Category: Training

The quick answer is: it depends.

Some folks are good at knowing exactly which size bike they need and getting a good fit. Others depend on the shop staff to help and happened upon someone who knows what works for the cyclist vs what is in stock that they can sell.

Then we have people who don’t know what fits and or combined with shop staff that also don’t know.

My first road bike was a Trek Domane and it was totally the wrong geometry for me. The shop was trying to push out the door what they had, vs what I needed and when I called with issues they tried to sell me “a bike fit”. This all ended up being an expensive mistake as I didn’t get back nearly what I paid for the bike. Obviously, I was pissed off so spent more hours than I’d care to admit researching the topic.

This resulted in me buying a new bike, online so sight unseen and crossing my fingers it would fit when it arrived. A week later I had a shiny new Cannondale Super Six Evo and then the real fun started. First off I HAD to change the saddle (amazing how much money you can spend on a bike to get the cheapest bike saddle known to man!) (It’s taken a few saddles (and lots of money) to get to my current setup)

Next, I increased the stem length to give me more stability (80mm to 100mm)  and then swapped it for smaller handlebars. (38 to 34)

Some things were a bit of playing around with to get right. Adjusting here and there. I tried putting my saddle lower/higher, forward and back.

(there was also the introduction of the 2nd Super Six Evo after a car hit me with the first, 2 weeks into owning it, and obviously replacing all of those parts I had just replaced, for the 2nd incarnation of the bike)

I had guys from club rides mock my set-up and whatever I did, as a girl what did I know?

I still have people (or should I say men) on Twitter arguing my saddle is too low *insert rolling eyes emoji here*

I did have a pro bike fit done in 2022 and you know what? Totally messed up my setup.

Whatever I did something kept nagging at me, the bike was always still a bit big for me. I’m tiny if you looked at  A little about me

There was a lot of talk about 650c wheels, which are not stock these days, and obviously, you’d need a bike made to run them. So about 10k to give them a go. I looked at 650b which you can buy and is more affordable but it took a while to take that plunge.

When Loki came into my life, it was a whole new game of tweaking this and tweaking that. He didn’t like the 34 handlebars so had to buy some 36s and cut some off. (no idea why but the SRAM shifters wouldn’t fit on the 34 bars, the Shimano shifters fit on the Cannondale with the smaller bars, but alas Loki wasn’t having it.) Also swapped the stem to a 90mm, they didn’t have a 100mm in stock and so far I’m ok with the 90mm. A fiddle here and there but from the start, the bike just felt like it “fit better”.

Now interestingly the geometry of the 2 bikes is very similar, just a tad different here and there. Those little differences, different carbon etc can make a bigger difference than you’d imagine. And I still can’t pinpoint the exact reason!

And then I finally tried 650b wheels, and a new world opened up! I’m still playing with tyre options but I’m so much happier. Besides just falling in love with Loki (yes my Cervélo has a name) it just rides so much better. I sold the Cannondale if that tells you how in love I am!!

The 650b wheels brought me lower to the ground and the wider tyres made everything more stable. Wind at my size isn’t fun, even a twig could just about throw me off on the Cannondale with my 700c tyres. The 650b’s roll up to speed faster and maybe they are slower on the flats, but the stability and increase in speed downhill matter to me more.

Now back to bike fitting. There are a lot of people in the bike fitting market who know nothing about bike fitting. They are just going off rough ideas and trying to sell you a service, then products they recommend during this service. A good salesperson should be able to tell if the bike fits properly before selling you the bike, but again, from my experience and many others, it is often “just sell the customer what they have and get them out of the door”. (Covid and supply issues exacerbated the issue)

There are a few very qualified bike fitters in the world, but finding who is legit, can be a bit difficult. Also, are they used to fitting men? Women? Racers vs commuters? I totally recommend doing research on your own and asking knowledgeable friends as a starting point. You may find this is all you need. Then if you need to pay for help, seek out someone who has good reviews and isn’t in the biz just to sell you stuff.

GCN has asked the pros if they had bike fits and you may be shocked to know this, but several have never had a proper bike fit. The shops trying to sell you their expensive bike fit, saying it’s “essential” likely won’t tell you this important tidbit of information.

