure Diabetes Team, and he coaches individual cyclists.   He also provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website:  http://www.CyclesportCoaching.com 

He can be contacted at coach@cyclesportcoaching.com

THE most common mistake I see new riders make is to use too large of a gear and pedal too slowly.  This may feel like the right thing to do, but pedaling faster can make you faster and make you less tired.  Let me start by clarifying some terms which can make this subject confusing.   

Your bike has a series of gears.  A ‘high’ or ‘large’ gear is one which feels hard to pedal and your feet go around slowly.   A ‘low’ or ‘small’ gear allows your feet to go around fast.  This is made even more confusing by the gears on the bike.  Multi-gear bikes typically come with two or three chainrings in the front (the big gears attached to the cranks that your pedals are attached to).   The larger chainring results in a larger gear ratio.  

Then there are anywhere from 8-10 gears in the back attached to your rear wheel.  These work the opposite way.  The largest gear in the back results in a lower gear, or easier pedaling.  So the highest gear on your bike is to use the largest chainring in the front and the smallest gear in the back.  The best way to learn this is to play around with your bike and try different gears in the front and back and see what happens.  ‘Cadence’ is a term used to describe how fast or slow your feet go around in circles.  A high gear results in a low cadence (slow pedaling).  A low gear results in a higher cadence.

When people new to cycling begin riding, they almost invariably start out with a cadence that is to slow, in other words, they use a gear that is too large.  There may be a couple of explanations for this.  First, when we walk, we tend to take about 60 steps per minute.  So 60 is pretty ingrained in our mentality.  When we get on the bike, 60 rpm feels ‘normal’.   But 60 rpm is not the most efficient cadence for long distance riding.  Another explanation may be that people believe that by using a larger gear, they will go faster.  This may be true for the short term, but trust me, after 70 miles on a day of RAGBRAI; you won’t be going very fast if you have pedaled slowly all day pushing a high gear.

When you push the large gear, you are exerting a lot of force with your legs on the pedals every pedal stroke.  This requires you to recruit more muscle fibers every time you pedal which tires the leg muscles out fairly quickly.  It’s kind of like lifting weights where you use a large amount of force, but you also get tired quickly.  The same thing happens on a bike.  Push a high gear and your leg muscles will tire quickly.  Pedaling 60 RPM compared to 90 RPM means your legs have to work 50% harder per pedal stroke.  This adds up over a day and week of riding and you will pay for it with tired legs. 

Please try this out for yourself and you will see what I am talking about.  So try this on your next ride.   Pay attention to your cadence.  Some bike computers have a cadence attachment that goes on your bike down by the crank.  If you don’t have one of these, you can count the number of pedal strokes you make with one leg for 6 seconds and multiply by 10 to determine your cadence in rpm.  If your cadence is below 75, then you should work at speeding up your cadence.  Do this by shifting to the next lower (easier) gear and increasing your leg speed.  This will feel unnatural at first but over time, but don’t give up.  With enough practice it will come second nature.  

When riding your bike, you should almost never need to use the large chainring in the front.  If you have two chainrings in the front, spend most of the time in your smaller chainring.  If you have three chainrings, use the middle one for most of your riding.  You should only need your large chainring when going downhill.

So go for spin, literally!

Coach David Ertl

David Ertl is a USA Cycling Level 1 (Elite) Coach and owner of Cyclesport Coaching. He coaches individual cyclists, the Des Moines Cycle Club Race Team and the JDRF Greater Iowa Chapter for the Ride to Cure Diabetes.  He can be contacted at Coach@CyclesportCoaching.com