I’ve spent a lot of money on parts, even 2 bikes that didn’t really fit properly, wheels that were good but too big for me, you name it and I’ve wasted money on it in this journey. To add to the difficulty I’m also a unique size so the bike industry isn’t really making products for people my size. In the end, besides finally having a bike I love, I’ve learned loads in the process. if you get an off-the-shelf bike that fits perfectly, keep this to yourself! No one wants to know! Especially not me!

If you enjoyed this post pay it forward

http://buymeacoffee.com/Sexandtheswiss

http://ko-fi.com/sexandtheswiss

 

 

 

 

Yes, no and maybe.

First, it all depends on what you’re hoping to achieve with your cycling. Commuting to work? Buying groceries or wanna-be racer?

The majority of amateur cyclists don’t need to know. If you’re trying to improve your times, get some KOM/QOMs on Strava, it may be a metric you will know more about, but does it help in any way? No, it just is another way of saying your power output.

It’s a number, nothing more, nothing less.

But I said yes above, didn’t I? Ok, so this is why it can be a metric that shows your power is very good on the bike and if you’re competitive like me, this is a good thing. It is also a metric that can be helpful if you are tiny also like me.

400 watts isn’t always 400 watts

400 watts / 95kg = 4.21 watts per kg.

400 watts / 44kg = 9.09 watts per kg.

Notice how the total watts stay the same, but obviously, for the lighter rider the watts per kg are higher? So this is an example where the watts per kilo are more useful than the total watts. Does it mean anything more? No, not really.

If you are hoping to be the next hill climb champ, the next TDF winner then higher watts per kg is going to be your goal in life. It means you’re going to be faster uphill. On the flats, on the downhills? The weight difference matters less and for downhills is a disadvantage if anything. (physics is fickle)

I like to say my watts per kg as the total number can be smaller than many men who are double my size, but given my SIZE my number is the same or higher.

For the avg club rider, it really is just useless numbers or bragging material or a mixture of both.

If you enjoyed this post pay it forward

http://buymeacoffee.com/Sexandtheswiss

http://ko-fi.com/sexandtheswiss

 

First, let’s address the topic of using the term “fuel” this is obviously a cool professional cycling term and the term is a little misleading.

There are wanna-be professionals that will use this term for basically everything they ingest and it’s obnoxious. If you want to be technical every single human on the planet is ingesting “fuel” so they can live.

It doesn’t sound very special anymore now does it?

Obviously, when the body is under stress including exercise the intake of carbs and glucose needs to be increased. But this needs to be increased before you even start exercising because obviously, it’s not an instantaneous process.

Various chemical processes happen within the body which in the end turns your gel or bagel into energy. The time needed to process and turn your food into glycogen/atp/energy is debated depending on what you read but if you don’t eat well and go out and try to do 100 km tomorrow you’re probably going to feel tired.

After reading way too much about what is ideal to eat before cycling and during cycling and even after cycling I have come to the conclusion that nobody wants to hear:

There is no one perfect answer for everyone.

Yes, I know this is very devastating news and what it means is that you actually have to take the time to figure out what is best for you.

Before any big event, you are going to have to eat more. What exactly you’re going to have to eat depends a lot on your dietary preferences, your digestion and your event. I know some people who absolutely swear by rice and it makes my stomach hurt so anyone that tells you that there’s just one perfect food is misleading.

Obviously, carbs are your friend. Carbs will help you store glycogen and you’re going to need liquids for this whole fun factory of energy happening, this could be water this could be juice definitely not beer and wine, especially before your event.

Like a lot of people, I love oatmeal. I usually have it every morning and I might have a second serving in the day. I find it very easy to digest. I prepare mine with water and I usually add a banana. It’s also very good for lowering cholesterol so it’s a great superfood. If you can’t eat oatmeal don’t knock yourself. There are just as many people who swear on rice. Again you have to figure out what your body can tolerate and digest.

If there is a big ride and or event and if you have prepared properly you would’ve eaten well for a few days and the breakfast before showtime is just going to be that little bit extra that you need it’s not going to be the main course as to say.

Now for an even more controversial topic what to eat while cycling.

Here’s another one that nobody wants to hear it all depends on what works for you. There is a wide array of energy drinks, gummies,  candies and energy gels. You have to try various things to figure out what is your favourite and what works best for you.

Some people prefer food and some people prefer gels.

It is frustrating and sad when people have to argue on the Internet with strangers about what works best for them. I have no problem with gels they don’t give me any stomach issues and I find them very effective. This doesn’t mean fuck all in life. It is ridiculous the amount of harassment I have had because of my lack of food during a long ride and the dependence on gels when if you actually know about metabolism you would realise that your body just breaks that food down to the same exact molecule the gel is just quicker that’s all.

Some people prefer drinking their carbs in energy drinks again it all depends on you and what works best for your body!

Of course one of the best parts of a ride is the cake stop and no shock, but there are differing opinions on what to have. There is the flapjack option (some feel this is more healthy when usually it’s not) or actually having cake at the cake stop as it’s called a bloody cake stop!

There are crazy people that actually eat like real meals. I don’t quite understand this but if that’s what makes them happy they should go for it. Myself personally I love cake so I usually have cake. Especially if there is something I like if you’re curious my favourite is usually:

Carrot cake

Coffee cake

or some blueberry concoction and yes I have left out cheesecake because it’s a little heavy for cycling, but I have done this (and regretted it later)

Now this is where I get complicated, I have just expressed my undying love for cake and I gave you three options for my favourite because they are all my favourites but if I want the second half of my ride to give me the best results?

I will NOT eat the cake.

Ok I will give you a moment to digest that one (good use of puns is my superpower)

I have found time and time again that although I enjoy eating the cake if I want to ride my bike afterwards it doesn’t help. I end up with some kind of stomach pain and I just have slower times. I have also had sugar crashes after having some particularly icing-filled lovely cakes.

So what I’d like to have and what is actually best for me if I was looking to be at the top of my performance are two different things. A similar problem with coffee I do love coffee but coffee is a diuretic. As a woman, I don’t really like having to get naked on the side of the road when I have to piss so I typically will have an espresso if I’m going to have coffee on a ride I don’t really like espresso but it’s the least amount of liquid if I want to have a caffeine hit.

There is way too much snobbery surrounding this topic. You can call it food you can call it fuel whatever you fancy calling it, it all turns into ATP aka energy.

So play around with different options and see what makes you feel better and maybe you’ll realise that having a full breakfast at the cake stop makes you slower but you’re okay with that because you actually enjoy having breakfast with your friends. You may find that coke is your new best friend, the version in the red can, not the other one that is not recommended while cycling.

What works for one person it’s not going to work for everyone.

When you look at carb intake per hour, remember that this is based on weight + intensity. Just because Joe has 120 g of carbs per hour doesn’t mean you have to. Again it’s all based on your weight and intensity.

I typically see recommendations of .5 to 1 g of carbs per kilo per hour again you need to play around with that and see where you fall in the spectrum. You made need more or you may need less.

If you’re doing a long ride or an event no matter what you think you need make sure you have that extra gel or substitute item as it may come in handy. (I speak from experience!)

After you’re done exercising it’s a good idea to have some kind of recovery drink this could be something as simple as chocolate milk or a protein shake. Something ideally with protein and carbs to help kick start the replenishing of glycogen. Ideally within 30mins to an hour after you’re done. Again some people never have done this in their life and they feel absolutely wonderful other people will crash. You will figure out easily which camp you fall into.

Someone asked about using something like squash versus the manufactured energy drinks or tablets for the water and there are people that make up their own concoctions using salt and sugar and it works for them. It can be a lot easier to just use a premade product that you know exactly what is in it. I have met people that have sworn by everything under the Sun including having milky coffee in the bidon.

Some can handle 1 brand of gel but not another. Experimenting is the only way you’re going to know. I’ve tried several gels, my overall fav is High 5, they are economical, have a nice texture and are a good size. Drop me an email or DM on social media for 40% off their range of products.

If you are not looking to race and you are just wanting to get out and enjoy riding your bike a lot of this is overthinking. Although, you should have something with you in case you start feeling like you’re going to bonk or feel lightheaded, have something sugary to hand.

 

If you’d like 40% off High 5 products (my fav gels) drop me an email or DM on social media for a discount code.

If you enjoyed this post pay it forward

http://buymeacoffee.com/Sexandtheswiss

http://ko-fi.com/sexandtheswiss